Images

American Revolution

  • Quartering Act

    Quartering Act

    Required colonial governments to provide housing and food for British soldiers. This was seen by many as an indirect tax and an invasion of privacy.
  • Townshend Acts

    Townshend Acts

    A series of laws placed duties on imported goods like glass, lead, paper, paint, and tea. It led to widespread boycotts of British goods.
  • Boston Massacre

    Boston Massacre

    A deadly riot that began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier quickly escalated. Five colonists were killed, including Crispus Attucks.
  • Boston Tea Party

    Boston Tea Party

    Members of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act.
  • Intolerable Acts

    Intolerable Acts

    Also called the Coercive Acts, these were passed to punish Boston for the Tea Party. They closed Boston Harbor and stripped Massachusetts of self-government.
  • Olive Branch Petition

    Olive Branch Petition

    A final attempt by the colonists to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. King George III refused to read it and declared the colonies in rebellion.
  • Battle of Lexington & Concord

    Battle of Lexington & Concord

    Known as “The Shot Heard Around the World,” this was the first military engagement of the Revolutionary War when British troops moved to seize colonial weapons.
  • "Common Sense"

    "Common Sense"

    A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that used plain language to argue for independence from Britain. It shifted public opinion toward the Patriot cause.
  • Stamp Act

    Stamp Act

    The first direct tax on the American colonies required a tax stamp on all legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards. It sparked the cry, "No taxation without representation!