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Beginning in 1763 economic policy England followed when it came to the 13 colonies. England saw the colonies as a market for English goods wanted to get money (taxes) natural resources from the colonies.
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aka 7 Years War between France and England. In the colonies, it was called the French Indian War because the colonists fought with British soldiers against France the Indians who were on side of France. Because of the war, England had a massive war debt began to tax the people in the 13 colonies.
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The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first direct, internal tax imposed by the British Parliament on the American colonies. It required almost all printed materials—including legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets, and even playing cards—to be produced on official stamped paper imported from London
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The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British Parliament between 1767 and 1768 to tax and regulate the American colonies. Named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, these measures aimed to raise revenue to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, thereby ensuring their loyalty to the British Crown rather than local assemblies.
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On March 5, 1770, a deadly confrontation between British soldiers and a crowd of American colonists broke out on King Street in Boston, resulting in the deaths of five civilians. This event, famously known as the Boston Massacre, became a pivotal turning point that galvanized colonial opposition to British rule and helped lead to the American Revolution.
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On December 16, 1773, American colonists disguised as Mohawk Indians, organized by the Sons of Liberty, boarded three British ships in Boston Harbor and destroyed 342 chests of tea. This protest against the Tea Act and "taxation without representation" saw over 92,000 pounds of tea dumped, escalating tensions leading to the American Revolution.
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The Quartering Acts were a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in the 18th century that required American colonies to provide housing, food, and supplies to British soldiers stationed in North America.
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The Intolerable Acts were four 1774 British parliamentary acts designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, closing Boston's port, restricting self-government, allowing trials of officials in Britain, and expanding quartering. They aimed to isolate Massachusetts but instead galvanized colonial resistance, leading to the First Continental Congress and the American Revolution.
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Thomas Paine's Common Sense was a 47-page political pamphlet published in January 1776 that made an impassioned and persuasive case for the immediate independence of the American colonies from Great Britain. It was written in simple, direct language to appeal to a mass audience, not just the elite
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War, marking the start of armed conflict between the 13 colonies and Great Britain. Triggered by British attempts to seize colonial arms, the "shot heard 'round the world" refers to the initial, unidentified shot that ignited the war.
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The Olive Branch Petition, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775, was a final attempt to avoid full-scale war with Great Britain. Drafted primarily by John Dickinson, it affirmed American loyalty to King George III, expressed a desire for peace, and requested a repeal of oppressive legislation. King George III refused to read it, declaring the colonies in open rebellion.
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The Articles of Confederation, officially the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was the first constitution of the United States. It established a wartime "league of friendship" among the 13 original states, emphasizing state sovereignty over a strong central authority
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The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the United States, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It formally announced the 13 American colonies' separation from British rule and explained the reasons for this historic break.
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The Second Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that acted as the de facto national government of the United States from May 10, 1775, until March 1, 1781. Convening in Philadelphia shortly after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, it led the colonies from a state of armed resistance into a full-scale war for independence.
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The Annapolis Convention, formally the Meeting of Commissioners to Remedy Defects of the Federal Government, was a pivotal regional gathering held from September 11–14, 1786. While it failed in its immediate goal of regulating interstate trade, it served as the direct catalyst for the Constitutional Convention.
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Shays’ Rebellion (1786–1787) was an armed uprising in western Massachusetts led by Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays. It was sparked by a severe economic crisis where debt-ridden farmers, many of whom were unpaid veterans, faced property foreclosures and imprisonment for debt
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The Constitutional Convention, or Philadelphia Convention, was held from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where 55 delegates from 12 states (excluding Rhode Island) gathered to create a new, stronger federal government. Originally intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, the meeting resulted in the drafting of the U.S. Constitution.