-
Period: to
The French and Indian War
During the French and Indian War, the colonists and the French battled over land, but during this time, the colonists’ relationship with England changed drastically. -
The Royal Proclamation of 1763
In order to try and prevent another conflict with the Indians, King George lll told the colonists that they could no longer move west of the Appalachian mountains. In addition to that, those who were already settled there had to come back east. But, because the colonists refused to take orders from the British, their relationship grew even tenser. -
Sugar Act
The British taxed sugar along with some other products, that were imported by the colonies. This angered the colonists, which then led to some of the events that happened later on. -
The Currency Act
It was a series of acts that gave Parliament control of the colonial currency system. -
The Stamp Act
Since Parliament needed to recover from debt from the French and Indian war, they started the Stamp Act. This enabled Parliament to tax the colonists on whatever they wanted to, just by putting a stamp on it. Even though this worked out for England, the colonists didn’t appreciate being told what to do. -
The Townshend Acts
It was a series of measures by the British that taxed goods that were being imported to the colonists. The Americans didn’t appreciate this, so they decided to boycott any goods that were taxed by the British. -
The Boston Massacre
Tensions continued to grow between the Boston residents and the British. One day, a wigmaker and a soldier got into an argument. Eventually it turned into a big event, with the colonists taunting the soldiers, and then the soldiers eventually firing guns off into the crowd. -
The Boston Tea Party
Even though the British loosened up on their restrictions, the tax on tea remained. The Americans didn't appreciate this at all. So, they decided to rebel and dump over 92,000 pounds of British tea into the Harbor. This then angered the British, which then led them to come up with the Coercive Acts. -
The Coercive Acts
Due to the Boston Tea Party, the British decided to take a stand against the colonists. In order to do this, they passed a series of laws, called the Coercive Acts. One of them is that the Boston Harbor was temporarily closed. Another was that they had a say in the colonists’ town meetings and councils. Finally, they put in place the quartering act, and any British officials who were supposed to be put onto trial in Boston could choose to go somewhere else for their trial. -
The “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” Speech
At the Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry gave his famous “Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death” speech. This speech encouraged Virginian Troops to prepare for war against Britain. -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord
A force of British soldiers led by Thomas Gage, went from Boston to Lexington in order to capture Sam Adams and John Hancock. After that, they were going to go to concord to take their gunpowder. But, before any of this happened, American spies helped colonists get the word out about the attack. Because of this, instead of just marching in, the British got stopped by the Americans and had to turn around. This attack proved to the British that the colonists had to be taken seriously. -
British attacks on coastal towns
Even though the American Revolution had started by now, the southern colonies still weren’t sure about who’s side they should be on, the Americans, or the British. But, the British kind of made that choice clear for them after they started burning the southern colonists’ villages, houses, and plantations.