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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. -
Proclamation of 1763
Decreed on October 7th, 1763, the Proclamation Line prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War. -
Sugar Act
Enacted on April 5th, 1764 the Sugar Act cut the duty on foreign molasses, retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar, and prohibited the importation of all foreign rum -
Stamp Act
Passed on March 22nd, 1765 the act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency. -
Quartering Act
Passed on May 15th, 1765 the Quartering Act stated that Great Britain would house its soldiers in American barracks and public houses. -
Townshend Act
On June 29th, 1767 to help pay the expenses involved in governing the American colonies, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5th, 1770, British sentries guarding the Boston Customs House shot into a crowd of civilians, killing three men and injuring eight, two of them mortally. -
Tea Act
Passed on May 10th, 1773 the act reinforced a tea tax in the American colonies. The act also made it so that the American colonists were not allowed to buy tea from any other source -
Boston Tea Party
Transpired on December 16th, 1773 the Boston Tea Party was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea and the monopoly of the East India Company. -
Coercive Acts
Passed on March 31st, 1774 the Coercive Acts were meant to break Massachusetts Bay and to warn the other colonies of the consequences of rebellious behavior. Each act was specifically designed to cause severe damage to a particular aspect of colonial life. -
First Continental Congress
Convened in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, between September 5 and October 26, 1774, the First Continental gathered delegates from twelve of Britain's thirteen American colonies to discuss America's future under growing British aggression. -
Shot Heard Around the World
The "shot heard round the world" is a phrase that refers to the opening shot of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, which sparked the American Revolutionary War and led to the creation of the United States. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress, meeting in May 1775, appointed George Washington commander in chief of the army. It later approved the Declaration of Independence in 1776 and prepared the Articles of Confederation in 1781, which granted certain powers to the Congress. -
Common Sense
Published on January 10th, 1776 Common Sense made a clear case for independence and directly attacked the political, economic, and ideological obstacles to achieving it. Paine relentlessly insisted that British rule was responsible for nearly every problem in colonial society and that the 1770s crisis could only be resolved by colonial independence. -
Declaration of Independence
Approved on August 2nd, 1776 the Declaration of Independence announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. It was the last of a series of steps that led the colonies to final separation from Great Britain. At the time that the American Revolution began in April 1775 most colonists were not seeking independence.