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End of French and Indian War
The French and Indian War doubled Britain’s national debt in its effort to expand the colonial territory. Britain’s citizens paid more taxes than the colonists did during the conflict. This disproportion seemed unjust because the war had been fought for the protection of the colonists. As a result, Parliament imposed taxes on the settlers to pay off their debt and to protect them. -
Sugar Act
Parliament passed the reformed version of the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733). This allowed colonial merchants to be held accountable for paying taxes on goods they previously evaded. The Sugar Act actually lowered the tax on imported molasses. However, customs officers were placed along with courts created to collect duties and punish smugglers. -
Stamp Act
Parliament passed this tax on all printed articles including newspapers, books, court documents, contracts, and land deeds. This was the first direct duty imposed on the colonists, which they protested because it endangered their liberty and prosperity. Many colonial leaders challenged Parliament’s ability to tax them directly because they had no representation, therefore no right to tax the colonists. -
Quartering Act
Parliament passed this act which demanded colonists to provide housing for British troops stationed there following the Seven Years’ War. Many were unhappy with this enactment but accepted this change since they supported Parliament’s right to control trade and arrange for their protection. -
Virginia Resolves
Following the protests, Montesquieu and Locke argued that when a government violates the people’s natural rights or the social contract, they have the right to protest. These ideas inspired Virginia representative, Patrick Henry, to draft the Virginia Resolves. He believed that only colonial assemblies possessed the authority to tax the colonists. The Virginia House of Burgess accepted most of the representative’s resolves and eight other colonies soon adapted similar resolves. -
The Boston Massacre
A bloody riot took place on King Street, in Boston. It started with a street brawl between angry American colonists furious about taxation and a British soldier guarding the Customs House that stored the King’s money. Other Anti-British colonists quickly became involved with snowballs and bricks being thrown, and clubs and sticks being used. It soon became a bloodbath with shots being fired and several people killed. -
The Tea Act
Parliament imposed the Tea Act on the colonies which taxed all tea products brought into and bought in the colonies. The Tea Act rekindled the colonists’ resistance to the obligation on tea, which they never recognized as legitimate. Some boycotts of tea products resulted. -
The Boston Tea Party
A political protest that occurred that involved angry colonists frustrated with “taxation without representation” dumping 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company into the harbor in Griffin’s Wharf, Boston. This was the first major act of defiance against British control over the colonies. -
The Intolerable/Coercive Acts
Britain angered by the Massachusetts Bay colony for the Boston Tea Party, placed these acts as punishment. The Intolerable Act included four main laws placed: the Boston Port Bill, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Quartering Act, and the Quebec Act. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The start of the American Revolution when tension had built up from the 13 American colonies (especially Massachusetts) and Britain over the years. British troops marched from Boston to Concord in order to capture an arms cache. The alarm was raised by Paul Revere and other runners. Colonial militiamen mobilized to intercept the redcoat column. A war began with a clash on the Lexington town green and the British fled under heavy fire and gave American victory.
