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Issued by king George III, the proclamation of 1763 was a law that attempted to prevent colonists from traveling westward in order to appease natives by not allowing European settlers on their land, as well as save Britain some money considering the debt the war had put them in. The colonists ignored this and continued to settled there anyway, the right to move and take more native land being the main thing they had fought for in the battle.
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The beginning of the American Revolution ultimately starts with the end of the French and Indian War. This war was a battle between Britain and France mostly for New World territory. It ended with victory for the British and the first treaty of Paris (1763).
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Proposed by Prime Minister George Greenville, the goal of the sugar act was to try and reduce the rate of smuggling of sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies while encouraging trade with the British West Indies. The colonists responded with protest, seeing the act as taxation without proper representation by parliament.
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The 1765 Stamp Act was passed by British parliament as a means to pay for the British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years' War. It required all legal documents in the American colonies to be taxed and was represented by a stamp passed on each one. The colonists responded by boycotting British goods and rioting against Tax collectors.
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Accompanying the repeal of the stamp act, the purpose of the declaratory act was fundamentally to state that British Parliament had every right to tax the colonies as they pleased. The colonists had mixed feelings about this, some seeing it as a political victory while others are enraged at the idea that this act hints to more taxation from the British.
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The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by British Parliament that placed taxes on new imports like tea, paper, led, paints, and glass. Its original purpose was to produce revenue for maintaining an army in North American, but was later used to pay the salaries of some colonial governors and judges. These new taxes further fulled the rage of the colonists, who responded with more boycotts of British goods and street protests that would sometimes turn violent.
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The Boston Massacre describes the time in which British soldiers shot and killed 5 people in Boston after being harassed by a mob. It ended with six of the soldiers being acquitted and two being convicted of man slaughter. In response to this, colonists began using propaganda and stronger boycotts against the British as tensions between them grew deadly.
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The Boston Tea party was a protest formed by the sons of liberty against the British for their continued "taxation without representation." In this protest, American colonists dumped 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company into the harbor, these chests being worth over more than $1,700,000. In response, the British decides to impose stricter policies against the Massachusetts colony, resulting in the next event: The Intolerable Acts.
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To punish the Massachusetts colony for the Boston tea party, British parliament passed 4 Intolerable Acts that made it so the city’s harbor was closed until restitution was made for the destroyed tea, the colonies charter was reduced to crown level, town meetings were forbidden, and new housing arrangements were made for British troops in occupied American dwellings.The colonists respond to these acts with unity, forming the First Continental Congress to fight against unfair British rule.
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The last event to kick off the American Revolution is the Battle of Lexington and Concord where British soldiers set out from Boston looking to capture rebel leaders and destroy American weaponry. Although successful, the British are shocked to be driven back to Boston by the colonists fighting, having expected them to back down. Although the colonists lost many men, they considered the battle a very major victory, constituting the first militia conflict of the American revolution.
