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End of French and Indian War (1763)
The French and Indian War was part of the Seven Years' War where France and Great Britain fought each other. Fast forward the Treaty of Paris ends the war triumphantly for the British in 1763. The French and Indian War revealed the tension between the British and their colonists. -
Proclamation of 1763
Issued by King George III on October 7, 1763, the Proclamation of 1763 was a boundary prohibiting colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. Colonists were unhappy with this as they thought they deserved to move westward from fighting in the war for land which they are not even allowed to see. -
The Sugar Act is passed
The French and Indian War left Britain in great debt along with their colonial territories expanding. To pay the debt and protect the colonies, Britain decided to tax the colonists. The Sugar Act was one of those first new taxes and had the goal of ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies. The colonists obviously were unhappy about this. -
The Stamp Act is passed
The Stamp Act was a new tax requiring colonists to pay a tax on almost all printed materials including court documents, newspapers, contracts, books, and land deeds. The colonists angrily protested this claiming that it threatened their prosperity and liberty and argued that the colonies had no representation in Parliament thus having no right to tax them. -
The Quartering Act is passed
The Quartering Act was another unpopular law requiring the colonies to provide housing and supplies for the British troops stationed thereafter the French and Indian War. Colonists complained but most went along with the changes because they accepted Parliament's right to regulate trade and provide for defense. -
Townshend Acts are passed
Parliament passed the Townshend Acts which levied new import duties on everyday items like paint, tea, glass, paper, and lead. The colonists insisted that they would pay no new taxes to any sort of Parliament. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a riot started when a mob of colonists or Patriots hurled snowballs and rocks at British soldiers guarding the Customs House. The nervous soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five colonists. This conflict incited anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution. -
Boston Tea Party
Britain repealed most of the Townshend duties except for the tea tax. Thus, the colonists boycotted British tea and drank smuggled Dutch tea instead, worsening financial problems for the British East India Company. Parliament then passes a law letting the company sell directly to the colonists, making their tea cheaper than the smuggled tea even with tax. On December 16, 1773, Boston Patriots dressed as Natives and boarded 3 British ships laden with tea and dumped them into the harbor. -
The Intolerable Acts (The Coercive Acts) are passed
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the port of Boston & Massachusetts colonists for the Boston Tea party. It included closing the port to trade until the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party was paid for, increasing the power of the governor at the expense of the elected assembly & town meetings, forced colonists to house British troops, & allowed British officials to be tried in Britain for crimes committed in the colonies. Colonists were horrified. -
First Continental Congress
As the colonists opposed and viewed the Coercive Acts as a threat to their freedom, all colonies (except Georgia) sent delegates (representatives) and met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania for the First Continental Congress. The First Continental Congress was the first representative body of the colony as a whole. As a result, all colonies (including Georgia) agreed to ban all trade with Britain until the Intolerable Acts were repealed and began to train troops. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first battles of the American Revolutionary War. Spies had informed the British that Sam Adams and John Hancock were in Lexington. On April 19, 1775, war erupted at Lexington and Concord, two country towns west of Boston. Gage provoked the battles by sending troops to arrest Hancock and Adams in Lexington and to seize Patriot weapons stockpiled in Concord. The local Patriots rallied to drive the troops back to Boston.
