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Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King George III after Great Britain acquired French territory in North America following the French and Indian War. Settlers were moving into the new lands acquired by Britain, and the Indians who lived there felt that their land was being intruded upon. To avoid costs of conflicts with the Indians, the British issued this proclamation to bar settlement west of the Proclamation line of 1763. Fur-traders had to gain permission to settle past the line. -
Sugar Act of 1764
The Sugar Act of 1764 was passed by Parliament to raise colonial revenue. It modified the Sugar and Molasses Act of 1733 by expanding enforcement for tax collection and reducing the tax on molasses. It also listed more foreign goods to be taxed and regulated the export of lumber and iron. It caused a decline in the colonial rum industry and increased colonist concerns about their rights, and the legislature Parliament was passing to rule the colonies more directly. -
Stamp Act of 1765
The Stamp Act of 1765 was passed by the British Parliament. The tax was imposed on all American colonists, and it required them to pay a tax for every piece of printed paper they used. Ships’ papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and playing cards were taxed. The money collected from the Stamp Act was to be used to help fund the defending and protecting of the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. This act affected everyone in the British colonies. -
Quartering Act of 1765
Also known as the Mutiny Act, the Quartering Act of 1765 was passed by the British Parliament. To cut costs for supplying the British soldiers, it required the colonial authorities to provide food, quarters, drink, fuel, and transportation to British soldiers stationed in their towns or villages. The colonists opposed this act, because they were angry about having to provide their own money and houses for the British. -
Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act Congress was a meeting in New York City that lasted until October 25, 1765. It consisted of twenty-seven representatives from nine of the British colonies in North America. James Otis urged the colonies to have this meeting. This was the first colonial action against a British measure, and its purpose was to devise a unified protest against new British taxation, specifically the Stamp Act of 1765. -
Declaratory Act of 1766
The Declaratory Act of 1766 was passed, accompanied with the repeal of the Stamp Act. In the Declaratory Act of 1766, Parliament asserted its complete authority to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever.” This act stated that British Parliament’s taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain, and that Parliament had the authority to pass laws that were binding on the American colonies. -
Writs of Assistance
Writs of assistance were court orders that allowed customs officers to conduct searches of properties for illegal goods. These were general search warrants. They were first used in Massachusetts to enforce the Acts of Trade in 1751, compelling James Otis to argue that the writs violated colonists' privacy. When the Townshend Duties were being enforced in 1767, the writs were used again, causing colonial grievances. -
Townshend Acts of 1767
The Townshend Acts of 1767 were a series of four acts that were passed by the British Parliament on the American colonies. They placed new taxes on imports of paper, paint, tea, and glass. They also established an American Customs Board in Boston to collect taxes. Additionally, the Townshend Acts of 1767 set up new courts in America to prosecute smugglers (without using a local jury), and gave British officials the right to search colonists' houses and businesses (writs of assistance). -
Boston Massacre of 1770
The Boston Massacre of 1770 was a deadly riot that took place on King Street in Boston. Liberty boys were pelting sentries at the customs house with rocks and snowballs. British soldiers lined up in front of the building to protect it, and in the chaos, several British soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five people. In the British colonies, the Boston Massacre became a graphic symbol of British oppression and brutality. -
Tea Act of 1773
The Tea Act of 1773 was passed by British Parliament. It gave the East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies. Many colonists were enraged by this act, because colonial merchants feared being replaced and bankrupted by a powerful monopoly, and the Tea Act was another issue of taxation without representation. As a result, many colonists began to boycott tea and the Sons of Liberty took part in the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that took place in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists were protesting the Tea Act of 1773 and in general, “taxation without representation.” From ships, the Sons of Liberty, who were disguised as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 chests of British tea from the East India Company into Boston harbor. This was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonies. -
Coercive Acts of 1774
The Coercive Acts of 1774, also known as the Intolerable Acts, were measures enacted by British Parliament to punish the colonists for their acts of defiance, especially the Boston Tea Party. The Coercive Acts included the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, The Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. The acts targeted Massachusetts, the center of resistance, but, instead, sparked new resistance in the British colonies. -
Quebec Act of 1774
The Quebec Act of 1774 instituted a permanent administration in Canada. It granted French Canadians complete religious freedom and restored the French Civil Code for them, including reverting to the Roman Catholic Church. It made western claims to land by the coast colonies obsolete, because Quebec was extended to the Ohio River and the Mississippi River. Many colonists saw the act as coercive, by limiting territorial ambitions and recognizing Catholicism. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from all of the thirteen colonies, except Georgia, who relied on Britain for battle supplies. They met in Philadelphia in reaction to the Coercive Acts, and issued a Declaration of Rights in which it declared its loyalty to the British Crown, but disputed Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. They also passed the Articles of Association, which called on the colonies to stop importing British goods if the Coercive Acts were not repealed. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord started the Revolutionary War with British troops marching to Concord to seize an arms cache, much of which had already been relocated. On the way, a confrontation between colonist militiamen and those troops in Lexington started the fighting. After the British had failed to retrieve the arms from Concord, minutemen went to fight, which led to a British retreat. The first shots of the war, "the shots heard round the world," had been fired. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met after the start of the Revolutionary War, and consisted of many of the same delegates of the First Continental Congress. The Second Continental Congress was in charge of managing the colonial war effort, creating a continental army, and financing the war, by asking states to contribute men, supplies, and funds. In 1776, it declared America’s independence from Britain. In 1781, it ratified the first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was a document written and signed by the Second Continental Congress, in which the colonists pledged their loyalty to the British Crown, and asserted their rights as British citizens. This served as a final attempt by the colonists to avoid going to war with Britain. The petition was rejected by the king, and the colonists were declared as traitors, escalating the conflict into a full-scale war. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a document proclaiming colonial separation from Britain. It was drafted by Jefferson, and edited by members of Congress. It has an introduction, a preamble, a body, and a conclusion, stating that independence is necessary and listing grievances against the British crown. After, the Continental Congress came together again, and twelve of the thirteen colonies voted in favor of independence. The document was approved on this day, and signed on August 2, 1776.
