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French & Indian War
The French and Indian War began because of an issue caused by whether the upper Ohio River Valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginia and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire. -
Proclamation Of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British at the end of the French and Indian War to appease Native Americans by checking the encroachment of European settlers on their lands. -
Sugar Act
Summary. In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act, with the goal of raising 100,000 pounds, an amount equal to one-fifth of the military expenses in North America. ... The Sugar Act lowered the duty on foreign-produced molasses from six pence per gallon to 3 pence per gallon, in attempts to discourage smuggling. -
Stamp Act
(Gilder Lehrman Collection) On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the "Stamp Act" to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years' War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed, which led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord signaled the start of the American Revolutionary War on April 19, 1775. The British Army set out from Boston to capture rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington as well as to destroy the American’s store of weapons and ammunition in Concord. -
Tea Act
In an effort to save the troubled enterprise, the British Parliament passed the Tea Act in 1773. The act granted the company the right to ship its tea directly to the colonies without first landing it in England, and to commission agents who would have the sole right to sell tea in the colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea imported into the harbor by the British East India Company. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts (passed/Royal assent March 31–June 22, 1774) were punitive laws padded by the Britain Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. -
The Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was a final attempt by the colonists to avoid going to war with Britain during the American Revolution. It was a document where the colonists pledged their loyalty to the crown and asserted their rights as Britain citizens. The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775.