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Britain gains control of the colonies.
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Britain passes the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act forces colonists to pay taxes to Britain to pay the cost of the French and Indian War. The colonists oppose the Stamp Act.
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Sons of Liberty organizations are founded in towns across the colonies in order to fight against the stamp agents, often with outright violence.
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The Townshend Act is passed. The Townshend Act is another tax placed on the colonists from Britain.
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British troops land in Boston to protect British tax collectors from unhappy colonists.
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British troops fired into a group of protestors, killing five of them.
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The Tea Act goes into effect, retaining the import tax on tea and giving the East India Company the ability to undersell colonial merchants.
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After months of growing frustration with the Tea Act, a group of Boston activists dressed as Mohawk Indians and boarded tea ships anchored in Boston Harbor in order to dump 342 casks of tea into the water.
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The Intolerable Acts pass in parliament to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party
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Patrick Henry gives his famous "Give me liberty or give me death," speech at the Virginia convention
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First shots fired at the Battles of Lexington and Concord.