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Mercantilism forms
The theroy of mercantilism form in this time. Mercantilism is a principle that a nation should always try to maintain a favorable balance of trade by exporting more than it imports. The Americas wanted to abide by this principle because they needed to establish a strong economy in the world and were in a strong trading position as their lands had not yet been tapped for resources. -
Salutory Neglect Forms
As the colonies were first formed and started to grow their British overseers adopted a policy of salutory neglect torwards them. This meant that the British would not dig into the colonies buisnees allowing them alot more freedom but cutting off acess to assistance from Britain. -
French and Indian War Begins
The French and Indian war was actually a war between the French and British, not Indians, over control of the Americas. The war has Indian in the title due to the fact that many Indian tribes were involved in the war with most alligning with the British but a few siding with france. Britain would go on to win the war and gain almost all of France's land in the new world. -
Proclamation of 1763 Signed
The Proclamation of 1763 ended the French and Indian war by having the French sign to Britains terms of surrender. The proclamation gave most of France's land to the British, save port Orleans. However with the war won by Britain they were now in dead debt as they had essentially ¨bought¨ victory as they hired Germans to fight and had better weapons than the French. -
The Stamp Act is Enacted
The Stamp Act was another law passed on the colonists by Parliament that also upset colonists. The law stated that any object with a stamp, which was usually a paper based product, would have an insanely high tax placed on it by the British and the tax would be enforced by appointed custom officers. -
The Quartering Act is Enacted
The quarting act was a law put on the colonists after being passed by Parliament. The act established that colonists woud be required by law to house, shelter, feed, and care for any British soilder that should enter their house. This act was unpopular among the colonists as soilders often abused this privelage and mistreated their hosts. -
The Stamp Act Congress Meets
The Stamp Act Congree was a comitte formed, by the colonists, in response to Parliament passing the Stamp Act. Given the act's unpopularity in the colonies, and the massive drain it was on their economy, the comiite's main goal was to get the act repealled and move the colonies torwards and independant government. -
Declaratory Acts Enacted
The Declatory Acts were ther Bitish's response to the colonies making them repeal the stamp act. The Declatory Act stated that Parliament had the same taxing privleges in the colonies as they did in Britain. This meant they could tax how ever much they wanted on what ever they wanted. This was a major blow to the colonies and brought them even closer to rebeling. -
Townshend Acts Passed
The Townshend Acts were another act passed in response to the stamp acts repealment. These laws put high taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Given these items were used a lot in the colonies and that the taxes were insanely high this was a major push for the colonists to move torwards rebellion. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the result of a stand off between a group of British soilders and a mob of colonists. The mob of colonists were marching on the Boston court house as they were unhappy about all the new acts that had been enacted. A patrol of soilders was sent to the court house to calm the riot and protect the court house. Thr colonists stood around the soilders and the courthouse rioting untill the soilders fired into the crowd killing several colonists. -
Tea Acts Passed
This was Britain's first law passed on the colonists after the Boston massacre and a grab at re-attainig control of the colonies. The British sought to gain control of the colonies by passing an act that would allow them complete control of one of their most valuable exports, tea. The act put a high tax on buying and trading tea in the colonies dramaticly hurting their buisness. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Bosto Tea Party was an act of revolt from the colonies to Britain in protest of the tea act. The revolt was lead by the Sons of Liberty as they dressed as Indians and borded a British ship full of tea. The Sons of Liberty took the ships and to show their distaste of the tea act, dumped a small fortunes worth of tea into Boston Harbor. -
The Intolerable Acts
In an enraged response to The Boston Tea Party the British Parliament began passing act after act on the colonies forcing them into complete submission. These acts were meant to give britain total control of the colonies by giving them the power to manage essentially everythig in the colonies -
First Continental Congress
In response to Britain trying to tighten its grip on the colonies the held an assembly of each of the colonies estemeed members. Thes included George Washington, Ben Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson. The assambly would toss around ideas and the thought of rebellion but it wouldn't be untill their second gathering that action would take place -
Second Continental Congress
A year after the first continental congres the leaders reconviend in order to discuss how they would suceed from the British empire. All the major figures from the first continental congress returned and it was here that the Declaration of Independence was prestened, approved, and signed -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
This is considered to be the first battle of the revolutionary war. THe battle of Lexintgton was a British assault attempting to raid the millitias supplies. The colonists lost and fled to Concord where, despite fighting heavily, lost and gave the British a major win in the war. -
Thomas Paine Publishes Common Sense
In early seventeen seventy six a man named Thomas Paine published a short article titled ¨Common Sense¨. In this article Thomas Paine used simple logic to prove that succesion was a good idea. Thomas did this by bringing the argument down to its simplest points and putting very clear good and bad thoughts on each side. -
Declaration oof Independence Sgned
On this day the Declaration of Indepepndence, prestented at the second continental congress and written by Thomas Jefferson, is signed and sent to Britain. This historic document stated America's clear wishes to leave Britain and outlined how they planned to lead their new government. -
Revolutionary War Ends
The massive war between America and Britain came to an end this year. The war brought massive casualties to both sides and the British finally deciding to cut their losses, surendered and America was made free. -
Treaty of Paris Signed
The treaty of Paris was Americas terms of surrender for the British which simple stated that Britain no longer controlled the colonies and that they were now their own nation. The treaty didn't ask for anything from the British as the colonists didn't want to push their luck and were more then contempt with earning their freedom from Britain
