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Royal Proclamation of 1763
In 1763, King George III issued a Royal Proclamation that prohibited American settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The intent was to prevent further wars with the Indians by keeping settlers away from Indian territory. However, the Americans were displeased with the proclamation, having fought for the territory alongside the British, and felt that they were entitled to some share in the land. -
Sugar Act and Currency Act.
In 1764, Parliament passed the Sugar Act and the Currency Act. The Sugar Act greatly increased enforcement of certain tariffs and denied smugglers the right to trial by jury, and the Currency act prohibited paper currency, which had come into existence in the colonies as early as 1690. Both of these acts frustrated Americans. -
Stamp Act
In 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, imposing a direct tax on all paper items by requiring them to have certain stamps. This was the first direct tax imposed on the colonies, and the colonists were furious. The colonists had no representation in Parliament, yet the British were directly taxing them. The colonists believed that they were legally obligated to some representation before they paid taxes. -
Stamp Act Repealed, Declaratory Act
In February 1766, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in response to widespread protests in America. However, it also passed the Declaratory Act in the same year, declaring that it still had the right to impose direct taxes on the colonists. -
Townshend Acts
In June 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. These acts imposed new customs duties on many common items. The Townshend acts were treated as taxes by the Americans because they were primarily designed to extract revenue from America and not to regulate trade like other customs duties. In essence, they were an indirect tax on Americans. -
Boston Massacre, Most Townshend Acts Repealed
On March 5, a crowd outside the Customs House in Boston became violent. Fearing for their safety, the British troops fired upon them, killing 5 people.
In the same month, Parliament repealed most of the Townshend acts in response to massive popular resistance, but did not repeal the tax on tea.
However, the Boston Massacre could not have directly caused the repeal of the Townshend Acts because Parliament could not have received news from America that quickly. -
Tea Act, Regulating Act
In April 1773, the East India Company was nearing bankruptcy. It possessed a large surplus of unsold tea and was having trouble repaying its debts. Parliament decided to pass the Regulating Act, which effectively put the company under government control. It then passed the Tea Act, which exempted the company from the London export tax and permitted it to directly sell tea in the colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
On December 16, 1773, a crowd of over seven thousand people boarded ships in Boston Harbor that were carrying a large tea shipment from England. They had successfully prevented the tea from being offloaded, but the ships refused to leave the harbor, so further action was needed on the part of the Americans to prevent the tea from eventually reaching the shore. Why didn't the Americans want the tea? They didn't want to pay the taxes on the tea an potentially set a precedent for further taxation. -
Declaration of Indepencence
On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence.