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Molasses Act
This act was one of the Navigation Acts. It was put in place to regulate the trade of the American colonists. It put a tax on rum and molasses imported from non-English areas. The colonial response to this was not pay the tax and to smuggle goods. -
Proclamation of 1763
This act set laws/limitations on Native American land, purchases of land, and trade with Indians. It prohibited colonial settlement beyond the Appalachian crest (west). The colonial response was to ignore the act and move west anyway. -
Sugar Act
This act outlawed the importation of foreign rum and put a modest duty on molasses. It also levied on luxury items such as wines and silks. It was thought that when this act replaced the molasses act, it would reduce the amount of smuggling. The colonists reacted negatively to this act. They boycotted British products, which hurt Britain financially. -
Stamp Act
This act required newspapers, broadsides, pamphlets, licenses, leases, and other legal documents to have stamps that verified the payment of tax on them. The colonial response to this act was very violent. The colonists boycotted British goods and even went as far as to attack tax collectors. They wrote documents, held debates and public gatherings in resistance -
Declaratory Act
This act stated that the British Parliament had the same authority to tax America as it did in Great Britain. The colonists did not have an extreme reaction to this act. Some thought that it was simply put in place to ease the embarrassment England felt after repealing the Stamp act, others thought that it was a threat for more taxation. -
Townshend Act
This act placed duties on paper, glass, lead, and tea from Britain. The colonists reaction to this act was very similar to their reaction to the Stamp act. They decided not to import the taxed goods (paper, glass, lead, and tea) and people who violated the boycott were harassed. -
Boston Massacre
The British government was trying to gain more control over the colonist and raise taxes at the same time. This caused an argument in front of the customs house in Boston on kings street. The colonists began to throw snowballs and sticks at the soldiers. This resulted in the soldiers opening fire on the colonists and killed 5 of them. The colonists were enraged after this event. Several responded to this by engraving, writing, and painting accounts of the event and making the soldiers look bad. -
Battle of Alamance
This was the final battle of the War of the Regulation, a rebellion in colonial North Carolina over issues of taxation and local control -
The Gaspee Affair
The Gaspee was a ship that was sent into waters by King George III to enforce maritime and prevent smuggling. The Gaspee was chasing a merchant ship. The Gaspee became stranded on top of a sandbar. Sons of Liberty from the Merchant ship began to row on boats with muffled oars to the ship. They attacked the ship and set it on fire. -
Boston Tea Party
Colonists were enraged after the tea act was put into place. Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians and infiltrated into 3 ships filled with tea. They threw 342 chests full of tea overboard in protest to the tax. -
Boston Port Act
This act shut down the Boston Harbor until all the tea thrown out in the Boston Tea Party was paid for. This was an act of punishment towards the colonists. The colono -
Quartering Act of 1774
This act stated that soldiers can be quartered into public houses and inns when there is no space in the barracks. This was almost a punishment for the opposition of the first Quartering Act. The colonist's reaction to this act was very negative. They were worried about two things; the cost of housing extra people and the fear of formal armies.