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John Dickinson
Description: John Dickinson was the “Penman of the Revolution” for writing Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania and was for the colonial rights through his presidencies in Delaware and Pennsylvania and his attendances of both Continental Congresses and the Constitution Convention of 1787.
British Perspective: John Dickinson claimed some of the recent Parliamentary acts were unconstitutional.
Colonial Perspective: John Dickinson was viewed as a true patriot by the colonists. His Letters from a -
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French and Indian War
Description: The French and Indian War was a continuation of a long lasting feud between Britain and France. The fighting had moved from Europe to the Americas, with the French gaining new Native American military allies.
British Perspective: The British wanted to expand west of Virginia and Pennsylvania into the Ohio River valley to farm.
Colonial Perspective: The colonials were discouraged and questioned the British Army due to the early British losses. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
Description: The Treaty of Paris ended the the French and Indian War and nearly removed the French from the Americas.
British Perspective: The British gained most of France’s land in America and Spain’s Florida as a result of the Treaty of Paris
Colonial Perspective: Colonists were given more land to expand west because of the Treaty of Paris. -
Sugar Act
Description: The Sugar Act taxed new imports, reduced foreign molasses tax by fifty percent, and colonists accused of violating the act were to be tried in a vice-admiralty court.
British Perspective: The British government needed money to pay off their doubled debt from the French and Indian War.
Colonial Perspective: Colonial merchants and traders viewed the Sugar Act as unjust without elected representatives. -
Stamp Act
Description: The Stamp Act put a tax on many printed documents. Stamped items were proved to have been taxed.
British Perspective: The Stamp Act was initiated to pay for some of the British troops stationed in the colonies.
Colonial Perspective: Being the first tax to directly affect the colonists, enraged colonials formed the Sons of Liberty to protest the law. -
Quartering Act
Description: The Quartering Act forced colonists to pay for housing and food for British soldiers.
British Perspective: British soldiers lacked housing and provisions before the Quartering Act.
Colonial Perspective: The colonists viewed the Quartering Act as violating the Bill of Rights. -
Stamp Act Congress
Description: Merchants and representatives of the thirteen colonies held a secret Stamp Act Congress in New York to boycott the Stamp Act.
British Perspective: By the time word of the Stamp Act Congress reached London it had already been in session. Although British government was infuriated and disturbed by the secret meeting, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and passed the Declaratory Act the same day.
Colonial Perspective: The colonial perspective of the Stamp Act Congress was well stated in -
Declaratory Act
Description: The Declaratory Act allowed Parliament to make binding laws on the colonies.
British Perspective: The Declaratory Act was a move to maintain British power after repealing the Stamp Act.
Colonial Perspective: While some colonists were celebrating their victory with the repeal of the Stamp Act, others feared of more future acts to be passed. -
Townshend Act
Description: The Townshend Act imposed taxes on goods imported into the colonies including tea the most popular drink in the colonies.
British Perspective:
Colonial Perspective: Samuel Adams and other Sons of liberty once again boycotted British goods taxed by the Townshend Act. -
Boston Massacre
Description: The Boston Massacre resulted in the deaths of five colonists. Shots were fired by British officers after being heckled by a large mob of colonists.
British Perspective: The Boston Massacre was an accidental shooting caused by confusion and the yelling of “FIRE!”
Colonial Perspective: Colonists were outraged and later used the Boston Massacre as anti-British propaganda. It also lead to the repeal of the Townshend Act. -
Tea Act
Description: The Tea Act allowed the East India Company to sell tea without the taxes colonial merchants were required to pay.
British Perspective: The Tea Act was intended to save the British East India Company from near bankruptcy.
Colonial Perspective: Colonial merchants were upset by the Tea Act, because it unfairly favored the East India Company in the tea industry. -
Boston Tea Party
Description: The Boston Tea Party was an event when a group of Boston rebels dressed as Mohawk Indians dumped 18,000 pounds of British Tea into Boston Harbor.
British Perspective: The infuriated British closed down the Boston harbor.
Colonial Perspective: The Boston Tea Party inspired more colonists to rebel. -
First Continental Congress
Description: The First Continental Congress was a meeting of 56 delegates to discuss colonial rights and to plan on defending these rights if Britain were to try and take them away.
British Perspective: The enraged British sent 700 troops to Concord in response to the First Continental Congress, starting the revolution.
Colonial Perspective: Following the First Continental Congress many colonies made military precautions with training of Minutemen. -
Committees of Correspondence
Description:The Committees of Correspondence was formed as a way for the colonies to secretly plan moves against Great Britain.
British Perspective: The British highly detested secret organizations such as the Committees of Correspondence.
Colonial Perspective: The Committees of Correspondence provided colonials to plan rebellions. -
Coercive/ Intolerable Acts
Description: The Intolerable were a series of laws past doing such things as closing the Boston harbor and quartering soldiers.
British Perspective: Britain was in a time where they felt they needed more control over the colonies through the Intolerable Acts.
Colonial Perspective: The Intolerable Acts were essentially the point-of-no-return towards the Revolutionary War. They affected and angered many colonists quite directly. -
Second Continental Congress
Description: The Second Continental Congress was scheduled in order for the colonists to plan their next move.
British Perspective: After the Second Continental Congress the war had officially begun. The British army took action by striking militiamen on Breed’s Hill.
Colonial Perspective: The Second Continental Congress force the colonists to splint into loyalists and patriots. They also decided to form the Continental Army.