-
The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. -
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies.
-
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. -
The Boston Tea Party was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea (which had been an example of taxation without representation) and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. -
The Intolerable Acts were meant to break Massachusetts Bay and to warn the other colonies of the consequences of rebellious behavior.
-
The First Continental Congress convenes
Called by the Committees of Correspondence in response to the Intolerable Acts, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. Fifty-six delegates represented all the colonies except Georgia. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, the famous 'shot heard 'round the world', marked the start of the American War of Independence. Politically disastrous for the British, it persuaded many Americans to take up arms and support the cause of independence.