-
Period: to
Road to Revolution
-
Navigation Laws
Prime Minister, George Grenville, ordered the navy to enforce the Navigation Laws. The Navigation Laws ordered anyone who wanted to trade with the colonies to go to England first. The English were in a great amount of debt, so they rerouted travelers so that they could trade first and the leftovers would be traded with the colonies -
The Sugar Act
This act was the first law passed by Parliament. Its purpose was to raise revenue for England from the colonies. The act caused an increased duty on sugar coming from the West Indies. The duties decreased again after the protests. -
The Stamp Act
This was passed by Parliament in order to receive revenue for the British troops. It was intended to be and was the biggest paying act passed. The act created a tax on every paper goods. The citizens of England had to pay an even higher tax on paper and stamps. This caused outbreaks and anger to the colonies. -
The Quartering Act
This act was passed by Parliament in 1765. It required the colonists to provide shelter and food for the British soldiers. The Quartering Act created a new kind of anger to the colonists. -
The Stamp Act Congress
The Stamp Act of Congress was a meeting to discuss the repeal of the Stamp Act. The colonists wanted the king and Parliament to repeal the legislation. This was ignored which caused a new unification of the colonies. The Sons and Daughters of Liberty started protesting the act and eventually caused the machinery for collecting tax to break down and repeal. -
The Declaratory Act
This act was passed by Parliament showing that England still controlled the colonies over everything. The British government redefined it’s constitutional principle. the principle was to have “absolute and unqualified sovereignty over colonies”. -
The Townshend Acts
These Acts were passed to tax the colonies on imported goods. The colonists were furious with the Townshed Acts. The colonists refused to pay any taxes without representation. The Townshed Acts failed to generate revenue, produced a near-rebellion, and nonimportation hurt the English economy. -
The Boston Massacre
A fight started between colonists and British troops in Boston. Colonists started to throw snowballs at the soldiers. Then they started to throw rocks and bricks. The British soldiers started to fight back. A fire broke out in a building so someone shouted, “Fire!” The soldiers heard the word fire and killed two people. The first person to die was Crispus Attucks. -
The Tea Act
The British East India Tea Company was facing bankruptcy, so the British created the Tea Act. The Tea Act only allowed tea in the colonists to be traded with England. Also, the colonists could sell their own tea for cheap but they were afraid it was a trick. The British East India Tea Company had 17 million pounds of unsold tea. Other tea-bearing ships had to go to England since they couldn’t sell to the colonies. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party happened at the Boston harbor because the colonists were fed up with the tax on tea and the restricted trading of goods. So, a group of colonists were disguised as Indians and boarded ships. They smashed 342 chests of tea, enough to fill 18.5 million tea bags, and dumped them into the harbor. -
The Intolerable Acts
After the Boston Tea Party happened, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts as a punishment. The most effective punishment was the Boston Port Act. The Boston Port Act closed the Boston port until damages that were caused during the Boston Tea Party were paid. Other acts restricted town meetings and the New Quartering Act allowed authorities to have anyone house soldiers with no excuses. -
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress met to talk about the hardships that were occurring in the colones. They met in Philadelphia with twelve out of thirteen of the colonies attending. There were 55 delegates that attended, including Samuel Adams and George Washington. The Continental Congress created the Declaration of Rights, several solemn appeals, and started a boycott that caused the nonimportation, non-exportation, and non-consumption of British goods. -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord
After the rejection of Congress’s petitions, the colonists started to train for a war. The British commander that was stationed in Boston heard about the training and sent soldier to Lexington and Concord. British soldiers were also supposed to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams, who were the leaders of the training. At Lexington, “Minute Men” refused to leave. So, the British fired and killed eight men with others injured. Then, the British went to Concord where they were ambushed.
