Road to Revolution

sugar act

Apr 5, 1764

indirect tax(out of sight=out of mind)
Duties on molasses and sugar

stamp act

Mar 22, 1765

Tax on all products Official stamp/seal on all paper items (proof tax was paid)
Legal documents
Licenses
Newspapers
Pamphlets
Playing cards

Declaratory act

Mar 18, 1766

Parliament declared it has power to make laws for the colonies”in all cases whatsoever”
parliaments pass this to save face

Townshend act

Jun 29, 1767

Taxes on glass,lead,paints,paper,and tea
Search for smuggled goods -sons of liberty start to do violent acts
-british soldiers arrived to protect tax collectors

Boston massacre

Mar 5, 1770

soldier strikes colonist
Crowd gathers and hassles soldier, throwing snowballs and shouting insults.
More troops arrive, colonists get more and more angry
“Fire if you dare!”
This became known as the Boston Massacre

Intolerable act

Mar 31, 1773

passed to punish Boston for tea party
Boston Harbor Closed until tea paid for
massachusetts Charter canceled

tea act

May 10, 1773

Lower prices than colonist merchant prices
Tax Tea cheaper than smuggled tea
Less smuggled=more tax money

Boston tea party

Dec 16, 1773

Members of Sons of Liberty Dump over 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor “Boston harbor is a teapot tonight!”
Caused problems for loyalists /Tories
Loyalist/Tory = a person in the
Colony who remains “loyal” to
the King & Great Britain

Quartering act

Jun 2, 1774

Quartering act required colonists to house soldiers
”if a soldier comes knocking at the door…. You are sleeping on the floor”
large amount of land given to quebec

Battles of lexington & Concord

Apr 19, 1775

Battle of Lexington
-1st battle of American Revolutionary war -”shot heard round the world”-ralph waldo emerson Battle of concord
-American Stop British and force them to retreat back to Boston

Second continental congress meet

May 10, 1775

-print money
-set up post office
-created continental army led by george washington
-sent olive branch asking king to protect their right
-king hired 30,000 Hessians soldiers in response

Battle of bunker hill

Jun 16, 1775

-fought on breed’s Hill
-”Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes”-William Perscott -British victory(Americans ran out of ammunition) British learn defeating Americans would not be easy.

Washington arrives on outskirts of boston with continental troops

Jul 15, 1775

-realizes men are disorganized need discipline
-need weapons

Capture of fort ticonderoga

May 10, 1776

-Benedict Arnold & Ethan Allen capture the fort
-get all supplies in the fort including cannons