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Sugar act
Indirect tax(out of sight = out of mind)
Duties on molasses and sugar Parliament’s taxes upset colonists -
stamp act
Tax on all paper items
Official stamp/seal on all paper items (proof tax was paid)
Purchased only with valuable silver coins
If didn’t purchased = fined or jailed
Direct tax In your face tax -
Declaratory acts
Parliament declares it has power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever"
Parliament passes this to save face -
townshend acts
Taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea
Searched for smuggled goods -
boston massacre
March 5, 1770: Soldier strikes colonists
– crowd gathers and hassles soldiers, throwing snowballs and shouting insults.
– More troops arrive, colonists get more and more angry
– “fire if you dare!” -
tea act
Passed in 1773 and allowed British East India Company (BEIC) to sell tea directly to colonists
– Lower Prices than colonists merchant prices
– Tax tea cheaper then smuggled tea
– less smuggling = more tax money -
Boston tea party
Members of the sons of Liberty dumped over 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. Caused problems for loyalists / Tories -
Intolerable acts/ quartering act
Passed to punish Boston for the tea party
– boston harbor closed until tea paid for
– Massachusetts charter canceled
– quartering act act required colonist to house soldiers
“If a soldier comes knocking at the door…. You’re sleeping on the floor.”
– general thomas gage became new governor of MA -
quatering act
redcoats could at anytime sleep in peoples houses and kick them out. -
First Continental Congress meets
-All colonies but Georgia have representatives
-voted to send a "statement of grievances"
-voted to boycott all British trade
-Patrick Henry - VA rep. urged colonists to unite against Britain -
1,000's of redcoats in Boston
General Gage brings thousands of British soldiers to Boston with more on the way. -
Midnight ride of paul revere
Paul revere rides to warn thr Sons of Liberty in Lexington and Concord that the "British are coming... The British are coming.." -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Battle of Lexington -
First battle of American Revolutionary War
"shot heard round the world" -Ralph Waldo Emerson
British victory
Battle of concord -
Americans Stop British and force them to retreat back to Boston
American victory -
Capture of Fort Ticonderoga
Benedict Arnold and Ethan Allen capture the fort.
Get all supplies in the fort including cannons.
American victory. -
the second continental congress meet
Made a post office of their own
started printing money of their own
makes their own army and George Washington leads the army
sent Olive Branch asking King to protect their rights
-King hires 30,000 Hessians Soldiers in response -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Fought on Breed's hill.
"Don't fire until you see the whites of their eyes." - William Prescott
British victory (Americans ran out of ammunition ) British learn defeating Americans would not be easy. -
Washington arrives on the outskirts of Boston with continental troops
Realizes men are disorganized & need discipline
need weapons -
"common sense" published by Thomas Paine
Pamphlet inspires more colonists to become patriots
"Every thing that is right or reasonable pleads for separation. The blood of the slain, the weeping voice of nature cries, 'TIS TIME TO PART" -Thomas Paine, Common Sense -
British surrender Boston
Washington believes his army is ready and weapons arrive
Washington puts cannons on Dorchester heights overlooking Boston
British retreat - American Victory -
Second continental congress meet again
Debate on declaring independence
Thomas Jefferson is the primary author of the document -
second continental congress votes for Independence
all 13 colonies vote YES on declaring independence -
the declaration of inependence is signed
