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Sugar Act
Indirect tax (out of sight = out of mind)
Duties on molasses and sugar -
Stamp Act
Tax on all paper products
Official stamp/seal on all paper items (proof tax was paid)
Purchased only with valuable silver coins
If didn’t purchase= fined or jailed
Direct tax
-(in your face tax) -
Repealing Stamp Act
Boycott
Parliament agrees to repeal (get rid of) the Stamp Act -
Declaratory Act
Parliament declares it has power to make laws for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever". Parliament passes this to save face. -
Townshend Act
Taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea
Searched for smuggled goods -
Boston Massacre
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! -
Tea Act
Passed in 1773 and allowed British east India company BEIC to sell tea directly to colonists
Lower prices than colonist merchant prices
Tax Tea cheaper than smuggled tea
Less smuggling= more tax money -
Boston Tea Party
Members of Sons of Liberty Dump over 340 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Passed to punish Boston for the Tea Party
Boston Harbor Closed until tea paid for
Massachusetts Charter canceled
Quartering Act required colonists 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 -
First Continental Congress meet
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 of Redcoats in Boston
General Gage bring thousands of British soldiers to Boston and more on the way -
Midnight ride of Paul Revere
Paul Revere rides to warn the Son of Liberty in Lexington and Concord that the "British are coming... the British are coming.." -
Battles of Lexington & Concord
Battle of Lexington- 1st 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 & Ethan Allen capture the fort.
Get all supplies in the fort including cannons.
AMERICAN Victory. -
The second Continental Congress meet
Print $$$$
set up post office
Created Continental Army led by George Washington
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 outskirts of Boston with Continental troops
Realizes men are disorganized & need discipline
Need weapons -
"Common Sense" published by Thomas Paine
Pamphlet more colonists to become patriots
"Every things 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 & 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 Independence is signed