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Writs of Assistance
Court orders that authorized customs officers to conduct general (non-specific) searches of premises for contraband. The exact nature of the materials being sought did not have to be detailed, nor did their locations. -
Proclamation of 1763
British created a proclamation which would not allow anyone else to expand westward, a way to try to create a more stable relationship with the Indians. It would not allow anyone to advance past the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar Act
An act designed by Parliament that reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon and raised the tax on sugar. -
Stamp Act
Imposed a tax on most printed documents including newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, deeds, wills, licenses, etc. -
Quartering Act
Required the colonies to house British soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies. If the barracks were too small to house all the soldiers, then localities were to accommodate the soldiers in local inns, livery stables, ale houses, victualing houses, and the houses of sellers of wine. -
Mutiny Act
Stated that the colonists were required to assist in provisioning and maintaining the army. -
Stamp Act Congress
Was a meeting held in New York City consisting of representatives from the colonies. -
Declaratory Act
Act passed in 1766 after the repeal of the stamp act; stated that Parliament had authority over the the colonies and the right to tax and pass legislation "in all cases whatsoever." -
Townshend Act
A series of acts passed by Charles Townshend that imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported to the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
A group of British soldiers were stationed outside of the customs house in Boston, Massachusetts and when a quarrel with colonists began, shots went off, killing a few colonists. Shots from both sides began to begin, causing five colonists to die. The soldiers were tried and the head soldier was arrested for manslaughter, and the rest were acquitted. -
Tea Act - Tea Party
An act was placed on tea which allowed Britain’s East India Company to not go bankrupt and sell directly to the colonies, but sold to them at undersell prices. This greatly angered the colonists since they still had to abide by the Navigation Act causing them to rebel. They began to boycott tea and eventually went aboard a tea ship and threw many of the tea filled chests into the harbor. That event became known as the Boston Tea Party. -
Coercive Acts
George III and Lord North created the Coercive/Intolerable Acts which closed the port of Boston, reduced self-government powers, royal officers could be tried in other colonies or England, and the colonists needed to quarter troops. -
Quebec Act
A law passed by Parliament to institute a permanent administration in Canada replacing the temporary government created at the time of the Proclamation of 1763. It gave the French Canadians complete religious freedom and restored the French form of civil law. -
1st Continental Congress
Delegates from the colonies met in Carpenter Hall, in Pennsylvania and discussed a government to be put into place, with one president, but all of the colonies still being able to keep their colonial legislatures. The congress met after the passing of the coercive acts, as a way to come together and discuss the acts. The delegates endorsed a statement of grievances to the King, prepared a military, and agreed to non importation, non exportation, and non consumption of British goods. -
Lexington & Concord
Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the colonies and the British authorities. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere notified the minutemen and colonial militiamen began the first fight of the Revolutionary War. -
Olive Branch Petition
Written by John Dickinson, which appeals directly to King George III and expresses hope for reconciliation between the colonies and Great Britain. -
2nd Continental Congress
For the second time, delegates from the thirteen colonies met and discussed independence from England. They appointed a head of the Continental Army (George Washington) and signed the Declaration of Independence, which was ultimately written by Thomas Jefferson. At this congress, many decisions were made regarding the colonies and ways that they could come together to unify against the King. -
Declaration of Independence
Statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. Instead they formed a new nation
