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The French and Indian Wars main causes are land competition between Britain and France, control of trade routes in North America. The French start off the war strong but the British come back with the help of the Iroquois. Britain starts to gain more and more land because they are spending a lot more money then the French. Britain captures Quebec in 1759 and Montreal in 1960. The Treaty of Paris ends the war. The British will soon blame the colonials for the war. -
The Sugar Act was designed to decrease smuggling, which the colonists had gotten very good at. It was also an indirect tax on the colonists. The British were in a lot of debt from the 7 years war and they had blamed the colonists for the war. They then said that the colonists had to pay taxes now to pay back for the war. This did not work as the colonists kept on smuggling in Sugar. They repealed this act and it lead into the Stamp Act. -
The Stamp Act was created because the British could not stop the colonists from smuggling in the sugar. This direct tax put a tax on ALL paper products. From books to the newspaper it was all taxed. It was harder to smuggle because if your paper did not have a stamp you would be fined. The colonists resisted the tax. They boycotted most paper products and some groups were created. This did not work either and the British were getting upset. This led directly into the Townshend act. -
The Townshend Acts were Great Britain's real last attempt at trying to tax the American colonists. This tax took place of the stamp act. The Townshend Acts specifically taxed items that colonists did not use a necessity but on very strongly wanted items such as; glass, paint, and tea. The colonists were very upset with these new taxes. The British realized how much the colonists loved their tea and came up with a new tax that would lead to the Boston Tea Party. -
The Boston Massacre was an act on American Colonists from an attack from 13 British Soldiers in Boston. First there was just a few boys mocking the soldiers but it quickly grew into a crowd of more then 200 people throwing snowballs and other things at the soldiers. At one point someone fired a weapon it is unclear if the Americans told the British to shoot or if they received a direct command from their officer. This started to get people angrier and would be a lead up to the intolerable acts. -
King George infringes on multiple rights of the colonists by forcing them to quarter soldiers in peace time, restricting their access to the Ohio River Valley, closing off their port, and making them pay back the debt for the Boston Tea party which was a direct cause for this act. This is the act that really set people over the edge and not too long after this there was a meeting in Philadelphia to discuss making a new country. -
Following the Intolerable Acts members from each colony meet in Philadelphia to discuss whether they should remain in the British Empire or if they should leave and form their own country. They have Thomas Jefferson draft a letter to the King with 27 complaints on how he has infringed on their rights and that they will do what ever it takes to fight for this new country including laying down their own life.