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The French and Indian war aftermath
The aftermath of the French and Indian war, also called The Seven Year's War, revealed the tensions between the British government and the colonists. The British was in debt after the war; so they taxed the colonists to help pay for the debt. This angered them completely, leading to increased tensions. -
Taxes and tensions
After the war, Britain took on a huge number of debt and they sought to pay it off. The colonies payed little taxes compared to the British mainland and in the British governments eyes they saw it as unfair. Britain passed ¨the Sugar, Quartering, and Stamp act´s¨ between 1764 to 1765. Colonist angrily protested against the taxes and yelled ¨no taxation without representation!¨ Many colonist thought the British was trying to take away their civil liberties. -
Colonial protest rises
American colonist resisted the taxes by protesting, boycotting, and intimidation. Their goal was to get the British government to back down and remove the taxes. The Protest took upon ideas that came from the Enlightenment movement. Idea´s consist of people having the right to life, liberty, and property. Government is supposed to protect those rights, and the their should be a social contract between the government and the populous. -
Leaders emerge and boycotts are initiated
Shortly after tax laws were passed, there was opposition against it. American colonist who protested against the taxes called themselves Patriots. A group of men created an organization called the Sons of Liberty. One of the organizations most well known leaders is Samuel Adams, a relative of future president John Adams. People took the initiative to Boycott British goods to hurt the British market. -
New taxes Lead to New Protests
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Act, which basically levied new import duties on everyday items such as glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. The law was supposed to get the colonists to pay new taxes to the British government. -
The Boston massacre
On March 5, 1770, a group of colonists under the leadership of Patriot Samuel Adams started harassing British soldiers in which they shot and killed five colonists. This event was known as the Boston Massacre. -
The Boston tea party
On the night of December 16, 1773, American Patriots dressed up as Indians and bordered three British ships carrying tea and dumped it into the harbor. That´s due to Parliament passing a law that would allow the British East India Company to sell tea directly to the colonists and tax them. The British did that to help the company's financial problems. -
Britian´s power grab and colonist outrage
The event known as The Boston Tea Party outraged the British government, so the British government passed the Coercive act, shut down the ports until the colonist paid the expenses of all the Tea that´s been destroyed, granted more power to the governor, and sent war ships to occupy Boston. The Colonist we´re outraged and horrified by the acts. People reacted with violence, and delegates from each and every state met together in the first continental convention in Philadelphia. -
War begins
A dispute happened in early 1775 between the British government and the colonist, and the dispute took a turn for the worst. The colonist stockpiled weapons and ammo, and the war was set in stage to happen. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
General Thomas Gage had sent British troops to arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams and other colonial leaders in Lexington to seize Patriot weapons stockpiled in Concord. Local Patriots got tipped off about the coming actions from the British military and ambushed the British soldiers at Lexington. The British repelled the ambush and marched towards a place called Concord only to be ambushed again by the Minute Men. Over 200 British soldiers were killed or wounded and they feel back to Boston.
