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"No Taxation Without Representation!"
Many colonists believed Parliament had no right totax them as they had no representation in Parliament. So, for not allowing the people to be represented within Parliament, the people decided not to pay taxes and came up with the slogan. This event shows virtual representation because the people asked Parliament to let them be represented within Parliament in order for thier voices to be heard. They refused, and so the people refused to pay their taxes. -
Start of French & Indian War
Also known as the final Colonial War. The English and French battled for Colonial domination in North America. The English won and the war ended in 1763. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon, while Grenville took measures that the duty be strictly enforced. The act also listed more foreign goods to be taxed including sugar, wines, and many other things. This event is one of many that represents Mercantalism since many of these acts required the the colonists to only trade with Great Britain and not with other countries. Great Britain used the Colonies just to provide them natural resources. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was Parliament's first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies. Great Britain was faced with a massive national debt following the Seven Years War. That debt had grown from £72,289,673 in 1755 to £129,586,789 in 1764. So, Great Britain enforced the Stamp act in order to help pay off their debt. -
The Quartering Act of 1765
Lieutenant-General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of forces in British North America, and other British officers who had fought in the French and Indian War, had found it hard to persuade colonial assemblies to pay for quartering and provisioning of troops on the march. So, the purpose of this act was to take back hold of the colonies. -
Patrick Henry's Speech
Patrick gave his famous "Give me liberty, or give me death!" speech to express his opinion and feelings on the way that Great Britain was treating the colonies with the amount of acts and rules that they've been forcing upon them. -
The Declaratory Act
After Britain repealed the Stamp Act in 1765, they issued the Declaratory Act in order to give Parliament permission to do whatever they thought was "right" for the empire. So, as a result, British Parliament began to issue several acts against the US, such as the Quartering Act and the Townshend Act, and the US couldn't do anything to stop them simply because Britain said that they were "good" for the empire. -
Boston Non-Importation Agreement
The Boston Non-Importation Agreement was a formal collective decision made by Boston based merchants and traders not to import or export items to Britain. The agreement, essentially a boycott, was a series of agreed upon commercial restrictions the colonists put in place with regard to trade with the mother country. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an incident in which British Army soldiers killed five civilian men. British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. This event also represents Salutary Neglect because the colonists responded to this event by cutting off all connections with Great Britain and deciding to govern themselves. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and in fact imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. -
The First Continental Congress
A group of 56 delegates from each colony, except for Georgia, came to discuss in secrecy in response to the Intolerable Acts. This event is one that represents Salutary Neglect because the colonists are starting to resist Great Britain through this event. In response to the Boston Tea Party, the british forced the Intolerable Acts upon the colonists. So, the colonists held this event in order to decide how they were going to fight back. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was the political war during the last half of the 18th century in which thirteen colonies in North America joined together to break free from the British Empire in order to become independent from them.
