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Treaty of Paris
help stop the French and Indian war, and finally creates peace for Britiain and other countries. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763 by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War. It established Britain's new North American empire and was supposed to stabilize relations with Native Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases of settlers on the western frontier. -
Paxton Boys Uprising
Paxton Boys uprising, attack by Pennsylvania frontiersmen upon an Indian settlement that occurred in December 1763 during the Pontiac Indian uprising. About 57 drunken rangers from Paxton, Pa., slaughtered 20 innocent and defenseless Conestoga Indians near Lancaster, Pa. -
Sugar Act Passes
The Sugar Act lowered the import tax on foreign molasses in an attempt to deter smuggling, and placed a heavy tax on Madeira wine, which had traditionally been duty-free. The act mandated that many commodities shipped from the colonies had to pass through Britain before going to other European countries. -
Stamp Act Passed
The Stamp Act is any legislation that requires a tax to be paid on the transfer of certain documents. Those that pay the tax receive an official stamp on their documents, making them legal documents. -
The Quatering Act
The Quartering Act required colonial legislatures to pay for certain supplies for British troops stationed in each colony. The Quartering Act became controversial during 1766, when New York refuses to comply with it. -
The Virginia House of Burgesses passes the Virginia Resolves
The Virginia Resolves denied Parliament's right to tax the colonies under the Stamp Act, igniting opposition to the act in other colonial assemblies. -
The Stamp Act Congress Meets in New York
The colonial legislatures sent representatives to New York, where they agreed broadly that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies or to deny colonists a fair trial. -
The Stamp Act is Repealed
The colonial legislatures sent representatives to New York, where they agreed broadly that Parliament had no right to tax the colonies or to deny colonists a fair trial. -
Declaratoroy Act
Because of strong colonial opposititon, the Crown decides to remove the Stamp Act. However, it reminds colonists that the Cown has the power to levy taxes whenever it wants. -
The Townshend duties are Enacted
The Townshend duties was the popular name for the collected import taxes imposed by the Revenue Act of 1767. The Revenue Act taxed glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea entering the colonies. The duties were clearly passed in an effort to raise revenue for the British treasury rather than to regulate trade. -
Circular Letter Adopted by the Massachusetts House of Representative
The circular letter, drafted by Samuel Adams and sent to all of the other colonial legislatures, condemned taxation without representation and decried British efforts to make royal governors financially independent of the elected legislatures as a further deprivation of representative government. It spurred some other legislatures to draft similar letters, but most remain apathetic. -
Troops Begin to Land in Boston
In response to growing political unrest in Massachusetts, Britain sent troops to occupy the city in the final months of 1768. Tensions mounted between the troops and the civilians. -
The Boston Massacre
Troops in Boston squared off with a crowd of sailors led by Crispus Attucks. When the crowd knocked one soldier to the ground, the soldiers fired and killed 5 men. -
The Townshend Duties are Repealed
Under financial pressure from the colonists' non-importation policy, Parliament repealed all of the Townshend duties except for the tax on tea. -
The Burning of the Gaspee
The Gaspee: In an act of open defiance against British rule, more than one hundred Rhode Island colonists burn the corrupt customs ship Gaspee to the waterline after it runs aground near Providence. -
Samuel Adams Publishes the Letters of Thomas Hutchinson Through the Committees of Correspondence
Massachusetts' royal governor, Hutchinson, in his letters, advocates "an abridgement of what are called British liberties," and "a great restraint of natural liberty" in the colonies. The publication of these letters convinces Americans of a British plot to destroy their political freedom. -
Lexington & Concord
British Regulars and Minutemen exchange fire at the two cities after the British discovered that the Colonists were storing ammunition. No one knows who fired the first shot. This was seen as the point of no return. -
Second Continental Congress
The Colonies met again and sent an Olive Branch Petition to the King, asking for peace. King George refused it and declrared the Colonies in a state of rebellion. In response, the Congress created a Continental Army and asked Thomas Jefferson to draft a document declaring their independence. -
Common Sense (Published)
In this book to this fellow Colonists, Thomas Paine called for independence from Great Britain. What made it popular was the fact that it spoke in plain language, so that everyone could understand it. -
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson writes an inspiring document that summarizes the feelings of the Colonies toward the King. It also lists the reasons for which they declare their sovereignty.