-
Period: to
timespan
-
Stamp Act
Parliament tried to figure out ways to tax the colonies. The Stamp Act was one of the many ways. It was the Prime Minister Grenville who proposed the Stamp Act in 1765. This act required the colonists to pay for stamps that came with when buying paper made goods. This act made the colonists pay tax when buying legal documents, licenses, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards also. It was against the laws to refuse to buy stamps and colonists who did was sent to jail. -
Stamp Act Congress
In Boston, The Massachusetts legislature’s members wanted a Stamp Act Congress. October 1765, representatives from 9 colonies met in New York for the congress. They issued and argued a declaration that the Stamp Act was unfair and a violation to their rights. There was pressure given to the Parliament to repeal. Due to the complaints and arguments, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act in 1766. -
Townshend Acts
Parliament passed the Townshend Acts in June 1767. The Townshend Acts was simply tax placed on glass, lead paints, paper, and tea. British officials used writs of assistance. This allowed tax collectors to look for smuggled goods and catch them. Colonists definitely hated the Townshend Acts because the act took away power from the colonial government. The colonists started to boycott to show Parliament their disagreement in this new law. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, a British soldier and a colonist had an argument that turned into a fight. The british soldier struck the colonist and instantly, a crowd of colonists gathered around the soldier. They threw snowballs and shouted insults. A troop of soldiers arrived after as the crowd grew larger and angrier. As soon as a colonist yelled out another insult, the soldiers fired into the crowd, killing three men. This shooting is called the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act in 1773, was another trick of Parliaments’ to tax the colonies. Parliament wanted to help out the East Indian Company. To do this, they made the colonies buy only the East Indian Company’s tea. No smuggled tea was allowed. The smugglers definitely feared this act because they knew that they would run out of business with the cheaper tea. The colonists though despised the tea act like any other act. They didn’t like that fact that they weren’t allowed to pick the tea that they wanted -
Boston Tea Party
The night of December 16th 1773, three ships full with the East India Company’s tea arrived in the Boston Harbor. The Sons of Liberty despised that the tea were actually coming into the harbor and immediately demanded that the ships leave. On the other hand, the governor of Massachusetts wouldn’t allow the ships to leave without paying the duty. When the captains were unsure of what to do, colonists sneaked onto one of the ships and dumped all the tea bags into the Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of acts passed by Parliament in 1774. Lord North, the new British prime minister was furious and disgusted by the actions of the colonists and their rebellion towards the Tea Act which was the Boston Tea party. He decided to punish Boston. In Spring of 1774, Parliament passed the Intolerable acts. There were several consequences. The Boston Harbor was closed until Boston paid for all the ruined tea. Massachusetts’s charter was canceled, the Quartering Act and Q -
First Continental Congress
Closing the Boston Harbor made the colonists angry. In response, all the colonies expect Georgia sent representatives to a meeting in Sep 1774. This meeting is known as the First Continental Congress. It was a gathering of all the leaders from each colony to meet and talk about how were troubled about the relationship between Great Britain and the colonies. The delegates which included George Washington, and then some Virginia volunteers, which were Patrick Henry, and John Adams, were elected to -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
On April 19, 1775, the British army arrived at the town of Lexington, near around Concord. John Parker, a patriot captain yelled to his troops to not fire unless fired upon. That second, a shot rang out. To this day, no one knew who fired this “shot heard ‘round the world.” This battle ended in minuets. Paul Revere, a Sons of Liberty member made Robert Newman, a fellow patriot climb into the steeple of the Old North Church and give out signs of how the British soldiers were moving. When the Brit -
Second Continental Congress
King George the third refused to accept the Declaration of Rights. In May 10, 1775, delegates from 12 colonies met again in Philadelphia for the 2nd Continental Congress. This group of delegates from different colonies were still not unified, but represented the attempt at a Republican government. On June 14, the Second Continental Congress decided to make a Continental Army, and George Washington was elected as Commander-in-Chief. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill actually took place in Breed’s Hill and happened on June 17, 1775. Leaders of Boston sent Benedict Arnold with 400men to New York to attack the British at Fort Ticonderoga. Arnold captured the fort and all their weapons on May. On June 17, The colonial forces dug in Breed’s Hill, looking at north Boston. The redcoats needed to cross the Harbor to fight. The fight started, the British soldiers were cut down, twice they retreated and the colonists were out of ammunition s -
Olive Branch Petition
On July 5, 1775, the Continental Congress came up with the Olive Branch Petition in attempt to avoid a war with the British. King George refused to read it and was rejected. He just continued to look for ways to punish the colonies. -
Common Sense
Common Sense, a 47 page pamphlet that was distributed in Philadelphia in January 1776 says that “[There] is something very absurd in supporting a continent to be perpetually [forever] governed by an island.”This pamphlet was published without the author’s name. The author, Thomas Paine argued that the citizens should make laws instead of the kings and queens. 500,000 copies were sold and Paine reached many audiences by this pamphlet. Common Sense changed the way many colonists viewed their king -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence announces that the colonies should break from Great Britain. This document, written my Thomas Jefferson, argued that all people posses equal rights. Jefferson also argued that King George the third did not give the colonists their freedom neither their rights because he taxed the colonists without their consent. The last argument that Jefferson made was that the colonies had the right to break from Britain. On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress approved the D
