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Stamp Act
After the 7 Years’ War, Britain had debts to pay, so Parliament taxed the colonists to earn money. After the indirect taxing of the Sugar Act, Parliament decided to directly tax the colonists with the Stamp Act. On March 22, 1765, Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which made colonists pay for official stamps whenever a paper item was bought. After this act passed, colonists showed their rage by boycotting British goods, proposing the Virginia Resolution, and forming a secret group of -
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protesters, called the Sons of Liberty, against taxing. The Patriot leaders also formed the Stamp Act Congress. Because of these pressures, Parliament repealed the Stamp Act on March 18, 1766, but the upset Parliament passed the Declaratory Act. -
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As a result of this congress, a petition was sent to Parliament about repealing the Stamp Act, but it was ignored. At the end, boycotting affected the repealing of the Stamp Act more than the congress. However, with this congress, the colonial delegates took a step towards the unity of the colonies. -
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Stamp Act Congress
After the Stamap Act was passed in the colonies, Patriots started their protesting against this act. One continuation of protesting was the Stamp Act Congress. During October 7~25 of 1765, Massachusetts legislature and the representatives from nine colonies met in New York and had their Stamp Act Congress. Using the slogan developed from the Committees of Correspondence, “no taxation without representation”, all the people agreed that the Stamp Act violated the rights of the colonists. -
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boycotting British good, writing letters, and having campaigns, but these efforts had minor effects. After a conflict between tax collectors and Sons of Liberty, British troops came, and this arrival led to the Boston Massacre. On the day of the Boston Massacre, Parliament partially repealed the Townshend Acts, except for the tea taxation. -
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Townshend Acts
In June of 1767, Charles Townshend proposed the Townshend Acts and Parliament passed these acts. The main purpose of these acts was to gain more revenue from the colonies by taxing the colonists for glass, lead, paint, tea, and paper, which were goods from Britain. Not only that, the tax regulation was also reinforced. The money from this act was used to pay the governors and judges, thus making them independent of colonial rules. The colonists disliked these acts and decided to protest by -
Boston Massacre
By the end of the Townshend Acts in October 1769, British troops came into the colonies. The colonists thought that Parliament was restricting their independence by placing these Redcoats in the towns, so the colonists and the Redcoats had rough relationships.This agitation grew and exploded on March 5, 1770 through the Boston Massacre. On that day, a colonist was insulting a British guard, and the soldier ended up hitting the colonist. Then, a crowd of colonists formed and insulted him by -
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throwing different materials. When more soldiers came, the crowd grew wilder, and the British soldiers fired their guns toward the colonists, killing five and wounding six of them. -
Tea Act
Even though the Townshend Acts were repealed, tea taxation was still valid because Parliament knew about the high demand for tea in the colonies. However, most tea was smuggled with no duty paid for them. As a solution, Parliament passed the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, which gave British East India Company permission to sell tea directly to the colonists. Britain’s plan was to reduce smuggling by offering cheaper British tea, which would lead to more tax money. However, the taxing and the -
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monopoly of Britain angered the colonists, and led to the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
After the Tea Act passed, the colonists were furious at Britain’s tea taxation and monopoly over the colonies’ tea business. This anger was expressed through the Boston Tea Party on December 16, 1773, which was planned by the Sons of Liberty. On that night, group of colonists disguised as Indians sneaked into three tea ships docked in the Boston Harbor and threw 342 chests of tea into the water. However, this action angered Parliament, and as a punishment for the colonies, Coercive Acts of -
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1774 was passed, which reinforced Parliament’s control over the colonies. -
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over the colonists, but they ended up angering the colonists even more than before. During this period, the Quebec Act and change of Massachusetts governor happened. These events were separate, but colonists thought of it as one of the effects of the Coercive Acts. -
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Coercive Acts
Parliament was raged by the Boston Tea Party of December 16, 1773. So, as a punishment, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts in the spring of 1774. Coercive Acts restricted the colonists’ independence, while helping the royal officers in the colonies. These acts included closing the Boston harbor, canceling charters, housing the British soldiers and sending the royal officers to Britain for trials. Parliament thought that through these acts Parliament will be able to get back their control -
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1st Continental Congress
After the Coercive Acts passed, the colonial delegates decided to have their 1st Continental Congress in Philadelphia, in October of 1774. In this meeting, the colonial delegates discussed their responses against the Coercive Acts and subjects related to the relationship between the colonies and Britain. The main purpose of this meeting was to state the free rights of the colonists to King George III. As a result, the Declaration of Rights and Resolves was adopted, Continental Association -
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formed for complete boycott and many petition letters were sent to King George III. The colonial delegates promised to form the 2nd Continental Congress if the petition failed. At the end, this congress didn’t achieve much and worsened the relationship between Britain and the colonies. -
Battles of Concord and Lexington
The Battles of Lexington and Concord happened on April 19, 1775. On this day, the British troops planned to capture Sam Adams and John Hancock, two patriot leaders in Lexington, along with seizing the weapons stored in Concord. However, this plan was leaked by Patriot spies, so Paul Revere and William Dawes from the Sons of Liberty rode through the town of Lexington and Concord, warning the local militia, or the minutemen, about the battle. When the British troops, or the Redcoats, arrived -
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at Lexington, they were faced with the minutemen. When the British and the minutemen were facing each other, a sudden shot was heard and the battle began. That anonymous shot was the “shot heard ‘round the world”. After that fire, 7 minutemen were dead and the British continued their way to Concord, but as they arrived, they were forced to withdraw back to Boston by the American militia. After this battle, the tension between the British and the colonists increased. -
2nd Continental Congress
After the first battles and the rejection of Declaration of Rights, the colonial delegates had their 2nd Continental Congress in May of 1775. This congress took steps toward an official government. In this meeting, the idea of peace and war collided. As a result, the Continental Army was formed to fight against the British troops, with a Virginian named George Washington as the commander of the army. Also, the peace seeking delegates proposed the Olive Branch Petition to restore the -
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relationship between Britain and the colonies. However, King George refused this petition and announced that the colonies were in state of rebellion. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
After the Battles of Lexington and Concord, American militia started to rise up against British power, trapping the British force in Boston. Thus, British wanted to break the blockade of New England militia by capturing Dorchester Heights and Charlestown, but this plan was leaked. So, the colonial forces occupied Charlestown peninsula and hid in Breed’s Hill the day before the battle, surprising the Redcoats the next day with their presence. It took two retreats from British before the -
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colonial force retreated. The Redcoats had hard time winning the battle, since they had many geographical obstacles, like the Boston Harbor and hills. This skirmish was known as the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. Even though the Patriots lost this battle, the loss of Britain was much greater than the colonies, so the colonists proved that they could stand equally against the British troops by themselves. -
Olive Branch Petition
Even after the battle of Lexington and Concord, there were still colonial delegates who thought of peace and negotiation between Britain and the colonies. So, during the 2nd Continental Congress, the Olive Branch Petition was sent to King George in July of 1775. This petition was made to avoid complete war with Britain and was the the colonies’ last effort to make peace by expressing loyalty towards Britain. However, King George refused this petition and announced the colonies’ rebellion. -
Common Sense
In the January of 1776, a pamphlet called the Common Sense by Thomas Paine was published in Philadelphia. In the pamphlet, Thomas Paine argued that the colonists should have independence and create a democratic republic. This pamphlet was written from a commoner’s view with direct language, which attracted more readers, and this writing ended up selling more than 120,000 copies in three months of it’s release.This writing was able to change the colonists’ view towards the British monarch, -
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and convince them to sever all ties with Britain. This influential political diatribes also inspired the Declaration of Independence. -
Declaration of Independence
After the publication of Common Sense by Thomas Paine, many colonists, including the colonial leaders, showed their desire towards freedom. Thus, on June 7, 1776, Richard Henry Lee stated that the colonies should be declaring freedom against Britain. The 2nd Continental Congress gave careful thoughts about this resolution and decide to form a committee to write the Declaration of Independence, a document stating independence against Britain. Thomas Jefferson, the main writer of this document, -
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included three main parts in this document: all men are equal, list of Britain’s injustices, and the colonies’ right for independence. In July, Richard Henry Lee’s resolution was passed, and the Declaration of Independence was finally completed on July 4, 1776, announcing official independence of the colonies.
