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French and Indian War
The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years War (French and Indian War). France surrenders all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi to Britain. This ends a source of insecurity for the British colonists along the Atlantic Coast. The costs of the war and maintaining an army will lead the British government to impose new taxes on its colonists. -
Proclamation of 1763
A royal decree was issued proclaiming that Native Americans owned the lands on which they were then residing and white settlers in the area were to be removed. There were two motivations for this policy:
1. To avoid warfare with the Indians 2. To concentrate colonial settlements on the seaboard where they could be active parts of the British mercantile system. -
Sugar Act
The act listed foreign goods had to be taxed which included sugar, certain wines, coffee, printed calico, and further, which regulated the export of lumber and iron. The enforced tax on molasses caused the almost immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. The situation disrupted the colonial economy by reducing the markets to which the colonies could sell. -
Currency Act
The colonies suffered a constant shortage of currency with which to conduct trade. There were no gold or silver mines and currency could only be obtained through trade as regulated by Great Britain. But because there were no common regulations and in fact no standard value on which to base the notes, confusion ensued. Parliament passed the Currency Act, effectively assuming control of the colonial currency system. The act prohibited the issue of any new bills and the reissue of existing currency -
Passage of the Stamp Act
Britain passes the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards. This is the first direct tax on the American colonists and is hotly resisted. A successful American campaign to have the act repealed will give Americans confidence that they can avoid future taxes as well -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act applied to all of the colonies, and sought to create a more effective method of housing British troops in America. In a previous act, the colonies had been required to provide housing for soldiers, but colonial legislatures had been uncooperative in doing so. The new Quartering Act allowed a governor to house soldiers in other buildings if suitable quarters were not provided. -
The Sons of Liberty
The first known act took place on august 14, when the commissioner was found hung in a tree with a devil coming out of a boot, which was intended to give a evil connection between the two. By the end of that year the Sons of Liberty existed in every colony. Their most popular objective was to force Stamp Distributors throughout the colonies to resign. They are most widely known for the Boston Tea Party in which they threw over board 342 boxes of tea. -
Stamp Act Congress
In many areas of the American colonies, opposition to the looming Stamp Act was taking the form of violence and intimidation. The delegates approved a 14-point Declaration of Rights and Grievances, formulated largely by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania. The statement echoed the recent resolves of the Virginia House of Burgesses, which argued that colonial taxation could only be carried on by their own assemblies. The delegates singled out the Stamp Act. yet they still pledged loyalty to the king. -
Townshend Act and Boston Massacre
British troops land in Boston to enforce the Townshend duties (taxes on paint, paper, tea, etc., passed in June 1767) and clamp down on local radicals. The troops' presence doesn't sit well with locals and leads to street fights. One clash between soldiers and a mob in March 1770 will leave five dead. Radicals will call it the Boston Massacre, while the British will call it the incident on King Street. This continued thru the month -
Commitee of Correspondence Established
Committees of Correspondence are established throughout the colonies to coordinate American response to British colonial policy. This represents an important move toward cooperation, mutual action, and the development of a national identity among Americans. -
Tea Act
The East India Company, had fallen on hard times in the early 1770s. Its market for Indian teas in the American colonies was a casualty of the taxation tiff that was growing increasingly ugly. The Tea Act provided a decrease in the tax and the ships from India were not required to stop in England. -
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was an American label for the laws sponsored by Lord North's ministry and enacted by the British Parliament in 1774 in response to the Boston Tea Party. Also called the Coercive Acts, they were a major factor contributing to the outbreak of the American Revolution. These acts were, the Boston Port Bill, the Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act, the Impartial Administration of Justice Act, the Quartering Act, and the Qubec Act. -
Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress convened to consider and act on the situation arising from the so-called Intolerable Acts, passed by the British Parliament in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party. Twelve colonies were represented in the First Continental Congress by about 50 delegates designated principally by the colonial assemblies. They soon became revolutionary spearheads in the towns and counties, creating the first effective union among the colonies and silencing Loyalist opinion. -
Lexington and Concord
April 19, 1775
The first shots of the Revolutionary War are fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. The news of the bloodshed rockets along the eastern seaboard, and thousands of volunteers converge on Cambridge, Mass. These are the beginnings of the Continental Army. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress meeting started with the battle of Lexington and Concord fresh in their memories. The New England militia were still encamped outside of Boston trying to drive the British out of Boston. The Second Continental Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
Bunker Hill
In the first major action of the war, inexperienced colonial soldiers hold off hardened British veterans for more than two hours at Breed's Hill. Although eventually forced to abandon their position, including the high ground of Bunker Hill overlooking Boston, the patriots show that they are not intimidated by the long lines of red-coated infantrymen. Of the 2,200 British seeing action, more than 1,000 end up dead or wounded.
