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The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire. -
The proclamation of 1763
prohibited American colonists from settling west of Appalachia. The Treaty of Paris, which marked the end of the French and Indian War, granted Britain a great deal of valuable North American land. -
Sugar Act
The purpose of lowering the tax on molasses was to induce importers to buy molasses from British colonies instead of smuggling it from competing French and Spanish colonies. The Sugar Act also increased enforcement of smuggling laws -
The Boston Massacre
It was a street fight that occurred between the patriots and the soldiers. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was in protest of the British Parliament's Tea Act of 1773, a bill designed to save the faltering East India Company by greatly lowering its tea tax and granting it a virtual monopoly on the American tea trade. -
Boston blockade
The Boston Port Act was designed to punish the inhabitants of Boston, Massachusetts for the incident that would become known as the Boston Tea Party. The Port Act was one of a series of British Laws referred to as the Intolerable Acts passed by the Parliament of Great Britain 1774. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of colonial goods. -
Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was initially a convention of delegates from a number of British American colonies at the height of the American Revolution, who acted collectively for the people of the Thirteen Colonies that ultimately became the United States of America -
The Declaration of Independence
The writers of the Declaration of Independence wanted everyone to understand the exact reasons why they felt the British were treating the colonies unfairly. These reasons included the fact that the British: Forced the colonists to pay for and provide housing for British forces in the colonies. -
Taxes
Britain was in a recession after a war, so it created taxes for the colonists in America. The British Parliament put taxes on sugar and molasses and enforced tax collection. The Stamp Act was created but later repealed, and the Townshend Acts caused frustration that led to a colonial revolt.
