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Proclamation of 1763
It was a proclamation that told the colonists not to go west past the Appalachian Mountains so the colonists wouldn't anger the Native Americans, which in turn would make the Native's not kill everybody. Of course the colonists being who they are, go west anyways. -
The Sugar Act
It was an old tax that was halved in hopes of people actually paying it since it had been ignored for years before the act and people would just illegally smuggle instead of paying said tax. The colonists ended up not caring at all and STILL smuggled their goods even though it was less expensive. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act required certain paper items (legal documents, newspaper, almanac, etc.) to have a special stamp on it. The Sons of Liberty were made to oppose the act, one of the creators being Sam Adams. They would harass the British and they made Committees of Correspondence to keep Americans informed of taxes. The Stamp Act Congress met with 9 colonies there to petition Britain to stop it because without representation in their government Britain couldn't tax them. -
Repeal of Stamp Act
The stamp act does get repealed after all the protest, but The Declaratory Act is made where the Brtish basically say "We stopped this time but we can actually tax you whenever we want" to try and prove their power to the colonists. -
Boston Massacre
Some colonists were bothering British soldiers and five colonists get killed. Sam Adams and other patriots use this as an excuse to make some propaganda against the British to try and make it look like the British mercilessly killed a bunch of defenseless colonists for no reason when the colonists actually weren't innocent either, either way this makes more anger towards the British from colonists. -
Gaspée Affair
The Sons of Liberty literally burn down a SHIP. The ship was going to come collect some taxes for England and the colonists were just incredibly done with it and so they just burned the ship down as an act of rebellion and to not have to pay taxes. The local authorities didn't even care and did nothing to the Sons of Liberty as punishment and in fact arrested the Englishmen on the ship! Parliament did not like that and tried punishing the men who burned the ship but nothing ever came of it. -
Boston Tea Party
The British make this act called the Tea Act which was supposed to help English Tea Companies that were having trouble. This makes the colonists mad (because what doesn't make them angry) and they dress up as Native American's and dumb 18,000 pounds of East India Company tea in the Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
So of course Parliament answers the Boston Tea Party with a new set of acts that the colonists called the Intolerable Acts. Basically, the Boston Harbor is shut down, General Thomas Gage now runs Boston who puts it under martial law, and the Quartering Act is passed which requires colonists to house soldiers in their home. The colony's immediately move into action and make the 1st Continental Congress and by September 1774 they met in Philadelphia and made a declaration of colonial rights. -
The Quebec Act
An act made to bring new authority to Quebec. They were worried the French-Canadians would also rebel like the American colonies so they just made rules to make sure everyone was loyal to England. This made colonists mad (specifically from Virginia, Pennsylvania, and New York) because one part of it made Quebec bigger, taking away land from the colonies that had been given to them by Parliament before. New governors were assigned and appointed by Parliament to rule the parts of the new areas. -
"Give me liberty, or give me death!"
Patrick Henry makes a big speech in Richmond about how peace wasn't working and that Britain didn't treat the colonies as equals and how America needed to fight back. Needless to say, it worked, a month later the first battle of the war, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, happens.
