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The French and Indian War
This was a war mainly between the French and the British. It created a divide between the British and its colonists because the colonists were not allowed to assume any major ranks in the military. Also every time they won with one of their own generals a British-assigned general would lose a battle. -
Proclamation of 1763
This told the colonists that they were not allowed to go past the Appalachian Mountains. This made the colonists upset because many had already moved past them after the war and they were also mad that they had just won a huge area for their mother country but they were not allowed to live on it. -
The Boston Tea Party
As a result of the Townshend revenue act and the other acts that imposed taxes on the colonists enacted the Boston tea party. The Sons of Liberty boarded three British ships in the Boston harbor and threw about 350 crates of tea overboard. This angered the British and only pushed the two closer to war. -
Sugar Act
This was a tax set by the British. It reduced the molasses from six pence per gallon to three pence per gallon, however it made new taxes on other imported goods such as sugar, certain wines, coffee, pimiento, cambric and printed calico, as well as the export of lumber and iron. This made the colonists angry that they had to pay taxes on things that they HAD to import AND export. -
The Stamp Act
This new tax was imposed on the American colonists forcing them to pay a tax on ANY piece of printed paper. Things like ship manifests, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, and even playing cards. This was a ridiculous act imposed on the colonists and ,rightfully, made them angry because they had to pay taxes on simple things like a newspaper. -
The Quartering Act
This act made more harsh punishments for governmental dissenters and deserters. It also made a law to where if a soldier came to your house and wanted to stay you had to let him. It made the colonists mad that they had to let soldiers stay at their homes. -
The Townshend Revenue Act
Imposed a tax on things like glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea on the colonists. This was on a hope to raise 40,000 euros for the administration of the colonies. This raised tensions even higher from those of the stamp act due to the British raising even more taxes on simple day to day things. -
British Troops Occupy Boston
This was a decision in a series of bad decisions by the British to oppress the colonists. This was at first a decision to control the uprisings that were happening, specifically in Boston and just Massachusetts in general, due to people disobeying the Townshend act. This made the Americans even more angry because they felt as though, on top of the taxes, they were being controlled. They were also mad that the British were no longer had a salutary neglect of them. -
The Boston Massacre
This all started as a simple street fight to protest the recent acts and taxes. Citizens of Bostons were throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks to protest these taxes and they were fired upon by the troops who occupied only two years prior. The citizens of Boston were outraged that three of them had been killed for just a simple protest. -
"Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death"
This was one of the final events leading up to the war. Patrick Henry announced that if he could not receive liberty then he wanted death. This was as a result of many of the past events and he was trying to motivate colonists to join the cause. This angered the British and this was one of the final straws to be drawn from the cup before the British said "to heck with it" and went to war.
