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Writs of Assistance
the governor of Massachusetts, Francis Bernard, issued writs of assistance allowing customs officials to search any ship or building they suspected of smuggling. This lead to the 4th Amendment requiring search warrants to be provided by a Judge and have probable cause. -
Proclamation of 1763
Made after the French and Indian War by King George III, it prohibited all settling past a line drawn on the Appalachian Mountains -
Sugar Act of 1764
reduced the tax on molasses by half but started actually enforcing the tax unlike previously where taxes were almost never collected. -
Stamp Act 1765
placed a tax on every piece of printed paper they used, from legal documents to newspapers. You would have to buy stamps to put on them. -
Quartering Act 1765
required colonists to provide British troops with housing and food. -
Stamp Act Congress
held in New York City, this was a meeting of representatives from 9 colonies, made a Declaration of Rights and Grievances stating that they could not be taxed without representation in response to the Stamp Act. -
Declaratory Act 1766
passed along with the lessening of the Sugar Act and the repeal of the Stamp Act, it stated that Parliament had the same amount of power in America and in Britain. Meaning that none of their laws could be contested by the Colonies. -
Townshend Acts 1767
named after and made by member of the British Cabinet, Charles Townshend, they placed taxes on glass, lead, tea, paint, and paper. All but the tea tax were repealed in 1770. -
Boston Massacre 1770
colonists formed a mob around British soldiers pelting them with rocks and snowballs, they open fired into the crowd without orders killing 3, and 2 dying from injuries later. Heavily propagandized by Sam Adams and Paul Revere -
Tea Act 1773
passed to help stop the East India Company from going bankrupt, it made its tea exempt from export taxes in Britain and that they did not have to pass through Britain either, made Colonists mad since it undermined their own merchants. -
Boston Tea Party
in response to the Tea Act, Sons of Liberty dressed as Mohawk indians boarded three different ships carrying over 300 chests of tea from the East India Company and dumped it overboard. -
Coercive Acts 1774
n response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament shut down Boston’s port (Boston Port Act), took away Massachusetts’ self government (Massachusetts Government Act), allowed Royal Officials to be tried in Britain so they could get away with crimes(Administration of Justice Act), and allowed soldiers to be quartered in any building, not just homes(Quartering Act). -
Quebec Act 1774
this act was meant to appease the French in now British Quebec, expanded its territory, let Catholicism be practiced freely there, let French law be used there as long as it also followed British Law, and let the Catholic Church impose a tithe in Quebec. Made colonists fear that England would put their colonies under the Pope’s rule. -
1st Continental Congress
delegates from all 13 colonies except Georgia convened in Philadelphia, passed the Continental Association which called for a colony wide boycott of British goods in hopes of stopping Intolerable Acts, if it did not work a second one would be convened. -
Battles of Lexington/Concord
the first battle of the Revolutionary War, British troops in Boston were ordered to arrest Sam Adams and John Hancock who were in Lexington and seize munitions in Concord, British defeated the Colonists at Lexington, they marched to Concord where they started burning their supplies but the Militia were more organized and had greater numbers ther, defeating them and attacking them from the woods as they marched back to Boston. -
2nd Continental Congress
met in Philadelphia with originally delegates from all 13 colonies except Georgia, but ones from Georgia did arrive later. Acted as de facto government of the United States after it passed the Declaration of Independence, and made the Olive Branch Petition before to try and make peace. Organized the Continental Army, issued money, and created the Articles of Confederation. -
Olive Branch Petition
passed by the Second Continental Congress as an attempt to prevent war, it asked King George III to compromise on taxation and self rule in the Colonies and that the Colonies were still loyal to him, failed when the Proclamation of Rebellion was made by King George on August 23, 1775. -
Declaration of Independence
passed by the Second Continental Congress formerly declared the 13 Colonies an independent nation of Great Britain, called the United States of America. It was signed by 56 delegates from the 13 colonies and written by Thomas Jefferson.
