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French & Indian Wars
~Colonial Wars involving the Native Americans against the French and British
~King William's War over fur trapping & fishing territory rights (1689-97)
~Queen Anne's War overland in the New World (1702-13)
~King George's War over territory (1744-1748)
~French & Indian War over territories which ended with Britain taking over almost all of France's land in North America (1754-63)
~Due to these wars, colonies in America were well armed and had militias that would later be helpful to the colonists -
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First Colonial Tax Raises
~The Sugar Act (1764) was intended to decrease the amount of smuggling happening in the colonies, this was an indirect tax on sugar, rum, molasses, etc., and the beginning of the Writs of Assistance court orders.
~The Stamp Act (1765) was a tax on all printed goods, this was a direct tax
~The colonists felt that the additional tax violated their rights
~These new taxes were met with resistance such as boycotts, protests, and more smuggling
~Protests organized by the Stamp Act Congress meeting -
The Repeal of the Stamp Act
~After rebelling and boycotting English goods for a year, the British were losing money so they repealed the Stamp Act
~This was arguably one of Britain's largest mistakes in the Pre-Revolutionary time period due to the satisfaction they gave the colonists
~Colonists gained hope of more freedom and self-gov.
~The British were quick to enact another act that was more strict and gave the colonists even less freedom, the Townshend Acts. The colonists did not get a say and it restricted all colonies -
The Boston Massacre
A group of Americans were protesting the new taxes by yelling and mocking British soldiers, this escalated into throwing snow and then ice, then some even say they were throwing bats. This resulted in the British soldiers opening fire on the crowd of Americans and killing 5 men.
After the massacre many colonists were outraged. A more peaceful approach to protesting was adopted, boycotts and non-importations took place among the colonies. Resulting in the repeal of the Townshend Acts. -
The Tea Act
All the Townshend acts were repealed, except one. The British put the Tea Act in place which heightened the tax. This may have been seen as a win for the colonists at first, but one of their daily delicacies was tea. So this resulted in an increase in smuggling and a large amount of pent up anger toward the British. Not long after the tea act was enacted, Samuel Adams gave the Sons of Liberty an idea that they thought would get the act repealed. -
The Boston Tea Party
Samuel Adams, the leader of the Sons of Liberty, was a strong advocate for no taxation without representation. So when Britain put a large tax on tea without the say of anyone from the colonies, he was angered. The men of the Sons of Liberty made the plan to dress up as Indians and board a Virginia Tea Company boat, and then throw all of the tea into the harbor. The event took place in December when they threw about 1 million dollars worth of tea into the ocean. -
The Intolerable/Coercive Acts
The Boston Port Act was only one of the five coercive acts that Britain imposed on the colonies. These acts took away many of the freedoms that Americans had. Also, these acts were in response to the Boston Tea Party yet they were imposed across all 13 colonies. So, not only were the rights on the people of Boston stripped away, but so were the rights of every colonist, even the ones that had nothing to do with the resistance. This would spark the first meeting of people from the 13 colonies. -
The Boston Port Act
After the Boston Tea Party, the British government passed a series of acts, one being the Boston Port Act. This act closed the Boston Port to all ships and was intended to harm the colonists in which they could no longer have means of trade/communication with anyone but Britain. What King George didn't know was that there were road systems throughout the colonies and the closing of the port just gave the colonists more reason to use these roads which would greatly benefit them in years to come. -
The Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress meeting took place from September 5th to October 26th of 1774. 12 of the 13 colonies were represented at this meeting where they discussed how they wanted to respond to the coercive acts. The decision was to boycott British goods and send a petition to the king pleading for a repeal of the intolerable acts.
The petition was rejected and the 2nd Continental Congress took place not long after. -
Shot Heard Round the World
January 19th, 1775, the word that the King would not be repealing the coercive acts hit America.
Aware that the Americans would not be happy, Britain sent over more troops to control the colonists. Thankfully the Americans caught wind of this so when the troops arrived in New England to storm the town that was said to have the weapons, they were ready. The battle of Lexington is when the first shots were exchanged between the Britsh and the Americans this is known as shot heard round the world.