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French and Indian War
The conflict between Britian and France about american territorys led to a seven- year war. They fought about the control of the land beyond the Appalachian and Allegheny Mountains. The Britians wanted to claim the french area and in the end they won. However, they were left behind with huge debt which caused the British to tax the colonists.
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Proclamation of 1763
Since the Britians won the war, the colonists thought that they can settle there now. The British government had other plans. They made the Proclamation of 1763, which forbid them to settle western to the Appalachian Mountains. This started to make the colonists mad.
https://youtu.be/HKNTBHmWOyA9 -
Sugar Act
George Greenville, the recently selected Britain minister of finance, made the Parliament to tax the colonists. Britain was trying to recoup the money spent on the war. That cut out the colonial merchants profits of the trade with the French West Indies and Spanish. When the Parliament also forbade paper money, many merchants became bankrupt and the riots got bigger. -
Stamp Act
The British passed another tax, the Stamp Act, taxing any kind of paper as a direct tax. Protests followed, colonists stopped buying British goods, colonial merchants signed nonimportation agreements and Britsh merchants, facing bankruptcy besieged the Parliament with petitions. In 1766 the Parliament repealed the law, showing the colonists that they successfully protested and gave them hope.
Protest in Pourtsmouth -
Stamp Act Congress
The first cooperation among the colonies. They had a meeting in New York. The organized a boycott of British goods. Also, John Dickinson promoted that. It is a very important event because they cooperated together and fought together.
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Townshend Act
A tax placed on tea, paper, glass, and paint. However, the British repealed it in 1770, except the tax on tea just to show authority. The Americans were very angry that the British could give them taxes, but they were not allowed to elect assembly members. -> "No taxation without representation."
Keeping the taxes on tea shows that they were trying hard to do not lose control and that they want to show that the colonists cannot win everything. -
Redcoats sent to the colonies
Greenville sent British soldiers to towns like Boston or New York. Officially it was said that the so-called "Redcoats" came to protect the colonists. But in fact, they should frighten the colonial legislatures. It showed that the Britians got nervous and looked for more control. (I am not sure about the year) -
Boston Massacre
In 1770 a massacre took place in Boston. It was between the colonists and the "redcoats". What exactly happened is a little bit a question of perspective, but the Americans said that the Britsih soldiers started shooting. This showed that the situation was so tense that it easily escalated.
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Boston Tea Party
On December 16th, 1773 American colonists, dressed as Native Americans, threw tons of British tea in the water. This took place in the harbor of Boston. This was probably the climax of the conflict between the colonists and the British on the road to the revolution.
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Intolerable Acts
A respond from the Parliament to the Boston Tea Party. They passed four laws that deeply intervened in the economic and political life of the colonists and prepared the military conflict. It was the final trigger for the Revolutionary war.
The Acts
