Build Up to the American Revolution

Magna Carta

British document the Lords forced King John to sign in 1215 as they believed his taxes to pay for foreign war were oppressive. Guaranteed that parliament would create taxes, not the King.

Petition of Rights

Guaranteed that Parliament alone has the right to create taxes, the writ of habeas corpus, citizens of G.B. cannot be forced to house soldiers during peacetime, and no searches without a warrant.

British Bill of Rights

Agreed to by William and Mary after taking the throne in the Glorious Revolution. Guaranteed that the King must obey all laws, citizens have the right to petition, removed excessive bail and cruel and unusual punishment, no standing army in peacetime, and that parliament creates taxes.

Treate of Paris 1763

Ended the French and Indian War. Due to the mass of land the British won, they had to station more British soldiers and ships to protect it, which cost money.

Salutory Neglet Ends/Navigation Acts

All trade between England and her colonies must be conducted by the British. All European imports must be laid upon British shores before going to the colonies. Certain enumerated colonial goods may only be sold to England. Set up Mercantilism. Parliament imposed CUSTOM DUTIES (taxes) to enforce their regulations.

Navigation Acts' Enumerated Goods

1600s: Tobacco, sugar, and cotton. 1705-1722: Rice, molasses, fur, tar, turpentine, and pitch.

Writs of Assistance

Originally begun in 1760 during the French and Indian War to stop smuggling. Allowed general search warrants in the colonies, allowing British officials to search even if no probably cause existed. Protests against the writs began in MA but failed.

Pontiac's Rebellion

A 1763 conflict between Native Americans and the British over settlement of Indian lands in the Great Lakes area. British tried to win using small pox. Ended with the Proclamation of 1763.

Proclamation of 1763

Banned all English colonists from crossing and settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains. The Pontiac Rebellion made frontier life dangerous and the English did not want a war. British finance Minister George Grenville banned all colonial settlements. Colonists were outraged and viewed settling there as their right/reward for defeating the French. Even GW claimed land.

Sugar Acts/Revenue Act

Lowered the duty on foreign molasses. Added extra duties on foreign sugar and European luxuriates - wine, silk, and linen. Paid by rich people.

Currency Act

British government takes control of the colonial monetary system. Parliament abolished paper currency meaning Colonists must use currency shortage in the colonies. Weakened trade within the colonies.

Stamp Act

First direct internal tax ever laid on colonists by parliament. Revenue stamps to be placed on any paper products. Offenses against the stamp act were to be tried in admiralty courts in England with no jury.

Sons of Liberty

Formed after the stamp act by Sam Adams. Was seen as a terrorist groups and by the Liberty Trees symbol. Used violence, intimidation, and propaganda to force all of the British all of the British stamp agents to resign and stop many American merchants from ordering British trade goods.

Daughters of Liberty

An organization that formed after the stamp act. Became instrumental in upholding the boycott, particularly where tea was concerned. Refused to accept gentleman callers for themselves or their daughters who were not sympathetic to the patriot cause.

Stamp Tax Congress

First time colonies united to protest an act of Parliament. Sent the list of grievances to the King signed. States that only colonial legislatures can tax colonials. Taxation without representation!!!

Virtual Representation

Parliament argues that the members of Parliament represent the colonists (you're in our thoughts and prayers).

Stamp Act Repealed

Act could not be enforced against unified opposition in the colonies - boycott was successful!! Parliament never renounced the right to tax the colonies.

Quartering Act

To lessen the cost of having troops in the colonies, Parliament forces colonists to provide supplies, food, and housing to British troops in their homes. Sam Adams and the Sons of Liberty protest having a standing army in peacetime. NY refuses to comply and Sons of Liberty violently oppose the act. 1766- NY colonial assembly is suspended by the Parliament.

Declaratory Act

Warns the colonies that Parliament, not the colonies, set the law and taxes in colonies. Issued the same day Parliament repealed the Stamp Act.

Townshend Acts

A tax that the British Parliament placed on leads, glass, paint and tea. Suspended the NY colonial assembly as punishment for refusing to obey the Quartering Act. Eventually repealed except for tea due to the successes of the Boston Non-Important Agreement.

Non-Importation Agreement

Boston, New York, Virginia, and Philadelphia boycott British goods as a result of the Townshend Acts. Boston merchants agreed not to import tea, paint, glass, paper, and other items from Britain until the Townshend Act duties were repealed. MA was dubbed the most rebellious of the colonies.

Boston Massacre

Boston colonists attack and antagonize British soldiers due to their occupation of Boston. Reinforcements arrive but the crowd continues to throw rocks and ice at the Redcoats. Sons of Liberty yell to fire and British open fire, killing five colonists. British troops were put on trial and John Adams defended them. They were found not guilty.

Crisous Attucks

A free African American killed in the Boston Massacre

The Tea Act of 1773

A part of the original townshend act, this law gives the near bankrupt British East India Company a monopoly on tea, allowing them to undersell American merchants. Merchants across the colonies turned back British tea, refusing to sell it.

Boston Tea Party

Colonists (members of the Sons of Liberty) dressed as Mohawk Native Americans boarded British ships and dumped all 90,000 lbs of teas into the harbor (which was worth more than $1,700,000 in today's money). Parliament demanded that all the tea must be paid for by the MA colony and would punish the colony until it was paid.

Coercive Acts

In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British passed a series of laws to punish the colonists. The port of Boston was closed until the tea was paid for, the MA Government Act revoked the colonial charter/closed the colonial govt., royal officials could be tried in England and not MA, and a new quartering act forced MA to provide lodging and food for British soldiers.

Quebec Act

Extended the boundary of Quebec to include the Ohio Valley. Recognized Catholicism as the official religion of Quebec, which angered American protestants. Was meant to please the French colonists but served to enrage the English colonists.

First Continental Congress

Virginia called for a congress of all continental American colonies, which meets in Philadelphia of Sept 1774 - all colonies except Georgia send delegates. The Congress agreed to boycott all British imports, embargo all exports to Britain, and discontinue the slave trade on Oct. 20.

Suffolk Resolves

Passed at the First Continental Congress, declared Coercive Acts null and void and encouraged forcible resistance.

Declaration of Rights and Grievances

Passed at the First Continental Congress, stated American position of freedom from parliamentary taxation while accepting trade regulation.

Continental Association

Passed at the First Continental Congress, non-importation and non-exportation agreement towards British trade.

Lexington and Concord

April 8, 1775: Gage leads 700 soldiers to confiscate colonial weapons and arrest Adam, and Hancock; April 19, 1775: 70 armed militia face British at Lexington (shot heard around the world); British retreat to Boston, suffer nearly 300 casualties along the way (concord).

Second Continental Congress

Convened in May 1775, the Congress opposed the drastic move toward complete independence from Britain. In an effort to reach a reconciliation, the Congress offered peace under the conditions that there be a cease-fire in Boston, that the Coercive Acts be repealed, and that negotiations begin immediately (Olive Branch Petition). King George III rejected the petition and didn't even read it.