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The End of the French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, or the Seven Years War, was a war fought between Great Britain and France over territorial expansion and ended with the Treaty of Paris. The war upset the colonists because it limited them from taking land from the Indians and also caused major war debt which was placed upon the them since Great Britain thought the colonists benefited most from the war. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act of 1764 cut taxes on imports from the Caribbean and stamped out smuggling by trying smugglers in British courts instead of colonial courts which were more lenient with smuggling. The colonists were unhappy with this act because of their lack of representation in parliament. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act made it so that all printed material had to carry a stamp which was not free. This angered the colonists who in turn protested and boycotted British goods -
The Declaratory Act
The act was to assert British dominance and to declare that Britain could make laws and tax the American colonies. The Declaratory Act was first ignored, but later became a source of tension. -
The Townshend Act
New taxes were passed which created a new board of customs to stop smuggling. Many colonists responded with a boycott and women made home spun clothes to replace British ones. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act offered tax exemptions and rebates from tea coming in from the British East India Company, which let them give cheap tea to the colonies and in turn lowered the price of tea. The colonists were mad because some thought that cheap tea would cut the profits of smugglers and establish tea merchants, and others were angry on the principal. -
The Start of the Revolutionary War
The colonial response to the Intolerable Acts plays a big role in the start of the American Revolution. Massachusetts passed a set of resolutions which called for colonists to disobey the Intolerable Acts, stop paying taxes, and prepare for war.