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Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were laws that limited how the American colonies could trade. They were part of Britain's plan to use the colonies to increase its wealth and power. Only English ships could bring goods over into England. -
French-Indian War
The French and Indian War was a fight between France and Great Britain for control of North America, lasting from 1754 to 1763. It was also part of a bigger worldwide war known as the Seven Years' War. -
Stamp Act
The British government passed the Stamp Act to help pay for the British soldiers who were in the American colonies after the Seven Years' War. This law made colonists pay a tax on things like newspapers, legal papers, and playing cards by buying a stamp for each item. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was to make American colonies provide housing for British soldiers in their towns. Colonists had to give them food, drinks, fuel, and transportation. The law said soldiers could stay in barracks or public buildings, but if there wasn’t enough room, they could stay in inns, taverns, or barns. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Act put new taxes on items like glass, lead, paper, and tea brought from Great Britain to the colonies. The money from these taxes was used to pay colonial governors and judges and cover the cost of running the colonies. Many colonists stopped buying British goods through a method called nonimportation. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre happened when British soldiers in Boston clashed with colonists. The colonists were upset about taxes and the British troops being in their city. They started throwing snowballs and other things at the soldiers, which led to a violent confrontation. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an protest where around 60 colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. They were angry about the tea tax, and thought was unfair, and the control the East India Company had over the tea trade. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts closed Boston Harbor and made it harder for colonists to have fair trials and let British soldiers stay in their homes. The colonists were really angry and wouldn't follow these laws, which is why they were called "intolerable." -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was a letter from the American colonists to King George III and the British government. It was meant to calm tensions and try to make peace between the colonies and Britain.