Events Leading to the American War of Independence
Event
Navigation Acts
(1651-1673)
Proclamation of
1763
Sugar Act
(1764)
Description
Mercantilism.
No goods grown or manufactured in Asia,
Africa, or America could be transported to
England except in English vessels.
1660 Act - import/export in British colonies
must use English or colonial ships and it
forbade certain articles -- tobacco, sugar,
cotton, wool, dyeing woods, etc. -- to he
shipped to any country, except to England or
some English plantation.
French & Indian War ends in 1763. The
Proclamation line extended from the Atlantic
coast at Quebec to the newly established
border of West Florida.
Mercantilism.
Tariff on imported sugar from non-British
Colonies.
Similar to the Molasses’s Act of 1633.
Significance
Economic interests of the colonies are
secondary to those of England.
Colonial Response(s)
Colonial resentment against England.
Smuggling activities.
The objective was to protect English
shipping.
Alienated the colonists. Plants the seeds
where the colonists begin to think of
themselves more as colonists and less as
Englishmen.
The proclamation closed off the frontier to
colonial expansion. All Indian peoples were
under the protection of the King. All lands
within the Indian territory occupied by
Englishmen were to be abandoned. England
built army posts along the boundary. Outposts
were for colonial defense, and would be paid
for by the colonies.
Sugar growers in the British West Indies
wanted Parliament’s assistance to force the
colonies to buy their produce, not the less
expensive sugar of the competing Spanish
and French islands.
Colonial rum distilling and exports declined
sharply.
Stamp Act
(1765)
A tax on printed paper used in the Colonies;
Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses,
newspapers, other publications, and even
playing cards were taxed.
First time Parliament created a direct tax on
the colonists. Previously, taxes were on
imports and exports to regulate commerce.
Viewed as a direct attempt by England to
raise money in the colonies without the
approval of the colonial legislatures.
Colonists threaten violence
Declaratory Act
(1766)
Parliament repeals the Stamp Act and passes
the Declaratory Act. Act declares that
Parliament's authority was the same in
America as in Britain and asserted
Parliament's authority to make laws binding
on the American colonies.
Parliament had the power to make laws and
changes to the colonial government, “in all
cases whatsoever,” even though the colonists
were unrepresented in the Parliament.
Declaratory Act can be seen as a predecessor
to future acts that would further drive a
wedge between Colonists and Britain.
The colonists regarded the new policy as an
infringement of their basic economic rights.
Most concluded that the proclamation was only a
temporary measure and a number ignored it
entirely and moved into the prohibited area.
Smuggling and bribing customs officials
“Salutary neglect” British policy of avoiding strict
enforcement of parliamentary laws.
The non-importation agreement or boycott was the
chief Colonial means to protest this act.
Threat of violence. Massachusetts Stamp
Distributor, Andrew Oliver resigns, and no one
will take his place.
Loyal Nine and Son’s of Liberty groups form.
Colonists form the Stamp Act Congress.
Colonists boycotted certain British imports.
Eventually, Parliament gave in and repealed the
Stamp Act – but passes the Declaratory Act.
Not directly. Alienated the colonists.
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Events Leading to the American War of Independence
Event
Townshend
Acts
(1766)
Description
Significance
Another tax on goods the colonists imported,
such as paper, red and white lead, glass,
paints, and tea shipped from England. Creates
a board of customs collectors in Boston. The
money collected from import taxes pays the
salaries of British customs officials. This
made them more independent of the colonial
legislatures and better able to enforce British
orders and laws.
Physical conflict between Colonists and
British officials.
Boston
“Massacre”
(1770)
Results from the Townshend Acts. British
Customs officials asked for military backing.
4000 British soldiers arrive.
Tea Act
(1773)
Mercantilism.
Designed to provide needed financial support
to the East India Company. Tea was now sent
directly to the Colonies, and not to London.
Results in low tea price, but the new rules
created a tea monopoly for Britain.
In retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, the
British passed what were called (in the
thirteen North American colonies) the
Intolerable or Coercive Acts to bring the
colonies back to the control of the King.
A series of five laws are passed.
The soldiers were in Boston to keep order, but
townspeople viewed them as potential
oppressors. First time British soldiers open
fire on Colonists. Crispus Attucks is the first
person killed in the name of freedom.
Note: Battles of Lexington and Concord
would not occur until April 1775.
Many Colonists opposed the Act, because it
seemed to validate the Townshend Acts.
Coercive Acts
(1774)
First
Continental
Congress
(1774)
Further alienates the colonists. Colonists
begin to demand their rights as freemen,
“natural rights.”
Note: Many of the complaints in the Circular
Letter will appear in the Declaration of
Independence.
Colonial economic restrictions.
British Parliament hoped these actions would
make an example of Massachusetts and
reverse the trend of Colonial resistance to
parliamentary authority.
Colonial Response(s)
Massachusetts Circular Letter was written by
Samuel Adams in 1768 as a response to the
Townshend Acts. Adams argued that the
Townshend Acts were unconstitutional because
the colony of Massachusetts was not represented
in Parliament. British Governor Francis Bernard
dissolved the Massachusetts assembly => mob
violence from colonists who no longer had any
legal way to deal with their grievances. They
attacked customs officials, making it impossible
for them to perform their duties.
The Massacre provided evidence that was used as
anti-British propaganda for Bostonians and
elsewhere in the Colonies who wanted to break
from Britain. Heightened American fears of
standing armies.
Colonists smuggled tea.
Colonists disguised themselves as Indians and
boarded three British ships, dumping 342 barrels
of British tea into the harbor.
Unites the Colonies to take action against the
England, Parliament and the King. The immediate
result was the 1st Continental Congress.
Colonists saw the Coercive Acts as a
violation of their natural rights, and their
colonial charters.
What colony did not sent any delegates? Georgia
Did the Colonies want independence from Britain at this time? No
What was decided on at the First Continental Congress?
 Boycott of British merchandise, and set up committees to monitor and report
 Letter of Rights and Grievances sent to King George III
 Congress agreed to meet the following spring if colonial complaints had not been properly addressed
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