Colonial Unrest
Causes of the Revolutionary War
Proclamation of 1763
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When: 1763
What is it: British formally ended
all settlement west of the
Appalachian Mountains.
Who did it effect: Colonial Settlers /
Native Americans
How did it contribute to the
Revolution: It closed off the
frontier for expansion. Colonists
felt that it deprived them of land
for settlement and that they were
paying for something that only
England wanted.
Sugar Act
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When: 1764
What is it: Revision of the Molasses Act of 1733
– Reduced tax on Sugar, but NOW it was going
to be enforced!
Who did it effect: Colonial Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution: When
the British started strictly enforcing the taxes,
this eliminated the merchants profits for their
illegal trade with the Spanish and French West
Indies
Currency Act
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When: 1764
What is it: Parliament took control of the colonial
currency system by abolishing all colonial money
(Bills of Credit).
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Colonial
Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution: There
were no gold or silver mines and currency could
only be obtained through trade which was
regulated by Great Britain.
Stamp Act
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When: 1764
What is it: The Act was created to help cover the cost
of maintaining troops in the colonies. All printed
materials and commercial documents as well as printed
material including, newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal
documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards,
were taxed and had to carry a special stamp.
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Colonial Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution: It was the first
direct tax imposed by Britain on its American colonies.
Americans had to pay tax not to their own local
legislatures in America, but directly to England The
American colonists opposed the Act because they could
not pay the tax, and because it violated the new
principle of "No taxation without representation."
Quartering Act
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When: 1765
What is it: Colonist were required to give
quarters, food, and transportation to the British
soldiers.
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Colonial
Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution: The
British forced the colonist to accept it because
they were protecting the colonists from the
French. The colonists did not consider the
French a threat and did not like the idea of
paying for the British protection.
Declaratory Act
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When: 1766
What is it: Parliament declared that the colonies
were under the sole rule of the Crown, and any
law made by the colonial legislatures opposing
this was null and void.
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Colonial
Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution: The
colonists believed that were not under the rule
of England, but ruled themselves under the
colonial legislatures. It took away their
perceived right of self-government.
Townshend Act
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When: 1767
What is it: Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper,
and tea were applied with the design of raising
£40,000 a year for the administration of the
colonies.
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Colonial
Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution:
Resurrection of colonial hostilities created by the
Stamp Act.
Boston “Massacre”
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When: 1770
What is it: The Boston
Massacre (the killing of five
men by British soldiers on
March 5, 1770) was the result
of tensions that had been
growing between the colonist
and the English troops.
Who did it effect: Boston
Citizens / All Colonists
How did it contribute to the
Revolution: The massacre
served as anti-British
propaganda for Boston radicals
and elsewhere heightened
American fears of English
armies.
Tea Act
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When: 1773
What is it: 1773 Act that gave a monopoly
on tea sales to the East India Company.
The Tea Act lowered the price on this East
India tea so much that it was way below
tea from other suppliers.
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Colonial
Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution:
American colonists saw this law as yet
another means of "taxation without
representation" because it meant that
they couldn't buy tea from anyone else
(including other colonial merchants)
without spending a lot more money. Their
response was to refuse to unload the tea
from the ships. This was the situation in
Boston that led to the Boston Tea Party.
Intolerable/Coercive Acts
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When: 1774
What is it: Britain responded to the Boston
Tea Party in 1774 by passing several laws that
became known in America as the Intolerable
Acts. One law closed Boston Harbor until
Bostonians paid for the destroyed
tea. Another law restricted the activities of
the Massachusetts legislature and gave added
powers to the post of governor of
Massachusetts. Those powers in effect made
him a dictator. Another required that British
officials accused of a crime to be tried in
British NOT Colonial courts.
Who did it effect: All Colonists / Massachusetts
Colonists and Merchants
How did it contribute to the Revolution: In
response to these actions and laws, the
colonist banded together to fight
back. Several committees of colonists called
for a convention of delegates from the
colonies to organize resistance to the
Intolerable Acts. The convention was later to
be called the Continental Congress.