Colonial Reactions
From Navigation Acts to the
Declaration of Independence
1650
• Navigation Acts / British Acts of Trade
– Restricted use of foreign shipping
– Reinforced idea of mercantilism
1763
• Proclamation of 1763
– From Britain’s Point of View
• More debt if continued defending colonists from
natives in Ohio Valley
• Costs to have troops in forts
• Now needed gifts to natives to preserve peace with
natives
• Now had to purchase lands from natives
• Britain needed revenue (incoming money)
1763
• Writs of Assistance
– Could raise revenue if stopped smugglers
– The writs are laws that sent smugglers to British
vice-admiralty courts which were run by officers
and had no jury.
– Eventually the writs allow custom officials to enter
warehouses or private homes without a court
order to look for smuggled goods.
1764
Sugar Act
Colonists react:
1.Non-importation
agreements (boycott
purchase of certain
goods)
2.James Otis resigns
from Boston’s court.
His slogan drives the
Revolution.
1765
Stamp Act
Quartering Act
British merchants beg
Parliament to repeal
Sam Adams / Sons of
Liberty
Effigies burned
Patrick Henry persuades
Stamp Act Congress
Non-importation
agreements intensify
1766
Stamp Act Repealed
On same day as repeal,
Parliament passes the
Declaratory Act 
Colonists stop boycott
1767
Townshend Acts
Non-importation
agreements back & bigger
(tax on imported goods not
produced in the colonies; tax
Daughters of Liberty
paid at port of entry)
John Dickinson's Letters
Britain suspends Assembly
New York Assembly refuses
to fund Quartering Act
1768
Massachusetts Circular
Letter by Otis & S. Adams
Britain reacts by
dissolving Mass.
legislature
Two regiments of British
soldiers sent to Boston
after Liberty event. Custom
officials tell King that Mass. Is
in state of insurrection.
1769
Virginia’s House of
Burgesses passes a
resolution condemning
Britain’s actions in Mass.
Britain reacts by
dissolving Virginia
legislature
1770
Boston Massacre
Parliament repeals
Townshend Acts
Parliament keeps tax
on tea
Sam Adams, Paul
Revere & John
Adams
Colonists end
boycott
Colonists boycott tea
1772
Committees of
Correspondence – Sam
Adams calls a Boston
town meeting to set up
this line of
communication to tell
other colonies Boston’s
position; other colonies
copy idea
1773
Tea Act
Colonists vow to stop
company ships from
unloading.
Boston Tea Party
Tea party reactions
1774
Coercive Acts
Intolerable Acts
Port of Boston closed.
Local officials no longer
elected, but appointed.
Only 1 town mtg. a year
Bostonians forced to
shelter soldiers in homes
Other colonies support
with clothes, food, $$$$
1774
1st Continental Congress –
56 delegates from 12 colonies /
Met in Philadelphia /
Denounced Intolerable Acts /
Declare 13 Acts of Parliament
unconstitutional / Point out 10
rights of colonists / Boycott
Trade |||| Patrick Henry
Britain reacts by fortifying The Minutemen prepare for
resistance.
Boston / seize ammo
1775
April 18, 1775 - Gen. Gage
Paul Revere’s Ride
ordered to take leaders &
weapons
April 19, 1775 – “shot heard
‘round the world”
Loyalists/ Tories
Patriots
May – 2nd Continental Congress
Olive Branch Petition
King rejects
1776
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense
Colonists siege Boston because
of British troops
March – British evacuate
Boston
June – Richard Henry Lee
proposes independence
July 2 – vote on Lee’s resolution
July 4 – After some changes, approved
Declaration of Independence
Dates
• Revolutionary War 1775 - 1783
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Lexington & Concord
Declaration of Independence
Battle of Saratoga
Surrender at Yorktown
Treaty of Paris
April 19, 1775
July 4, 1776
Oct. 17, 1777
Oct. 19, 1781
Sept. 3, 1783
Unique War
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No desperation
No hunger
King George unjust – not oppressive
Colonists tied to England as English citizens.
Geography separated them.
Results
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Boundary – from Atlantic west to Mississippi
1300 battles
25,000 killed / 6,000 in action
Debt - $11.7 million +
Government is trying to work under the
Articles of Confederation
• 5,000 blacks served in Rev. / England promised
freedom to slaves if fought for English