1. Sugar Act of 1764 Purpose was to raise revenue
New taxes on imports such as molasses from the West Indies
Dealing with Tax Collectors - Library of Congress

2. The Quartering Act of 1765
This act required colonists to house and feed the British soldiers who were placed in the colonies, most particularly in the towns and cities.
Angry colonist’s reaction to the Quartering Act decree

3. The Stamp Act of 1765
This was Parliament’s first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies
Applied stamp duties on items such as paper, licenses, playing cards, newspapers, or any other items written or printed on paper
Colonial protest led to representatives in nine colonies meeting in New York to form the Stamp Act Congress (resolved that only elected representatives had authority to tax, agreed to boycott british goods)
Sons and Daughters of Liberty step up radical attacks on tax agents (tar and feather, ransack houses of unpopular officials
Stamp from the Stamp Act

4. “no taxation without representation”

5. The Second Phase of the Crisis, 1767-1773
Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act
Colonists rejoiced, but passed the Declaratory Act (1766)
This act asserted that Parliament had the right to tax and make laws for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”
This would lead to renewed misunderstanding and conflict between American colonists and the British government

6. The Townshend Acts 1767
Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea were applied
Tea was drunk in huge amounts
Revenue from taxes was to be used to pay salaries of royal governors and judges in America
Charles Townshend spearheaded the Townshend Acts, but died before their detrimental effects became apparent.

7. Boston Massacre
Britain brought to regiments of troops to Boston help keep order
March 5,1770 group of 60 townspeople protested the troops
Soldiers opened fire, killed/wounded 11 citizens
Only two soldiers found guilty of manslaughter and were branded on the hand
Guards firing on crowd of colonist that later were proclaimed to be “unarmed” men and boys. Five people were killed including an African-American Crispus Attucks(first one killed, and a leader of the mob

8. Renewal of Conflict
Samuel Adams and a few other Americans kept alive the view that British officials were conspiring against colonial liberties
Adams and others established Committees of Correspondence that would regularly exchange letters about suspicious or threatening British activities
Led to creation of intercolonial committees of correspondence where colonies exchanged ideas and information between each other

9. The Boston Tea Party Boston Tea Party
-Tea Act of 1773 (Monopoly given to East India Company)
-Made it cheaper to buy tea from them than the smuggled Dutch tea
-December 16, 1773: Colonists boarded British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor
-this led England to pass the “Intolerable Acts”
Boston Tea Party

10. Intolerable Acts (1774)
-Boston Port Act (closed Boston Port until damage was paid and order restored)
-Massachusetts Government Act (shut down the Massachusetts legislature)and forbid town meetings)
-Quartering Act of (required further housing and feeding of troops)
-Quebec Act (established laws for regulating Quebec, guaranteed free practice of Catholic faith, took over lands in western areas)
-Administration of Justice Act (changed trial venues for officials charged with crimes)
The colonists viewed the Quebec Act as a direct attack on the American colonies because it took away lands that they claimed along the Ohio River. Colonists felt “forced” to accept these new British regulations

11. The First Continental Congress
September 5, 1774
All but Georgia were represented
51 delegates
Considered ways of redressing colonial grievances
Sent petition to British government (king rejected)
Adopted COMPLETE boycott of british goods (nonimportation, nonexportation, nonconsumption
Did not seek independence
If colonial rights were not recognized, a final measure called for a second meeting (Second Congress May 1775)
“Meeting”- The First Continental Congress

12. The King’s Government Responds
The King dismissed the petition
Declared Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion
Sent additional troops to deal with disorder
The combination of colonial defiance and British determination led to violent clashes in Massachusetts
These clashes proved to be the first battles of the American Revolution
King George III refused to receive the petition

13. The First Shots of the American Revolution
Lexington and Concord
April 19, 1775
british soldiers sent to Boston to seize a store of gunpowder and arrest “rebel” ringleaders
colonial “minute men” did not disperse quick enough and british opened fire
First Shots fired at Lexington
8 Americans Killed
-Continuing their march, the British entered Concord, where they destroyed some military supplies. On the return to Boston, the long column of British soldiers were attacked by hundreds of militiamen behind stone walls. (British suffered 250 casualties)