American Revolution Acts

Navigation Acts

Laws passed by Britain that regulated trade of the colonies. All raw materials from the colonies were to go to Britain to make manufactured goods, and the colonies themselves were prevented from making manufactured products. Many colonists got around this law by smuggling.

Molasses Act

Tax on imported molasses in the colonies passed by Parliament in an effort to suppress North American trade with French West Indies.

Proclamation Line of 1763

Issued by the London government after the French and Indian War that prohibited settlement beyond the Appalacians, was meant to prevent further conflicts with Indians but colonists thought it was to oppress them.

Sugar Act

1764 increase in indirect colonial tax on foreign sugar imported from the West Indies, was the first law passed by Great Britain that increased tax revenue for the crown.

Currency Act

Passed by Parliament that prevented the colonial legislatures from printing money and passing bankruptcy laws.

Stamp Act

1765 act that put a tax on stamps, which were required to be used on pretty much all kinds of paper like playing cards, pamphlets, newspapers, marriage licenses, etc. This was the first direct tax on the colonies and is considered to be a turning point in the revolutionary period by many historians.

Quartering Act

1765 act that required colonists to provide food and shelter to British troops.

Repeal of Stamp Act

When Parliament repealed the Stamp Act after an increase in colonial protests. In 1765 the Stamp Act Congress was formed, and the non-importation agreements (boycotts against British goods) put many British workers out of work. Britain thought the best choice was to repeal the act.

Declaratory Act

Reaffirmed Parliament's authority over the colonies and denied them a right to sovereignty.

Townshend Acts

Indirect customs tax payable at American ports that was put on imported goods like glass, lead, paper, glass, paint, and tea.

Boston Massacre

In Boston in 1768, colonists presumably provoked British troops by throwing snowballs and other objects at them, and feeling provoked the British opened fire on the colonists and killed/wounded 11 citizens.

Tea Act

Repealed Townshend Duties but kept tax on tea because it was a popular commodity and reduced British debt and saved British East India Company from bankruptcy.

Boston Tea Party

1773 when the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Indians and smashed open hundreds of chests of tea and emptied their contents into the Boston Harbor to protest Tea Act. Resulted in tightened restrictions on Boston and British losing millions of dollars in tea.

"Intolerable" Acts

A series of acts passed by Parliament in 1774 to punish Boston and Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.

Boston Port Act

One of the "Intolerable" Acts, when the Boston harbor was closed until damages for the Boston Tea Party were paid and order was restored.

Justice Act

One of the "Intolerable" Acts, allowed British officials that broke the law in the colonies to go to Great Britain for a trial, where they were more than likely to go free without punishment.

New Quartering Act

One of the "Intolerable" Acts, gave authorities the right to lodge in any home, even private ones.

Massachusetts Assembly Act

One of the "Intolerable" Acts, when Parliament put restrictions on town meetings in Massachusetts.

Quebec Act

Is sometimes considered one of the "Intolerable" Acts, helped Great Britain administer the British subjects of Canada. It also gaurenteed the residents their Catholicism and any old customs or institutions (meaning no representative assembly or trial by jury in civil cases because that wasn't implemented before). Also extended boundaries of province Quebec to Ohio River.

Lexington and Concord

When the British wanted to seize control of colonial gunpowder and capture colonial leaders like Samuel Adams and John Hancock. However, Lexington "minute men" refused to disperse and there were casualties on each side. In the end, the British were forced to retreat. This marked the official beginning of the American Revolution with the "shot heard around the world."