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1763 - 1783
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After the French and Indian war King George had a problem. How would he keep Indians and colonists from killing each other in the newly acquired land. He decided to create a boundary west of the Appalachain Mountains. This angered colonists. The only farmland they had now was in the 13 colonies. This is the spark that soon started the American Revoultion
1765 - 1776
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The colonists were happy once more after getting rid of the stamp act. This did not last however. To house the 40,000 british troops sent to America, the quatering act was put in place. This required colonists to house British troops and provide them with food. The colonists questioned why they had to do this. All the troops did was take up space and the colonies hadn't been attacked before the new troops came; what was the purpose? The tension between America and Britain rose once more.
1765 - 1766
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King George also had to pay off the giant war debt he had. To do this he put a tax on the all the colonies. This was called the stamp act. He taxed newspapers, documents, and even playing cards. This enraged the colonists. It wasn't that they had to pay money, it was that they had no say in the tax. They wanted to vote on it in their own assmbilis. They protested it for months. Some were even violent, attacking tax collectors. The British government repealed the tax in 1766. The colonists now saw they had some power to make their own decisions.
1767 - 1770
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The Townshed Acts were another attempt to tax the colonists without their say. It was named after the man who proposed it Charles Townshed. This placed taxes on items imported to the colonies. The colonists saw through this however. Just two years before Britain tried to tax them without representation. They were not going to let them do it again. The act was repealed in 1770 except for the tax on tea. The outcome of the Townshed acts were more troops being sent to Boston and the dissolvement of the Massachusetts house of Representatives.
1770
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The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by a British army. A mob of colonists started taunting British soldiers guarding the customs house. They were protesting the occupation of Boston by British troops. The commanding officer ordered his men to point their rifles at the colonists. Snowballs and other objects started to be thrown at the soldiers. A ice ball hit a soldier causing him to fire. Other soldiers started to fire. 5 colonists were dead. This incident was highly publicized by Paul Revere who made an engraving depicting it. This caused the public view of Britain to turn very badly.
1773
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In 1773 the East Indian Company tried to save itself by lowering its tea tax. Most of the tea in the colonies was smuggled because colonists refused to drink tea that was tax. The company thought if they decreased the price, even lower than smugglers charged they would make a profit. The colonists still refused to by it because of the tax. In protest of England's taxation a man named Samuel Adams brought a mob of patriots to Boston Harbor. They dumped about $18,000 dollars worth of tea. This act of protest led to England's outcry and the Intolerable acts. The colonists showed that they will not put up with England's power struggle with them.
1774
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The Intolerable Acts were passed to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. They finally got fed up with all the protests and act repeals. The tea party was the last straw. The first act was the closing of Boston harbor until the colonists paid for the tea that was lost. The second was that British soliders could not be tried for their accused crimes in the colony. This meant that they could go to England for their trial. The third was that Massachusetts could only have one town meeting a year unless others were approved. Other acts included extending the canadian border to cut some colonies land off and giving British soldiers freedom from Massachusetts law. These acts angered all of the colonies. They believed this was an unjust use of Britain's power. This act bonded the colonies together and started the idea of not being a colonist, but an American
1775
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The tensions between Britain and America had been boiling for years. After the intolerable acts it was about to blow up. The battles at Lexington and Concord set off the American Revolution. The British soldiers in the colonies recevied order to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington and destroy a weapons cache in Concord. On April 19 1775, Paul Revere heard of the Britain's planned attack. He set off to warn Sam Adams and hide the guns in Concord. He succeeded and most of the guns were hidden and Samuel Adams was safe. 700 British troops arrived at Lexington. They are greeted by 77 armed colonists. We still do not know who fired first but it set off the Revolutionary War. The colonists retreated after the first shot and the British marched on to Concord. They did not find much and decided to burn it. The fire got out of control. The colonists outside of Concord saw the fire and thought the town was going to burn. They crossed the North Bridge and met the soldiers. A battle broke out and the untrained colonists defeated the Britains at the bridge. They retreated and the colonists followed attacking. The victory brought the Americans newfound confindence. They had shown Britain in the past they would not be controlled. Most of the power had been in their hand the entire time. The American Revolution had begun.