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A “proclamation” is a formal announcement. In the Proclamation of 1763, the  British announced that the land won during the French and Indian War – the  land west of the Appalachian Mountains – would be reserved for the Native  Americans. It was now against the law for colonists to settle in that area.

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The colonists were frustrated by the Proclamation of 1763. Not only were  they now unable to move westward as they had hoped, but the Proclamation  also made it clear that the British intended to maintain an even tighter  control over the colonies than ever before

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The British wanted to prevent any more wars with the Native Americans.  They hoped it would be easier to protect the colonists if they lived only in the  lands east of the Appalachians.

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“To quarter” means to give soldiers a place to stay. The Quartering Act  required colonists to put British soldiers up in their homes. In addition,  colonists had to provide fuel, candles, beer, and transportation for the troops.

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The Quartering Act angered the colonists. They were suspicious of the troops.  They believed that they had been sent to America not to protect the colonists,  but to control them. The colonists also felt that the British should have asked  for their approval before passing an act that affected their personal lives and  their pocketbooks ($$). 

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The British were in debt after the French and Indian War. They felt that the  colonists should help pay for some of the expenses involved in defending the  colonies from the French (and Indians). The Stamp Act, passed in 1765,  required the colonists to pay a tax on most printed materials, such as  newspapers, pamphlets, marriage licenses, and playing cards. A colonist had  to purchase a stamp and place it on any printed document to prove that he or  she had paid the tax.

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Throughout the colonies,  people responded in a number of ways:

• Groups such as the Sons of Liberty and the Daughters of Liberty  stopped stamped papers from being unloaded at the docks.

• Merchants organized a boycott (to reject) British goods. They agreed  not to buy anything British.

• Representatives from nine colonies formed the Stamp Act Congress and  declared that the stamp taxes could not be collected without the consent  of the colonists. They demanded that Parliament (Britain’s lawmaking  body) repeal, or do away with, the act.

Eventually Parliament repealed  the Stamp

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The colonists were very angered by the Stamp Act. They were not upset just  about having to pay the tax. They felt that their freedom had been threatened  because they had no say in making the law. The colonists resented (did not  like) being taxed without their consent (approval).

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Charles Townshend, the new British Prime Minister, imposed a small  indirect tax on glass, lead, paper, and tea. The tax was “indirect” because it  was collected at the sea ports before the items reached colonial stores. Since the tax would then be  included in the price the colonists paid at the stores – and not added onto the price like with the Stamp Act – Townshend hoped the colonists would  not even notice they were paying a tax.

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The colonists, however, recognized the indirect tax. They saw it as an unjust  form of taxation without representation. As under the Stamp Act, they  organized a boycott of British goods.

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On March 5, 1770, a mob of colonists in Boston began to harass British  troops, taunting (teasing) them and throwing snowballs. The situation soon  got out of hand, and finally, the troops opened fire. Five colonist died.

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Most colonist believed that the British soldiers were completely at fault. The  enraged citizens of Boston called a town meeting to demand the removal the  British troops and to argue for the trial of the British soldiers for murder.  The British agreed to the colonists’ demands.

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In 1773 Parliament passed the Tea Act, which gave the British East Indies  company a complete monopoly of the American tea business – meaning that  colonists could only buy tea from this company. No other company could  compete with it.

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Despite the fact that this act actually lowered the price of tea, the colonists  still opposed it. They viewed the Tea Act as merely another example of  England making a decision that concerned the colonists without consulting  them.

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To protest the Tea Act, the Sons of Liberty organized the Boston Tea Party.  Dressed as Native Americans, colonists raided three British ships in the  Boston Harbor. They smashed open 340 chests of tea and dumped them into  the harbor, while a crowd of people watched in approval.

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“To coerce” means to force someone to do something. The British passed the  Coercive Acts in reaction to the Boston Tea Party. They hoped to force  colonists to pay for the tea lost and to obey British rule. The Coercive Acts  closed the port of Boston and imposed military rule on all Massachusetts.  The Massachusetts legislature and town meeting were suspended.

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Sam Adams helped to stir up  colonial response to these acts. The colonists call the acts the “Intolerable  Acts” because they did not feel that they could tolerate them. The taxes they  had been battling were nothing comparison to this harsh British crackdown  on colonial rights. Although the acts applied only to Massachusetts, the  other colonies rallied to protest them. The colonists feared that if such  British actions were to continue, the rest of the colonies were in danger of  losing their liberties as well. On the day, the acts went into effect, flags  throughout the colonies were flown at half-mast.

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Meanwhile, in the towns surrounding Boston, “minutemen” began to store  arms and to train for possible battle at a minute’s notice.

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Parliament rejected all petitions for change that came from the First  Continental Congress. In April, 1775, British troops left Boston and marched  to nearby Lexington and Concord. They planned to seize stores of colonial  gunpowder and arms (guns, muskets) and to capture the “rebel” leaders,  Samuel Adams and John Hancock

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At Lexington, colonial minutemen – colonists who had joined the militia  (citizen soldiers) – met the British soldiers. No one knows who fired first,  but when the smoke cleared, eight colonists were dead and ten were  wounded. The Redcoats pushed on to Concord, where they were met by  more minutemen. Then, while the British retreated back to Boston,  minutemen fired on them from behind trees and fences. At day’s end, the  British suffered 273 casualties (deaths), while the colonists suffered less  than one hundred.

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After the battles of Lexington and Concord, thousands of minutemen from  the area gathered around Boston in anticipation of the next battle. The  Second Continental Congress met and drafted a new appeal to the King. But  they also selected George Washington to head up the army of minutemen  surrounding Boston. The Revolutionary War had begun.