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Upset by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant acts of destruction of British property by American colonists, the British Parliament enacts the Coercive Acts, to the outrage of American Patriots, on March 28, 1774.

The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British government. The aim of the legislation was to restore order in Massachusetts and punish Bostonians for their Tea Party, in which members of the revolutionary-minded Sons of Liberty boarded three British tea ships in Boston Harbor and dumped 342 crates of tea-nearly $1 million worth in today's money-into the water to protest the Tea Act.

Passed in response to the Americans' disobedience, the Coercive Acts included:

The Boston Port Act, which closed the port of Boston until damages from the Boston Tea Party were paid.

The Massachusetts Government Act, which restricted Massachusetts; democratic town meetings and turned the governor's council into an appointed body.

The Administration of Justice Act, which made British officials immune to criminal prosecution in Massachusetts.

The Quartering Act, which required colonists to house and quarter British troops on demand, including in their private homes as a last resort.

A fifth act, the Quebec Act, which extended freedom of worship to Catholics in Canada, as well as granting Canadians the continuation of their judicial system, was joined with the Coercive Acts in colonial parlance as one of the Intolerable Acts, as the mainly Protestant colonists did not look kindly on the ability of Catholics to worship freely on their borders.

More important than the acts themselves was the colonists' response to the legislation. Parliament hoped that the acts would cut Boston and New England off from the rest of the colonies and prevent unified resistance to British rule. They expected the rest of the colonies to abandon Bostonians to British martial law. Instead, other colonies rushed to the city's defense, sending supplies and forming their own Provincial Congresses to discuss British misrule and mobilize resistance to the crown. In September 1774, the First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia and began orchestrating a united resistance to British rule in America.
READ MORE: American Revolution: Causes and Timeline

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British Parliament adopts the Coercive Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party

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Upset by the Boston Tea Party and other blatant acts of destruction of British property by American colonists, the British Parliament enacts the Coercive Acts, to the outrage of American Patriots, on March 28, 1774. The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British government.

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The Townshend Acts were a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. But American colonists, who had no representation in Parliament, saw the Acts as an abuse of power. The British sent troops to America to enforce the unpopular new laws, further heightening tensions between Great Britain and the American colonies in the run-up to the American Revolutionary War.

The British Crown emerged victorious from the French and Indian War in 1763, but defending the North American colonies from French expansion had proved tremendously costly to England.

Compared to Great Britain's debts, the cost of the French and Indian War to the colonists had been slight. The colonists-who arguably enjoyed a higher standard of living at the time than their British counterparts-paid less than one-twentieth the taxes of British citizens living in England.

The British government thought the colonists should help pay the cost of their protection. The British Parliament enacted a series of taxes on the colonies for the purpose of raising revenue. Early attempts, such as the Stamp Act of 1765-which taxed colonists for every piece of paper they used-were met with widespread protests in America.

Townshend Duties

The Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies.

Benjamin Franklin had informed the British Parliament that the colonies intended to start manufacturing their own goods rather than paying duties on imports. These particular items were chosen for taxation because Townshend thought they would be difficult things for the colonists to produce on their own. He estimated the duties would raise approximately 40,000 pounds, with most of the revenue coming from tea.

While the original intent of the import duties had been to raise revenue, Charles Townshend saw the policies as a way to remodel colonial governments. The Townshend Acts would use the revenue raised by the duties to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, ensuring the loyalty of America's governmental officials to the British Crown. However, these policies prompted colonists to take action by boycotting British goods.

Charles Townshend didn't live to see the measures enacted. He died suddenly in September 1767, before the detrimental effects of his signature rules could materialize.

Townshend Act Protests

The Townshend duties went into effect on November 20, 1767, close on the heels of the Declaratory Act of 1766, which stated that British Parliament had the same authority to tax the American colonies as they did in Great Britain. By December, two widely circulated documents had united colonists in favor of a boycott of British goods.

These influential pamphlets included "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania," a series of essays written by Pennsylvania legislator John Dickinson and the "Massachusetts Circular Letter," a statement written by Samuel Adams and James Otis Jr. and passed by the Massachusetts House of Representatives to other colonial legislatures.

With the help of the Sons of Liberty-a secret society of American business leaders who coined the phrase "taxation without representation"-24 towns in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island agreed to boycott British goods in January 1768.

With the exception of necessities, such as fishing hooks and wire, New England merchants agreed not to import British goods for one year. New York followed suit in April, with an even more restrictive non-importation agreement.

In response to protests and boycotts, the British sent troops to occupy Boston and quell the unrest.

Repeal of the Townshend Acts

By 1769, more than 2,000 British troops had arrived in Boston to restore order-a large number considering only about 16,000 people lived in Boston at the time.

Skirmishes between patriot colonists and British soldiers-as well as colonists loyal to the British Crown-became increasingly common. To protest taxes, patriots often vandalized stores selling British goods and intimidated store merchants and their customers.

Tensions between the colonists and British troops finally boiled over on March 5, 1770, when British soldiers shot into an angry mob, killing five American colonists in an event known as the Boston Massacre.

Little did the colonists or British soldiers know that across the ocean on the same day as the Boston Massacre, the Prime Minister of Great Britain, Lord North, had asked Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts.

All of the Townshend Acts-except for the tax on tea-were repealed in April 1770. The tax on tea would remain a flashpoint and a contributing factor to the Boston Tea Party of 1773, in which angry colonists destroyed an entire shipment of tea in Boston Harbor. To quell resistant and punish the colonists-particularly the demonstrators in Boston-Parliament passed The Coercive Acts of 1774, which colonists referred to as the Intolerable Acts. The four Intolerable Acts included the Massachusetts Government Act, instituting an appointed government over the previously-elected, local one; the Boston Port Bill closing Boston Harbor; the Administration of Justice Act, which dictated that British officials could be tried in another colony or in England if charged with capital offenses; and the Quartering Act, which said unoccupied buildings could be used to quarter British troops. The combined force of these acts culminated in the American Revolution, which was kicked off when the " shot heard round the world" was fired on April 19, 1775, at the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

SOURCES

Charles Townshend (1725-1767); The Colonia Williamsburg Foundation.
Townshend Acts; Boston Tea Party Museum.
What we get wrong about taxes and the American Revolution. PBS News Hour. 2016.

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The Townshend Acts were a series of unpopular measures, passed by the British Parliament in 1767, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. The laws heightened the tensions between Great Britain and the American colonists and were a precursor to the Revolutionary War.

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Yes, because of the colonists feeling like they had no representation in Parliament and the feelings of anger at the several Acts and taxes imposed on the colonies.

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July 4,1776

Thomas Jefferson drafted the document.

By this point in time, resistance to independence had ceased.

The representatives of the Continental Congress voted for independence from Britain.

Signed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

The British colonies were going to separate from Britain and form a new nation, what is now the United States of America.

A famous quote from the Declaration of Independence,
“We hold these truths to be self-evident; that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness; that to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.”

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/declaration-of-independence

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April 19, 1775

British troops marched from Boston to capture rebel leaders and weapons.

Paul Revere rode through the night warning the Minutemen of the oncoming British soldiers, but never actually shouted: "The British are coming!".

Fighting broke out at Lexington where 8 colonists were killed.

Minutemen and British forces also faced off at Concord, and nobody knows who fired the first shots.  This event is known as "the shot heard 'round the world"

Shows that colonists were able to put up a fight and stand up for themselves against a powerful army.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battles-of-lexington-and-concord

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September 5, 1774-October 26, 1774.

All of the colonies, except for Georgia, sent representatives to Philadelphia.

This was a response to the Intolerable Acts.

The colonists were pledging loyalty to Britain, but disagreed with their right to tax them.

They adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, endorsed the Suffolk Resolves, formed "the Association" to stop importing goods to Britian.

They said that if their grievances were not met, they would meet again in 1775.

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Britain and the Imperial Crises

Throughout most of colonial history, the British Crown was the only political institution that united the American colonies. The Imperial Crises of the 1760s and 1770s, found England saddled with crippling debt, incurred in large part by wars such as the French and Indian War.

The British government responded by increasing taxes on the American colonists, which drove the colonies toward greater unity. Americans throughout the 13 colonies united in opposition to the new system of imperial taxation initiated by the British government in 1765.

The Stamp Act of that year-the first direct, internal tax imposed on the colonists by the British Parliament-inspired concerted resistance within the colonies. Nine colonial assemblies sent delegates to the Stamp Act Congress, an extralegal convention that met to coordinate the colonies' response to the new tax. Although the Stamp Act Congress was short-lived, it hinted at the enhanced unity among the colonies that would soon follow.

Did you know? Almost every significant political figure of the American Revolution served in the Continental Congress, including Samuel Adams, John Adams, John Hancock, John Jay, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Patrick Henry and George Washington.

Colonial opposition effectively killed the Stamp Act and brought about its repeal in 1766. The British government did not abandon its claim to the authority to pass laws for the colonies, however, and would make repeated attempts to exert its power over them in the years to follow.

Taxation Without Representation

In response to the violence of the Boston Massacre of 1770 and new taxes like the Tea Act of 1773, a group of frustrated colonists protested taxation without representation by dumping 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor on the night of December 16, 1773 - an event known to history as Boston Tea Party.

Colonists continued to coordinate their resistance to new imperial measures, but between 1766 until 1774, they did so primarily through committees of correspondence, which exchanged ideas and information, rather than through a united political body.

The First Continental Congress

On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the 13 colonies-except Georgia, which was fighting a Native American uprising and was dependent on the British for military supplies-met at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to the Intolerable Acts (or Coercive Acts) recently passed by the British Parliament.

The delegates included a number of future luminaries, such as future presidents John Adams of Massachusetts and George Washington of Virginia, and future U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice and diplomat John Jay of New York. The Congress was structured with emphasis on the equality of participants, and to promote free debate.

After much discussion, the Congress issued a Declaration of Rights, affirming its loyalty to the British Crown but disputing the British Parliament's right to tax it without representation in the parliament. The Congress also passed the Articles of Association, which called on the colonies to stop importing goods from the British Isles beginning on December 1, 1774, if the Intolerable Acts were not repealed.

Should Britain fail to redress the colonists' grievances in a timely manner, the Congress declared, then it would reconvene on May 10, 1775, and the colonies would cease to export goods to Britain on September 10, 1775. After proclaiming these measures, the First Continental Congress disbanded on October 26, 1774.

Second Continental Congress

As promised, Congress reconvened at Independence Hall in Philadelphia as the Second Continental Congress on May 10, 1775-and by then the American Revolution had already begun.

The British army in Boston had met with armed resistance on the morning of April 19, 1775, when it marched out to the towns of Lexington and Concord to seize a cache of weapons held by colonial Patriots who had ceased to recognize the authority of the royal government of Massachusetts.

The colonists drove the British expedition back to Boston and laid siege to the town. The Revolutionary War had begun.

Fighting for Reconciliation

Although the Congress professed its abiding loyalty to the British Crown, it also took steps to preserve its rights by dint of arms. On June 14, 1775, a month after it reconvened, it created a united colonial fighting force, the Continental Army. The next day, it named George Washington as the new army's commander in chief.

The following month, the Continental Congress issued its "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms," penned by John Dickinson of Pennsylvania, a veteran of the First Congress whose "Letters from a Farmer of Pennsylvania" (1767) had helped arouse opposition to earlier imperial measures, and by a newcomer from Virginia, Thomas Jefferson.

In an effort to avoid a full-scale war, Congress coupled this declaration with the Olive Branch Petition, a personal appeal to Britain's King George III, asking him to help the colonists resolve their differences with Britain. The king dismissed the petition out of hand.

Common Sense, Divided Loyalties

For over a year, the Continental Congress supervised a war against a country to which it proclaimed its loyalty. In fact, both the Congress and the people it represented were divided on the question of independence even after a year of open warfare against Great Britain.

Early in 1776, a number of factors began to strengthen the call for separation. In his stirring pamphlet " Common Sense," published in January of that year, the British immigrant Thomas Paine laid out a convincing argument in favor of independence.

At the same time, many Americans came to realize that their military might not be capable of defeating the British Empire on its own. Independence would allow it to form alliances with Britain's powerful rivals-and France was at the forefront of everyone's mind. Meanwhile, the war itself evoked hostility toward Britain among the citizenry, paving the way for independence.

Declaration of Independence

In the spring of 1776, the provisional colonial governments began to send new instructions to their congressional delegates, obliquely or directly allowing them to vote for independence. The provisional government of Virginia went further: It instructed its delegation to submit a proposal for independence before Congress.

On June 7, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee complied with his instructions. Congress postponed a final vote on the proposal until July 1, but appointed a committee to draft a provisional declaration of independence for use should the proposal pass.

The committee consisted of five men, including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. But the declaration was primarily the work of one man, Thomas Jefferson, who penned an eloquent defense of the natural rights of all people, of which, he charged, Parliament and the king had tried to deprive the American nation.

The Continental Congress made several revisions to Jefferson's draft, removing, among other things, an attack on the institution of slavery; but on July 4, 1776, the Congress voted to approve the Declaration of Independence.

Waging the War

The Declaration of Independence allowed Congress to seek alliances with foreign countries, and the fledgling U.S. formed its most important alliance early in 1778 with France, without the support of which America might well have lost the Revolutionary War.

If the Franco-American alliance was one of Congress's greatest successes, funding and supplying the war were among its worst failures. Lacking a pre-existing infrastructure, Congress struggled throughout the war to provide the Continental Army with adequate supplies and provisions.

Exacerbating the problem, Congress had no mechanism to collect taxes to pay for the war; instead, it relied on contributions from the states, which generally directed whatever revenue they raised toward their own needs. As a result, the paper money issued by Congress quickly came to be regarded as worthless.

The Articles of Confederation

Congress's inability to raise revenue would bedevil it for its entire existence, even after it created a constitution, known as the Articles of Confederation, to define its powers. Drafted and adopted by the Congress in 1777 but not ratified until 1781, it effectively established the United States as a collection of 13 sovereign states, each of which had an equal voice in Congress (which became officially known as the Congress of the Confederation) regardless of population.

Under the Articles, congressional decisions were made based on a state-by-state vote, and the Congress had little ability to enforce its decisions. The Articles of Confederation would prove incapable of governing the new nation in a time of peace, but they did not seriously undermine the war effort, both because the war was effectively winding down before the Articles took effect, and because Congress ceded many executive war powers to General Washington.

Treaty of Paris

Congress's final triumph came in 1783 when it negotiated the Treaty of Paris, officially ending the Revolutionary War. The Congressional delegates Franklin, Jay and Adams secured a favorable peace for the U.S. that included not only the recognition of independence, but also claim to almost all of the territory south of Canada and east of the Mississippi River.

On November 25, 1783, the last British troops evacuated New York City. The Revolutionary War was over and Congress had helped to see the country through.

However, the Articles of Confederation proved an imperfect instrument for a nation at peace with the world. The years immediately following the end of the Revolutionary War in 1783 presented the young American nation with a series of difficulties that Congress could not adequately remedy: dire financial straits, interstate rivalries and domestic insurrection.

Legacy of the Continental Congress

A movement developed for constitutional reform, culminating in the Philadelphia Convention of 1787. The delegates at the convention decided to scrap the Articles of Confederation completely and create a new system of government.

In 1789, the new U.S. Constitution went into effect and the Continental Congress adjourned forever and was replaced by the U.S. Congress. Although the Continental Congress did not function well in a time of peace, it had steered the nation through one of its worst crises, declared its independence and helped to win a war to secure that independence.
READ MORE: What Did the Three Continental Congresses Do?
Sources

Continental Congress, 1774-1781. U.S. Department of State. Office of the Historian.
First Continental Congress. George Washington's Mount Vernon.
The Continental Congress. PBS: American Experience.
Continental and Confederation Congresses. U.S. House of Representatives: History, Art & Archives.
The Second Continental Congress and the Declaration of Independence. National Park Service.

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Continental Congress: First, Second & Definition - HISTORY

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Throughout most of colonial history, the British Crown was the only political institution that united the American colonies. The Imperial Crises of the 1760s and 1770s, found England saddled with crippling debt, incurred in large part by wars such as the French and Indian War.

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March 28, 1774

Boston Harbor is closed as a result of Boston Tea Party (The Boston Port Act)

"British officials immune to criminal prosecution in Massachusetts" (The Administration of Justice Act).

Colonists had to host British troops in their house if needed (The Quartering Act)

The boundary of Quebec extended into Ohio Valley region and established the official religion of Quebec as Catholic (Quebec Act).

Led to the First Continental Congress becoming formed to be united to resist British tyranny.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-parliament-adopts-the-coercive-acts

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December 16, 1773

At night, the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Indians and threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.

This was a protest against the Tea Act and was met back with Britain closing the harbor and putting punishments on the colonists until the tea was paid for (Coercive Acts).

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Contents

1. Why Did the Boston Tea Party Happen?

2. Boston Massacre Enrages Colonists

3. Tea Act Imposed

4. Sons of Liberty

5. What Happened at the Boston Tea Party?

6. Boston Tea Party Aftermath

7. Who Organized the Boston Tea Party?

8. Coercive Acts

9. Second Boston Tea Party

10. First Continental Congress Is Convened

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing "taxation without representation," dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldn't take taxation and tyranny sitting down, and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence.

Why Did the Boston Tea Party Happen?

In the 1760s, Britain was deep in debt, so British Parliament imposed a series of taxes on American colonists to help pay those debts.

The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed colonists on virtually every piece of printed paper they used, from playing cards and business licenses to newspapers and legal documents. The Townshend Acts of 1767 went a step further, taxing essentials such as paint, paper, glass, lead and tea.

The British government felt the taxes were fair since much of its debt was earned fighting wars on the colonists' behalf. The colonists, however, disagreed. They were furious at being taxed without having any representation in Parliament, and felt it was wrong for Britain to impose taxes on them to gain revenue.
READ MORE: 7 Events That Enraged Colonists and Led to the American Revolution
Boston Massacre Enrages Colonists

On March 5, 1770, a street brawl happened in Boston between American colonists and British soldiers.

Later known as the Boston Massacre, the fight began after an unruly group of colonists-frustrated with the presence of British soldiers in their streets- flung snowballs, ice and oyster shells at a British sentinel guarding the Boston Customs House.

Reinforcements arrived and opened fire on the mob, killing five colonists and wounding six. The Boston Massacre and its fallout further incited the colonists' rage towards Britain.

Tea Act Imposed

Britain eventually repealed the taxes it had imposed on the colonists except the tea tax. It wasn't about to give up tax revenue on the nearly 1.2 million pounds of tea the colonists drank each year.

In protest, the colonists boycotted tea sold by British East India Company and smuggled in Dutch tea, leaving British East India Company with millions of pounds of surplus tea and facing bankruptcy.

In May 1773, British Parliament passed the Tea Act which allowed British East India Company to sell tea to the colonies duty-free and much cheaper than other tea companies - but still tax the tea when it reached colonial ports.

Tea smuggling in the colonies increased, although the cost of the smuggled tea soon surpassed that of tea from British East India Company with the added tea tax.

Still, with the help of prominent tea smugglers such as John Hancock and Samuel Adams -who protested taxation without representation but also wanted to protect their tea smuggling operations-colonists continued to rail against the tea tax and Britain's control over their interests.

Sons of Liberty

The Sons of Liberty were a group of colonial merchants and tradesmen founded to protest the Stamp Act and other forms of taxation. The group of revolutionists included prominent patriots such as Benedict Arnold, Patrick Henry and Paul Revere, as well as Adams and Hancock.

Led by Adams, the Sons of Liberty held meetings rallying against British Parliament and protested the Griffin's Wharf arrival of Dartmouth, a British East India Company ship carrying tea. By December 16, 1773, Dartmouth had been joined by her sister ships, Beaver and Eleanor; all three ships loaded with tea from China.

That morning, as thousands of colonists convened at the wharf and its surrounding streets, a meeting was held at the Old South Meeting House where a large group of colonists voted to refuse to pay taxes on the tea or allow the tea to be unloaded, stored, sold or used. (Ironically, the ships were built in America and owned by Americans.)

Governor Thomas Hutchison refused to allow the ships to return to Britain and ordered the tea tariff be paid and the tea unloaded. The colonists refused, and Hutchison never offered a satisfactory compromise.
READ MORE: Who Were the Sons of Liberty?
What Happened at the Boston Tea Party?

That night, a large group of men - many reportedly members of the Sons of Liberty - disguised themselves in Native American garb, boarded the docked ships and threw 342 chests of tea into the water.

Said participant George Hewes, "We then were ordered by our commander to open the hatches and take out all the chests of tea and throw them overboard, and we immediately proceeded to execute his orders, first cutting and splitting the chests with our tomahawks, so as thoroughly to expose them to the effects of the water."

Hewes also noted that "We were surrounded by British armed ships, but no attempt was made to resist us."

Did you know? It took nearly three hours for more than 100 colonists to empty the tea into Boston Harbor. The chests held more than 90,000 lbs. (45 tons) of tea, which would cost nearly $1,000,000 dollars today.

Boston Tea Party Aftermath

While some important colonist leaders such as John Adams were thrilled to learn Boston Harbor was covered in tea leaves, others were not.

In June of 1774, George Washington wrote: "the cause of Boston...ever will be considered as the cause of America." But his personal views of the event were far different. He voiced strong disapproval of "their conduct in destroying the Tea" and claimed Bostonians "were mad." Washington, like many other elites, held private property to be sacrosanct.

Benjamin Franklin insisted the British East India Company be reimbursed for the lost tea and even offered to pay for it himself.

No one was hurt, and aside from the destruction of the tea and a padlock, no property was damaged or looted during the Boston Tea Party. The participants reportedly swept the ships' decks clean before they left.

Who Organized the Boston Tea Party?

Though led by Samuel Adams and his Sons of Liberty and organized by John Hancock, the names of many of those involved in the Boston Tea Party remain unknown. Thanks to their Native American costumes, only one of the tea party culprits, Francis Akeley, was arrested and imprisoned.

Even after American independence, participants refused to reveal their identities, fearing they could still face civil and criminal charges as well as condemnation from elites for the destruction of private property. Most participants in the Boston Tea Party were under the age of forty and sixteen of them were teenagers.

Coercive Acts

But despite the lack of violence, the Boston Tea Party didn't go unanswered by King George III and British Parliament.

In retribution, they passed the Coercive Acts (later known as the Intolerable Acts) which:

closed Boston Harbor until the tea lost in the Boston Tea Party was paid for

ended the Massachusetts Constitution and ended free elections of town officials

moved judicial authority to Britain and British judges, basically creating martial law in Massachusetts

required colonists to quarter British troops on demand

extended freedom of worship to French-Canadian Catholics under British rule, which angered the mostly Protestant colonists

Britain hoped the Coercive Acts would squelch rebellion in New England and keep the remaining colonies from uniting, but the opposite happened: All the colonies viewed the punitive laws as further evidence of Britain's tyranny and rallied to Massachusetts' aid, sending supplies and plotting further resistance.

Second Boston Tea Party

A second Boston Tea Party took place in March 1774, when around 60 Bostonians boarded the ship Fortune and dumped nearly 30 chests of tea into the harbor.

The event didn't earn nearly as much notoriety as the first Boston Tea Party, but it did encourage other tea-dumping demonstrations in Maryland, New York and South Carolina.

First Continental Congress Is Convened

Many colonists felt Britain's Coercive Acts went too far. On September 5, 1774, elected delegates from all 13 American colonies except Georgia met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress to figure out how to resist British oppression.

The delegates were divided on how to move forward but the Boston Tea Party had united them in their fervor to gain independence. By the time they adjourned in October 1774, they'd written The Declaration and Resolves which:

censured Britain for passing the Coercive Acts and called for their repeal

established a boycott of British goods

declared the colonies had the right to govern independently

rallied colonists to form and train a colonial militia

Britain didn't capitulate and within months, the "shot heard round the world," rang out in Concord, Massachusetts, sparking the start of the American Revolutionary War.

Sources

A Tea Party Timeline: 1773-1775. Old South Meeting House.
The Boston Tea Party. The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation.
The Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts Historical Society.
The Boston Tea Party, 1773. EyewitnesstoHistory.com.
The Intolerable Acts. U.S.History.org.

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The Boston Tea Party was a political protest staged on December 16, 1773 at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated at Britain for imposing "taxation without representation," dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor. The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists.

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May 10, 1773

Gave a monopoly to the British East India Company. Used to raise revenue.

Colonists opposed the Act because of the idea that they could be taxed by Britain without consent.

Led to what is known as the Boston Tea Party.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/tea-act#

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1764-1775

Led by Samuel Adams, the Committees of Correspondence were used to keep up communication between the colonies and resistance to the British policies that were effecting the colonies.

Led to the formation of the First Continental Congress.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/committees-of-correspondence

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June 9, 1772

The British ship Gaspee ran ashore and was then attacked by Sons of Liberty. Although there was threats to take the people responsible to England for trial, no arrests are made.
The ship was there to enforce the laws and regulations that were in effect, such as the Navigation Act.

The colonies learn of the incident through the Committees of Correspondence.

https://www.landofthebrave.info/the-gaspee.htm

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March 5, 1770

British troops protecting a customs house form an angry mob shoot and kill 5 colonists, which includes an African American, Crispus Attucks.

John Adams defends the soldiers and they are acquitted of the killings.

Paul Revere paints the incident in his famous painting, "The Bloody Massacre", and helps people be convinced to join the patriot cause.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre

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1767-1770

The Townshend Acts were named after Charles Townshend, due to him being the creator of these duties.

Placed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported into the colonies.

The money would be used to pay royal officials in the colonies and also homes could be searched for smuggled goods with a "writ of assistance", but not a judge-granted warrant.

Colonists saw the Townshend Acts as "an abuse of power." Colonists boycotted British goods, which made Britain lose more money than they gained. Due to the backlash and loss of money, the Townshend Acts were repealed in 1770.

http://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/townshend-acts

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March 18, 1766

The Stamp Act would be repealed which made the colonists very happy.
The Declaratory Act, however, said that Britain still had power over the colonies to tax them, despite the repeal of the Stamp Act. Only a few, well-educated colonists notice this small detail.

"passed by the British parliament to affirm its power to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever”.

https://www.landofthebrave.info/declaratory-act.htm

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October 7 and 25, 1765

The Stamp Act Congress is when representatives from 9 colonies came together in New York City Hall and came up with a "Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonists."
The main issues were no taxation without representation and having the same rights as citizens in Britain.

https://www.landofthebrave.info/stamp-act-congress.htm

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March 22, 1765

The Stamp Act was a tax put on all of the colonies in order to raise money to protect the frontier near the Appalachia Mountains.

"Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed."

The colonies had no say or representation in the passing of the Stamp Act.

http://www.history.org/history/teaching/tchcrsta.cfm

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April 5, 1764

The Sugar Act is passed by Britain in order to raise money to help pay for the massive debt as a result of the French and Indian War. Also passed in order to enforce the Navigation Act and stop smuggling. Those who violated were tried in Vice-admiralty courts without juries.

Led to colonists boycotting and protesting.
" No taxation without representation!"

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The definition and purpose of the 1764 Sugar Act and the cry of "No taxation without representation!"

Map of the Thirteen Colonies

Reduce the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon - but ensured the new tax could be collected by increased British military presence and controls

Establish British admiralty courts for tax violators where a judge decided the outcome rather than in colonial courts

Regulate the trade by effectively closing the legal trade to non-British suppliers. The Act was designed to stop trade between New England and the Middle colonies with French, Dutch, and Spanish in the West Indies

Provide for the seizure of cargoes violating the new rules

Reduce the practice of smuggling bribery, intimidation and corruption in the colonies which were used to avoid paying taxes

The act taxed more foreign goods including wines, coffee, cambric and printed calico

Timber and iron were also included in the products that could be traded only with England

Sugar Act - Background Information
The Sugar Act was mainly about the manufacture of rum which was a highly lucrative product. Rum is made from molasses, a by-product of sugar production. Some sugarcane was grown on sugar plantations in the colonies but the majority was imported from the West Indies. The background to the Sugar Act dates to one of the series of Navigation Acts. The Navigation Act of 1733, also known as the Molasses Act, levied heavy taxes on sugar from the West Indies to the American colonies in an attempt to force colonists to purchase the more costly sugar from Britain. The Molasses Act of 1733 was never fully enforced because of the British policy of Salutary Neglect, which basically allowed British officials to turn a 'blind eye' to trade violations.

The Sugar Act was part of the policy of Mercantilism and the Sugar Act
Mercantilism that favored England by controlling trade, especially in respect of the import of sugarcane from the West Indies.

The establishment of the 13 Colonies, with their surplus of raw materials, made it possible for Great Britain to engage in highly lucrative trading via the Triangular Trade and the Sugar Act
Triangular Trade routes across the Atlantic. Sugarcane plantations required cheap labor - slaves. Ships from England traded goods for slaves in Africa. The ships then took the slaves to the sugar plantations in the West Indies. The West Indies sent molasses to the colonies who used the molasses to manufacture rum.
Sugar Cane Plantation
The effect of the Sugar Act on the colonists was the economic impact as well as the constitutional issue of taxation without representation. The Sugar Act is also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act. The English policy of Salutary Neglect that was in effect from 1607-1763 encouraged the colonists to violate the law by bribing customs officials and smuggling. The colonists were undergoing a period of financial difficulties and their resentment was due to both the economic impact of the Sugar Act as well as the constitutional issue of taxation without representation. The Sugar Act of 1732 was seen as detrimental to Colonial America and was one of the laws that sewed the seeds of dissension and rebellion in the colonies when it was more rigorously enforced. The Effect of the Sugar Act of 1764
Sugar Act and the Stamp Act were some of the laws that led to anger, resentment, dissension and ultimately revolution in Colonial America - the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) and the Declaration of Independence from Great Britain.

Sugar Act - British Laws and Taxes
Discover interesting facts and information about the Taxes in the 13 Colonies, including the Sugar Act, which was imposed on the colonists of Colonial America by the British government via parliament. The Sugar Act was one of a series of taxes that divided Great Britain and its colonies in America. The Sugar Act was repealed in 1766 and replaced with the Revenue Act of 1766, which reduced the tax on molasses imports, British or foreign.
British Laws and Taxes in the Colonies - The Declaration of Independence
Sugar Act

Meaning and Definition of the Sugar Act

History of the Act of 1764

Fast Facts and info about Sugar Act

The article is a great history resource for kids

Social Studies Homework help for kids on the Sugar Act of 1764

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The definition and purpose of the 1764 Sugar Act and the cry of "No taxation without representation!" Map of the Thirteen Colonies Reduce the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon - but ensured the new tax could be collected by increased British military presence and controls Establish British admiralty courts for tax violators where a judge decided the outcome rather than in colonial courts Regulate the trade by effectively closing the legal trade to non-British suppliers.

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October 7, 1763

The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by Great Britan after Pontiac's Rebellion in order to keep the colonists from crossing into Indian land. It was intended to keep peace and stop the colonists and Indians from getting into conflict with each other.

Contributed to colonists becoming angry with Britan, they felt this land was theirs after their victory in the French and Indian War.

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The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British at the end of the French and Indian War to appease Native Americans by checking the encroachment of European settlers on their lands. It created a boundary, known as the proclamation line, separating the British colonies on the Atlantic coast from American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. In the centuries since the proclamation, it has become one of the cornerstones of Native American law in the United States and Canada.

What Did the Proclamation of 1763 Do?

After the conclusion of the French and Indian War in America, the British Empire began to tighten control over its rather autonomous colonies. In response to Pontiac's Rebellion, a revolt of Native Americans led by Pontiac, an Ottawa chief, King George III declared all lands west of the Appalachian Divide off-limits to colonial settlers.

This royal proclamation, issued on October 7, 1763, closed down colonial expansion westward beyond Appalachia. It was the first measure to affect all thirteen colonies. The edict forbade private citizens and colonial governments alike from buying land or making any agreements with natives; the empire would conduct all official relations. Furthermore, only licensed traders would be allowed to travel west or deal with Indians. Theoretically protecting colonists from Indian rampages, the measure was also intended to shield Native Americans from increasingly frequent attacks by white settlers. The proclamation also established three new mainland colonies: Quebec, West Florida and East Florida, while extending Georgia's southern border and granting land to soldiers who had fought in the Seven Year's War.

Did you know? In the United States, the Proclamation's legality ended with the American Revolution, but it remains part of aboriginal land claims made by Canada's First Nation, Metis and Inuit peoples.

How Did Colonists React to the Proclamation of 1763?

Although the proclamation was introduced as a temporary measure, its economic benefits for Britain prompted ministers to keep it until the eve of the Revolutionary War. A desire for good farmland caused many colonists to defy the proclamation; others merely resented the royal restrictions on trade and migration. Ultimately, the Proclamation of 1763 failed to stem the tide of westward expansion.

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The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British at the end of the French and Indian War to appease Native Americans by checking the encroachment of European settlers on their lands. It created a boundary, known as the proclamation line, separating the British colonies on the Atlantic coast from American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains.