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The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a bigger war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and in 1763. English colonists had been having small encounters with the French fur traders and Natives for years, but were beginning to get worried about the growing French presence. The colonists weren't able to expand into the Ohio River Valley because of the numerous forts the French had begun to erect. The colonies goverement sent George Washington with a colonial force to expel the French from the valley. After one small victory, George Washingtons forces were defeated. The British Goverment appointed Edward Braddock as commander in chief of the colonial forces. He was killed in an ambush not long after. In 1759, British forces invaded Canada and conquered it. The British kicked the French out of North America, besides some in Louisanna. .Great Britian gained a lot of land in North America after winning the conflict, and its colonists were able to expand into the Ohio River Valley and beyond.

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The Proclamtion of 1763 was a line drawn on a map marking the boundary where the British just acquired territory from the French. The Proclamation said that colonists could not move past the line into the newly seized territory. This was part of the British Goverment plan to try to stop westward expansion. The Goverment wanted to do this because they thought if too many colonists moved west into Indian territory, it would spark another exspensive war. They also believed that the colonists would become more economically independent and less dependent on England for goods. The line made many colonists unhappy. It stopped people from expanding there land and profits. There was the argument that colonists that fought for the land couldn't even live and profit off it. It was the first major idealoigcal shift the colonies had from Great Britian.

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British lawmakers aimed to end the smuggling of sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies to the colonies. Smuggling became more dangerous because of the act. New England ports were losing lots of money because they relied on the smuggled sugar. The merchants and suppliers had to raise the prices to stay in business. Meanwhile, exports from the British controlled West Indies was unrestricted. The colonists really started to rally around a saying. It was "No taxation without representation." A group of colonists in Boston and New York agreed to stop buying British luxuries, and there were movements to start colonial manufacturing.

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Colonial America didn't have a lot of hard money because of the mercantile system. The merchants from the mother countries benefited from this a lot, but the colonists didn't because there was more money leaving the colonies than coming in. Some colonies tried to combat this by issuing there own paper money. This was good for the working class and for farmers because it started money circulating through the economy. It let people rely on something other than a barter system. British merchants didn't like the colonial money because of the way it value changed, most of the time going down. After the merchants complained, the act was put in place. It said that no more paper money was to be printed in the colony. It also said that all paper money currently in use was to be retired. It was an attempt by the British Goverment to seize control of the colonial economy. It ended up weakening it more than it already was from the French and Indian War.

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A law passed that taxed many goods being imported into the colonies. The British won the French and Indian War, but having to defend and invade that fronteir took a lot of resources and money. This Act was on of the many put into place to help try lessen the debts on England. The colonies did not endure the same economic hardships after the war. Benjamin Franklin told parliament that the colonies would start producing their own goods. The problem with that was the British put the tax on items that would be particularly hard for the colonists to make themselves. Pamphelets started going around spreading the idea of boycotting British goods. A secret society called the sons of liberty got 24 towns in Massecheusts, Conneticut, and Rhode Island, and they all boycotted the British goods. British troops were sent to enforce the law in the colonies. They ended up quelling the boycott

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The Tea Act was enacted to save the East India Banking Company from drowning in debt. The Townshend act caused many colonists to stop using and consuming English goods, including tea. After the repeal of the act, and the deployment of the British military, most colonists returned to drinking tea. The tea act was put in place to bring the East India Trading Company out of debt. It said the East India Merchants could just bring their goods directly to the colonies, and not England first. The British thought that it would save the company and help ease off some of their debts, but it did not. Since the East India Merchants went directly to the colonies, it cut out the colonial merchants, who because of British laws, could only purchase tea from England. This angered many colonial merchants. Other colonists also became being angry at the fact that they British tried to disguise another tax as a good thing. It brought together the colonists, who were all getting really mad. The merchants had the boycott begin again, and crowds of patriots would intimidate East India Company Agents

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After the Tea Act, many colonial merchants, and colonists in General, were getting fed up with the British. They received tax after tax on their goods and luxuries, and in return had no representation. When colonial merchants got cut out of the tea trade, it was the last straw. Their were mobs in the streets protesting against the tea act. The sons of liberty were a patriotic group that met in secret to protest unfair taxation. Notable members were Patrick Henry, Paul Revere, and Benedict Arnold. On December 16th, Thousands of colonists showed up to the Wharf and had a vote in which they decided to refuse to unload, pay taxes on, or store or sell the tea. The Govenor wouldn't let the ships go to England and ordered them be unloaded. That night, the sons of liberty, dressed up as Indians, stormed the ships and threw 324 chests of tea in the water. The three ships sat surrounded in the harbor by the British Navy, yet not British ship or solider made any attempt to intervene.

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A series of 4 laws put in place to punish the Masseuchuests colony. The first law was the Boston Port Act. This allowed the British Navy to blockade the Boston Harbor, to protect its commerce and make sure the Boston Tea Party doesn't happen again. It also forbade exports to forgeign portd, and only allowed imports for the British army, with supplies such as fuel and wheat. The second law was the Massacheusetts Goverment Act. This meant the Govenor was appointed by the crown, and he could in turn appoint his own judges and county sheriffs. It also restricted town meetings to twice a year, with additional ones needing special permission from the Governor. The Third Law was the Act for Impartial Adminstration of Justice. This law gave the Governor the even more power and lets him move a trial to a different colony or even England if he feels that they wouldn't get an indifferent trial. The Fourth Law was the Quartering Act. This act is the only one that applies to all the colonies. It states that a military commander can demand better accomodations for there troops. It also stated that a commander can refuse inconvenient locations for quarters. There had been problems housing and accommodating troops in North America for many years. It is mainly believed that the soldiers did not live in the homes with colonists, but rather in barns, sheds, or uninhabited buildings.

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The first Goverement for the 13 colonies. It was made up of delegates from all 13 colonies. The first time they met, they met to discuss the intolerable acts. Up until now, the only Goverment uniting the colonies was the British one. Notable people at the first Congress meeting were John Adams, George Washington, and John Jay. The Congress produced the declaration of rights, which affirmed the colonies loyalty to the throne, but challenged the thrones right to tax them without representation. Another article was passed that said that if by the 1st of December the intolerable acts were not repealed, the colonies would stop importing from England. If nothing still changed, they would reconvene in may and discuss stopping exports to Britian. After this the First Continental Congress disbanded.

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The first formal statement by a nations people asserting there right to choose their own Goverment. When the revolutionary war started, there were a few radicals here and there, but no one actually wanted to fight and maybe die for the cause. That all changed when the colonists saw how the British were going to act. The British enlarged their army and navy, in an effort to completely crush the colonies hope. This just fired up the colonies even more. It got more and more colonists to start thinking radically. Thomas Jefferson drafted up the declaration, and revised it with the help of Ben Franklin and John Adams. In the document, Jefferson states how the colonies will fight for their independence and for all men to be equal.