BRITISH POLICIES

Proclamation of 1763

– Colonist could not settle West of the Appalachian Mountains (Quebec Act = French Stay / Trade)

Sugar Act – taxes on cloth, wine, coffee, sugar, molasses

Sugar Act –

taxes on cloth, wine, coffee, sugar, molassesApril 5, 1764

King George

Currency Act – illegal for colonist to print their own money (1765)

Counterfeiting of early American money was a constant menace to the circulation of genuine bills.The death penalty for counterfeiting in many Colonies did not deter the dishonest, nor did branding, ear cropping, whipping, or the pillory. Many means were employed to prevent this from happening. The back of this bill states "To counterfeit is DEATH" and uses a leaf design which was developed by Benjamin Franklin. This nature printing process for leaf and cloth designs made manually copying impossible to because it could not produce natures details.

Stamp act – tax on newspapers, books, playing cards

"This is the place to affix the stamp"

During the Stamp Act crisis of 1765 one American newspaper proposed, with biting humor, that the hated British stamps take the form of the skull and crossbones. November 1 ,1765 (takes effect)

Sons of Liberty –Organized protests (often violent)

Sam Adams

Left: Tarring and feathering of a British excise man by a Liberty Tree.Right: A tax collector being tarred and feathered in 1774.

The Stamp Act and Sugar Act lowered the tax, but now it was enforced. This also put an end to the profitable smuggling of the colonists. Colonists rioted and boycotted.

Stamp act protesters burn homes of officials

Declaratory Act – Britain had the final say “in all cases whatsoever” over the colonists (repealed stamp act) (1766)

The Declaratory Act asserted that Parliament "had, hath, and of right ought to have, full power and authority to make laws and statutes of sufficient force and validity to bind the colonies and people of America...in all cases whatsoever."

- Townshend Acts Placed a tax on common products imported into the American Colonies, such as lead, textiles, paper, paint, glass, and tea!

(passed by Parliament on 29 June 1767) refer to two originally proposed by Charles Townshend).

" Taxation without Representation is Tyranny!“

(This statement was made famous by James Otis Jr. following the issuing of theTownshend Acts)

Daughters of Liberty –Organized boycotts (made yarn and cloth) Abigail Adams

Writs of Assistance –

Court orders let British soldiers search houses, ships and warehouses for smuggled goods.

They were legalized by the Townshend Act of 1767.

Britain takes all of the Townshend Acts off following the Boston Massacre except for the Tea Act

Tea Act – British East India Tea Company could sell tea in America without paying tax on it

The Tea Act was the only piece of the Townsend Acts not to be repealed, which prompted the colonists to revolt by throwing tea into harbors all over the colonies!

Intolerable Acts – Included the Boston Port Bill, Quartering Act and the Massachusetts Government Act. Make colonists pay for the tea. (Coercive Acts)

Boston Port Bill – Closed Boston Harbor to all shipping

Quartering Act – Each colony had to provide a place to live for British troops

Massachusetts Government Act – put the colony under royal control (council was dismissed)

Many colonists viewed the acts as an arbitrary violation of their rights, and in 1774 they organized the First Continental Congress to coordinate a protest.

Included Patrick Henry, George Washington, Sam Adams and John Adams. In all, there were 56 attending the 1st Continental Congress