1. Causes of the American Revolution

2. French and Indian War (1754-1763)
Rivalry between the French and British
dispute over control of major waterways
England does not want France in the Ohio River Valley
Debt for Great Britain doubled
Expected the colonists to help pay

3. Unpopular Regulations
Proclamation Act of 1763
Banned all settlement west of the Appalachians
British could not enforce the law
Sugar Act
Placed taxes on certain imports
Strengthened the enforcement of the law

4. Unpopular Regulations
Stamp Act
Colonists had to purchase special stamped paper for every legal document, license, newspaper, pamphlet, and almanac
“stamp taxes” on packages of playing cards and dice
Creation of Sons of Liberty
Individual colonial assemblies protested

5. Unpopular Regulations
Townshend Acts
Passed by Parliament in 1767
Indirect taxes on imported materials → tea
Led to Boston Tea Party
“No Taxation Without Representation”

6. Boston Massacre March 5th, 1770
Argument between guards of the Customs House and an angry mob
5 killed including Crispus Attuckus
Used as propaganda against the British Empire

8. Boston Tea Party Tea Act: was meant to help rid the boycott on goods
East India Company could sell tea without taxes
Cut colonial tea traders out of the equation
December 16th 1773
Boston rebels disguised as Native Americans dumped tea into the Harbor (18,000 pounds)

10. Intolerable Acts A series of measures passed in 1774
Quartering Act: authorized British soldiers to stay in vacant buildings and private homes
Shut down Boston Harbor
Boston was placed under martial law

11. First Continental Congress
September 1774
56 delegates drew up a declaration of colonial rights
If demands were not met then they would meet again in May 1775

12. “The Shot Heard Round the World”
American colonists were collecting weapons in Concord, Massachusetts
800 British troops marched through Lexington on the way to Concord
Meant to seize and destroy munitions
Paul Revere: “The British are coming!”