The Road to Independence.pptVIP

The Road to Independence Lecture 3 t Tracing back to 1763… In 1763, the Seven Years’ War (1756-1763) ended, during which Britain and France fought over the control of North American colonies. In the end, Britain defeated France and removed the long-standing threat to the colonies. However, Britain also accumulated large debt over the course of war. To help pay for the debt, Britain turned to the colonies to generate revenue, and in so doing they came into conflict with the interest of the colonies. Since 1763, Great Britain enforced series of Acts, which gradually caused the colonists’ resistances. Britain’s Policy toward American Colonies 1763 Royal Order 1764 Sugar Act 1764 Currency Act 1765 Stamp Act 1765 Quartering Act 1766 Declaratory Act 1767 Customs Collecting Act 1767 Revenue Act 1767 Tea Act The stamp Act The Stamp Act probably angered more American colonists than any earlier tax.? It said the colonists had to buy a British stamp for every piece of printed paper they used.? That meant they would be taxed for every piece of a newspaper, every document, even every playing card. The colonists refused to pay.? Colonial assemblies approved resolutions suggesting that the British Parliament had no right to tax the colonies at all.? Some colonists were so angry that they attacked British stamp agents. Tea Act The powerful East India Company, finding itself in critical financial situation, appealed to the British government, which granted it the sole right on all tea exported to the colonies. This took away the tea business from American tea merchants. The colonial traders who loss the tea trade were enraged and agitated for independence. The “Boston Tea Party” In 1773, when ships of tea reached Boston to be distributed, several dozen Boston residents boarded the ship at night and threw $75,000 worth of tea into the harbor. This came to be known as the “Boston Tea Part