Britain’s Series of Unfortunate Events

How England Slowly Lost Control of the American Colonies

1600s• Britain allows

American colonies to make legislatures & laws in House of Burgesses…

• …Results in colonies governing themselves and feeling free.

Mid-1600s• England passes

Navigation Acts to limit colonies from trading with other nations…

• …As a result, Americans feel used and cheated by English government.

1689• English Bill of Rights

takes power from king & gives it to people…

• …As a result, Americans feel more entitled to rights of citizenship.

1700s• “Enlightenment”: Science

and logic use reason to fix problems of society…

• …Results in Americans learning about ideas of Montesquieu and especially Locke’s Natural Rights of “life, liberty, and property”.

1730s -1740s• Great Awakening

spreads in colonies: Speaks of equality and spirituality…

• …Americans learn to question authority & fairness in church & government.

1756 -1763• Expensive French &

Indian War is a big win for England but creates problems, too…

• …New lands gained could not be taken from natives because Proclamation of 1763 forbids it. Colonists upset!

1764 -1765• Sugar Act and Stamp Act

passed by Parliament to help pay war debts…

• …New taxes on common items with no representation in Parliament? Angry colonists form boycotts, Committees of Correspondence, then Congress.

1766 -1767• England repeals Stamp Act

in 1766 but in 1767 passes Townshend Acts: A new set of taxes on common items…

• …For next three years, colonists are active in Sons of Liberty, Committees of Correspondence, and boycotts. Tensions rise.

March 5, 1770

• Boston Massacre leaves 5 colonists dead, killed by British Redcoats. By luck, Parliament repeals Townshend Acts on the same day!...

• …Colonial bitterness increases.

1773• Tea Act passed.

Townshend tea tax remained & colonies could only buy it under strict rules…

• …On December 16th, Boston Tea Party results. Sons of Liberty dump three shiploads of tea into harbor to protest. Both sides very angry.

1774• Intolerable Acts:

Massachusetts colonists punished with closed harbor, restricted meetings, British trials, military governor, & troops in homes (called quartering)…

• …Continental Congress meets about trouble. To help, it makes Declaration of Rights & sets up state militias. Colonists fighting mad!

April 18 -19, 1775

• British march to take patriot militia weapons. On Paul Revere’s warning, troops are ready. Fighting at Lexington and Concord (outside Boston) left 8 minutemen and 73 redcoats dead. The war had begun with the ‘Shot heard around the world’.

1776• To be continued…Colonists begin to move closer

toward Independence.