Name: The Sugar Act Date: 1764 Action: a law that attempted to curb the smuggling of sugar and molasses in the colonies by reducing the previous tax rate and enforcing the collection of duties. Reaction: The law promoted boycott of British luxury goods in some colonies and gave some boost to local manufacturing.
Name: The Currency Act Date: 1751 Action: regulated paper money issued by the colonies of British America. Reaction: The Currency Acts created tension between the colonies and the mother country as they protested angrily against the act. They suffered a trade deficit with Great Britain and this was a contributing factor in the coming of the American Revolution.
Name: The Stamp Act Date: 1765 Action: Great Britain direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. Reaction: Adverse colonial reaction to the Stamp Act ranged from boycotts of British goods to riots and attacks on the tax collectors
Name: The Quartering Act Date: 1765 Action: British Parliament required local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food Reaction: American colonists resented and opposed, not because it meant they had to house British soldiers in their homes, but because they were being taxed to pay for provisions and barracks for the army.
Name: The Townshend Acts Date: 1767 Action: The Townshend Acts were a number of laws passed by the British government on the American colonies which included the following:
New taxes on imports of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea; Established an American Customs Board in Boston to collect taxes; Set up new courts in America to prosecute smugglers (without using a local jury); Gave British officials the right to search colonists' houses and businesses. Reaction: Colonists responded with boycott. They protested to the Townshend Act not to import British goods, especially luxury products.
Name: The Declaratory Acts Date: 1766 Action: It was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the Sugar Act Reaction: The reaction of the colonies was to celebrate their victory. Other colonists, however, were outraged because the Declaratory Act hinted that more acts would be coming.
Name: The Tea Act Date: 1773 Action: The British parliament passed the Act to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the financially struggling company survive. Reaction: Many colonists opposed the Act, not so much because it rescued the East India Company, but more because it seemed to validate the Townshend Tax on tea which led to the Tea Party-the destruction of the tea by the disguised American colonists.
Name: The Coercive Acts Date: 1774 Action: The Coercive Acts were a series of four acts established by the British government to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party (Boston Tea Party) protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of colonial goods. (The 4 acts enacted were; The Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, and The Quartering Act) Reaction: Many colonists saw the Coercive Acts (Intolerable Acts) as a violation of their constitutional rights, their natural rights, and their colonial charters and as a threat to the liberties of all of British America, not just Massachusetts. As a result of the Intolerable Acts, even more colonists turned against British rule. The acts promoted sympathy for Massachusetts and encouraged colonists from the otherwise diverse colonies to form committees of correspondence.
Name: The Quebec Act Date: 1774 Action: Formally known as the British North America Act 1774, was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. Reaction: The Act had wide-ranging effects, both in Quebec itself as well as in the Thirteen Colonies. In Quebec, English-speaking immigrants from Britain and the southern colonies objected to a variety of its provisions, which they saw as a removal of certain political freedoms. Canadiens varied in their reaction; the land-owning seigneurs and ecclesiastics for example were generally happy with its provisions. The Quebec Act angered the Americans and was termed one of the Intolerable Acts by the Patriots, and contributed to the coming of the American Revolution.
