1763 Summary

These stamps were required on bills of sale for trade items, and on various types of commercial and legal documents, anything from playing cards to diplomas to marriage licenses. Grenville claimed that the Stamp act was needed in order to help defray the cost of keeping British troops stationed in the colonies in order to protect them. To the colonists this was an invalid answer, because the French were out of North America, and they no longer needed protection. Instead, this Act was viewed as a tax solely to make money for England: "A right to impose an internal tax on the colonies, without their consent for the single purpose of revenue, is denied..." (Document B). Also, anyone that disobeyed these laws was tried in the admiralty courts, were juries were not allows, and you were guilty until proven innocent. In response, the colonists formed the Stamp Act Congress, in which the members drew up a statement of the rights and grievances of the colonists to send to the king, however it was ignored by England. Instead, they started a steady boycott of British goods. It is after this that the colonists realized that they were being used by England, and began their cry of "no taxation without representation!" Parliament had thought that it was making easy money off of the colonies; instead it had started the fire of rebellion burning, and the Stamp Act was soon repealed.

On June 7,1776 delegates (members) from the thirteen American colonies came together and met at the Pennsylvania State House that is now called Independence Hall. The men that joined in this undertaking were the men that formed the Second Continental Congress. The American people were already rebelling against King George the Third. This forced the hand of the Congress to decide whether or not the people of America should be a new country by declaring independence. This decision may have been debatably the most important in the world’s history or at least in the Revolution.

Once again, the colonists were angry that they were being taxed on basic needs. This anger only grew through the Boston Massacre incident, where five colonists were killed, and the Boston Tea Party, where enraged colonists dumped tea into the Boston Harbor. The last straw for the colonists seemed to be the passing of the Coercive Acts, otherwise known as the Intolerable Acts. These acts were created to regulate and basically restrict the colonists to make them realize that Parliament was in control. Colonists did not agree with this act, specifically the Quartering Act which required them to house British soldiers, as well as feed and clothe them. These acts and taxations, along with the violent incidents that occurred in Boston, and a lack of colonial representation in the Parliament caused the colonists to

Once they heard that all of these were in Lexington and Concord they quickly headed that way, but as soon as they reached town they were met with angry armed colonists that made them swiftly retreat after intense fire. Around this state of war the second continental congress was assembled. It appointed George Washington as the general of the army and began financing the war. Later on this group also appointed five people, one being Thomas Jefferson, to draft the Declaration of Independence. After it was finalized, congress declared independence from Great Britain and officially accepted the American identity the colonists were

The First continental congress took place from September 5 through October 26, 1774. Delegates from each colony, except Georgia, met at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They discussed the current situation with Britain including the Intolerable Acts, which the British Parliament had imposed on Boston as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. The delegate included Patrick Henry, George Washington, John Adams, and John Jay.

By 1765 when Parliament passed the Stamp Acts, the colonies were already governing themselves so a certain extent and smuggling goods to avoid the British taxes. The colonists were being taxed extensively so that Britain could pay back their debts from the Seven-Years War, which was not fair for the colonists to be paying for, seeing as the colonies had absolutely no involvement in the Seven-Years war.

Every time there is a war, money must be raised to maintain it. However, unlike the king, taxes were made without proper reason and proof made it harder for colonists to understand why the king's actions were justified. During the Stamp Act of 1765, Britian declared that all documents (newspapers, books, court documents, etc.) must be stamp and that a stamp purchase must be required to help finance the stationing of British troops throughout North America.1 American colonists were not recognized in the House of Commons, and claimed that Britain had no reason to impose taxes solely based on making profit on regulating trade.2 The colonists' allegiance was still to Britain, but they later decide to boycott the act due to the invalid response made by Parliament. The Townshead Acts of 1767 allowed exports to be taxed and a creation of a board of customs commissioners to prevent any further smuggling of goods.3 This act was later repealed a

This was a meeting of delegates from colonies to discuss what to do about the British. This first congress, decided on two actions. The adoption of: Declaration and Resolves: expressing their discontent. The second action was to stop trading with the British. As this was going on, the British heard that John Hancock and Samuel Adams were both hiding in Lexington and they were also hiding lots of gunpowder in Concord. The British sent troops which led to the battle of Lexington and Concord. This was a turning point. Hundreds of soldiers died on both sides. The reality of the battle sent a message that there was no going back and in 1775, the Second Continental Congress presided by John Hancock declared war against Britain. John Hancock named George Washington Supreme Commander and as Washington fought on the battlefield Hancock worked on creating the vision for a new country. As president of the Second Congress Hancock asked some of the members to write the, soon to be, Declaration of Independence which was finalized and adopted on July 4, 1776. Hancock was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and his signature is by far the

The Second Continental Congress was formed on May 10th, 1775 in Philadelphia's State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The Second Continental Congress worked towards unifying the colonies to stand against the British, and form Independence.

On May 10, 1775, what ended up noticeably known as the Second Continental Congress was called into session as the British raged Boston trying to capture the loyalists that freely voiced their grievances against the crown. With the grisly battles at Concord and Lexington crisp in their brains, the representatives of twelve of the thirteen Colonies met up in Philadelphia to draw up an announcement of positions as to the activities of the British Parliament. Georgia did not send a delegate until some other time. This session of the Second Congress was to remain in session until March 2,

The patriots didn't really like that Kind George stopped sending goods so the patriots had a couple of people from the thirteen colonies come together to talk about not trading good at all with England. After they were done talking about not trading with England, everyone agreed to stop trade with England. A year later of not trading goods with England the patriots realized they didn't need England and that they were doing just fine by themselves. So a second Continental Congress was called to meet in 1775 to discuss what should be done next and they talked about becoming their own

The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament which made it so that the colonies were taxed and required to have any printed materials produced on stamped paper that was made in England. "Parliament abandoned the policy of “salutary neglect” and passed a series of laws levying duties on English imports into America, with part of the revenue to go toward paying the salaries of royal officials in the colonies" (Remini 56). These were one of those revenue acts that were passed to help pay for the Britain war debt. The British Parliament believed that they had the power to regulate laws that affected trading between the colonies and Britain and authority to make laws that were unconstitutional to the colonies. These new revenue taxes made everyday goods so expensive for the colonies which made it hard for them to live a normal life. The British Parliament made it so that the colonies had to rely on Britain for all imported goods. This also made living a whole lot more expensive because everything that they could buy was from Britain and was taxed to raise revenue. “Let Parliament attempt another such tax, and the consequences might be the onset of rebellion” (Remini 33) Colonist began to protest and boycott against the British Parliament because they felt like they were getting mistreated. Many colonist were angry that they had to pay these taxes because it was not passes by their own

In order to have an independent government from Britain, they assembled all of the colonies together to form a congress. They eventually established both the First and Second Continental Congresses with representatives from all thirteen colonies. The First Continental Congress served as the government for all of the colonies. It first met on September 5, 1774, in Philadelphia. They made decisions about boycotting British goods and decisions regarding colonial resistance. The Second Continental Congress is responsible for the formation of the Continental Army. In their last attempt to prevent an actual war from happening with Britain, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Olive Branch Petition on July 5, 1775. They sent this letter to the king, but he refused to read it and he also declared that any colonist who opposed the king would be considered traitors and brought to justice. Both the First and Second Continental Congresses prepared everyone for the upcoming war. As a result, they formed and signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, at the Pennsylvania State House, also known as Independence Hall, located in Philadelphia. This document was written primarily by Thomas Jefferson with the assistance of a few other Sons of Liberty: Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman, who all “served as delegate[s] to the Continental

The First Continental Congress met on September 5, 1774, people from each of the 13 colonies, met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament’s Coercive Acts. Congress was structured with

On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act. The was imposed on the American colonies and forced them to pay a tax on every single piece of printed paper used. Some of the things included in this were legal documents, newspapers, Ship’s papers, licenses, bills, claims, court records, certificates, and even playing cards. There were 54 actual separate items that were taxed in concordance to this act. This effected almost the entire population but hit lawyers, printers, merchants and ministers the hardest. The purpose of the act was once again to raise money to pay for the expenses of the war. It was also introduced without the approval of the colonial legislature. The Stamp Act caused a lot of protesting and violence and the people wanting freedom