June 22, 1774

The Quebec Act of 1774 (passed on June 22) was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. The four most important principals of the act were... 

1. The province's territory was expanded to take over part of the Indian Reserve, including much of what is now Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and parts of Minnesota.  

2.The oath of allegiance was replaced with one that no longer made reference to the Protestant faith.  

3.It guaranteed free practice of the Catholic faith. 

4.It restored the use of the French civil law for private matters while maintaining the use of the English common law for public administration, including criminal prosecution.

The Act had wide-ranging effects, 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. French-speaking Canadians varied in their reaction; the land-owning seigneurs and clergy were generally happy with its provisions.

In the Thirteen Colonies, the Act, which had been passed in the same session of Parliament as a number of other acts designed as punishment for the Boston Tea Party and other protests, was joined to those acts as one of the Intolerable Acts. The provisions of the Quebec Act were seen as a new model for British colonial administration, which would strip the colonies of their elected assemblies, and promote the Roman Catholic faith in preference to widely-held Protestant beliefs. It also limited opportunities for colonies to expand on their western frontiers, by granting most of the Ohio Country to the area of Quebec.

May 20th, 1774

The Massachusetts Government Act was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain and became a law on May 20, 1774. The act is one of the Intolerable Acts, designed to Put an end and restore order in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. In the beginning of the Boston Tea Party, Parliament launched a legislative offensive against Massachusetts to control its mischievous behavior. British officials realized part of their inability to control the colony was rooted in the highly independent nature of local government there.

Boston Port Act of 1774

-1774-

• After The Boston Tea Party, King George III and Parliament had closed the city port. This was called the Boston Port Act.
• The Boston Port Act was an act to discontinue, in such a manner, and for or such time as there in mentioned, the landing and discharging and landing or shipping of goods, wares and merchandise, at the town, and within the harbor of Boston. 

The Shot Heard Around the World -School House Rock-

This song/video will get us ready for what we will be talking about next, the last battles of the

 American Revolution.

The Sugar Act

The Sugar Act was a revenue raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764. The preamble to the act stated, "it is expedient that new provisions and regulations should be established for improving the revenue of this Kingdom ... and ... it is just and necessary that a revenue should be raised ... for defraying the expenses of defending, protecting, and securing the same."The earlier Molasses Act of 1733, which had imposed a tax of six pence per gallon of molasses, had never been effectively collected due to colonial evasion. By reducing the rate by half and increasing measures to enforce the tax, the British hoped that the tax would actually be collected. These incidents increased the colonists' concerns about the intent of the British Parliament and helped the growing movement that became the American Revolution.


*Revenue= Income

Boston Tea Party

On a very cold and dark evening on December 16, 1773 a group of 60 colonists boarded 3 British ships in Boston Harbor. They contained tea from The East India Company. The tea had a tax on it. Thomas Hutchinson commanded that the ships should not return to England with their cargo but that the tea be unloaded.Patriot Sam Adams immediately thought of a plan where colonists, had disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians. After that they boarded the ships. They opened all 342 boxes of tea and threw them overboard. 

Three hours later, every box of tea had been broke or thrown overboard. British ships had came from all around but no one had attempted to arrest them. 

1766 & 1767

-1766-

● Declaratory Act was passed, reaffirming that Parliament “...had, hath, and of right ought to have full power and authority to make laws to all the people of America... in all cases whatsoever.”

● Colonists raised the issue of “No taxation without Representation”.

-1767-

● Townsend Revenue Act was passed by Parliament

● This was an act that was for granting certain duties in the British colonies & plantations

● Most power laid with Parliament

The Stamp Act of 1765

In 1765 Parliament in London had passed the Stamp Act. The colonists would have to pay a tax for they stamps they bought, just like we do for postage stamps. The act listed more foreign goods to be taxed such as sugar, certain wines, and coffee. It required stamps to be affixed to all official documents in the American colonies. You may recognize the phrase "No Taxation without Representation" and this is what it was about. The Americans thought that the British laws were unfair. The Americans protested this act. 


Some of the Stamps-

1763 & 1764

1763

• Parliament passed the Sugar and Molasses Act.
• Colonists would be forced to pay a tax of 6 pence per gallon of foreign molasses.  

1764

• Parliament passed the Currency Act
• It banned the use of paper money in all the colonies. 
• The first attempt was the Sugar Act to extract more money.