BEGINNING YEARS OF MERCANTILISM

Prior to the French and Indian Way, mercantilist theory was generally accepted in the colonies.  Great Britain provided a market for cotton, tobacco, and food products grown in the colonies while the British military provided colonists with protection against the French and Native Americans, and safe passage on the open seas.  Because Great Britain was content with its profits from the American colonies, they failed to vigorously enforce the mercantilist laws.

1696-NAVIGATION ACT: The law required that all American trade to Europe had to pass through Great Britain ports.  The act was generally not enforced and the colonists continued to trade with other European countries.

1733-MOLASSES ACT:  This act forced New England rum merchants to buy their molasses from Great Britain.  The colonists widely ignored the law and began to smuggle goods on a large scale.

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

1754-FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR BEGINS: Great Britain and France began a war for control of North America.  A major reason for the war was the colonists’ desire for French-held lands in the Ohio River Valley.

1761-WRITS OF ASSISTANCE: As smuggling continued, Parliament passed a law allowing British officials to search for smuggled goods in any building or ship in the colonies without a warrant.

1763-FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR ENDS:  Great Britain defeated French and gained all of Canada.  However, waging war in North America pushed Great Britain heavily into debt.

THE RELATIONSHIP CHANGES BETWEEN BRITAIN AND THE COLONIES

Great Britain began to enforce the Navigation Acts and created new taxes in order to reduce their war debt.  These actions strained relations between Great Britain and the American colonies.

1763-PROCLAMATION OF 1763: In order to appease the Native Americans, Great Britain forbade the colonists from moving into the newly won land from France.  The colonists disobeyed the Proclamation and moved west in fairly large numbers.

1764-SUGAR ACT: Great Britain placed a tax on sugar, textiles, coffee, and iron.  American colonists protested this unfair taxation without representation.

1764-COMMITTEES OF CORRESPONDENCE: The colony of Massachusetts contacted other colonies about possible action against the Sugar Act.

1765-STAMP ACT: Great Britain required a stamp be purchased and placed on newspapers, legal documents, and playing cards in an effort to indirectly collect taxes from the colonies.

1765 SONS OF LIBERTY FORMED: The Sons of Liberty used violence to prevent British officials from collecting the Stamp tax.

1767-STAMP ACT CONGRESS FORMED: Nice colonies met and passed the Non-Importation Agreements barring the purchase of British made products.

1767-TOWNSHEND ACTS: Great Britain placed taxes on everyday items such as tea, paper, lead, and glass.

1767-GREAT BRITAIN SUSPENDS NEW YORK’S LEGISLATURE:  When the colony of New York refused to provide lodging for soldiers sent to enforce the Townshend Acts, Parliament suspended its legislature.

1768-GREAT BRITAIN SUSPENDS MASSACHUSETTS’S LEGISLATURE:  The Massachusetts legislature was suspended when trouble erupted between colonists and British troops stationed in Massachusetts.

1770-BOSTON MASSACRE:  Tension between colonists and British troops in Boston erupted into a skirmish that left five colonists dead.

1773-BOSTON TEA PARTY:  Colonists seized a cargo of tea on a ship in the Boston harbor and threw the tea overboard to protest the British law giving the East India Company a monopoly on tea sales in the colonies.

1774- COERCIVE ACTS:  Passed in retaliation to the Boston Tea Party, the acts closed the port of Boston, suspended the Massachusetts’ charter, and sent rabble-rousing colonists to Great Britain to stand trial.

1774-FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS: Twelve colonies sent delegates to discuss possible actions against Great Britain.  The Congress called for a complete boycott of Great Britain’s goods.

1775-BATTLE OF LEXINGTON AND CONCORD: Great Britain tried to take colonial gunpowder supplies.  Two skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts result, signally the beginning of war.