American Revolutionary Movement Part 2

1. Currency Act of 1764 British effort to eliminate colonial currencies that had little real value - Paper money not accepted as legal tender in the colonies - No new paper money, and existing money would be retired - Angered poor, largely rural, colonists who benefited from paying off debts in weak money

2. Quartering Act (1765) - Required the colonists to provide housing, food and financial support to the 10,000 British troops stationed in America

3. Stamp Act (1765) - British imposed a tax on all colonial printed paper: including legal documents, newspapers and pamphlets, even play cards and dice. - This was the first direct tax on all the colonists (instead of an indirect import tax paid by merchants) - Colonists argued it was “Taxation Without Representation”

4. Patrick Henry - Virginia (Stamp Act) Resolves (1765) - Henry persuades the House of Burgesses to pass resolutions denouncing the Stamp Act - and stating that the British Parliament could not directly tax the colonists because the colonists were not represented there.

5. Samuel Adams - Organized protests against the Stamp Act led by the Sons of Liberty - a group of patriots formed to oppose British actions - they intimidated tax agents and burned stamps

6. Stamp Act Congress (1765) - representatives of nine colonies met in New York and passed resolutions including a Declaration of Rights and Grievances - this stated that the British Parliament could not directly tax the colonists because the colonists were not represented there

7. Repeal of the Stamp Act/Declaratory Act (1766) - Non-importation agreements hurt Britain’s economy - British merchants influenced Parliament - Repealed the Stamp Act - The Parliament then states that they still have the right to tax the colonists in the Declaratory Act

8. Townshend Acts (1767) - import duties on several common items - money raised to be used to pay royal governors - suspended New York Assembly until they obeyed the Quartering Act

9. Liberty Affair (1767) - Prosperous shipping magnate John Hancock’s ship was stopped and boarded for suspicion of smuggling - Hancock was arrested and put on trial - He was acquitted, but people realized that no one was safe from British authorities

11. New Prime Minister Lord North repealed the Townshend Acts in 1770 - retained a small tax on tea (to maintain their tax authority) - three largely peaceful years except for the March incident in Boston