The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.

The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax put directly on American colonists by the British government. The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years' War. Arguing that only their own representative assemblies could tax them, the colonists insisted that the act was unconstitutional, and they resorted to mob violence to intimidate stamp collectors into resigning.

one of the Acts forced the colonies to allow British soldiers to live among the colonists

wanted to stay under British control

wanted to separate from British control and become an independent nation

Chosen by the Second Continental Congress to command the Continental Army

first to die for the fight for independence, victim of the Boston Massacre

author of Common Sense, a pamplhet that called for independence from Britain

organized the Sons of Liberty

leader of the Green Mountain Boys

president of the Second Continental Congress

ways the colonists avoided paying taxes on imported goods

controlled what kind of tea the colonists could buy

political body that represented Americans and challenged British control

colonists dumped tea into the bay and the Parliament reacted by passing the Coercive Acts

where most colonists believed fighting would first break out

his writings inspired Thomas Jefferson's writing of the Declaration of Independence

battle that broke out, encouraged by taxes imposed on colonies, armies sent in to occupy cities, rude, violent British soldiers who occupied colonial cities fought for jobs and stole from shops

boasted because they were ready to fight at a moment's notice

The First Continental Congress drafted a statement of grievances calling for the repeal of 13 acts of Parliament passed since 1763. They declared that these laws violated the colonists' rights. The delegates also voted to boycott all British goods and trade and to arm themselves and form militias. They agreed to meet again if the British did not address their complaints.

The Second Continental Congress authorized the printing of money and set up a post office. It established committees to communicate with Native Americans and with other countries. It also created the Continental Army to fight the battle against Britain in a more organized way than the colonial militias could.