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November 1765: The Formation of the Sons of Liberty 

Colonial agents working in Britain express their concerns over the Stamp Act long before it is passed by Parliament on 1 March 1765. When news of the Act's official status reaches the American colonies in the spring, creative colonists begin planning an assortment of protest activities.

Campaigning for "Liberty and no Stamp-Act," local groups within each colony scheme to prevent the Act from taking effect on 1 November 1765. Adopting names including "Sons of Liberty," these committees stage dramatic spectacles designed to intimidate the stamp distributor in each colony and force him to resign his post. In Boston, protestors take aim at Andrew Oliver. A group of men known as the "Loyal Nine" (forerunners of Boston's Sons of Liberty) recruit the town's mobs to ransack Oliver's home and office in August 1765. Not satisfied with their earlier endeavor, the Sons invite Andrew Oliver to appear under the Liberty Tree for a special ceremony in December. Following the event, the Sons are pleased to boast that the whole affair was "Conducted to the General Satisfaction of the Publick."

The Sons of Liberty expertly use the press to rally colonists to their cause. As of 1 November, however, all newspaper publishers must pay the stamp tax. While some printers cease publication to avoid paying the duties, many other papers (especially those controlled by Sons of Liberty) continue to publish stories designed to humiliate public officials. Published accounts from other colonies denounce each stamp as a "Badge of Slavery." Despite their protests, the Sons of Liberty seek to uphold established government, not overturn it. In many communities, the Sons assume the responsibility of keeping the peace. They also resort to referring to themselves as the "true" or "true-born" sons of liberty to distinguish themselves from the mischief makers among the general population.

Prior to the implementation of the Stamp Act, small bands of patriots (including Sons of Liberty) act largely independent of one another. By the fall, however, many groups seek to strengthen and standardize colonial opposition to the Act through an inter-continental organization. Gradually, the Sons of Liberty in each colony, beginning with New York and Connecticut, establish communication networks and negotiate "Certain Mutual and Reciprocal Agreements" with other Sons of Liberty and related groups in surrounding towns and colonies.

The Stamp Act is ultimately repealed on 1 March 1766, negating the immediate need for an inter-colonial resistance movement. Parliament is not done with the colonies just yet, however, and Sons of Liberty groups remain active in their local communities for years to come. In Boston, colonists continue to gather on 14 August to cultivate "Sensations of Freedom."

Among the Sons of Liberty were, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Benedict Arnold, John Hancock, Patrick Henry, Hercules Mulligan, Paul Revere, and Benjamin Rush

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March 22, 1765: British Parliament passes the Stamp Act

The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed.  

The American reaction to the Stamp Act, however, was swift and intense. The first official opposition to the stamps came from the Virginia House of Burgesses. On May 29, 1765, the House of Burgesses passed five resolves proposed by Patrick Henry, a young, newly-elected member from Hanover County. Though a well known attorney, Henry was considered an upstart firebrand when he won a special election and traveled to Williamsburg to take his seat. Henry’s measures, known as the Virginia Resolves, took the House of Burgesses by storm. The Virginia Resolves tied the liberties and immunities enjoyed by Virginians in 1765 to the first two royal charters granted by King James I in the early 17th century. The third resolve boldly stated,

 “That the Taxation of the People by themselves, or by Persons chosen by themselves to represent them, who can only know what taxes the people are able to bear, or the easiest Method of raising them, and must themselves be affected by every Tax laid on the people, is the only Security against a burdensome Taxation, and the distinguishing characteristick of British freedom, without which the ancient constitution cannot exist.”

 The fifth resolve, the most radical of the five resolutions passed by the House, stated that only the General Assembly of Virginia had the power to lay taxes on its inhabitants. This declaration reflected the growing principal in the colonies that there could be no taxation without representation. The day after the five resolves passed the House of Burgesses, conservative and moderate members regrouped to strike the more radical fifth resolve from the official records. 

The news of Virginia’s courageous stand spread quickly throughout the colonies, and several newspapers in other colonies published all five resolves. Other colonial assemblies followed Virginia’s daring lead. Shortly after Virginia’s action, the Massachusetts lower house proposed a meeting of representatives from all of the colonies. This meeting, known as the Stamp Act Congress, met in New York in October 1765 and produced a document called “The Declaration of Rights and Grievances”. This document raised fourteen points of protest that went well beyond the protests over the Stamp Act and was sent as three petitions to the King, the House of Lords, and the House of Commons.

 In addition to protests by colonial legislatures, mobs in numerous cities violently demonstrated against the Stamp Act. Many of these crowds often went by such patriotic names as the Sons of Liberty and the Liberty Boys. These secretive and volatile groups, often composed of printers and artisans, were led by some of the most powerful men in the colonies. Samuel Adams led the Sons of Liberty in Boston. These groups protested by hanging effigies of people associated with the tax and ransacking their homes. Occasionally, these groups would “tar and feather” people who represented the royal government. Individuals appointed to be stamp collectors feared for their personal safety. Most tax collectors never claimed their lucrative offices and resigned their positions before ever issuing any stamps. In addition to mob violence, other groups organized efforts to stop the importation of British goods. Many of these groups also punished merchants who violated the boycott of British goods. 

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On 24 September 1766, customs officials in Boston, with a deputy sheriff, searched merchant Daniel Malcom's home, which was also his place of business. They claimed the authority to do so by a writ of assistance issued to customs official Benjamin Hallowell, and the information of a confidential informant. Malcom allowed them to search, but denied them access to a locked cellar, arguing that they did not have the legal authority to break it open. According to customs officials, Malcom threatened to use force to prevent them from opening the door; according to Malcom and his supporters, his threat specified resisting any unlawful forced entry.

The officials left and returned with a specific search warrant, only to find that Malcom had locked his house.[13] A crowd supportive of Malcom had gathered around the house; Tories claimed that this "mob" numbered 300 or more people and was hostile to the customs officers, while Whigs insisted that this was a peaceful gathering of about 50 curious onlookers, mostly boys.[14] No violence occurred, but reports written by Governor Francis Bernard and the customs officials created the impression in Britain that a riot had taken place.[15] The incident furthered Boston's reputation in Britain as a lawless town controlled by "mobs", a reputation that would contribute to the government's decision to send troops in 1768.

Although British officials, and some historians, described Malcom as acting in defiance of the law, John Phillip Reid argued that Malcom's actions were lawful—so precisely lawful, in fact, that Reid speculated that Malcom may have been acting under the advice of his lawyer, James Otis. According to Reid, Malcom and Otis may have been attempting to provoke a lawsuit so that they could once again "challenge the validity of writs of assistance" in court.[17] This was one of several incidents when a Boston merchant resisted a search with a seemingly exact knowledge of the law; John Hancock would act in a similar manner when customs officials attempted to search his ship Lydia in 1768. 

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February 1761: Paxton’s Case and the Writ of Assistance with John Adams in Attendance 

In the winter of 1761 Adams and his friend Samuel Quincy observed the first confrontation between the American colonies and the British Crown. It was when a customs official, Paxton, applied for writs of assistance, a search warrant that allows searching ships, containers, shops or warehouse for smuggled or illegal goods.  Boston merchants thought it was an infringement of their liberties and private property. The sixty-three merchants, represented by James Otis, argued that “a man should feel as secure in his house as a prince in his castle”, the writ was an infringement of man’s basic right to liberty. Although Otis technically lost, his challenge to the authority of Parliament made a strong impression on John Adams, who was present, and thereby eventually contributed to the American Revolution.

General writs of assistance played an important role in the increasing tensions that led to the American Revolution and the creation of the United States of America. In 1760, Great Britain began to enforce some of the provisions of the Navigation Acts by granting customs officers these writs. In New England, smuggling had become common. However, officers could not search a person's property without giving a reason. Colonists protested that the writs violated their rights as British subjects. The colonists had several problems with these writs. They were permanent and even transferable; the holder of a writ could assign it to another. Any place could be searched at the whim of the holder, and searchers were not responsible for any damage they caused. This put anyone who had such a writ above the laws.

All writs of assistance expired six months after death of the king, at which time new writs had to be obtained. With the death of King George II in October 1760, all writs would expire on 25 April 1761. The crisis began on 27 December 1760 when news of King George II's death reached Boston and the people of Massachusetts learned that all writs faced termination. 

Uncertainty about the legality of writs of assistance issued by colonial superior courts prompted Parliament to affirm that such writs were legal in the 1767 Townshend Acts. However, most colonial courts refused to issue general writs, and the Malcom case was apparently the last time a writ of assistance was issued in Boston

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April 5, 1764: And So it Begins, The Sugar Act 

 “One of the first measures passed to raise revenue from the American colonies was a tax on sugar. Grenville designed the American Revenue Act of l764, commonly known as the Sugar Act, to replace the Sugar and Molasses Act of 1733 which was to expire. The earlier act had imposed a tax of six pence per gallon on molasses which was imported from the French West Indies or the Dutch West Indies. Molasses was an important ingredient in the manufacture of rum which was one of New England’s most important businesses. 

The Sugar and Molasses Act of 1733 was not planned as a revenue bill but as a means to regulate trade. It was intended to encourage trade with the British West Indies at the expense of the French and Dutch West Indies. Due to wide-spread smuggling and bribery, the tax on molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies was rarely collected. On April 5, 1764, the British Parliament passed the American Revenue Act of 1764. While the new act cut the tax on molasses in half, Grenville anticipated that more aggressive collection of the duties would bring in more money. 

The act further empowered customs of cials to have all violations of the law tried in Vice Admiralty courts rather than general courts. Vice Admiralty courts had jurisdiction over maritime issues, while general courts handled felony cases in the colonies. Vice admiralty courts, unlike general courts, did not use juries, and Grenville recognized that colonial juries were often very sympathetic to popular local merchants involved in smuggling. The Sugar Act would meet with major resistance in New England where the manufacture of rum from molasses had become a major industry.”

Source: http://www.historyisfun.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/RoadtoRevolution.pdf

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October 7, 1763: King George III issues a Royal Proclamation, angers some of the wealthiest American colonist

Great Britain recognized that one of the factors contributing to Pontiac’s Rebellion had been the unchecked movement of land-hungry settlers into the area west of the Appalachian Mountains. Britain also realized that a plan was needed to develop the large areas won during the war in an orderly way. Hoping to placate the Indians while buying time to develop a long-range plan, King George III issued the Proclamation of l763. This royal decree, issued on October 7, 1763, prohibited settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains. It also required settlers who had moved west of the Appalachians to return to the eastern side of the mountains. While the division line established by the proclamation was never meant to be permanent, the decree angered the colonists for a number of reasons. Settlers who had been forced to flee their farms west of the Appalachian Mountains during the war found the proclamation prohibited them from returning to their former homesteads. Many of these settlers had fought for the British government during the French and Indian War. They believed the western lands were one of the spoils of war earned by their blood and felt betrayed by the British government.

 The Proclamation of 1763 also troubled many of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the colonies, because many of these men had invested heavily in speculative land companies such as the Ohio Company (formed in 1747), the Loyal Company (formed in 1749), and the Mississippi Company (formed in 1763). These companies hoped to make money by obtaining title to large tracts of western land from the British government and reselling the land to settlers as they moved across the Appalachian Mountains. Some of the men who invested in these companies were George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry, Richard Henry Lee, and Arthur Lee of Virginia and Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania. Unable to obtain title for the land from the British government, the land companies could not make sales. Though agents of the companies were sent to London to argue on behalf of the land companies, the British government refused to reverse its position. While new treaties between the Indians and British agents opened up large tracts for development fairly quickly after the war, the land companies did not recover. The wealthy men who had invested in these companies suffered significant financial losses. These losses would be remembered in the years leading up to the American Revolution. 

Source: http://www.historyisfun.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/RoadtoRevolution.pdf

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May 1763: Angry over the loss of French trade following the French and Indian War, Pontiac leads a rebellion against the British, resulting in Great Britain needing a standing army in America and a way to pay for it 

One of the critical problems faced by Great Britain at the end of the Seven Years War was its uneasy relations with the Indian tribes living in the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes. While these Indian tribes had traded with the French for years, few French settlers, other than trappers and traders, had moved into the areas south of the Great Lakes. After France and her Indian allies were defeated, British settlers began crossing the Appalachian Mountain in large numbers looking for good farm land. The Indians viewed the settlers, who wanted to claim the land, differently than the French fur traders with whom they had lived for many years.

The actions of Major General Jeffrey Amherst, the British Commander of British forces in North America, also contributed to the tense relations between the British and the Indians in the final years of the war. The British, like the French, had enjoyed the support of a number of Indian tribes and, during the war, the chiefs of these tribes had received generous gifts from the British government. Gift giving was considered by the British and the French to be an integral part of maintaining good relations with the tribes. As military operations in North America came to a successful conclusion, General Amherst decided to discontinue the practice of giving gifts to Indian chiefs, as he believed he no longer needed their support. He also made the decision to cut back on trading gunpowder to the Indians. The Indians felt that the British were treating them as a conquered people and not as former allies.

 In May 1763, Pontiac, an Ottawa leader, led a number of Indian tribes in the area of the Great Lakes in an uprising against British forces and settlers along the frontier. While a few British forts on the frontier held out, over eight were taken. Hundreds of British soldiers were killed, and the settlers who survived the attacks fled from their farms on the frontier to the safe areas in the east. Commonly known as Pontiac’s Rebellion, the conflict lasted until 1764. Though peace treaties ended the fighting, the possibility of further conflicts with the Indians strongly affected Britain’s decision to leave a standing army in America after the Seven Years War. 

Source: http://www.historyisfun.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/RoadtoRevolution.pdf

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February 10, 1763: The Treaty of Paris was signed marking the end of the French and Indian War, after Great Britain’s victory over France and Spain, leaving Britain broke and the American colonists about to be taxed more than ever

Despite what seemed like a success, the Treaty of Paris ultimately encouraged dissension between Anglo-American colonists and the British Government because their interests in North America no longer coincided. The British Government no longer wanted to maintain an expensive military presence, and its attempts to manage a post-treaty frontier policy that would balance colonists’ and Indians’ interests would prove ineffective and even counterproductive. Coupled with differences between the imperial government and colonists on how to levy taxes to pay for debts on wartime expenses, the Treaty of Paris ultimately set the colonists on the path towards seeking independence, even as it seemed to make the British Empire stronger than ever.  

As part of Braddock’s command, Washington took the opportunity to read military manuals, treatises, and military histories. He practiced the art of creating clear and effective orders by transcribing orders issued by more experienced British officers around him. In more practical military terms, Washington’s French & Indian War experience taught the young officer much about how to organize supply, how to dispense military justice, how to command, how to build forts, and how to manage subordinates. Even though he was denied a royal commission, Washington did all he could to emulate the habits, manners, and actions of the regular officers around him. As historian Fred Anderson states, “Washington at age twenty-seven, was not yet the man he would be at age forty or fifty, but he had come an immense distance in five years’ time. And the hard road he had traveled from Jumonville’s Glen, in ways he would not comprehend for years to come, had done much to prepare him for the harder road that lay ahead.”

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July 9, 1755: Washington's leadership at the Battle of Monongahela helped save the remnants of Braddock's army and Becomes Legend 

“In the spring of 1755, a column of 2,100 British Regulars and 500 colonial militia commanded by Major General Edward Braddock, set out from Virginia to advance upon and take the French stronghold at Fort Duquesne. Braddock's column faced the daunting challenge of moving their men and material over the rough, densely wooded Allegheny Mountains.

George Washington accompanied Braddock's column as an aide-de-camp to the general. Washington, who knew the terrain well, was recovering from a terrible case of dysentery as Braddock's force reached the Monongahela River ten miles from Fort Duquesne. In a wooded ravine on the far side of the river, Braddock's leading force of 1,300 men was suddenly attacked and defeated by a smaller French and native force on July 9, 1755 at the Battle of Monongahela. During the attack, most of the senior British officers, including Gen. Edward Braddock were killed or severely wounded. With panic in the air, George Washington quickly rode into the fray and helped to reestablish some amount of order. During the savage fight, Washington had two horses shot out from underneath him and his coat was pierced by four musket balls. Washington's cool leadership helped many of the surviving soldiers to effectively escape the onslaught. Fifteen years after the battle, the chieftain of the Indians Washington had fought sought him out and gave this account to Washington of what had happened during the battle: "I am chief and ruler over my tribes. My influence extends to the waters of the great lakes and to the far blue mountains. I have traveled a long and weary path that I might see the young warrior of the great battle. It was on the day when the white man's blood mixed with the streams of our forest that I first beheld this chief [Washington]...I called to my young men and said...Quick, let your aim be certain, and he dies. Our rifles were leveled, rifles which, but for you, knew not how to miss--'twas all in vain, a power mighter far than we, shielded you...I am come to pay homeage to the man who is the particular favorite of Heaven, and who can never die in battle."

Despite the British loss of 977 killed or wounded, Washington was lauded as the "hero of Monongahela" by Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie and was given the rank of colonel in command of the 1,200 man Virginia Regiment.”

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May 9 1754: Benjamin Franklin first publishes the “Join, or Die” political cartoon in his Pennsylvania Gazette

The original publication by the Gazette is the earliest known pictorial representation of colonial union produced by a British colonist in America. It is a woodcut showing a snake cut into eighths, with each segment labeled with the initials of one of the thirteen American colonies or region. New England was represented as one segment, rather than the four colonies it was at that time. In addition, Delaware (then a part of Pennsylvania) and Georgia were omitted completely. Thus, it has 8 segments of snake rather than the traditional 13 colonies. The two northernmost British American colonies at the time, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland, were not represented, nor were any British Caribbean possessions. The cartoon appeared along with Franklin's editorial about the "disunited state" of the colonies, and helped make his point about the importance of colonial unity. This cartoon was used in the French and Indian War to symbolize that the colonies needed to join together with Great Britain to defeat the French and Indians. It became a symbol of colonial freedom during the American Revolutionary War.

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I was younger than you are now When I was given my first command I led my men straight into a massacre I witnessed their deaths firsthand I made every mistake And felt the shame rise in me And even now I lie awake

Knowing history has its eyes on me. 

July 3, 1754: Washington losses a third of his men at Fort Necessity as French retaliation for the death of Jumonville, starting the French and Indian War “Fort Necessity in south western Pennsylvania, was a hastily constructed fort built by young Colonel George Washington (in Red Coat facing left with back towards you) and his 300 men in an attempt to defend themselves from an approaching army of 600 French marine and Canadian militia and several hundred of their Indian allies. After Washington was implicated in the death of French officer Joseph Coulon de Jumonville a month earlier (the first shots of the French and Indian War), the French relentlessly pursued Washington’s forces until their encounter at the Great Meadows, where Ft. Necessity was erected. On July 3rd, the battle began with the Virginia and British forces suffering extensive casualties and facing very low provisions. Near midnight, Washington accepted surrender terms by the French which allowed them to leave the fort with their colors, arms, and personal possessions. By the end, Washington has lost a third of his men with the French only suffering three dead and seventeen wounded. 

Terms of surrender were violated when Major Adam Stephen’s servant called to him that his clothes were being looted. He rushed to the offenders, seized his trunk, and kicked the thief in the backsides. Two French officers warned that if, “he struck the men and behaved so, they could not be answerable to the capitulation”. Stephen damned the capitulation and swore that the French had already violated it with their plundering” 

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May 28, 1754: The Battle of Jumonville Glen. Washington claims his first win attacking a group of French spies, but the French cry foul as they declare Washington's acts as an assassination of a French diplomat "George Washington marched the Virginia Regiment out from Will’s Creek, with the object of capturing the French fort at the Ohio Forks. A French officer, an apparent diplomat, Jumonville, was killed in a clash between the Virginians and the French supported by a band of Indians.Great play was made of the incident by the French authorities, who described it, unknown known to Washington a the time, as an ‘assassination’."

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Cover page of George Washington’s published account of his journey into the Ohio Country. (Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association) "Shortly after his return to Williamsburg in January 1754, George Washington sat down and wrote a detailed account of his journey to the Ohio Valley and a description of all that he had seen. This account was so well received by Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie that he had Maj. Washington's journal published in both Williamsburg and in London. The Journal of Major George Washington included not only Washington's careful account of his experiences in the Ohio country, but also Dinwiddie's letter to the French and the French reply. The Journal of Major George Washington appeared in monograph form and was published in various newspapers in both Britain and America. The account not only helped to inform the American and British populations of the perceived growing French threat in the Ohio Valley, but also made young George Washington a celebrity on both sides of the Atlantic."

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June 19 - July 11, 1754: The Albany Congress was the first time in the 18th century that colonial representatives met to discuss some manner of formal union. The Albany delegates spent most of their time debating Benjamin Franklin’s Albany Plan of union to create a unified level of colonial government. The delegates voted approval of a plan that called for a union of 11 colonies, with a president appointed by the British Crown. Each colonial assembly would send 2 to 7 delegates to a “grand council,” which would have legislative powers. The Union would have jurisdiction over Native affairs.

The plan was rejected by the colonies’ legislatures, which were jealous of their powers, and by the Colonial Office, which wanted a military command. Much of the elements of the plan were later the basis for the American governments established by the Articles of Confederation of 1777 and the Constitution of 1787. Franklin speculated that had the 1754 plan been adopted, the colonial separation from England might not have happened so soon. 

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George Washington was a raw and ambitious 21-year old when he was first sent to the Ohio Valley to confront the growing French presence in the region. His actions sparked the French & Indian War. Concerned by reports of French expansion into the Ohio Valley, Virginia Lt. Governor Robert Dinwiddie sent 21-year-old Major George Washington of the Virginia Regiment on a mission to confront the French forces. Washington was to deliver a message from the governor demanding that the French leave the region and halt their harassment of English traders. Washington departed Williamsburg, Virginia in October 1753 and made his way into the rugged trans- Appalachian region with Jacob Van Braam, a family friend and French speaker, and Christopher Gist, an Ohio company trader and guide. On December 11, 1753, amidst a raging snowstorm, Washington arrived and was politely received by Captain Jacques Legardeur de Saint-Pierre at Fort LeBoeuf. After reviewing Dinwiddie's letter, Legardeur de Saint-Pierre calmly wrote a reply stating that the French king's claim to the Ohio Valley was "incontestable."

Portrait of George Washington, Charles Willson Peale, 1772

Happy Fourth of July!