Page 112 - ABCTE Study Guide_Neat

The Molasses Act of 1733

In an effort to force colonists to purchase sugar and molasses from their constituents in the West Indies,
the British Parliament started taxing and imposing shipment restrictions on sugar and molasses that were
imported into the American colonies from the French West Indies. The higher tax and imposition of
economic force by Britain did not sit well with the colonists, who were struggling economically.

The French and Indian War

The last phase of the Seven Years’ War between Britain and France, the French and Indian War began in
1754 as a struggle over which colonial power would control the upper Ohio River valley. Native Americans
joined the fight on the French side, but the British were victorious. The Treaty of Paris in 1763 ended the
war. Britain won the lion’s share of the land, marking Britain as a colonial power. War debts and problems
associated with governing vast colonial territories, would play a role in bringing about the Revolutionary
War during the next decade.

The Royal Proclamation of 1763

British treatment of Native Americans after the French and Indian War touched off Pontiac’s War. This
conflict between the British forces and the tribes of the Great Lakes region hastened another decree from
Britain, the Royal Proclamation of 1763. This act prohibited colonists from settling in land beyond the
Appalachian Mountains or in any of the lands Britain had captured from France in the French and Indian
War. The colonists viewed the act as meddling interference in their affairs; the colonists moved closer to
rebellion.

General Jeffrey Amherst’s treatment of Native Americans after the
French and Indian War helped spur on Pontiac’s War

The Stamp Act

In 1765, Britain passed the Stamp Act, which taxed all colonial commercial and legal papers, newspapers,
pamphlets, cards, almanacs, and other items. Colonists vigorously resisted and nullified the Stamp Act,
which Britain repealed in 1766. The Stamp Act and its defeat bolstered the colonists’ belief in their
independence and their faith that they could organize against the crown.