2. John Adams said, “the Revolution was
effected before the war
commenced.” It was a change “in the
minds and hearts of the people.”
From the late 1740s on, Americans
were importing from Britain about
£500,000 worth of goods more than
they were exporting to the mother
country, and thus they continued to
be troubled by a trade deficit with
Britain.
the Quebec Act transferred to the
province of Quebec the land and
control of the Indian trade in the
huge area between the Ohio and
Mississippi Rivers and allowed
Quebec’s French inhabitants French
law and Roman Catholicism.
The Sugar Act imposed duties on
foreign cloth, sugar, indigo, coffee,
and wine imported into the colonies.
3. In March 1765, Parliament by
an overwhelming majority
passed the Stamp Act.
In February 1768 the
Massachusetts House of
Representatives issued to the
other colonial legislatures a
“circular letter” that
denounced the Townshend
duties as unconstitutional
violations of the principle of
no taxation without
representations.
In 1774, Parliament passed a
succession of laws that came
to be known as the Coercive
Acts.
