THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE COLONIAL CRISIS

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THE BRITISH EMPIRE AND THE COLONIAL CRISIS

1754–1775

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> What were the most significant factors contributing to deteriorating relations between Britain and its North American colonies? Chapter 6 explores the efforts of the British government to tax and control the colonies in the aftermath of the Seven Years' War and traces the escalating colonial responses to these efforts, from political protest, to open resistance, and — ultimately — to war.

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Figure false: Resistance to the Stamp Act. This contemporary engraving (ca. 1765) depicts an angry Boston crowd burning a pile of stamps in protest of the Stamp Act. Picture Research Consultants & Archives.

> How did the Seven Years' War lay the groundwork for colonial crisis?

> Why did the Sugar Act and the Stamp Act draw fierce opposition from colonists?

> Why did British authorities send troops to occupy Boston in the fall of 1768?

> Why did Parliament pass the Coercive Acts in 1774?

> How did enslaved people in the colonies react to the stirrings of revolution?

> Conclusion: What changes did the American colonists want in 1775?