#declaratory act

In direct response to this belief from 7 October 1765 though 25 October 1765 the Stamp Act Congress or Continental Congress of 1765 was held in New York City in the Province of New York. This meeting was to solidify a strategies against the newly imposed taxes against the colonies. On 19 October 1765 the Declaration of Rights and Grievances was passed. Among many things it stated only representatives chosen by the colonists could levy taxes. Because the British Parliament did not have such representatives in the colonies it could not levy taxes on them. On 25 October 1765 the formal petitions were signed and transmission of documents were made to England.

In 1765 the British enacted the first Quartering Act, an extension of the 1689 Mutiny Act. The previous Quartering Act had expired on 2 January 1864 and British officers found it harder and harder to collect pay for quartering and provisions of regular troops. Prior to the French and Indian Wars, the colonies were not asked to support a standing army and did not want to do it further after the wars. In 1766 the New York Provincial Assembly would not supply billeting for the British troops. This meant the 1500 troops were forced to stay on their ships. The Province of New York's governor and legislature were suspended by parliament because of this in 1767 and 1769, each time New York paid. This act expired on 24 March 1767.

In 1766 the Declaratory Act or American Colonies Act 1766 was passed by the British Parliament as was the repeal of the Stamp Act and the amendment of the Sugar Act. This was all due to the boycotts in the America were cutting deep into British trade. The Declaratory Act was a way for the Crown to save face in repealing the Stamp Act. The boycotts only worked because the British Empire was still in deep debt and could no longer afford the lack of trade dollars. The British Parliament would not try to directly tax the colonies or any of it’s overseas territories until 1778, we’ll get to that in a few years.

In 1767 the Townsend Act(S) were put in place. The Townsend Acts are a series of taxes named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer. The Townsend Acts consisted of The Suspending Act 5 June 1767, The Revenue Act 26 June 1767, The Commissioners of Customs Act 29 June 1767, The Indemnity Act 1767 2 July 1767, The New York Restraining Act 1767 2 July 1767, The Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768 passed on 8 March 1768. The purpose of all these acts were to generate tax money for the Crown. The Commissioners of Customs Act would lead directly to the Boston Massacre on 5 March 1770.

On 10 May 1773 the Tea Act of 1773 was slapped on the American Colonies. This act had many reasons and effects on the colonies, being directly coupled with the Townsend Acts it levied heavy taxes on the colonies, taxes they were no longer willing to shoulder. This was in part because the act allowed the East India Company to sell Chines tea to the colonies without taxes while imposing all of the associated Townsend Act taxes.

On 16 December 1773 the American Colonies protests would step it up substantially. Up to that point the protests and skirmishes had been small and loosely organized. The Sons of Liberty would change all of that with the Boston Tea Party. The Sons of Liberty saw both the Townsend Act and Tea Act because they saw them as a violation of their Rights as Englishmen. All the colonies wanted was to be treats like the Englishmen they saw themselves as.

On 25 December 1773 the less well known Philadelphia Tea Party would force the British tea ship Polly to leave without dropping the tea intended for the firm of James and Drinker. On 27 December, on the State House Yard, 8000 Philadelphians gathered to discuss the situation. At that point, this was the largest gathering in the American Colonies. Many resolutions were past the first one being “No tea shall not be landed”.

As a direct consequence the Intolerable Acts/Insufferable Acts or Coercive Acts were passed. The 5 acts were:

31 March 1774 the Boston Port act that formed a blockade of Boston harbor until “Restitution” was made to the Crown and the East India Company.

20 May 1774 the Administration of Justice Act 1774. Often called the Murder Act allowed the appointed governor the power to set aside any acquisitions made against British officers if the governor didn’t thing said officer could get a fair trial. The Colonies felt this gave British officers the ability to kill colonist without consequences.

21 May 1774 the Massachusetts Government Act rescinded the 1691 charter of the Province of Massachusetts Bay and gave almost total power to the Royally appointed governor. This act would be a hard shove in the direction of the 1775 Revolution.

In 1774 the second of the Quartering Act was placed on all the colonies. This gave the governor the abilities to quarter troops in any “unoccupied” building. Buildings were often rendered “unoccupied” by forcing the occupants out into the streets.

Lastly, but less related was the 22 June 1774 Quebec Act. The Quebec Act massively expanded the territory of Quebec by adding much of what is now southern Ontario, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin, and parts of Minnesota. It removed any mention of the Protestant faith from the Oath leaning into the Catholic faith of Quebec, it also voided all claims of the Ohio Company.  

For 12 years the American Colonies protested the King of England and his rule.