The event on the list that happened last was the pass of the Intolerable Acts.
<u>The establishment of the first British colony in the New World (1607):</u> The first permanent English settlement in the present territory of the United States was Jamestown. It was founded in 1607 on the banks of the James River on a peninsula (now Jamestown Island), in the current county of James City, Virginia.
<u>The Stamp Act (1765):</u> The Stamp Act was a law of the British Parliament that entailed a direct and specific tax for the thirteen colonies of British America that required that most printed materials in the colonies be published on stamped paper produced in London, stamped with a stamp tax relief. These printed materials were legal documents, magazines, newspapers and many other types of paper used in all the colonies. Like the previous taxes, the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay the troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War and to control the growing freedom of the press in the colonies. The British government considered that the colonies were the main beneficiaries of this military presence, and they had to pay at least part of the expenses. It ended with many newspapers, which could not afford the costs of this economic censorship.
This law caused great resistance in the colonies, which could not send representatives to Parliament, and therefore had no influence on taxes, their elevation, application or form of expenditure. Many settlers considered a violation of their rights as members of the British Empire to be taxed without their consent, which only colonial legislatures could grant. The colonial assemblies sent several petitions and protests.
<u>The Writs of Assistance (1767):</u> The Writ of Assistance was a legal document used in Great Britain as a government order to assist and support an official in the performance of his duties, similar to a "search warrant" but of more general scope.
The order of assistance usually lacked time limits for its use, and required that each person collaborate with the official in favor of which the document had been issued. The normal use of this order occurred in the customs and tax inspections, and this document authorized the official to investigate any person, thing, or place, which is considered suspicious, without expiration time. The orders of assistance were established in Great Britain by Townshend Act of 1767, and continued to be issued generically until 1819, despite protests by those who believed that this kind of documents allowed abuse and harassment by Crown officials .
<u>The Intolerable Acts (1774):</u> The Intolerable Acts was the name given to the laws issued in 1774 by the British Parliament due to continued discontent in the Thirteen American Colonies, particularly in Boston after turbulent incidents such as the Tea Party in Boston. These acts accelerated the processes that culminated in the War of Independence of the United States and the formation of the Continental Congress.
