The Stamp Act . . . 7

The Declaratory Act . . . 19

The Townshend Revenue Act . . . 25

The Intolerable Acts . . . 37

Edmund Burke . . . 49

King George III . . . 55

John Dickinson . . . 63

Benjamin Franklin . . . 71

Thomas Jefferson . . . 81

Patrick Henry . . . 89

Thomas Paine . . . 97

By the late 1500s, after centuries of petty fighting among the many noble families of Europe, four nations had emerged that were stable and wealthy enough to turn their attention to overseas exploration. These nations were Spain, Portugal, France, and England (also known as Britain or Great Britain). They all looked to the vast and unknown wilderness of the North American continent as an exciting opportunity for exploration. For the most part, their motive was profit.

The English (also called British) focused their early efforts on the Atlantic Coast. It was English businessmen, not the nation of Great Britain, who paid for the settlement of Roanoke (1585) and Jamestown (1607) in Virginia, and Plymouth Colony (1621) in...