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Zenger Trial
determined that truth was a defense against charges of libel and laid the foundation for American press freedom. Zenger was an editor who published an article against the government and was charged with libel, he won -
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French and Indian War
Seven Years' War or, the Seven Years War, was a battle fought between the gallant French, Algonquians, Hurons, and the British in North American colonies. -
Albany Congress
a meeting of representatives from seven of the thirteen British North American colonies in 1754 to discuss relations with Indians and French -
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Pontiac's Rebellion
a confederacy of Native American warriors under Ottawa chief Pontiac attacks the British force at Detroit. After failing to take the fort in their initial assault, Pontiac's forces, made up of Ottawas and reinforced by Wyandots, Ojibwas, and Potawatamis, initiated a siege Pontiac finally signed a treaty with the British in 1766. In 1769, he was murdered by a Peoria Indian while visiting Illinois. His death led to bitter warfare among the tribes, and the Peorias were nearly wiped out. -
Sugar Act Passed
act passed to raise revenues in North America by taxing tea and other commodities. British dept has sky high so these revenues helped them pay their debts -
Stamp Act Passed
the stamp tax had to be paid in valid British currency, not in colonial paper money. The purpose of the tax was to help pay for troops stationed in North America after the British victory in the Seven Years' War. The British government felt that the colonies were the primary beneficiaries of this military presence, and should pay at least a portion of the expense. -
Stamp Act Repealed
The Stamp Act was repelaed due to the effects of nonimportation and other methods of boycotting -
Declaratory Act
As the British were hurt by nonimportation, they repealed the Stamp Act. In order to justify this and save face, the commenced this act which stated that they indeed held the power to tax them -
Boston Massacre
British Army soldiers killed five civilian men and injured six others. British troops had been stationed in Boston, capital of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, since 1768 in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. Amid ongoing tense relations between the population and the soldiers, a mob formed around a British sentry, who was subjected to verbal abuse and harassment. He was eventually supported by eight additi -
Tea Act Passed
objective was to reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. A related objective was to undercut the price of tea smuggled into Britain's North American colonies. This was supposed to convince the colonists to purchase Company tea on which the Townshend duties were paid, thus implicitly agreeing to accept Parliament's right of taxation. The Act granted the Company the right to d -
Boston Tea Party
political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, a city in the British colony of Massachusetts, against the tax policy of the British government and the East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. On December 16, 1773, after officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor -
First Continental Congress Meeting
a convention of delegates from twelve British North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. -
Coercive Acts Passed
a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 relating to Britain's colonies in North America Boston Port Act:closed the port of Boston until the East India Company had been repaid for the destroyed tea and until the king was satisfied that order had been restored Massachusetts Government Act:unilaterally altered the government of Massachusetts to bring it under control of the British government. Under the terms of the Government Act, almost all positions in the colonial government -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.[9][10] They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. -
Fort Ticonderoga Captured
a small force of Green Mountain Boys led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold overcame a small British garrison at the fort and looted the personal belongings of the garrison. Cannons and other armaments from the fort were transported to Boston and used to fortify Dorchester Heights and break the standoff at the Siege of Boston -
Second Continental Congress Meeting
a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5, 1774 and October 26, 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. By raising armies, -
Battle of Bunker Hill
he leaders of the colonial forces besieging Boston learned that the British generals were planning to send troops out from the city to occupy the unoccupied hills surrounding the city. In response to this intelligence, 1,200 colonial troops under the command of William Prescott stealthily occupied Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, constructed an earthen redoubt on Breed's Hill, and built lightly fortified lines across most of the Charlestown Peninsula.
When the British were alerted to the presence -
Olive Branch Petition
an attempt to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. In August 1775 the colonies were formally declared in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected de facto, although not having been received by the king before declaring the colonists traitors -
Common Sense Published
a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution. Common Sense, was signed, "Written by an Englishman", and it became an immediate success Best quote "It is silly for an Island to rule a continent" -
Virginia Delcaration of Rights Ratified
document drafted in 1776 to proclaim the inherent rights of men, including the right to rebel against "inadequate" government. It influenced a number of later documents, including the United States Declaration of Independence (1776), the United States Bill of Rights (1789), and the French Revolution's Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen (1789) -
Declaration of Independence
announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. John Adams had put forth a resolution earlier in the year, making a subsequent formal declaration inevitable. A committee was assembled to draft the formal declaration, to be ready when congress voted on independence. Adams persuaded the committee to select Thomas Jefferson to compose the original draft of the document,[2] which con -
Battle of Long Island
the first major battle in the American Revolutionary War following the United States Declaration of Independence, the largest battle of the entire conflict, and the first battle in which an army of the United States engaged, having declared itself a nation only the month before -
Draft of the "Bill for Establishing of Religious Freedom"
draft written by Thomas Jefferson in 1777. It promoted religious freedom for the state of Virginia -
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Valley Forge
the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 during the American Revolutionary War it was about 20 miles Northeast of Philadelphia where the British were staying -
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Battles of Sartoga
conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally regarded as a turning point in the war -
Articles of Confederation Ratified
agreement among the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution -
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Battle of Yorktown
decisive victory by a combined force of American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, it proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War in North America, as the surrender by Cornwallis of his army prompted the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict. -
Treaty of Paris (1783)
ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on one side and the United States of America and its allies on the other -
Land Ordinance of 1785
goal of the ordinance was to raise money through the sale of land in the largely unmapped territory west of the original states acquired at the 1783 (Treaty of Paris) after the end of the Revolutionary War. -
Northwest Ordinance
act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787. The primary effect of the ordinance was the creation of the Northwest Territory as the first organized territory of the United States out of the region south of the Great Lakes, north and west of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi Rive -
George Washington Inaugurated
marked the commencement of the first four-year term of George Washington as President. John Adams had already taken office as Vice President since April 21. Sworn in by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston during this first presidential inauguration, Washington became the first President of the United States following the ratification of the Constitution