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Boston Massacre
In Boston, a small British army detachment that was threatened by mob harassment opened fire and killed five people, an incident soon known as the Boston Massacre. (pg. 768) -
Boston Tea Party
Protesting a tax on tea, a party of Bostonians thinly disguised as Mohawk people boarded ships at anchor and dumped some $14,140 worth of tea into the harbor. (768) -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress happened in Philadelphia. Fifty-six people represented all the colonies except Georgia. (768) -
Second Continental Congress
All colonies sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress that was held in Philadelphia. (768) -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine’s 50-page pamphlet sold more than 100,000 copies within a few months. More than any other single publication, Common Sense paved the way for the Declaration of Independence. (768) -
Declaration of Independence
After Congress recommended that colonies form their own governments, the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and revised in committee. On July 4 it adopted the Declaration of Independence. (768) -
Battle of Trenton
Washington's army battled Hessian mercenaries in Deleware and fought a formidable amount of mercenaries before withdrawing. (Google) -
Battles of Saratoga
Moving south from Canada, a British force under Gen. John Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga before losing decisively at Bennington, Vermont, and Bemis Heights, New York. His forces depleted, Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. (769) -
Winter at Valley Forge
Following failures at the Battles of Brandywine and Germantown, Washington and 11,000 regulars took up winter quarters at Valley Forge, northwest of British-occupied Philadelphia. Although its ranks were decimated by rampant disease, semi-starvation, and bitter cold, the reorganized Continental Army emerged the following June as a well-disciplined and efficient fighting force. (Google) -
American and French Alliance
The French had secretly furnished financial and material aid to the Americans since 1776, but with the signing in Paris of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance, the Franco-American alliance was formalized. (769) -
Siege of Yorktown
Washington’s army and a force under the French Count de Rochambeau placed Yorktown under siege, and Cornwallis surrendered his army of more than 7,000 men on October 19, 1781. (Google) -
Treaty of Paris
After the British defeat at Yorktown, the land battles in America largely died out—but the fighting continued at sea, chiefly between the British and America’s European allies. The military verdict in North America was reflected in the preliminary Anglo-American peace treaty of 1782, which was included in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. By its terms, Britain recognized the independence of the United States with generous boundaries, including the Mississippi River on the west. (Google)