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French and Indian War
One major area of contention between France and Great Britain
was the rich Ohio River valley just west of Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1754, the
French built Fort Duquesne in the region despite the fact that the Virginia government
had already granted 200,000 acres of land in the Ohio country to a
group of wealthy planters. In response, the Virginia governor sent militia, a group
of ordinary citizens who performed military duties, to evict the French. This was
the opening of the French and In -
Writ of Assistance
In 1761,
the royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the use of the
writs of assistance, a general search warrant that allowed
British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building
they believed to be holding smuggled goods -
Treaty of Paris
Great
Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi
River. Britain also took Florida from Spain, which had allied itself with France.
The treaty permitted Spain to keep possession of its lands west of the Mississippi
and the city of New Orleans, which it had gained from France in 1762. France
retained control of only a few islands and small colonies near Newfoundland, in
the West Indies, and elsewhere. -
Proclamation of 1763
The
Proclamation of 1763 established a Proclamation Line along the
Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. However, the
colonists, eager to expand westward from the increasingly crowded Atlantic
seaboard, ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native
American lands. -
Sugar Act and Colonist Response
The Sugar Act did three things. It halved the duty on
foreign-made molasses in the hopes that colonists would pay
a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling. It placed
duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before.
Most important, it provided that colonists accused of violating
the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather
than a colonial court. There, each case would be decided by a
single judge rather than by a jury of sympathetic colonists.
Colonial merchants compla -
Sons of Liberty is formed and Samuel Adams
The Sons of Liberty is a secret organization to protest against these unfair acts. The Sons of Liberty was led by Samuel Adams. -
Stamp Act and Colonist Response
This act
imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing
cards. A stamp would be placed on the items to prove that the tax had been
paid. It was the first tax that affected colonists directly because it was levied on
goods and services. Previous taxes had been indirect, involving duties on imports.
In May of 1765, the colonists united to defy the law. Boston shopkeepers, artisans,
and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to
p -
Declatory Act
which asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and
people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
Townshed Acts
the leading government minister.
The Townshend Acts taxed goods that were imported into the colony from
Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. The Acts also imposed a tax on tea, the
most popular drink in the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
a mob gathered in front
of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers standing guard
there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed
or mortally wounded. -
Boston Tea Party
the “Indians” dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India
Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Tea Act
The act
granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that
colonial tea sellers had to pay. This action would have cut colonial merchants out
of the tea trade by enabling the East India Company to sell its tea directly to consumers
for less. North hoped the American colonists would simply buy the cheaper
tea; instead, they protested dramatically -
First Continental Congress
In response to Britain’s actions, the committees of correspondence assembled
the First Continental Congress. In September 1774, 56 delegates met in
Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the
colonies’ right to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British used force
against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
Intolerable Acts
An infuriated King George III pressed Parliament to
act. In 1774, Parliament responded by passing a series of measures that colonists
called the Intolerable Acts. One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the
Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private
homes and other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas
Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the
new governor of Massachusetts. To keep the peace, he plac -
Minutemen
—civilian soldiers who
pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice—quietly
stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. General Thomas Gage soon learned about
these activities. In the spring of 1775, he ordered troops to march from Boston to
nearby Concord, Massachusetts, and to seize illegal weapons -
MIdnight RIders
Colonists in Boston were watching,
and on the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel
Prescott rode out to spread word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord.
The darkened countryside rang with church bells and gunshots—prearranged signals,
sent from town to town, that the British were coming. -
Seconc Continental Congress
In May of 1775, colonial leaders
called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next
move. The loyalties that divided colonists sparked endless debates at the Second
Continental Congress. Some delegates called for independence, while others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite such differences, the
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and
appointed George Washington as its commander -
Continental Army
Despite such differences, the
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and
appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Battle Of Bunker Hill
Cooped up in Boston, British general Thomas
Gage decided to strike at militiamen on Breed’s Hill, north of the city and near
Bunker Hill. On June 17, 1775, Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. The
colonists held their fire until the last minute and then began to mow down the
advancing redcoats before finally retreating. By the time the smoke cleared, the
colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties.
The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be -
John Locke's Social Contract
. Locke maintained that people have natural
rights to life, liberty, and property. Furthermore, he contended, every society is
based on a social contract—an agreement in which the people consent to choose
and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights. If the government
violates that social contract by taking away or interfering with those
rights, people have the right to resist and even overthrow the government. -
Battle Of Lexington
The king’s troops, known as “redcoats” because of their uniforms, reached
Lexington, Massachusetts, five miles short of Concord, on the cold, windy dawn
of April 19. As they neared the town, they saw 70 minutemen drawn up in lines
on the village green. The British commander ordered the minutemen to lay down
their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out without laying down
their muskets. Then someone fired, and the British soldiers sent a volley of shots
into the departing militia. Ei -
Olive Branch Petition
By July, the Second Continental Congress was readying the colonies for war
though still hoping for peace. Most of the delegates, like most colonists, felt
deep loyalty to George III and blamed the bloodshed on the king’s ministers.
On July 8, Congress sent the king the so-called Olive Branch Petition, urging a
return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies.
King George flatly rejected the petition. Furthermore, he issued a proclamation
stating that the colonies were in rebellion -
Battle Of Concord
The British marched on to Concord, where they found an empty arsenal.
After a brief skirmish with minutemen, the British soldiers lined up to march back
to Boston, but the march quickly became a slaughter. Between 3,000 and 4,000
minutemen had assembled by now, and they fired on the marching troops from
behind stone walls and trees. British soldiers fell by the dozen. Bloodied and
humiliated, the remaining British soldiers made their way back to Boston that
night. Colonists had become enemies of -
Decleration Of Independence
By the early summer of 1776, the wavering
Continental Congress finally decided to urge each colony to form its own government.
On June 7, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee moved that “these
United Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent States.”
While talks on this fateful motion were under way, the Congress appointed a
committee to prepare a formal Declaration of Independence. Virginia lawyer
Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft.
Drawing on Locke’s ide -
Loyalists and Patriots
As the war began, Americans found themselves
on different sides of the conflict. Loyalists—those who opposed independence
and remained loyal to the British king—included judges and governors, as well
as people of more modest means. Many Loyalists thought that the British were
going to win and wanted to avoid punishment as rebels. Still others thought
that the Crown would protect their rights more effectively than the new colonial
governments would.
Patriots—the supporters of independence—drew th -
Washington's Christmas Surprise Attack
Desperate for an early victory, Washington risked everything on one bold
stroke set for Christmas night, 1776. In the face of a fierce storm, he led 2,400
men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River. They then
marched to their objective—Trenton, New Jersey—and defeated a garrison of
Hessians in a surprise attack. The British soon regrouped, however, and in
September of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia. -
Publication Of Common Sense
Just as important were the ideas of
Thomas Paine. In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titled Common Sense,
Paine attacked King George and the monarchy. Paine, a recent immigrant,
argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with “the royal brute of
Britain.” Paine explained that his own revolt against the king had begun
with Lexington and Concord.
Paine declared that independence would allow America to trade more freely. He
also stated that independence would give American colonists the chan -
Redcoats push Washington's Army
As part of a plan to stop the rebellion by
isolating New England, the British quickly attempted to seize New York City. The
British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about
32,000 soldiers. They included thousands of
German mercenaries, or hired soldiers, known
as Hessians because many of them came from
the German region of Hesse.
Although the Continental Army attempted to defend New York in late
August, the untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retrea -
Saratoga
In the meantime, one British general
was marching straight into the jaws of disaster. In a complex scheme,
General John Burgoyne planned to lead an army down a route of lakes
from Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops as they
arrived from New York City. The two regiments would then join forces to
isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.
As Burgoyne traveled through forested wilderness, militiamen
and soldiers from the Continental Army gathered from all over New York and -
French-American Alliance
the French had secretly aided the Patriots since early 1776, the Saratoga victory bolstered France’s belief that the Americans could win the war. As a result, the French signed an alliance with the Americans in February 1778 and openly joined them in their fight. -
Valley Forge
While this hopeful turn of events took place in Paris, Washington and his Continental Army—desperately low on food and supplies—fought to stay alive at winter camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 2,000 soldiers died, yet the survivors didn’t desert. 1778 -
Freerich
Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster, helped to train the Continental Army. Other foreign military leaders, such as the Marquis de Lafayette (mär-kCP dE lBfQC-DtP), also arrived to offer their help. Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779, and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
British Victories
British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia. In their greatest victory of the war, the British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. Clinton then left for New York, while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South.