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John Locke
John Locke, born on August 29, 1632, in Wrington, Somerset, England, went to Westminster school and then Christ Church, University of Oxford. At Oxford he studied medicine, which would play a central role in his life. He became a highly influential philosopher, writing about such topics as political philosophy, epistemology, and education. Locke's writings helped found modern Western philosophy -
George Washington
Born February 22, 1732, Westmoreland County, Virginia. His father died when he was just a boy. He strongly influenced by older brother. His military career began in Virginia militia. Then married a widow with two children. He was a man of character all his life and was the first president of the United States of America. He died 1799 at Mount Vernon. -
Paul Revere
Born January 1, 1735, Paul Revere was a silversmith and ardent colonialist. He took part in the Boston Tea Party and was principal rider for Boston's Committee of Safety. In that role, he devised a system of lanterns to warn the minutemen of a British invasion, setting up his famous ride on April 18, 1775. -
John Hancock
Born on January 23, 1737, in Braintree Massachusetts, John Hancock inherited a thriving trading business in Boston and would, with Samuel Adams, become a major figure in colonial agitation against British rule. He was the first to sign the Declaration of Independence and would later be elected the first governor of Massachusetts. He also faced accusations of financial mismanagement. -
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was born on April 13, 1743, in Shadwell, Virginia. He was a draftsman of the U.S. Declaration of Independence; the nation's first secretary of state (1789-94); second vice president (1797-1801); and, as the third president (1801-09), the statesman responsible for the Louisiana Purchase. Jefferson died in bed at Monticello (located near Charlottesville, Virginia) on July 4, 1826. -
Proclamation of 1763
The proclamation, in effect, closed off the frontier to colonial expansion. The King and his council presented the proclamation as a measure to calm the fears of the Indians, who felt that the colonists would drive them from their lands as they expanded westward. Many in the colonies felt that the object was to pen them in along the Atlantic seaboard where they would be easier to regulate. No doubt there was a large measure of truth in both of these positions. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764. By reducing the rate by half and increasing measures to enforce the tax, the British hoped that the tax would actually be collected.[3] These incidents increased the colonists' concerns about the intent of the British Parliament and helped the growing movement that became the American Revolution -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act started on March 22, 1765. This is an act of the British Parliament in 1756 that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal in 1766 and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British Crown. -
Townshend Act
Townshend Acts imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. Townshend hoped the acts would defray imperial expenses in the colonies, but many Americans viewed the taxation as an abuse of power, resulting in the passage of agreements to limit imports from Britain. In 1770, Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except the tax on tea, leading to a temporary truce between the two sides in the years before the American Revolution. -
Intolerable Act
The Intolerable Acts were passed in 1774 to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. There were three acts involved. The first was the Boston Port Bill and it closed the Boston Harbor until the people of Boston paid for the tea that they threw into the harbor. It went into effect on June 1. The second one did not allow British soldiers to be tried in the colonies for any crimes they might commit. This meant the soldiers could do anything they wanted since they would probably not be punishe -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War. The battles were between the 13 colonies and the British. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire. Then in 1783 the colonists won their independence. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
On June 17, 1775, early in the Revolutionary War. the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. Despite their loss, the inexperienced colonial forces inflicted significant casualties against the enemy, and the battle provided them with an important confidence boost. Although commonly referred to as the Battle of Bunker Hill, most of the fighting occurred on nearby Breed’s Hill. -
Battle of Trenton
General George Washington’s army crossed Delaware on Christmas Day 1776 and, then over the next 10 days, won two crucial battles of the American Revolution. In the Battle of Trenton (December 26), Washington defeated a formidable garrison of Hessian mercenaries before withdrawing. Later he returned to Trenton to lure British forces south, then executed a daring night march to capture Princeton on Jan. 3. The victories reasserted American control of much of New Jersey and colonial armys. -
Battle of Brandywine
On the afternoon of this day in 1777, General Sir William Howe and General Charles Cornwallis launch a full-scale British attack on General George Washington and the Patriot outpost at Brandywine Creek in Delaware County, Pennsylvania. The battle at Brandywine cost Americans more than 1,100 men killed/captured, the British lost approximately 600 men killed/injured. To make matters worse, the Patriots were also forced to leave their cannons to the British victors after their artillery horses fell -
Battle of Yorkown
In 1781, General George Washington, commanded a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops to begin the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. the Patriot victory at Yorktown ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, saying the United States as a free and independent nation.
