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French and Indian War
The forth war between France and Great Britain. It ignited because of the conflict over the Ohio river vally, when the French built the fort Duquesne. -
Writ 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. -
The treaty of Paris
The war officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Great Britain claimed Canada, all of North America till east of the Mississippi river and took Florida from Spain, but the treaty permitted Spain to keep possession of its lands west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans. -
Proclamation of 1763
Line along the Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. However, Native Americans eager to expand westward from the increasingly crowded Atlantic seaboard, ignored the proclamation. -
Sugar Act & colonists response
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(sugar). colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court. Colonists were angred with the lack of representation in the parliment. -
Stamp Act & colonists response
This act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards. It was the first tax that affected colonists directly because it was levied on goods and services.The colonists united to defy the law. -
Sons of liberty are formed and Samuel Adams
Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group to protest the Stamp Act. Samuel Adams, one of the founders of the Sons of Liberty, led the colonists again boycotted British goods. -
Declaratory Act
On the same day as the Stamp Act, the Delaratory Act was passed that asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
John Locke's special Contract
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.People have the right to resist and overthrow. -
Towshed Acts and colonists response
The Townshend Acts taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper.( named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister). The Acts also imposed a tax on tea, the most popular drink in the colonies. That led to the colonists boycotted. -
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. -
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. The East India Company to sell its tea directly to consumers for less. -
Boston Tea Party
A large group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against three British tea ships anchored in the harbor and the “Indians” dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
shut down Boston harbor, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings, General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts -
Minutemen
Were civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice,and quietly stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. -
First Continential Congress meets
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. -
Midnight Riders: Rever, Dawes, Prescott
Colonists in Boston were watching, and on the night of April 18, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode out to spread word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord -
Battle of Lexington
The Battle of Lexington, the first battle of the Revolutionary War, lasted only 15 minutes. Eight minutemen were killed and ten more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured. -
Battle of Concord
The British soldiers lined up to march back to Boston, but the march quickly became a slaughter. British soldiers fell by the dozen and the remaining British soldiers made their way back to Boston that night. -
Continential Army
The Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Second Continential Congress
the Second Congress was in in Philadelphia to debate their next move. Some delegates called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britain, in Philadelphia. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of the war. Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. The colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties. -
Olive Branch Petition
Congress sent the king the Petition, urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. King George flatly rejected the petition. -
Publication of Common sense
Sold nearly 500,000 copies in and was widely applauded.George Washington wrote, “I find Common Sense is working a powerful change in the minds of many men.” -
Loyalists and Patriots
Patriots—the supporters of independence—drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America. . Loyalists—those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king—included judges and governors, as well as people of more modest means -
Washington's Christmas night surprise attack
Washington 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. -
Redcoats push Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
As part of a plan to stop the rebellion by isolating New England, thousands of German mercenaries, or hired soldiers, known as Hessians landed in New York harbor. The untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated. -
Decleration of Independence
Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness, a government denies their unalienable rights the people have the right to alter or abolish, violations committed by the king and Parliament against the colonists, all men are created equal(not women, Native Americans, or African-American slaves), written by Thomas Jefferson -
Saratoga
Burgoyne planned to lead an army from Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops, join forces to isolate New England. However, his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and weren’t coming to meet him. American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saragota -
French-American Alliance
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 and openly joined them in their fight. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster,
helped to train the Continental Army. With the help of such European military leaders, the raw Continental Army became an effective fighting force. -
Valley Forge
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. -
British victories in the South
British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia in 1778. Under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. -
British surrender at Yorktown
Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown.After learning of
Corwallis’s actions, the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown. French naval force defeated a British fleet and then blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British searoutes to the bay. They surrenderd the Bristish. -
Treaty of Paris
Confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border.
