-
The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock
The merchant ship Mayflower left Plymouth, England, and set sail for the colony of Virginia in North America. Its passengers were in search of a new life, some seeking religious freedom, others a fresh start in a different land. -
Pennsylvania Becomes a Colony
Penn founded a proprietary colony that provided a place of religious freedom for Quakers. -
The French and Indian War
It was fought between France and Great Britain to determine control of the vast colony territory of north America. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act reduced the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon. The enforced tax on molasses caused the almost immediate decline in the rum industry in the colonies. -
The Currency Act
The Acts sought to protect British merchants and creditors from being paid in depreciated colonial currency. The system was good for merchants in the mother country, but bad for the colonies because it resulted in more money leaving the colonies than coming in. -
The Stamp Act
England wanted to pay their troops in the colonies, so they passed the Stamp Act. It put a tax on papers, documents, and other stuff. If the colonists didn’t pay, they were punished unfairly without a jury. The colonists hated this act. For them, it was an example of “taxation without representation.” -
The Quartering Act
The act did require colonial governments to provide and pay for feeding and sheltering any troops stationed in their colony. required the colonies to house British soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies. -
The Townshend Revenue Act
The Townshend Revenue Act to raise revenue for the British Empire by taxing its North American colonies. Imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre
The event in Boston helped to unite the colonies against Britain. What started as a minor fight became a turning point in the beginnings of the American Revolution. British soldiers shot and killed several people whom they perceived to be a mob. -
The Boston Tea
American political and mercantile protest.American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing taxation without representation, dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
The First Continental Congress
It was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States, a compact among the colonies to boycott British goods beginning. -
Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty or give me Death” speech
“Give me Liberty or give me Death” As he uttered these final words, he plunged the letter opener toward his chest, mimicking a knife blow to the heart. -
The Ride of Paul Revere
The warning given to the colonists and the militia by the riders enabled them to be prepared and fight off the British army's initial attack. Paul would serve in the American Army during the revolution. After the war he went back to his silversmith business expanding to other areas. -
The Second Continental Congress
The second congress functioned as a defacto national government in the early days of the war by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing petitions such as the declaration of the causes and necessity of taking up arms and the Olive Branch Petition. -
George Washington named Commander in Chief
The Continental Congress commissioned George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army ,Washington was selected over other candidates such as John Hancock based on his previous military experience and the hope that a leader from Virginia could help unite the colonies.