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French and Indian War
War between Great Britain and France for control of North America. The Native Americans aided the French because of their friendly relationship. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
The French and Indian War ended on 1763, where Great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi River. Britain also took Florida from Spain. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar Act & Colonists Response
Great Britain borrowed so much money during the war that it nearly doubled its national debt so Parliament put the Sugar Act into action that halved the duty on foreign-made molasses. Colonial merchants complained about the tax, however, it had little effect on colonists besides merchants and traders. -
Stamp Act & colonists response
The Stamp Act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards.The Sons of Liberty was created by the colonists to boycott all printed items. -
Declaratory Act
Asserted Parliament's full right to "blind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever." -
Writ of Assistance
A writs of assistance is a written order issued by a court instructing a law enforcement official, such as a sheriff or a tax collector, to perform a certain task. -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
Group of Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized into a secret resistance group to protest the law. Samuel Adams was one of the founders of the organization. -
Townshend Acts & colonists response and why they were repealed
taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain and imposed a tax on tea. The colonists boycotted all British goods. It was repealed because it cost more to enforce than it brought in. -
Boston Massacre
a mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted British soldiers that were on guard there. Eventually, shots were fired and five colonists were killed or mortally wounded. -
Tea Act
cut the colonial merchants out of the tea trade and gave the British East India Company to sell the tea to the colonists for less. -
The Boston Tea Party
a large group of Boston rebels dressed themselves up as Native American Indians and snuck up on the British ships docked there and dumped 18,000 lbs. of tea into the Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts – all 3 parts
shut down the Boston Harbor, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings, and General Thomas Gage was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. -
First Continental Congress meets
56 delegates from the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. The document 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. -
Minutemen
Civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice. -
Midnight riders: Revere, Dawes, Prescott
Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode out to spread the word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord. -
Battle of Lexington
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 marched to Concord to plan an attack, but were met by 3000-4000 minutemen who fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists were those in the colonies that opposed independence and remained loyal to the British King. Patriots were the supporters of independence. -
Second Continental Congress
The group of colonial leaders met in Philadelphia to to debate about the war. They also elected George Washington as the commander of the Continental Army -
Continental Army
Was the colonial militia, Led by George Washington, was called after the second Continental Congress. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
2,400 British soldiers were mowed down after the colonists held fire until the very last minute. The colonists lost 450 men while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties. -
Olive Branch Petition
Congress sent the king the so-called Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. -
John Locke’s Social Contract
An agreement in which the people consent to choose and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights. -
Publication of Common Sense
Book by Thomas Paine attacking King George and the monarchy. He declared that America's independence would make trading easier and create a better society over the colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was based on Locke’s ideas of natural rights, and it declared that the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to be unalienable. The document was written by Thomas Jefferson. -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
The Continental Army failed at the attempt to defend New York from the British and were pushed back into Philadelphia but General Washington planned for a surprise attack on Christmas Night on the Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey -
Washington’s Christmas night surprise attack
On Christmas night, 1776 Washington risked everything and crossed the frozen Deleware River with 2,400 men in small rowboats to Trenton, New Jersey to defeat a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. -
Saratoga
British General Burgoyne planned to lead his army down from Canada to New York. As his army was walking through the wilderness, militiamen surrounded his army and General Burgoyne surrendered on October 17, 1777. -
Valley Forge
General Washington and his continental army faced a harsh winter at their winter cam Valley Forge ,Pennsylvania where they ran desperately low on food and supplies. More than 2,000 soldiers died. -
French-American Alliance
After the Saratoga victory, the French started to believe that the Americans could win the war and as a result, the French signed an alliance with the Americans and joined them in their fight for independence. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Friedrich von Steuben was a Prussian captain and drill sergeant. Marquis de Lafayette asked France for reinforcements in1779. -
British victories in the South
After the British defeat at Saratoga, the British decided to shift their operations to the South. The British easily captured the South's many capitals. -
British surrender at Yorktown
In the late September of 1781 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and British General Cornwallis eventually surrendered. -
Treaty of Paris
The American negotiators: John Adams, John Jay, and Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris to confirmed the U.S.as an independent new nation.
