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The French and Indian War
Franch colonists in North America enjoyed better relations with Native Americans b/c they need the local people as partners in the fur trade. The rich Ohio River valley was just west of Pennsylvania and Virginia. The French built Fort Duquesne in the region despite the fact that the Virginia govhad already granted land in the Ohio country to a group of wealthy planters- the Virginia governor sent militia to expel French. the 1st battle the French sent their Washington.2nd washington vs braddock -
Treaty of Paris
In 1759, british troops defeated the french in a surpirse attack and the war officially ended in 1763 w/ the signing of the treaty of paris. Great Britain clamied Canada and all of NA east of the Missi. River. britain took florida from spain-allied with france -
Proclamation of 1763
the proclamation of 1763 established a proclamation line along the appalachians which the colonists were not allowed to cross. however, the conlonists were eager to expand westward from the increasingly crowded atlantic seaboard, ignoring the proclamation and continued to stream onto native american lands -
Sugar Act and Cononist response
the 2nd result of the frenchindianwar: financial.britain borrowed so much during the war-> 2x its national debt.King George 3 hoped to lower the debt and he chose a financial expert George Grenville as a prime minister. the sugar act 1.1/2 the duty on foreign made molasses in the hopes that colonists would pay a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling 2placed duties on certain imports that hadnt been taxed before 3provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tired in a vi -
Writ of Assistance
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Sons of Liberty is formed and Samuel Adams
boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the sons of liberty to protest the law. Samuel Adams- one of the founders of the sons of liberty, the colonist boycotted british goods. -
Stamp Act and colonists response
imposed a tax on doc and printed items such as wills, newspapers, & playing cards. a stamp would be plaed on the items to prove that the tax had been paid. colonists harass stamp distributors, boycott british goods, and prepare a declaration of rights and grievances -
Declaratory Act
act of the parliament of britain-accompanied the repeal of the stamp act and the changing and lessening the sugar act. parliament passed this act which asserted parliament's full right to bind the colonies and people of america in all cases whatsoever -
Townshend Acts and colonists response Why they were repealed
Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, the leading gov minister. The townshend acts taxed goods that were imported into the colony from britain such as lead,glass,paint, or paper. colonial reaction- conlonists protest "taxation w/o representation" and organize a new boycott of imported goods. they repealed it b/c it costed morethan what was bring in -
John Locke's Social Contract
John Locke-English Philosopher. Locke maintained that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. 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 -
Boston Massacre
A mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted the soldiers standing gaurd there. Shots were fired and five colonists including Crispus Attucks were killed or mortally wounded -
Tea Act
british gives the east india company special concessions in the colonial tea business and shuts out colonial tea merchants -
Boston Tea Party
colonists in boston rebel, dumping 18,000 lbs of east india company tea into boston harbor -
Intolerable Acts- all three parts
King George III pressed Parliament to act. Parliament responded by passing a series of measures. One law shut down Boston harbor. The quartering act, authorized british commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. General Thomas Gage,commander in chief of british forces in NA, was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. To keep the peace, he placed Boston under martial law, or rule imposed by military forces, -
First Continental Congress meets
In response to britain's actions of the intolerable acts, the committees of correspondence assembled the first continental congress. 56delegates 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 -
Minutemen
civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight agains the british on a minute's notice- quietly stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. -
Midnight riders: Revere, Dawes, Prescott
paul revere, william dawes, and samuel prescott rode out to spread word that 700 british troops were headed for concord -
Battle of Lexington
the british commander ordered the minutemen to lay down their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out w/o laying down their muskets. Then someone fired, and the british soldiers sent a volley of shots into the departing militia. only lasted for 15 minutes. -
Battle of Concord
the british marched on to concord. after a brief skirmish w/ minutemen, the british soldiers lined up to march back to boston but the march quickly became a slaughter. between 3000 and 4000 minutemen assempled and fired on the marching troops behind stone walls and tress -
Second Continental Congress
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 independece, while others argued for reconciliation w/ britain. -
Continental Army
the congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the continental army & appointed Gwashington as commander -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Took place at Breed's Hill overlooking Boston with British staging a frontal attack. The colonists slaughtered the British until they ran out of gunpowder, when they were forced to retreat. Though they lost the battle, the colonists struck a blow to the British, which boosted morale. British general Thomas Gage -
Olive Branch Petition
most of delegates 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. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists: those who opposed independece and remained loyal to the British king-included judges and governors, as well as people of more modest means. many loyalists thought that the britih were going to win and wanted to avoid punishment as rebels. Patriots- the supporters of independence-drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent america. -
Redcoats push Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
British attempted to seize NYC to stop the rebellion by isolating New England. British sailed into NY harbor with 32,000soldiers.The continental army attempted to defend NY in late August, the untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops son retreated. By late fall, the British had pushed Washington's army across the Delaware River into Penn. -
Washington's Christmas night surpirse attack
Washington led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice choked Delaware River after British' victory. They marched to their objective-Trenton,NJ-and defeated a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. The British soon regrouped, however, and in Sep.1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia -
Publication of Common Sense
common sense- pamphlet that swayed many to the revolutionary cause. Inspirational best seller 120,000 copies
posed revolutionary ideas
-questioned logic of a small island controlling a much large continent
-called for independence and the formation of a republic- a gov. with authority derived from the people -
Declaration of Independence
the document written by Thomas Jefferson in 1776, in which the delegates of the continental congress declared the colonies' independence from Britain. The declaration states flatly that "all men are created equal." When this phrase was written, it expressed the common belief that free citizens were political equals. It didnt meant to embrace women, Native Amercians. Jefferson included an eloquent attack on the cruelty and injustice of the slave trade. -
Saratoga
General John Burgoyne's plan: to lead an army down a route of lakes from Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops as they arrived from NYC. The two regiments would then join forces to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.His mistake: Burgoyne didnt realize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and werent coming to meet him.The Saratoga victory bolstered France's beliefe that the Americans could win the war-America-France allied -
French-American Alliance
The surrender at Saratoga turned out to be one of the most important events of the war. The French signed an alliance with the Americans in Feb. 1778 and openly joined them in their fight. -
Valley Forge
In Paris, Washington and his Continental Army-desperately low on food and supplies-fought to stay alive at winter camp in Valley Forge, Penn. More than 2,000 soldiers died, yet the survivors didn't desert. Their endurance and suffering filled Washington's letters to the Congress and his friends -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster, helped to train the Continental Army. Other foreign military leaders, such as Marquis de Lafayette, 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. With the hlep of such European military leaders, the raw Continental Army became an effective fighting force. -
British victories in the South
A British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia after their defeat at Saratoga. In their greatest victory of the war, the British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. The colonists continued to battle Cornwallis-hindering his effort to take the Carolinas. British chose to move the fight to Virginia. He led his army of 7,500 onto the peninsula between the James and York rivers and camped at Yorktown. -
British surrender at Yorktown
A French naval force defeated a British fleet and then blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British sea routes to the bay. By the September, about 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown Peninsula and began bombarding them day and night. -
Treaty of Paris
John Adams, John Jay of NY, Benjamin Franklin. The Treaty of Paris confirmed US independdence and set the boundaries of the new nation The US now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border
