-
French and Indian War
This was between Britain and France. When France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley brought repeated conflict with the claims of the British colonies, a series of battles led to the official British declaration of war in 1756. -
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. -
Writs 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 -
Treaty of Paris
The war officially ended. The treaty permitted Spain to keep possession of its lands west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans, which it had gained from France in 1762. -
Proclamation of 1763
Established a Proclamation Line along the Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. -
Sugar Act & Colonists response
The sugar act placed duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before. Most important, it provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court. There, each case would be decided by a
single judge rather than by a jury of sympathetic colonists. -
Stamp Act & colonists response
the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act as a means of raising colonial tax revenues to help defray the cost of the French and Indian War in North America. The Colonists reacted immediately, asserting that the Stamp Act was an attempt to raise money in the colonies without the approval of colonial legislatures. Resistance to the act was demonstrated through debates in the colonial legislatures, written documents (including legislative resolves, prints, and songs), and mob/crowd actions such -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
Samual Adams led the Acts, he was one of the founders of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists boycotted British goods. -
Declaratory Act
Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
Townshend Acts & colonists response ; Why they were repealed
Taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain, such as lead, glass,paint,and paper,and paint, paper, and tea.
The Townshed Acts were met with resistance in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768, which eventually resulted in the Boston Massacre of 1770. As a result of widespread protest in the American colonies, Parliment began partially repeal the Townshed duties. -
Boston Massacre
A mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soilders standing guard there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed/wounded. -
Boston Tea Party
The "indians" dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India COmpany's tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
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. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were passed in 1774 to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. One law shut down the Boston harbor. Another, the Quatering Act, authorized British commanders to house soilders in vacant private homesand other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas Gage, was appointed the new govener, he placed Boston under marital law. -
Second Continental Congress
Colonial leaders met in Philadelphia to debate their next move. Some delagates called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. -
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft.
Declared the rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" to be "unalienable" rights, and that all men are created equal. -
First Continental Congress meets
In response to Britain's actions, the committes of correspondence assembled the first Continental Congress. Delegates defended the colonies' rights to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British used force against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
Midnight riders: Revere, Dawes, Prescott
Rode out to spread the word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord. -
Battle of Concord
-
Minutemen
Minutemen were selected from militia muster rolls by their commanding officers -
Battle of Lexington
The first battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Continental Army
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hil
The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of
the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
A letter to King George III, from members of the Second Continental Congress, which represents the last attempt by the moderate party in North America to avoid a war of independence against Britain.. -
Publication of Common Sense
Thomas Paine attacked King George and the monarchy. Paine argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with “the royal brute of Britain.” Paine explained that his own revolt against the king had begun with Lexington and Concord. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists- those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king, included judges and governors
Patriots - the supporters of independence -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Friedrich von Steuben, helped to train the Continental Army.
Layfayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779, and led a command in Virginia. -
Washington’s Christmas night surprise attack
Washington risked everything on a Christmas night,in 1776. In the face of a fierce storm, he 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. The British soon regrouped, however, and in September of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia -
Saratoga
As Burgoyne traveled through forested wilderness, militiamen and soilders from the Continental Army gathered from all over New York and New England. While he was fighting off the colonial troops, Burgoyne didn't realize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and weren't coming to meet him. American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered. -
Valley Forge
Turning point of the Revolutionary War. It was here that the Continental army was desperately against the ropes bloody, beaten, battle-weary and ready to quit. Even General Washington conceded, "If the army does not get help soon, in all likelihood it will disband." -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
Washington risked everything on a Christmas night, 1776. In the face of a fierce storm, he 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. The British soon regrouped, however, and in September of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia -
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 in February
1778 and openly joined them in their fight -
British victories in the South
The British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780.
Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South. -
British surrender at Yorktown
In 1781, despite several defeats, the colonists finally turned back Cornwallis- foiling his efforts to take the Carolinas. The British general then chose to move the fight to Virginia. He led his army of 75,000 onto Yorktown. Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown, take Virginia, and then move north to join Clinton's forces. -
Treaty of Paris
Confirmed US Independence and set boundries of the new nation.