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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War started in 1754. It was a war between France and Britain. The French and the Natives were allies. The French built Fort Duquesne on Britain Territory and they sent people to evict the French. -
Writ of Assistance
a general search warrant that allowed British custom officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 established a Proclamation Line along the Appalachians. The colonists were not allowed to cross. The colonists, wanted to expand westward from the crowded Atlantic seaboard. They ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native American lands. -
Treaty of Paris
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. -
Sugar Act & colonists response
The Sugar Act halved the duty on foreign-made molasses, placed duties on certain imports that have not been taxed before, provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court. The colonial merchants complained that the S.A would reduce their profits. Merchants and traders also said that the Parliament had no right to tax them because the colonists had not elected representatives to the body. -
Stamp Act & colonists response
Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards. A stamp would be placed on the items to prove that the tax had been paid. -
Sons of Liberty/Samuel Adams
In May, 1765, the colonists united to defy the law. 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, was involved. -
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
in 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts. It was named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister. The T.A taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. The Acts also imposed a tax on tea, which was very popular. The Townshend Acts were costing more to enforce than they would ever bring in. The North persuaded Parliament to repeal the Townshend Acts, except for the tax on tea. -
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 wounded. Colonial leaders labeled the attack the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
Lord North devised the Tea Act in order to save the almost bankrupt British East India Company. The act gave the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. -
Boston Tea Party
a large group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and took action against three British tea ships anchored in the harbor. In this incident, the “Indians” dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, 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
56 delegates met in Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the colonies’ right to run their own affairs and said that, if the British used force against the colonies, the colonies would be able to fight back -
Minutemen
civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice quietly stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. -
Second Continental Congress
colonial leaders called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to discuss their next move. The loyalties that divided colonists sparked debates at the Second Continental Congress. Some delegates called for independence, but others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. The Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as the leader. -
Continental Army
Some delegates called for independence, while others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. The Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Loyalists and Patriots
. Loyalists—those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king—included judges and governors, as well
as people of more modest means. Many Loyalists thought that the British 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.Many Americans remained neutral. -
Redcoats push Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
The British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with about 32,000 soldiers. They included thousands of German mercenaries, or hired soldiers, known as Hessians.The Continental Army attempted to defend New York in late August, the untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated. By late fall, the British had pushed Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. -
Battle of Lexington
First battle of the Revolutionary War lasted only 15 minutes. As they neared the town, they saw 70 minutemen drawn up in lines on the village green. The British commander ordered the minutemen to lay down their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out without laying down their muskets. Then someone fired, and the British soldiers sent a volley of shots into the departing militia. Eight minutemen were killed and ten more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured -
Battle of Concord
The British marched to Concord, and they found an empty arsenal. After the British soldiers lined up to march back to Boston, between 3,000 and 4,000 minutemen had assembled and they fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls and trees. The remaining British soldiers made their way back to Boston that night. Colonists had become enemies of Britain and now held Boston and its encampment of British troops under siege. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Thomas Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. The
colonists held their fire until the last minute and then started to mow down the incoming redcoats before retreating. By the time the smoke cleared, the colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties. The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
Congress sent the king the Olive Branch Petition, urging a
return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies.
King George rejected the petition and he issued a proclamation stating that the colonies were in rebellion and urged Parliament to order a naval blockade to isolate a line of ships meant for the American coast. -
John Locke's Social Contract
Locke said that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He contended, every society is based on a social contract which is an agreement in which the people consent to choose and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights. If the government violates that social contract by taking away or interfering with those rights, people have the right to resist and even overthrow the government. -
Publication of Common Sense
Thomas Paine attacked King George and the monarchy. Paine, a recent immigrant, 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. -
Declaration of Independence
On June 7, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee moved that “these
United Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent States.” During that, the Congress appointed a committee to prepare a formal Declaration of Independence. Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft. -
Washington's Christmas night surprise attack.
In the face of a fierce storm, Washington led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the Delaware River. They marched to 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
Burgoyne planned to lead an army down a route of lakes from Canada to Albany, he would meet British troops as they arrived from NYC. They would then join forces to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.While he was fighting he didn’t realize that British officers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and weren’t coming to meet. American troops surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga the French signed an alliance with the Americans in February 1778 and joined them in their fight. -
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. Their endurance and suffering filled Washington’s letters to the Congress and his friends. -
French American Alliance
The French had secretly aided the Patriots since early 1776, 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
At the end of 1778, a British expedition took Savannah, Georgia. In their greatest victory of the war, the British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Friedrich von Steuben, helped train the Continental Army. Other foreign military leaders, such as the Marquis de Lafayette also arrived to help. Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
British surrender at Yorktown
A French naval force defeated a British fleet and then
blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, which obstructed British sea routes to the bay. By late September, about 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding them 24/7. Less than a month later, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally surrendered. The Americans had defeated the British. -
Treaty of Paris
The delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which 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.
