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Lord North devised the Tea Act in granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay.
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The "Indians" dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company tea into the waters of Boston harbor.
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As the French empire in North America expanded, it collided with the growing British empire. During the late 17th and first half of the 18 centuries, France and Great Britain had fought three inconclusive wars. Each war had begun in Europe but spread to their overseas colonies. After six relatively peaceful years, the French-British conflict reignited.
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Royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the use of the writs of assistance, a general search warrant that allowed British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed holding smuggled goods.
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Locke maintained 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. People have the right to resist and overthrow the government if the government violates the social contract.
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In September 1759 the war took a dramatic and decisive turn on the plains of Abraham just outside Quebec. British troops scaled the high cliffs that protected the city and defeated the French in a surprise attack. The British triumph at Quebec brought them victory in the war. The war officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty if Paris.
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To avoid further conflicts with the Native Americans, the British government prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Proclamation of 1763 established a proclamation line along the colonists, eager to expand westward from the increasingly crowded Atlantic seaboard, ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto American lands.
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Sugar act did three things. It halved the duty on foreign-made molasses in the hopes that colonists would pay a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling. It placed duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before. It provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court. Colonial merchants complained that sugar act would reduce their profits.
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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. It was the first tax that affected colonists directly because it was levied on goods and services.
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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. Led by men such as Samuel Adams, one of the founders of the sons of liberty, the colonists again boycotted British goods.
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On the same day it repealed the stamp act, Parliament passed the declaratory act, which asserted parliaments full right to "bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever."
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Parliament passed the townshend acts, named after Charles Town shend, the leading government minister. It taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. Also imposed a tax on tea, the most popular drink in the colonies. Realized that Townsend acts were costing more to enforce than they would ever bring in.
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A mob gathered in front of the customs house and taunted the British soldiers standing guard there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed or mortally wounded. Colonial leaders quickly labeled the confrontation the Boston massacre.
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One law shut down the Boston harbor. Another, the quartering act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. General Thomas Gage was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. He placed Boston under martial law.
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56 delegates 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 colonies, the colonies should fight back.
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Minutemen are civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minutes notice, quietly stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. in 1775, general Thomas Gage ordered troops to march from Boston to nearby Concord, Massachusetts, and to seize illegal weapons.
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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.
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The first battle of the Revolutionary war, lasted only 15 minutes. Eighteen minutemen were killed and 10 more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured.
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General Thomas Gage ordered troops to march from Boston to nearby Concord, Massachusetts, and to seize illegal weapons.
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Colonial leaders called the second continental congress in Philadelphia to debate their next move. The loyalties divided colonists sparked endless debates at the second argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite such differences, the congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the continental army and appointed George Washington as its commander.
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British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at militiamen on Breeds hill, north of the city and near Bunker Hill. On June 17, 1775, Gage sent 2,400 british soldiers up the hill. The colonists held their fire until the last minute and then began to mow down the advancing redcoats before finally retreating. Colonists lost 400 men, while British suffered over 1,000 casualties. Its proven to be the deadliest battle of the war.
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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. King George flatly rejected the petition. 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.
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In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titles common Sense, 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.
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Thomas Jefferson declared the rights of "life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness to be unalienable rights (ones that can never be taken away. States that all men are created equal. July 4, 1776 they adopted the declaration of independence and the colonists had declared their freedom from britain.
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Loyalists are those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British King, included judges, and governors. Patriots are the supporters of independence. They drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independant America.
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Although 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 cross the Deleware River into Pennsylvania.
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Washington led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delewre River. They then marched to Trenton New Jersey and defeated a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. In 1777, they captured the American capital of Philadelphia.
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Burgoyne didn't realize that his fellow British soldiers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and weren't coming to meet him. American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777. Saratoga's victory bolstered Frances belief that the Americans could win the war.
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Washington and his continental army, desperately low on food and supplies fought to stay alive at a winter camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 2,000 soldiers died, yet the survivors didn't desert. Their endurance and suffering filled washingtons letters to the congress and his friends.
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As a result, the French signed an alliance with the Americans in February 1778 and openly joined them in their fight.
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American troops began an amazing transformation. fredrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drill-master, helped to train the Continental army. 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.
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In their greatest victory of the war, the Britsh under generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. Clinton then left for New York, while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South. The Britsh General led his army of 7,500 onto the peninsula between James and York rivers and camped at Yorktown.
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17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula a began bombarding them day and night. On Oct. 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally surrendered. The Americans had shocked the world and defeated the British.
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The American negotiating team included John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. In September 1783, 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.
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The American Revolution was a colonial revolt which occurred between 1765 and 1783. The war had several causes, including disputes over money, government, and philosophy. It was a struggle between 13 American colonies and Great Britain.
