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aka 7 Years War between France and England. In the colonies, it was called the French Indian War because the colonists fought with British soldiers against France the Indians who were on side of France. Because of the war, England had a massive war debt began to tax the people in the 13 colonies. -
The Quartering Acts were a series of British laws in the 1760s and 1770s that required colonial governments to provide housing, food, and supplies for British troops stationed in the American colonies, often in public houses, inns, or other available buildings -
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1767 to raise revenue from the American colonies by taxing imports of glass, paint, paper, and tea. Named for Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, the acts also sought to strengthen enforcement by creating a new customs commission and punishing New York for not fully complying with the Quartering Act. -
Beginning in 1763 economic policy England followed when it came to the 13 colonies. England saw the colonies as a market for English goods wanted to get money (taxes) natural resources from the colonies. -
the British policy of the 17th and 18th centuries of loosely enforcing laws and regulations, especially trade laws, in the American colonies. This hands-off approach allowed the colonies to develop their own institutions and a strong sense of self-governance and economic independence. -
The Stamp Act was a 1765 British tax on the American colonies requiring a tax stamp on legal documents, newspapers, playing cards, and other paper goods to help pay for British troops after the French and Indian War -
The Boston Massacre was a deadly confrontation on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists in Boston, killing five people. The incident escalated from a confrontation between a lone sentry and colonists, with tensions rising after more soldiers arrived and the crowd began throwing snowballs and other objects. This event, which occurred amidst growing opposition to British taxation and troop occupation, -
The Declaration of Independence is the founding document by which the 13 American colonies declared their separation from Great Britain, adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, asserting the colonies' right to form their own government based on principles of equality, liberty, and consent of the governed -
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that took place on December 16, 1773, in Boston, Massachusetts. Members of the Sons of Liberty, disguised as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor to protest the British Parliament's Tea Act -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord, which took place on April 19, 1775, were the first armed conflicts of the American Revolutionary War, where colonial militia clashed with British regulars in Massachusetts -
The Intolerable Acts (or Coercive Acts) were a series of punitive British parliamentary laws passed in 1774 to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, comprising the Boston Port Act, the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and the Quartering Act. -
Common Sense, written by Thomas Paine and published in 1776, was a widely influential pamphlet that argued for the necessity of American independence from Great Britain. Paine used clear, accessible language to advocate for a republican government, attack the concept of monarchy, and persuade ordinary colonists to support a complete separation from British rule, transforming a political squabble into a revolutionary cause -
The Olive Branch Petition was a final plea from the Second Continental Congress to King George III for reconciliation and peace between the colonies and Great Britain, drafted by John Dickinson and approved in July 1775. King George III, however, refused to formally receive or respond to the petition, further alienating many colonists and fueling support for full independence, which was declared the following year. -
The Second Continental Congress (1775–1781) was the de facto government of the American colonies during the American Revolution, assembling in Philadelphia to coordinate the war effort, organize the Continental Army under George Washington, and eventually issue the Declaration of Independence in 1776 -
The Articles of Confederation was the United States' first constitution, established between 1781 and 1789, creating a weak central government with most power residing in the individual states. Lacking key functions like a power to tax or regulate commerce, and a separate executive or judicial branch, the national government struggled to operate effectively, leading to the creation of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 -
The Annapolis Convention of 1786 was a meeting of delegates from five states in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss interstate trade issues under the Articles of Confederation. Although the convention had a limited attendance and was intended to be purely commercial, the delegates quickly realized the central government's weakness under the Articles. -
The Constitutional Convention of 1787 was a historic meeting in Philadelphia where delegates from twelve states drafted the United States Constitution to replace the weak Articles of Confederation. Presided over by George Washington, the convention established a new federal government with more defined powers -
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in 1786-1787 by Massachusetts farmers, led by Daniel Shays, who protested high taxes and debt collection after the American Revolution. The farmers, many of whom were Revolutionary War veterans, faced financial hardship and saw the protests as a response to an unresponsive and corrupt government.