American Revolution

  • French-indian War (1756-1763)

    French-indian War (1756-1763)

    The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire
  • Navigation Acts (1763)

    Navigation Acts (1763)

    The rise of the Dutch carrying trade, which threatened to drive English shipping from the seas
  • Stamp Act (1765)

    Stamp Act (1765)

    To help replenish their finances after the costly Seven Years' War with France
  • Quartering Act (1765)

    Quartering Act (1765)

    British government left soldiers behind to protect the colonists from the Native Americans or French settlers in Florida
  • Townshend Act (1767)

    Townshend Act (1767)

    designed to raise revenue for the British Empire by taxing its North American colonies
  • Boston Massacre (1770)

    Boston Massacre (1770)

    The incident was the climax of growing unrest in Boston, fueled by colonists
  • Boston Tea Party (1773)

    Boston Tea Party (1773)

    The American consumption of smuggled tea hurt the finances of the East India Company
  • Intolerable Acts (1774)

    Intolerable Acts (1774)

    punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government
  • Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775)

    Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775)

    rebellion by seizing weapons from the colonists
  • Olive Branch Petition (1775)

    Olive Branch Petition (1775)

    to appease King George III and prevent the conflict between the colonies and the British government
  • Second Continental Congress(1775)

    Second Continental Congress(1775)

    After violence broke out between Britain and its American colonies in 1775
  • Common Sense (1776)

    Common Sense (1776)

    Paine argued that the colonists' cause should be not just a revolt against taxation but a demand for independence. He put this idea into Common Sense
  • Declaration of Independence (1776)

    Declaration of Independence (1776)

    Its goals were to rally the troops, win foreign allies, and to announce the creation of a new country
  • Articles of Confederation (1777)

    Articles of Confederation (1777)

    The Articles made it hard to maintain a strong army
  • Daniel Shays’ Rebellion (1786)

    Daniel Shays’ Rebellion (1786)

    The farmers who fought in the Revolutionary War had received little compensation
  • Constitutional Convention (1787)

    Constitutional Convention (1787)

    Stimulated by severe economic troubles, which produced radical political movements such as Shays' Rebellion