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French-Indian War
War between France and England. After the war, England was in major debt, and started taxing the colonies. 1756-1763 -
Navigation Acts
Long series of English laws banning foreign trade with the colonies, promoting English trade. -
Stamp Act
Law by England put on the colonies taxing on various forms of papers, including documents and playing cards. -
Quartering Act
Law requiring the colonies to house and feed British soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies. -
Townshend Acts
Series of laws passed by Parliament in 1767, taxing all goods imported to the colonies. Named after Charles Townshend, who proposed the laws. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers shoot and kill several people and injure several more in a "patriot" mob of protestors. -
Boston Tea Party
Protest by the Sons of Liberty in the Boston Harbor where colonists dressed up as Indians board English ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)
Series of 4 laws passed by Parliament as a punishment for the Boston Tea Party. Laws include: closing the boston harbor, replacing the elective local government with an appointed one, allowing charged British officers to be tried again in England, and a new quartering act. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord ("Shot Heard Around the World")
First military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. -
Second Continental Congress
Meeting of the delegates from 12 of the 13 colonies establishing a continental army and electing George Washington as Commander-in-Chief. -
Olive Branch Petition
Petition to be sent to the King as a last attempt to prevent formal war from being declared. -
Common Sense
47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the 13 colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
Document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, and that announced the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. -
Articles of Confederation
Agreement among the 13 original states that served as its first constitution. -
Daniel Shay's Rebellion
Armed uprising in Western Massachusetts and Worcester in response to a debt crisis and increased efforts to collect taxes. 1786-1787 -
Constitutional Convention
Convention in Philadelphia to decide how America was going to be governed. May 14, 1787 - September 17, 1787