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Stamp Act
The British made taxes and required colonists to purchase special stamps to prove payment of tax. The colonists didn't like this idea to in which they boycotted British goods and prepared a Declaration of Independence and Grievances. -
Sons of Liberty
A political group made up of American patriots that had origintaed in the pre-independence. They are best known for undertaking the Boston Tea Party in 1773. -
Declatory Act
This act was passed the same day the Stamp Act was repealed.It asserted parliament's full right "to bind the colonists and people of America in all causes whatsoever." -
Townshend Act
Named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister. This act taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britian. Colonists protested "taxation without representation" -
Boston Massacre
British troops fired into a crowd of angry mobs and killed five colonists. The colonial agitators label the conflict a massacre and then they publish a dramatic engraving depicting the violence. -
Tea Act
The British gave the East India Company special concessions in the colonial tea business and shutted out colonial tea merchants. The colonists in Boston rebelled and dumped 18,000 pounds of East India Company tea into Boston harbor. -
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. There they had dumped tea into the waters of the Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
King George the third tightened control over Massachusetts by closing the Boston harbor and quatering troops. Colonial leaders form the First Continental Congress and draw up a declaration of colonial rights. -
1st Continential Congress
56 delegates met in Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They had defended the colonies right to run their own affairs and stated that if the British used force against the colonies, then the colonies should fight back. -
Lexington and Concord
General Gage had ordered troops to march to Concord, Massachusetts and seize all colonial weapons. Minutemen had intercepted the British and engaged in battle, first in Lenington then in Concord. -
2nd Continental Congress
Colonial leaders called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next move. The Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Common Sense
A pamphlet by Thomas Paine that had called for seperation of the colonies from Britain. Paine wrote this to attack King George and the monarchy. He argued that the responsibility for the British tyranny lay with "the royal brute of Britain" -
Declaration of Independence
A document written by Thomas Jefferson which the delegates of the Continental Congress declared the colonies' independence from Britain. It declared the ideas of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" -
Battle of NY
The British quickly attempted to seize New York City. The British had sailed into New York harbor with a force of about 32,000 soldiers. The untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated. -
Battle Trenton
This battle took place during the American Revolutionary War after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The Americans won the war because the Bristish surrendered. This victory was the first victory of the colonists. -
Battle of Saratoga
General Burgoyne attacked for the third time at the Battle of Saratoga. The Americans won and the British surrendered at this battle. This victory invites the French to come and fight for the colonists. -
Battle of Yorktown
The Americans surrounded the British and bombarded them all day and night, and the Americans won. The Americans become victorious and become independent. -
Treaty of Paris
The treaty that ended the Spanish-American War, to in which Spain freed Cuba, turned over the islands of Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States, and sold the Philippines to the United States for $20 million.
