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The Enlightenment (aka the Age of Reason), was a philosophical movement in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. At its core was a belief in the use and celebration of reason, the power by which humans understand the universe and improve their own condition. The goals of rational humanity were considered to be knowledge, freedom, and happiness.
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The French and Indian War was a North American conflict between Great Britain and France(known as the Seven Years' War), with both sides supported by various Native American tribes. The French and Indian War began over the specific issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire. The Great Britain won the French and Indian War.
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On March 22, 1765, the British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War. King George III, An Act for granting and applying certain stamp duties, 1765. Further, those accused of violating the Stamp Act could be prosecuted in Vice-Admiralty Courts, which had no juries and could be held anywhere in the British Empire.
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The first major action of the Sons of Liberty was carried out in Boston on August 14, 1765, in response to the Stamp Act. Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty gathered under the “Liberty Tree” where effigies of Andrew Oliver, and related offenders of the people’s liberties hung. The Sons of Liberty next took their anger over the Stamp Act to the brother-in-law of Andrew Oliver, Thomas Hutchinson, the Lieutenant Governor and Chief Justice of Massachusetts.
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Townshend Acts, in colonial U.S. history, series of four acts passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to assert what it considered to be its historic right to exert authority over the colonies through suspension of a recalcitrant representative assembly and through strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties. The British American colonists named the acts after Charles Townshend, who sponsored them.
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During a cold-snowy night, a mob of American colonists gathers at the Customs House in Boston and starts taunting the British soldiers that're guarding the building. The protesters, who calls themselves Patriots, were protesting the occupation of their city by British troops. The Boston Massacre resulted in the deaths of five civilians, Crispus Attucks, Samuel Gray, James Caldwell, Samuel Maverick, and Patrick Carr. -
There was an incident in which 342 chests of tea (that belongs to the British East India Company) were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Americans were protesting both a tax on tea, without representation, and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company. In such cities as New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston, tea agents resigned or canceled orders, and merchants refused consignments.
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The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates of twelve of the Thirteen Colonies (Georgia did not attend) held from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia at the beginning of the American Revolution. The meeting was organized by the delegates after the British Navy implemented a blockade of Boston Harbor and the Parliament of Great Britain passed the punitive Intolerable Acts in response to the Boston Tea Party.
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, were the first major military actions between the British Army and Patriot militias from British America's Thirteen Colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Based off of orders from London, the General Thomas Gage had ordered his troops take on the store colonists in Concord. The British did end up claiming victory, though.
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The Second Continental Congress was the meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and Revolutionary War. The Second Continental Congress succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, also in Philadelphia. It followed the First Continental Congress and served as the provisional government until March 1, 1781.
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Battle of Bunker Hill, first major battle of the American Revolution, fought in Charlestown (now part of Boston) during the Siege of Boston. The British did end up winning the battle, but it was a Pyrrhic victory that led good encouragement to the revolutionary cause. But with the Siege of Boston, two months after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, more than 15,000 troops from Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island had won in the vicinity of Boston.
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After many years of disagreements and new laws, tensions were crashing over in some of the colonies. The Battle of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, kicked off the fighting between Great Britain and the American colonies. On June 16th, 1775, the colonial and British armies both fought to take Bunker Hill in Boston. -
In the American Revolution, a series of engagements won by the Continental Army against Hessian and British forces in New Jersey. The battles occurred over a span of nine days, and are notable as the first victorious win by the Revolutionary general George Washington in the open field. The victories restored American morale and renewed confidence in Washington.
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The Battle of Camden, which is also called the Battle of Camden Court House, was a major victory for the British in the Southern theater of the American Revolutionary War. On August 16, 1780, British forces under Lieutenant General Charles, Lord Cornwallis routed the numerically superior American forces led by Major General Horatio Gates about four miles north of Camden, South Carolina, thus strengthening the British hold on the Carolinas following the capture of Charleston.
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The House passed a joint resolution containing 17 amendments based on Madison’s proposal. The Senate changed the joint resolution to consist of 12 amendments. A joint House and Senate Conference Committee settled remaining disagreements in September. On October 2, 1789, President Washington sent copies of the 12 amendments adopted by Congress to the states. By December 15, 1791, three-fourths of the states had ratified 10 of these, now known as the “Bill of Rights.”