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French and Indian War
(1754–1763)As the French empire in North America expanded, it collided with the growing
British empire. During the late 17th and first half of the 18th centuries, France
and Great Britain had fought three inconclusive wars. Each war had begun in
Europe but spread to their overseas colonies. In 1754, after six relatively peaceful
years, the French–British conflict reignited. This conflict is known as the French
and Indian War. -
Writ of Assistance
In 1761,
the royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the use of the
writs of assistance, a general search warrant that allowed
British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building
they believed to be holding smuggled goods. Because
many merchants worked out of their residences, the writs
enabled British officials to enter and search colonial homes
whether there was evidence of smuggling or not. The merchants
of Boston were outraged -
Treaty of Paris
The war officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. -
TheProclamation of 1763
To avoid further costly conflicts with Native Americans, the British government
prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The
Proclamation of 1763 established a Proclamation Line along the
Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. However, the
colonists, eager to expand westward from the increasingly crowded Atlantic
seaboard, ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native
American lands. -
Sugar Acts & Colonists Responce
THE SUGAR ACT Great Britain had borrowed so much money during the war
that it nearly doubled its national debt. King George III, who had succeeded his
grandfather in 1760, hoped to lower that debt. To do so, in 1763 the king chose
a financial expert, George Grenville, to serve as prime minister.By the time Grenville took over, tensions between
Britain and one colony, Massachusetts, were on the rise.
During the French and Indian War, the British had cracked
down on colonial smuggling to ensure th -
Stamp Acts & Colonists Responce
In March 1765 Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This act
imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing
cards. A stamp would be placed on the items to prove that the tax had been
paid. It was the first tax that affected colonists directly because it was levied on
goods and services. Previous taxes had been indirect, involving duties on imports. -
Sons of Liberty is established/Samuel Adams
Led by men such as Samuel Adams, one of
the founders of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists again boycotted British goods.In May of 1765, the colonists united to defy the law. Boston shopkeepers, artisans,
and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to
protest the law. -
Declatory Act
But on the same day that it repealed the Stamp Act, Parliament passed the
Declaratory Act, which asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and
people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
Townshend Acts & Colonists Responce ( why they were repealed)
Then, in 1767, Parliament passed the
Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister.
The Townshend Acts taxed goods that were imported into the colony from
Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. The Acts also imposed a tax on tea, the
most popular drink in the colonies. Led by men such as Samuel Adams, one of
the founders of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists again boycotted British goods. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, a mob gathered in front
of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers standing guard
there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed
or mortally wounded. Colonial leaders quickly labeled the confrontation the
Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
In 1773, Lord North devised the Tea Act in
order to save the nearly bankrupt British East India Company. The act
granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that
colonial tea sellers had to pay. This action would have cut colonial merchants out
of the tea trade by enabling the East India Company to sell its tea directly to consumers
for less. North hoped the American colonists would simply buy the cheaper
tea; instead, they protested dramatically. -
Boston Tea Party
On the moonlit evening of December 16, 1773, a large group of Boston rebels
disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against
three British tea ships anchored in the harbor. In this incident, later known as the
Boston Tea Party, the “Indians” dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India
Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
An infuriated King George III pressed Parliament to
act. In 1774, Parliament responded by passing a series of measures that colonists
called the Intolerable Acts. One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the
Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private
homes and other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas
Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the
new governor of Massachusetts. To keep the peace, he plac -
First Continental Congress Meets
In response to Britain’s actions, the committees of correspondence assembled
the First Continental Congress. In September 1774, 56 delegates met in
Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the
colonies’ right to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British used force
against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
MinuteMen
Minutemen—civilian soldiers who
pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice—quietly
stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. General Thomas Gage soon learned about
these activities. In the spring of 1775, he ordered troops to march from Boston to
nearby Concord, Massachusetts, and to seize illegal weapons. -
Midnight Riders (revere,Dawes,Prescott)
Colonists in Boston were watching,
and on the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel
Prescott rode out to spread word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord.
The darkened countryside rang with church bells and gunshots—prearranged signals,
sent from town to town, that the British were coming. -
Battle of Lexington
The king’s troops, known as “redcoats” because of their uniforms, reached
Lexington, Massachusetts, five miles short of Concord, on the cold, windy dawn
of April 19. As they neared the town, they saw 70 minutemen drawn up in lines
on the village green. The British commander ordered the minutemen to lay down
their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out without laying down
their muskets. Then someone fired, and the British soldiers sent a volley of shots
into the departing militia. Ei -
Battle of Concord
The British marched on to Concord, where they found an empty arsenal.
After a brief skirmish with minutemen, the British soldiers lined up to march back
to Boston, but the march quickly became a slaughter. Between 3,000 and 4,000
minutemen had assembled by now, and they fired on the marching troops from
behind stone walls and trees. British soldiers fell by the dozen. Bloodied and
humiliated, the remaining British soldiers made their way back to Boston that
night. Colonists had become enemies of -
Second Continental Congress
In May of 1775, colonial leaders
called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next
move. The loyalties that divided colonists sparked endless debates at the Second
Continental Congress. Some delegates called for independence, while others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite such differences, the
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and
appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Continental Army
Despite such differences, the
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and
appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Cooped up in Boston, British general Thomas
Gage decided to strike at militiamen on Breed’s Hill, north of the city and near
Bunker Hill. On June 17, 1775, Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. The
colonists held their fire until the last minute and then began to mow down the
advancing redcoats before finally retreating. By the time the smoke cleared, the
colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties.
The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be -
Olive Branch Petition
Despite the growing crisis, many colonists were uncertain about the idea of independence.
Following the Olive Branch Petition, public opinion began to shift. -
John Locke's social contract
Locke maintained that people have natural
rights to life, liberty, and property. Furthermore, he contended, every society is
based on a social contract—an agreement in which the people consent to choose
and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights. If the government
violates that social contract by taking away or interfering with those
rights, people have the right to resist and even overthrow the government. -
Publicaion of Common Sense
In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titled Common Sense,
Paine attacked King George and the monarchy -
Decloration of Independence
By the early summer of 1776, the wavering
Continental Congress finally decided to urge each colony to form its own government.
On June 7, Virginia delegate Richard Henry Lee moved that “these
United Colonies are, and of a right ought to be, free and independent States.”
While talks on this fateful motion were under way, the Congress appointed a
committee to prepare a formal Declaration of Independence. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists—those who opposed independence
and remained loyal to the British king////Patriots—the supporters of independence— -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
As part of a plan to stop the rebellion by
isolating New England, the British quickly attempted to seize New York City. The
British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about
32,000 soldiers. They included thousands of
German mercenaries, or hired soldiers, known
as Hessians because many of them came from
the German region of Hesse. -
Washington’s Christmas night surprise attack
Desperate for an early victory, Washington risked everything on one bold
stroke set for Christmas night, 1776. In the face of a fierce storm, he led 2,400
men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River. They then
marched to their objective—Trenton, New Jersey—and defeated a garrison of
Hessians in a surprise attack. The British soon regrouped, however, and in
September of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia. -
Saratoga
As Burgoyne traveled through forested wilderness, militiamen
and soldiers from the Continental Army gathered from all over New York and
New England. While he was fighting off the colonial troops, Burgoyne didn’t
realize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding
Philadelphia and weren’t coming to meet him. American troops finally surrounded
Burgoyne at Saratoga -
French-American Alliance
where he surrendered on October 17, 1777.
The surrender at Saratoga turned out to be one of the most important
events of the war. Although the French had secretly aided the Patriots since
early 1776, the Saratoga victory bolstered France’s belief
that the Americans could win the war. As a result, the
French signed an alliance with the Americans in February
1778 and openly joined them in their fight -
Valley Forge
While this hopeful turn of events took place in Paris,
Washington and his Continental Army—desperately low on
food and supplies—fought to stay alive at winter camp in
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
In February 1778, in the midst of the frozen winter at Valley
Forge, American troops began an amazing transformation.
Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster,
helped to train the Continental Army. Other foreign
military leaders, such as the Marquis de Lafayette
(mär-kCP dE lBfQC-DtP), also arrived to offer their help.
Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779,
and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war.
With the help of such European mi -
British victories in the South
After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the
British began to shift their operations to the South. At the end of 1778, a British
expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia. In their greatest victory of the war, the
British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured
Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. Clinton then left for New York,
while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South.
In early 1781, despite several defeats, the colonists continued to battle
C -
British surrender at Yorktown
Shortly after learning of
Corwallis’s actions, the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south toward
Yorktown. Meanwhile, a French naval force defeated a British fleet and then
blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British sea
routes to the bay. By late September, about 17,000 French and American troops
surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding them
day and night. Less than a month later, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally
surrendere -
Treaty of Paris
Peace talks began in Paris in 1782. The American negotiating team included
John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. In September
1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence
and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now
stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to
the Florida border
