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French Indian War
This was when the French Indian War began. The close proximities of France and England's colonies made war only a matter of time. France controlled the St. Lawrence River Valley and land near the Mississippi river that the English wanted. The Amer-Indians sided with the French because they were more likely to trade with them. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris ended the French and Indian War. This resulted in the English getting a huge amount of land between the Appalachian Mountains and the Mississppi River. Although King George did not allow the colonists to settle the land, which would lead to problems. -
Sugar Act
This was when England decides that the colonists need to start paying a tax of 3 pence on every gallon of sugar. This put the colonists in a poor economic position and they began to suffer. Yankee Distillers began a boycott of imported goods that spread all around New England. -
Royal Proclamation
At this time a royal decree was issued to the colonists that said they couldnt settle over an imaginary line on the Appalachian mountains. This angered the colonists because they would obviously want to expand there growing colonies. -
Stamp Act
AFter military protection costs for the colonies soared, Great Britain was looking for a way of getting there money back, THey decided to pass the Stamp Act, which would put a cost on every single piece of paper the colonists used. This was not we recieved in the colonies -
The Stamp Act Congress
This is when the colonies met with 27 representatives to create discuss the stamp act. They believed it went against there rights and was unfair. They sent there thoughts to Parliment and they were quickly rejected. The article was made by John Dickinson. -
The Townshend Acts
The Townshend acts were a group of laws that were named after Charles Townshend. They put taxes on paper, lead, glass, paints, and tea. The colonists were completley against these taxes and responded violently. Some people began to smuggle more and more goods into the colonies that were tax free. -
Boston Massacre
A mob of angry colonists began taunting british soldiers and possibly throwing snowballs at them. The redcoats fired into the crowd and killed 5 colonists. this took place in front of the Customs House. Colonial leaders used this event as propaganda. -
Boston Tea Party
When the tea acts were passed all colonists had to pay a tax on all the tea they purchesed. Many colonists were extremely angry with this new tax and began to boycott all tea purcheses and drink other beverages. A huge shipment of tea had just come into Boston Harbor but the colonists refused to unload the ship. The captain would not sail back to England with it ethier. Because of this a group of colonists dressed as Native Americans and threw hundreds of chests of tea off the ship. -
1st continental congress
The intolerable acts finally got so terrible that the colonies decided to come together as a whole and figure out what to do. This was the first meeting of the continetal congress and 12 of the 13 colonies had a total of 56 representatives. They came together to decide on how to stop these British laws from continuing in the colonies. -
Patrick Henry "Give Me Liberty"
The House of Burgesses was having a disscussion on weather they should mobilize there troops in Pennsylvenia. Henry got up and gave a speech that supported the idea and ended with the now well known saying, "Give me liberty, or give me death!" The other membere apparently got up and started shouting "To Arms, To Arms" in approval. -
Midnight Ride Of Paul Revere
"One if by land, two if by sea." Thats how the midnight riders would know how the British were traveling to Lexington and Concord. Prescott, Dawes, and Revere rode to worn the colonists to get ready for the attack. Two of them were stopped, but one got through and the word spread and the British were reppelled. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The British marched to Lexington through the night to try and capture a colonial weapon cache. The Midnight Riders alerted the colonists and they were somewhat ready to fight. As the colonists retreated a shot was fired and its still disputed to this day which side fired it. The Redcoats moved on to Concord and soon retreated. The colonists followed them back to Boston and killed many Redcoats. -
2nd Continental Congress
The second Continental Congress met in Philidelphia. They would continue to meet and would be the group that approved the Declaration of Independencel. -
Fort Ticonderoga
A small group of colonists called the Green Mountain Boys attacked the fort which had a garrison of 48 British troops. The colonists won a great victory due to the amount of cannons the fort had. These would become useful in later battles of the Revolution. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
When the colnists were surrounding Boston to lay siege they moved to Bunker Hill. British forces knew that they couldn't allow this so they went to attack. The colonists dug in at the top of the hill and waited to fire until the British were very close. The colonists repelled the British three more times until they had to retreat. The british won the battle but lost twice the men then the colonists. The famous quote, "Dont fire 'till you see the whites of there eyes! " came from this battle. -
Common Sense is published
Thomas Paine wrote a phamphlet that disagreed with King George and promoted colonists to support the Revolution. Paine wrote it in simple language so many people could understand what he was saying. It was the best selling piece of writing during the Revolution and was thought to have sold 500,000 copies. -
British Evacuate Boston
Henery Knox and his men brought the cannons from Fort Ticonderoga with sleds 300 miles to Dorchester Heights, near Boston. The British saw these cannons pointed down at them and tried to fire a counter artillary attack. It was unsuccsesful simply because the cannons weren't in range. The British quickly packed up and fled to Nova Scotia. -
Declaration of Independence Signed
After a series of victory, the Colonies decided to formally declare there independence from Britain. The 2nd Continental Congress decided to create the Declaration of Independece and signed it on the 4th, which is now celebrated as a national holiday. -
The Crisis
Thomas paine wrote Common Sense at the beginnning of the year and it had a huge influence on colonists. He wrote The
Crisis when the colonists were down and out after a series of defeats in the summer and fall. This was a huge moral boost to the colonists and gave them much ho0pe -
Washington Takes Trenton
On the night of Christmas Day, Washington decided to sneak attack the Hessians. his thinking was that the Hessians would be slleping off there festivites and would be less aware. He and his troops stealthily crossed the Delware and captured nearly 1000 Hessians. It was a huge victory for the colonists and boosted morale. -
Battle of Saratoga
The colonists beat The Redcoats In this battle at Saratoga. Brityish General John Burgyone tried to hold out against the colonists thinking that reinforcments were coming to supply them. They never ended up coming. This was the final push that had France join the war. -
The Winter of Valley Forge
The colonists had to camp out at Valley Forge during the Winter and troop's morale was at a serious low. They suffered a series of defeats just before the winter. On top of that the army was going to lose many thousands of enlisted soldiers. During this period the colonists were being trained by Baron Von Struben in classical Europeon Warfare. -
John Paul Jones Defeats the Seripis
John Paul Jones and his ship, the Bonhomme Richard beat a more powerful and better armed British ship in a naval battle. This was a huge victory for the colonists because it showed that the British navy was not invincible. Jones was knighted by France, but was known as a pirate to England. -
Benedict Arnold's Found as Traitor
Benedict Arnold was found to be the biggest traitor in the colonies history. He had plans to turn over West Point military base to the British for a large sum of money. his plans were found when a British general was captured. He fled and moved to England. -
Battle of Yorktown
The battle of Yorktown was the last major battle between the colonists and England. 5500 colonists and French soldiers marched to Virginia. The British General, Cornwallis, was currently positioned on a penninsula waiting for more supplies. The French navy blockaded the exit route for Cornwallis and Washington cut off every other angle. Cornwallis was surrounded and would end up surrendering.
