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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a war between France and Great Britain for territory of America. Native Americans fought with the French against the British, since the French promised to leave the Natives alone and not take over their territory. This war went on for seven years. At the end of the war, the British were the ones who won it. France had to write a treaty where the British took over Canada. -
Proclamation of 1763
The British encountered many problems after the French and Indian War. To keep the colonists and Native Americans from killing each other George the Third drew a line down the crest of the Appalachian Mountains. The settlers were told to stay east of the line and Indians to stay west of it. -
Stamp Act of 1765
The Stamp Act was a newly passed law where all their paper used had to have a stamp on it. This would help Great Britain to pay for all the damage that the war caused. The colonists were not only mad about higher taxes, but they also could not pick what the taxes would be on. This was so because Great Britain did not allow for them to have any representation in Parliament. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a brawl between soldiers and colonists in Boston. Five Bostonians were dead and ten were injured. Patriots called the incident the "Boston Massacre". The Bostonians made fun of their red uniforms by calling them "lobster backs". It all started on a snowy night in March; a mob began throwing rocks and ice balls at troops guarding a Boston Customs House. As the mob pressed forward a guard was knocked over and the troops open fired. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an act by PATRIOTS. In 1773, there was a new law called the Tea Act, which led to many new protests. One of these incidents is known as the Boston Tea Party. Tea was becoming expensive, so Britain could pay for tea with less debt. On December 16, 1773, a British ship sailed into American ports. That night, the Sons of Liberty decided to dress up as Mohawk Indians and boarded on the three ships. They dumped 90,000 pounds of tea into the Harbor that night. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was a new set of laws passed by Lord North. The first law was to close the Boston Harbor to all shipping until they paid for the ruined tea. The second law was that Massachusetts was firmly under British control, and they could not do anything without British consent. The third law said that soldiers accused of murdered were tried in Britain. Colonists were outraged, and Patriots did not pay one penny back for the tea. -
First Continental Congress
In September, around 50 leaders from 12 colonies met in Philadelphia. In spite of their differences, the delegates decided to send a message to King George. The message asked the king to consider their complaints and recognize their rights. This meeting encouraged colonists to boycott against British goods, until eventually they repealed the Intolerable Acts. -
Revolutionary War (1)
The Revolutionary War began in 1775. Both the British and the Americans had advantages and disadvantages. Americans had a home field advantage, but they were greatly outnumbered. British troops were very well trained, especially compared to the Americans, but Lord George Germain was a very poor leader. Patriots and LOYALISTS despised each other’s ideas, and Americans had little hope of pulling out a victory. -
Revolutionary War (2)
Washington's Army went in many battles; some were loses and some were victories. In all but one battle, Washington lost many men. His army was never above 20,000 men. They all knew that they needed strategy to ever come close to winning the war. Washington came up with great strategic attacks that could limit the amount of men lost. After many battles, America finally won the war. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia. John Adams proposed that congress create a CONTINENTAL ARMY made of troops from all colonies. To lead this army, Adams nominated GEORGE WASHINGTON. They unanimously elected Washington to be commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army. -
Declaration of Independence (1)
The Declaration of Independence was the document that THOMAS JEFFERSON and many other men wrote to declare their freedom from Great Britain. All these men knew that it was time to declare their independence because there were so many riots in the states against Britain. THOMAS PAINE wrote a book called COMMON SENSE to help get all of the Loyalists onto the Patriots side. Many Loyalists changed into Patriots after reading this book. -
Declaration of Independence (2)
Many people now knew the reason why they needed to depart from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence was written based on the rights of the Americans. KING GEORGE THE THIRD was very unfair to the rights of Americans, and the Declaration gave them their rights that were taken away. Congress tried to make peace with the British through the OLIVE BRANCH PETITION, but they declined this petition. JOHN LOCKE proposed ideas of enlightment to be added to the Declaration of Independence. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles created "a firm league of friendship" in which each state retains it sovereignty, freedom, and independence. This "league of friendship" was a loose union in which the 13 states worked together for a common purpose. It was run by Congress, in which each state had one vote. Under the Articles of Confederation, the states held most of the power. The national government could not collect taxes or settle disputes between states. -
Treaty of Paris
In 1783, the United States and Britain signed a peace treaty in Paris. This treaty's three important parts include that Great Britain would recognize the United States as an independent nation, Britain gave up its claims to all lands between the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi River, from Canada south to Florida, and that the United States agreed to return all rights and property taken from Loyalists during the war. -
Shays's Rebellion
First, Shays and his followers closed down courthouses to keep judges from taking their farms. Then they marched on the national arsenal at Springfield to seize the weapons stored there. Massachusetts ended Shays's rebellion by sending militia troops to Springfield to restore order. -
Constitutional Convention (2)
This compromise stated that slaves would count as three-fifths of a person when it comes to representation. The people in the constituional convention had to also think of how the government would vote for a leader. They suggested the idea of the ELECTORAL COLLEGE. States would vote for people in the Electoral College, and then they would vote for the President. Based on these ideas, they started to draft the Constitution. -
Constitutional Convention (1)
Each state was invited to send delegates to Philadelphia for the sole purpose of revising the Articles of Confederation. Fifty-five delegates from 12 states attended the convention. Here ideas were introduced for the writing of the Constitution, like the GREAT COMPROMISE, which proposed that there would be two houses of Congress; one house represents the people and the other represents the states. Another idea proposde was the THREE-FIFTHS COMPROMISE. -
Northwest Ordinance
This law divided the Northwest Territory into smaller territories, each governed by a territorial governor. As soon as a territory had 5,000 free adult males, it could elect its own legislature, or lawmaking body. When the population reached 60,000, a territory could apply to Congress to become a state. The Northwest Ordiance included a list of rights that gave settlers the same privileges as other citizens, except one. Slavery was banned in the Northwest Territory. -
Constitution
The Constitution was, and still is, the foundation of our country. It starts with a PREAMBLE. This preamble explains the reasons for the new government. JAMES MADISON came up with most of the ideas in the Constitution, and he is known as the Father of the Constitution. ALEXANDER HAMILTON and James Madison wrote the FEDERALISTS PAPERS. These papers explained the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. Opponents of the Constitution were known as ANTI-FEDERALISTS. -
Constitution
They found much to dislike about the new plan. At first, many people were against signing the Constitution, but after time, everyone realized that it was essential for the country's future. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights was added later to the Constitution for the rights of the people. They were afraid that twithout the MAGNA CARTA, the new President was going to be too powerful. The Bill of Rights gave ten amendments so that would not happen. RATIFICATION was needed to accept the Bill of Rights, and all states accepted the Bill of Rights on September 25, 1789.
