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French and Indian War
Also known as the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War was fought in North America as a result of a conflict between France and Great Britain. Both sides wanted colonial dominance in North America. As a result of the war, Great Britain gained power over the colonies, but Britain was so far into war debt that the government almost collapsed. -
Proclamation of 1763
This British document, created after the end of the French and Indian War, stopped the colonial expansion west of the Mississippi River. Dampining the spirits of the colonists, the Proclamation of 1763 was meant to calm the fears of the Indians who thought the westward expansion of the colonists would drive them out of their homes. Eventually, as we already know, we pushed the Indians out of their homes and expanded the United States all they way to the Pacific Ocean. -
Sugar Act
The "new" Sugar Act was a modified version of the previous Sugar/Molasses Act of 1733. It decreased the tax on molasses by 50%, but now foreign goods, such as sugar, wine, and coffee, had an increase in tax. The Sugar Act destroyed part of the colonial economy because the markets for which British goods were sold in was limited. Eventually, the act was repealed in 1766. -
Currency Act
The Currency Act of 1764 allowed the British government to assume control of the colonial currency system. The colonies could no longer issue any new bills and all current currency must be reissued. It also banned the use of paper money in all colonies. Creating a trade deficit with Great Britian, the colonies argued that by imposing this act on them would only make the situation worse. Finally stopped in 1773, the Currency Act was never officially repealed. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was a new tax imposed on the colonists, forcing them to pay a tax on all printed paper that they used including: ship's paper, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, books, playing cards, and other publications. The colonists were angry at England because they were taxing the colonies without any consent of the legislatures in America, so thus "Taxation without Representation" was born. Eventually, the act was repealed in 1766, fueling the revolutionary movement against Britain. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act forced colonists to allow Brititsh soldiers to stay in their homes or barracks. They had to accomadate the soldiers if where they were staying was too small by taking them to an inn or local hotel. If all of the houses were already filled with the king's soldiers, the colonists had to build barns or cottages that they could stay in to accomadate them. Because it was unfair to the colonists, the act was repealed in 1767. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures imposed on the colonists that created new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported into the colonies. The acts were thought up by Charles Towshend who thought these taxes would decrease some of the war debt they owed to other countries. When they saw the colonists were still resisting to pay the taxes, all the acts were repealed in 1770, except for the tax on tea. -
Boston Massacre
On the morning of March 5, 1770, a group of men started to throw rocks and snow balls at a group of soldiers, daring them to fire their guns. In retalliation, the soldiers open-fired at the crowd of men, killing 5 people, including the leader, Crispus Attucks, and wounding 6 others. Although it appears as though the soldiers were the bad guys, they did not start the fight, nor were they looking for trouble. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act was imposed on the colonists in an attempt to increase the business of the East India Trading Company who had 18 million pounds of unsold tea. The colonists did not care if no new taxes were imposed on them, but they were tired of Great Britian treating them poorly and they had finally had enough. As a result, they refused to buy the tea and sometimes they went to extreme measures and never let the tea reach the shores of the colonies. It was repealed in 1778. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an attempt at protesting against the Tea Act, which Britain had imposed on them earlier that year. In the early hours of December 16, a group of Massachusetts Patriots dressed like Indians, raided three East India Trading Company ships and seized 342 chests of tea and threw them into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts/Coercive Acts
The Intolerable Acts, also known as the Coercive Acts, were laws created to punish the colonists for their acts on the tea ships involved in the Boston Tea Party. The laws put on the colonists included: town meetings were controlled by a British official, only British ships could enter and leave the Boston harbor, the Massachusetts Assembly was now controlled by the British Government, and no more self-government in Boston. This was the last straw for the colonies. -
1st Continental Congress
In response to the Intolerable Acts of the British Government, the first session of the Continental Congress met in Philidelphia, which included 56 delegates from 12 colonies (everyone had a representative except Georgia). They drafted a declaration of rights and grievences, while electing Peyton Randolph as the first president of Congress. They also established another date to meet if the petition they created was unsuccessful (which it was). -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
This was the first battle in the American Revolution, where the Americans were fighting for their independence from the reigns of Great Britain. On the night of April 18, hundreds of British troops marched to Concord. This was where Paul Revere made his famous ride and warned the people that the British were coming. The Redcoats were intercepted in Lexington where colonial militia men open-fired on the army of British soldiers and soon, the British were retreating under heavy American fire. -
2nd Continental Congress
Almost all of the same 56 delegates from the First Continental Congress were at the Second Continental Congress, and Georgia still did not send anyone to represent them at the second one. They met in what is now called Independence Hall. At this convention, the men decided they wanted to break away from British rule and needed to put the colonies in a state of defense if they had any chance of winning this war; so they created they American Continental Army with George Washington at its head. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
On June 17, early in the Revolutionary War, the British army defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. Despite their loss, this battle was a major confidence booster for the Americans because they inflicted major casualties on the British forces. The Americans had less casualties and they were able to prove that the soldiers do not have to be trained to fight against an elite army like the British. -
Publishing of Common Sense
Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775-1776, who hoped he could inspire people to declare and fight for American Independence from Great Britain. It explained the advatages to fighting for freedom in a way that everyone could understand. At first, it was anonymously published and became an immediate sensation among the soldiers, common people, and everyone else. It served as inspiration to all who read it, becoming the most wide-spread book in American History. -
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a document written by Congress declaring that the American colonies were now independent states, known as the United States of America, free from the rule of the British Empire. Thomas Jeffereson wrote the original draft and it was signed by the fifty-six men who attended the convention. It is now one, if not the most important document in our history, and those men risked treason to fight for what they believed in.
