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French and Indian War
British Colonists wanted to take over French land in North America. The British wanted to take over the fur trade in the French held territory. British soldiers fought against French soldiers and Native Americans. Native Americans joined in the battle against the British because they were afraid the British would take over their land. -
French and Indian War Ends
In the peace treaty of 1763 the British got most of the French land in North America. Also as a result of the war, the British began taxing the colonists to pay for the war. War lasted 7 years. -
Stamp Act
The Sugar and Stamp Acts put taxes on many different things like imported goods, marriage licenses, playing cards, newspapers, sugar, stamps, and other things. Next, many Americans could not afford to pay these taxes and started getting angry. Four months later, British government got rid of the taxes except tax on tea. -
Boston Massacre
One group of colonists were so angry for the way they were being treated, so they threw rocks at a group of British officials. The officials open fired on the group of colonists, killing five of them and wounding seven. As soon as the other colonists heard about this massacre, they began to hate the British even more. (A massacre is when a large amount of people are killed by another group of people -
Tea Act
The Tea Act gave a monopoly on tea and lowered the price on this East India tea so much that it was way below tea from other suppliers. But the American colonists saw this law as yet another means of "taxation without representation" because it meant that they couldn't buy tea from anyone else (including other colonial merchants) without spending a lot more money. Their response was to refuse to unload the tea from the ships. This was the situation in Boston that led to the Boston Tea Party -
Boston Tea Party
The colonists were furious at the British because they were forcing the colonists to buy tea from them, which put local merchants out of business. One day, 50 members of the Sons of Liberty dressed up as Native Americans and invaded British ships in the Boston harbor. To get revenge on the British, they dumped over 300 crates of British tea into the ocean! -
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were five British laws that the colonists strongly objected. They were passed in early 1774. Four of these laws were intended to punish the people of Massachusetts, for destroying the tea that they threw into Boston Harbor in December, 1773, and strengthen British authority in Massachusetts. -
Battle of Concord and Lexington
This was the first official battle of the Revolutionary War. When Paul Revere discovered that the British army was planning to march into Lexington to arrest the colonists, he galloped through Massachusetts warning everyone in his path. When the redcoats arrived, they were met by 70 colonial soldiers. The first shot that was fired in this battle is known as "the shot heard 'round the world." -
Declaration of Independence
The colonists wanted to have their own country. They didn't want to be a part of Great Britain anymore because the British had treated them so badly. They decided to write a Declaration of Independence. This marked the point when the colonists became Americans.
