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Battle at Fort Necessity (French and Indian War also known as 7 year War)
Fort Neccessity The battle at Fort Necessity in the summer of 1754 was the opening action of the French and Indian War. This war was a clash of British, French and American Indian cultures. It ended with the removal of French power from North America. The stage was set for the American Revolution. The cost of this war started taxation to pay the debt it created. -
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Events Leading to Revolutionary War
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Proclamation of 1763
On October 7, 1763, King George III issued a royal proclamation that caused a furor amongst the colonists. This Proclamation of 1763 closed lands north and west of the Appalachian Mountains to settlement. The goal of the British was to put a stop to conflicts that had arisen between the Native Americans and the colonists due to the French and Indian War. However, many colonists had purchased land or had been given land grants in that area in exchange for their military service during the war. Se -
Sugar Act
1764 Act that put a three-cent tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and certain kinds of wine. It banned importation of rum and French wines. These taxes affected only a certain part of the population, but the affected merchants were very vocal. Besides, the taxes were enacted (or raised) without the consent of the colonists. This was one of the first instances in which colonists wanted a say in how much they were taxed. -
Stamp Act
First direct British tax on American colonists. Instituted in November, 1765. Every newspaper, pamphlet, and other public and legal document had to have a Stamp, or British seal, on it. The Stamp, of course, cost money. The colonists didn't think they should have to pay for something they had been doing for free for many years, and they responded in force, with demonstrations and even with a diplomatic body called the Stamp Act Congress, which delivered its answer to the Crown. Seeing the hostil -
Townshend Act
Series of 1767 laws named for Charles Townshend, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasurer). These laws placed new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Colonial reaction to these taxes was the same as to the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, and Britain eventually repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. In response to the sometimes violent protests by the American colonists, Great Britain sent more troops to the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
Boston Massacre Shooting of five American colonists by British troops on March 5, 1770. One person, an African-American man named Crispus Attacks, was killed. Nearly every part of the story is disputed by both sides. Did the colonists have weapons? The British say rocks and other such weapons were hurled at them. But the British had guns, and they did open fire. The Boston Massacre deepened American distrust of the British military presence in the col -
Boston Tea Party
Boston Tea Party
Angry and frustrated at a new tax on tea, American colonists calling themselves the Sons of Liberty and disguised as Mohawk Native Americans boarded three British ships (the Dartmouth, the Eleanor, and the Beaver) and dumped 342 whole crates of British tea into Boston harbor on December 16, 1773. Similar incidents occurred in Maryland, New York, and New Jersey in the next few months, and tea was eventually boycotted throughout the colonies. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress The First Continental Congress was a group of 56 delegates from 12 colonies (all except Georgia) who met in Philadelphia in September of 1774. They came together to act together in response to the Intolerable Acts. They met in secret because they didn't want Great Britain to know that they were united. -
Paul Revere and William Dawes Ride
Midnight RidePaul Revere and William Dawes rode through the countryside to warn the American colonists that the British were coming. They didn't actually make their destination because they wereaptured by British "Redcoats," but one of his companions, Dr. Samuel Prescott, got the message through. When the British arrived, the Americans were ready. -
Battles at Lexington and Concord