-
Albany Congress
Excepting war to break out soon, the British government called a meeting of all colonial leaders.The British wanted the colonies to agree to cooperate in defending themselves against the French.The British also invited the Iroquois tribes to the meeting.They hoped to form an alliance with the Iroquois against the French. -
Period: to
French and Indian War
French and Indians vs. British and colonist and Iroquois.They are fighting over the Ohio River Valley.British win French and Indian War.French lost all of their land. -
Treaty of Paris
Britain and France signed the Treaty of Paris.France lost almost all of North American possessions.France ceded,or surrendered.Great Britain also gained all other French territory east of Mississippi,with the exception of New Orleans. -
The Quartering act
One year later,parliament passed the Quartering Act.The purpose of the Quartering Act was to save money. To enforce the Proclamation of 1763,Britain kept about 10,000 soldiers in the colonies. The act required colonists to quarter,or house, British troops and provide them with food and other supplies. The colonists protested angrily. Once again, the colonists complained the parliament was violating their rights. -
Period: to
Pontiac's War
Pontiac formed an alliance of western Native American's.In May 1763,Pontiac and his allies attacked British forts and settlements throughout the area.Nearly half a dozen western British forts were destroyed and at least 2,000 back country settlers were killed -
Proclamation of 1763
Britain wanted to avoid further wars with Native Americans on the frontier.Therefore, the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763.It banned colonial settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Moutain -
Sugar act
The British effort to impose new taxes on the colonies began in 1764 when Parliament passed the sugar act, which put a duty or import tax on several products,including molasses.It also called for harsh punishment of smugglers.Colonial merchants,who sometimes traded in smuggled goods,protested. -
Stamp Act
An even more unpopular law was the Stamp Act, passed by Parliament in early 1765. Stamp Act required that all colonists buy special tax stamps forall kinds of products and activities. The stamps had to be placed on newspapers, wills, licenses, insurance policies, land titles, contracts, and other documents. -
Boston Massacre
Once again, the protests worked. The boycott hurt British merchants and manufacturers, who put pressure on Parliament. On March 5, 1770, Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except the one on tea. That tax was left in force to demonstrate Parliament's right to tax the colonies. -
The Tea Act
The British Parliament passed the Tea Act. It was invented to help the British East India Company,one of Britain's most important companies. For many years,the company had made money growing tea in India and selling it in Britain and in colonies. -
Boston tea party
A group of colonists called Sons of Liberty soon organized in port cities to stop the East India company tea from being unloaded. They threatened ship captains who were bringing in the tea and colonial tea merchants who said they would buy it. No tea was unloaded in New York' Philadelphia, or other ports. -
Intolerable acts
Parliament passed four laws. These laws were so harsh that colonists called them the Intolerable Acts.The first act closed the Boston port.Two other ,abolished the upper house of the Massachusetts legislative, and cut powers of town meetings.Finally, the fourth law strengthened the 1765 Quartering Act. -
First Continental Congress
It chose,instead,to use force to restore its authority.meanwhile,the colonists began to arm and form new militia units called minutemen citizen soldiers who could be ready to fight at a minutes notice.In April,General Thomas Gage,the new governor of Massachusetts, learned the minutemen were storing arms in concord,about 20 miles from Boston. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Five miles from concord in the town of Lexington, about 77 minutemen were waiting when the British arrived.The British commander ordered the minutemen to go home. They refused. Suddenly, a shot rang out. Nobody knows who fired it, but it turned out to be the first shot of the american revolution. -
Battle for Fort Ticonderoga
A daring band of colonists made a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga.The fort stood at southern end of lake Champlain and protected the water route to Canada. Leading the force was Ethan Allen, a blacksmith. most of his followers came from the nearby Green Mountains of today's Vermont. -
The Second Continental Congress
As crisis with Britain deepened, the Second Continental Congress came together with Philadelphia in May 1775.The delegates included Thomas Jefferson' a young lawyer from Virginia ; Boston merchant John Hancock; and Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia. -
Olive Branch Petition
The first resolution was the Olive Branch Petition and was sent to King George. The petition stated that the colonists were loyal to the king. It asked George to stop fighting so all disputes between the colonists and Britain could be solved peacefully. The petition got its name from the olive branch, symbol of peace since ancient times. -
Battles of Bunker Hill
The Americans surrounding Boston were farmers and workers, not trained soldiers. Nobody knew if they would stand and fight against tough British troops. British general William Howe decided to attack straight up Breed's Hill. The American commander, Israel Putnam, knew his soldiers did not have much ammunition. -
Invasion of Quebec
While Washington was training one army outside Boston, two other american armies were moving north into Canada. One, led by Richard Montgomery,left from fort Ticonderoga.The other, led by Benedict Arnold, moved North through Maine. -
The British withdrawal from Boston
Washington knew he had to build a regular army. Washington also needed powerful weapons to drive the British from Boston. He had the British cannons, which had been seized at Fort Ticonderoga, dragged on sleds across mountains and forests to Boston. That difficult 300-mile journey three months.In march, Washington placed the cannons on high ground overlooking Boston.