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The Albany Congress
British government called a meeting with the Colonial leaders, They also asked the Iroquois tribes to this meeting. This meeting took place in Albany, New York. They called this meeting tell the Colonial leaders that they wanted the colonists to defend themselves from the French. They also asked for an alliance with the Iroquois because the British wanted someone to help the colonists fight and defend against the French. In the end the Iriquois didn't help them in the war. -
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French and Indian War
French/Indians vs British colonists/Iroquois. Both wanted control of the Ohio River Valley. The fighting was in North America. In the end of the war, the British won the war. The British took all French land but a small piece of land from the French area of North America. The British also got Spanish Florida because the Spanish helped the French, but the French lost and the French and Spanish had to give land. -
The Treaty of Paris
Britain and France were there to sign the treaty. They signed this treaty because France were losing the war and wanted the war to stop so the France surrendered and signed the treaty with the Britain. They signed this treaty in Paris, France. In signing the treaty France had to give up all but, a small piece of land. Spain also had to give up land because they were allied with France and most of the Native Americans. Also without France's help the Native Americans couldn't stop British forces -
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Pontiac's War
After the French lost the war with Britain, the leader of the Ottawa,Pontiac,nation formed an alliance with the western Native Americans. They attacked British forts and killed 2,000 back country settlers. Pontiac did all this because he didn't want the British to take their land, but the British did the same and killed people who weren't fighting with Pontiac.The British defeated Pontiac's forces in early august near Fort Pitt. Pontiac still fought for one more year, but was defeated in 1764. -
Proclamation of 1763
The British didn't want wars with Native Americans so they set up the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation banned colonial settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. The proclamation made many colonists angry, and they ignored the proclamation and that made the proclamation impossible to keep hold of. In the end the colonists still settled on the west side of the Appalachian Mountains. -
The Sugar Act
The British thought the colonists should pay their part of the debt and in this effort, they imposed new taxes on the colonies. Parliament put an import tax on several sugar products which includes molasses. And if you were to smuggle goods across the sea to the colonies you would get a severe punishment. -
Stamp Act
In early 1765, Parliament passed another act which required that all colonists to buy special tax stamps for all kinds of products and activities, but mostly paper products such as newspapers, wills, licenses, insurance policies, land titles, and other documents. This act got the most protests and they spread quickly through the colonies. Patrick Henry also protested making an emotional speech against the law as one of the younger members of the house of Burgesses. This starts boycotts. -
The Quartering Act
One year after Parliament passed the Sugar Act Parliament passed the Quartering Act. The purpose of the Quartering Act was for Britain to save money. Britain wanted also to enforce the Proclamation of 1763, Britain kept 10,000 soldiers in the colonies and forced the colonists to house and feed the soldiers. The colonists protested angrily about this act and, once again the colonists complained that the Parliament were violating there rights. -
The Boston Massacre
After the colonists protested against the Townshend act, Parliament repealed all Townshend duties except the one on tea to demonstrate Parliament's right on tax in the colonies. But Parliament had not acted in time and on March 5, 1770, in Boston an angry crowd of workers and sailors surrounded a small group of soldiers. They yelled at the soldiers and threw snowballs at them. The frightened soldiers fired into the crowd, killing 5 wounding 6. John Adams defended them in the law. -
Tea Act
The Parliament placed the tea act which was intended to help the British East India Company, one of Britain's most important companies. For many years, this company had made their money by growing tea in India and then selling it to Britain, but the colonial boycott of tea hurt the company. The tea act lowered the price of tea by allowing the company to ship tea directly to the colonies. Some colonists still got angry at the act and some colonial leaders argued that they still got payed taxes. -
Boston Tea Party
One group of colonists called the Sons of Liberty soon organized in port cities to stop the East India company from unloading the tea. They threatened ship captains and colonial merchants who said they'd buy it. No tea was unloaded in any port city, except one. In Boston, Governor Thomas Hutchinson made sure the tea was unloaded. On the night of December 16, 1773 a large crowd gathered in the harbor. A large group of men disguised as Indians boarded the ship dumping 342 cases of tea in the water -
The Intolerable Acts
The Boston Tea Party outraged the British government. King George III called for tough action to make examples of people of Boston and Massachusetts. In response to the Tea Party, Parliament passed 4 laws. The first act closed the Boston Port. Two others increased the powers of the royal governor and cut powers of town meetings. The final law strengthened the 1765 Quartering Act. All people in the colonies reacted by helping Boston with food and supplies. -
The First Continental Congress
The Continental Congress took place in Philadelphia. 12 of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Only Georgia did not send representatives. The Congress demanded that Britain repeal the Intolerable Acts. They also declared that the colonies had the right to tax and govern themselves. It also called for the training of militias to stand up to British troops if necessary. They also called for a new boycott of British goods. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
General Thomas Gage, the new governor of Massachusetts, learned the minutemen were storing arms in Concord. On April he sent 700 to seize the arms and capture some important colonial leaders. Paul Revere and William Dawes, rode through the night to warn the minutemen. In Lexington 77 minutemen were waiting for the British. The British ordered the men to go home and they didn't. A larger battle took place in Concord. 400 minutemen fought the British forcing them back to Boston. -
Battle for Fort Ticonderoga
The same day the second Continental Congress took place, an important battle took place in New York. A daring band of colonists made a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga. Leading this force was Ethan Allen, a blacksmith. His force of 82 men surprised the 42 British troops guarding the fort and the troops protecting the fort surrendered immediately. Fort Ticonderoga was important because it controlled the main root to Canada and it held valuable weapons such as cannons. -
The Second Continental Congress
As the crisis the British was deepened, the Second Continental Congress got together in Philadelphia. First the delegates were, at first, divided on what to do. Some delegates from New England wanted to declare our independence while most other colonies wanted a less drastic action. But they all agreed that they needed to prepare for the war and first they had to form an army. The Congress chose George Washington as the leader of the army. The Congress payed for the army by printing paper money. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The American commander, Israel Putnam, knew they didn't have much ammunition so the Americans waited until the British were around 150 feet away. The first and second attacks by the British failed, but the third succeeded only because the Americans ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. The British won the battle, but lost 1,000 men. George Washington took charge of the battle. He had the cannons from the fort dragged to Bunker hill on sleds and that journey took 3 months. -
Olive Branch Petition
The second Continental Congress made two resolutions and the first, called the Olive Branch Petition was sent to King George. The petition stated that the colonists were still loyal to the king and asked George to stop fighting. The effort to make peace failed. King George didn't even read the petition, but he said the colonists were "in open rebellion" and sent 20,000 troops to the colonies to stop and end this open rebellion once and for all. -
Invading Canada
One army, led by Richard Montgomery, left Fort Ticonderoga, the other army, led by Benedict Arnold, moved north through Maine. Both heading north toward Canada. Arnold had a terrible journey through Maine's woodlands. They were forced to boil candles, bark, and shoe leather for food. In late December The Americans attacked Quebec during a severe snowstorm. The attack was turned back, Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded. The armies left Quebec for Britain and the armies stationed there. -
British Withdraw from Boston
In March, George Washington brought the cannons on high ground over looking Boston. The British could no longer defend the city. The British withdrew from Boston by sea and never returned and the Americans reclaimed Boston as their own. Although the Americans won Boston, Washington knew the war was far from over. Washington knew that Britain still had more advantages, like Britain's enormous navy could still bring troops to the colonies.