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Start of French and Indian War
The beginning of the French and Indian War. -
Albany Plan
Benjamin Franklin proposed the creation of an annual congress of delegates from each of the 13 colonies. That the body would have the power to raise military and naval forces, make war and peace with the Native Americans, regulate trade with them, tax, and collect customs duties. The colonists did not like the Albany Plan because it did not allow them sufficient independence. -
End of French and Indian War
This decided if Britain or France would be the power in North America. France + colonists + Indian allies against Britain. It began with conflicts about land. Also provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and to the American Revolution. It ended with the Treaty of Paris. Many colonists saw no need for soldiers to be stationed in the colonies, so that why they fought. -
Start of American Revolution
This is when the American Revolution started. -
Stamp Act
Taxed printed paper, including legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards. The colonists were mad because they thought the British Parliament shouldn't have the right to tax them. -
Boston Massacre
A deadly riot on King Street in Boston. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly came to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution. The Boston Massacre helped spark the colonists' desire for American Independence, because the British government had been trying to increase control over the colonies and raise taxes at the same time, so the colonists were already mad. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of men, disguised as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships in Boston Harbor. They broke open the chests and dumped the ship's cargo into the sea to protest British control of the tea trade. The colonists were mad because the tax on the tea continued and they believed any tax violated their rights as British citizens. -
"Intolerable Acts"
So named by the colonists, included closing the port of Boston until colonists paid for the tea dumped during the Boston Tea Party, restricting town meetings in Massachusetts, and allowed for British soldiers to be housed to in private homes. The colonists were mad because they felt it was a violation of their rights. Most colonists decided not to listen the rules. Many people even decided to boycott British goods, but a lot of them were afraid to stand up in front of British Parliament. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes. This was the reaction from the colonists, because they didn't like how the king enforced the stamp act towards them. -
Second Continental Congress
All the American colonies sent in a representative, and congress wrote and sent the Olive Branch petition to seek peace from Britain, but was rejected. This became America's first national government for five years, but didnt have a constitutional base. The colonists basically wanted to be free from the king of Britain. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column. A confrontation on the Lexington town green started off the fighting, and soon the British were hastily retreating under intense fire. This was the first battle of the American Revolution. -
Declaration of Independence
The first formal statement by a nation’s people having the right to choose their own government. In 1776, a five-man committee including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams and Benjamin Franklin was tasked with drafting a formal statement of the colonies’ intentions. The Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence, written largely by Jefferson, in Philadelphia on July 4. The colonists were thrilled when this was signed, freedom from Britain, their own government, their own/free rights. -
End of American Revolution
The American Revolution was a time when the British colonists in America rebelled against the rule of Great Britain. There were many battles fought and the colonies gained their freedom and became the independent country of the United States. The war lasted from 1775 until 1783. The cause of it was because the colonists were mad about the England Parliament taxing them. Then they protested, saying these taxes violated the rights as British citizens, they they started to resist by boycotting.
