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French and Indian War
War fought between Great Britain and its two enemies, the French and the Indians of North America. Most of the battles were in Canada. American colonists, including George Washington, fought with the British in this war, which lasted from 1754 to 1763. The British won the war and won the right to keep Canada and several other possessions in the New World. -
proclamation of 1763
In 1763, at ethe end of the French and Indian War, the British issued a proclamation,mainly intended to conciliate the Indians by checking the encroachment of settlers on their lands. In the centuries since the proclamation, it has become one of the cornerstones of Native American law in the United States and Canada -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act of 1764 was a British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764, that was designed to raise revenue from the American colonists in the 13 Colonies. -
Stamp Act
The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Acts were two British Laws, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain 1765 and 1774, that were designed to force local colonial governments to provide provisions and housing to British soldiers stationed in the 13 Colonies of America -
Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts of 1767 were a series of laws which set new import taxes on British goods including paint, paper, lead, glass and tea and used revenues to maintain British troops in America and to pay the salaries of some Royal officials who were appointed to work in the American colonies. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre began the evening of March 5, 1770 with a small argument between British Private Hugh White and a few colonists outside the Custom House in Boston on King Street. The argument began to escalate as more colonists gathered and began to harass and throw sticks and snowballs at Private White. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act of 1773 was a British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on May 10, 1773, that was designed to bail out the British East India Company and expand the company's monopoly on the tea trade to all British Colonies, selling excess tea at a reduced price. -
Boston Tea Party
In protest of the Tea Act, a band of colonists, led by Sam Adams, disguised as Indians, rowed out to the boat and dumped the tea chests into the harbor. Generally approved by colonists -
Coercive acts
The Coercive Acts, known in America as the Intolerable Acts, were passed by the British Parliament in 1774 as punishment for the destruction wrought during the Boston Tea Party, a violent reaction to the British tea tax of 1773. There was a series of events that led up to this moment. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress took place from September 5 through October 26, 1774. Delegates from each colony, except Georgia, met at Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They discussed the current situation with Britain including the Intolerable Acts, which the British Parliament had imposed on Boston as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. -
Second Continental Congress
On May 10, 1775, the members of the Second Continental Congress met at the State House in Philadelphia. There were several new delegates including: John Hancock from Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania. -
The shot Heard around the World
When the British arrived at Lexington Green, British Major John Pitcairn, ordered the British to put down their guns as the terribly outnumbered minutemen began to run for home. Then someone fired a shot. No one knows from which side. This shot is thought of as the first shot of the American Revolution. -
Common Sense
Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
Declaration Of Independence
Thomas Jefferson declaring the freedom of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. An example of the Declaration of Independence was the document adopted at the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776.