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End of the French and Indian War
The conflict proved costly, and Britain ended the war in debt. British wanted to cut governmental costs to tap new sources of revenue to limit the cost of defending settlers against native attacks in North America [ Pontiac's rebellion of early 1763 convinced everyone of the need for British troops}, the British implemented the Proclamation of 1763 along the crest of the Appalachain Mountains. -
Proclamation of 1763
Temporarily banned beyond a line drawn roughly along the ridge of the Appalachains. It was the first effort to control arbitrarily the western movement of colonists,and it was soon extended and elaborated. -
Stamp Act of 1765
First direct tax ever placed by the British government on the American colonies. Required an official stamp on about 50 different types of documents, ranging from playing cards to newspaper and college diplomas. -
Quartering Act of 1765
Required each colony to support British troops with provisions and barracks. Troops could make use of inns and unused buildings for their quarters, at colonial expense. This act fell most heavily on New York, where the troops had their headquarters, but it applied to all the British Worth America colonies. -
Stamp Act Congress
The people acting out-of-doors, informally controlled the royal officials, the Stamp Act Congress, the people acting indoors, formally challenged the Stamp tax and Parliament's right to legislate for the colonies. Its members prepared a petition to the king for relief and another to Parliament urging the members to repeal the Stamp Act, but most importantly the congress approved a "Declaration of the Rights and Grievances of the Colonies". -
Boston Massacre
British authorities in Boston sent armed troops to the customhouse to disperse a group of colonists who were harassing customs officials. Shots were fired, and five Bostonaians were killed in the melee. -
Tea Act of 1773
Expressly designed to aid the debt-ridden East India Company, a leading importer of tea, which at that time had lots of unsold tea but no money. Promised to revers that situation by removing the normal English duties on all tea imported by the East India Company. -
Boston Tea Party
An outlandish act of vandalism that had of its base the colonial objection to taxation for purposes of revenue without the assent of the colonial assemblies. -
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts 1774
Allowed Massachusetts activists to portray themselves as victims of British tyranny, helped opponents of increased imperial control in other colonies to claim that Parliament was threatening the rights and liberties of all colonists, and made the calling of the first Continental Congress seem like the necessary next step. -
First Continental Congress
A total of fifty-five delegates from twelve colonies attended, with only Georgia unrepresented. The most important practical achievement of the Congress was to form a group called Continental Association tom impose a complete ban on the importation of British products unless Parliament repealed the Intolerable Acts by December 1. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 Americans colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column. -
Second Continental Congress
Its chief purpose was to recognize resistance capable of meeting the new military situation in New England. Remained America's national government until nearly the end of the Revolutionary War, although its personnel charged constantly. It was an extralegal body, never really authorized by anyone, but it assumed the attributes of a national government. It raised an army printed money, opened relations with foreign government and concluded treaties. -
New York Campaign (Battle of Long Island)
Having arrived in New York from Halifax at the end of June 1776 and established his base on Staten Island, the British commander in chief, major General William Howe spent much of the summer amassing an invasion force of twenty-four thousand ground troops, about one-third of them Hessian auxiliaries under Major General Leopold Philip von Hesiter, and building wooden landing craft him hinged, that bows that became ramps for amphibious operations. -
Battle of Princeton
Ended the British effort to occupy New Jersey outside of the strip near New York, where they could be supported and supplied by sea. It is significant primarily in the context of the greater campaign, and more for the political impact than the actual military damage inflicted. -
Battle of Saratoga
Turning point of the war, pitted British forces led by General John Burgoyne, against an American army commanded by General Horatio Gates. Burgoyne's army, moving south along the Hudson River, had stalled near Saratoga while waiting for reinforcements from the west and south. At the end of the tentative battle resulted in heavy losses fir the British, who retreated toward Saratoga. -
Southern Campaign (Battle of Cowpens)
Began with British concern over the course of the war in the North. Failure at Saratoga, fear of French intervention, and over-all failure to bring the rebels to heel persuaded British military strategists to turn their attention to the South. -
Articles of Confederation
Had the authority to conduct foreign relations, to declare war, and to borrow and to issue money. The state of legislatures could raise troops or levy taxes. Which hacked sufficient power to deal with many important issues. -
Battle of Yorktown
A combined French and American land force numbering about 15,000 trapped a British force of 8,000 under Lord Charles Cornwallis on a narrow peninsula between the York and James Rivers near the Virginia coast, while a sizable contingent of French naval forces blocked Cornwallis from effecting an escape by sea. -
Constitutional Convention
It was a spin-off from a 1785 conference at Mount Vernon, called to discuss navigation on the Potomac River, and a subsequent conference the following year in Annapolis, at which delegates realized that problems other than navigation and commerce need to be dealt with. -
Ratification of the Constitution
Plans for a convention to revise the Articles of Confederation were in an act a subterfuge, because the deegates in Philadelphia covered in May 1787 with no serious thought whatever of an attempt to keep that instrument in force.
