Liberty: Steps to the American Revolution: (All pictures are for educational purposes only: http://infotrac.galegroup.com/itweb/tlc119114577)
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The French and Indian War
George Washington was sent by the British to push back the French away from the borders. The French and Indian war started with a small battle at Fort Duquesne. In the beginning of the war, the French won most of the battles. But in 1758 the British started taking and burning all of the French Forts. Soon it was clear that the French had to surrender Montreal to the British in 1760. The Seven Year war had offically ended in 1763 with the Treaty of Paris. -
Treaty of Paris
French signed the Treaty and completely left the Americas. France was forced to give all territory east of the Mississippi River to Britian. France gave Spain their remaining land west of the Mississippi River, giving them New Orlean and Louisiana. In exchange for Florida the British traded Cuba and the Phillipines to Spain. France was completely gone from the Americas, leaving only two rivals: Britian and Spain -
Proclamation of 1763
When the British won the war and land from France, the Natives who lived on what used to be the French territory were angered. They attacked any colonists who tried to settle on their land. So the British wrote the Proclamation of 1763 banning colonist from settling west of the Appalachians, as it was unsafe. But many colonist went anyways, only to be attacked by the Natives. The colonist could PAY for protection, and this angered them. Britian needed money and charged the colonists. -
Sugar Act
The British Parilament signed the Sugar Act, placing a tax on sugar, molasses, and other sugar based products. They did this to pay for the French and Indian War. The American colonists were angered by this, thinking that it was unfair, they refused to purchase any of the taxed products -
Stamp Act
Britain needed money to pay for the French and Indian war. So, the Parliament signed the Stamp Act, placing a tax on paper products such as diplomas, stamps, and contracts. If it was made of paper then it was taxed. This angered to colonists, they burned the stamp-taxed papers and refused to buy the products. -
Townshend Act
Shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act, the British, still needing money, signed the Townshend acts. It placed a law on household items such as paper, glass, lead, and silk. This angered the colonists greatly as the boycotted the taxed items. Eventually the British repealed this tax as well. -
Writs of Assisstance
The British Parliament passed a law that certain officals could search ships and property at will. The British were worried that the colonists might try to rebell and attack them. The merchants felt it was an invasion of privacy, and that it was horribly unfair. -
Quartering Act
The British Parliament signed the Quatering Act, forcing the colonists to provide food, water, candles, blankets, and shelter for over 10,000 British redcoats. The British used it as way to ensure their power and to provide cheap housing and supplies for their soldiers. -
Boston Massacre
On a dreadful March day, a riot formed outside a British Customs Home. The angered Redcoats, fired shots into the mob, immediantly killing three colonists, an African sailor named Crispus Attucks, ropemaker Samuel Gray, and a mariner named James Caldwell. Eight were wounded, two of which, Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr, later died. It increased the feelings of hatred towards Britain. With the law defense of John Adams, two soldiers were found guilty of man slaughter, six soldiers were not. -
Tea Act/ Boston Tea Party
The Parliament passed a law, taxing the popular tea products, as a way of gaining money and showinbg the colonist they were still in charge. This causde the Boston Tea Party. A group of men, dressed up as the much feared indians and stormed the tea ships in the harbor. They threw 90,000 pounds of tea into the Boston Harbor, causing Britain to loose money and goods. This caused the Intolerable Acts -
Intolerable Acts
Britain placed a law forbiding colonists from holding town meetings, closing the Port of Boston, and putting Customs Officials on trial in Britain. This caused the first Continental Congress meeting and individual colonies began to untie against Britain. -
The First Continental Congress Meets
At Carpenter's Hall in Philedelphia 55 delegates, from every colony except Georgia, who hopes for British help from Indians, met as result of the Intolerable Acts. They banned all trade with Britain unless Britain repelled the Intolerable Acts.
Britain refused.
All the colonies began training troops, preparing for war with Britian. -
"Give me Liberty" Speech
At Saint John's Church in Richmond Virginia, during a Virginia Convention Patrick Henry gave the "Give me Liberty or give me Death!" speech. He convinced the Virginia House of Burgesses to sign a resolution to sen the Virginia troops to the Revolutionary War. -
Lexington: The Shot Heard 'Round the World
The first shot of the Revolution was fired at Lexington, when eight minutemen, the continental army, were killed. When the 700 British troops reached Lexington, only to be met by 70 minutemen, they didn't fight too hard. Yet, no one in the British army was even wounded, and 8 of the soldier from the continental army were killed. This came the phrase from a famous poem by Ralph Waldo Emerson "The shot heard round the world." -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord
On April 19, 1775, 700 British troops reached Lexington, and only 70 militia men were waiting fro them. Within minuted, there were only 62 militia men alive. British marched to Concord and destroyed military supplies and engaged in a battle. They were forced to retreat back to Boston. 4,000 militia men blocked the road from Concord to Lexington and shot at the Redcoats. From Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem came the phrase “shot heard around the world” about the first shots fired. -
The Battle at Concord
After the British defeated the minutemen at Lexington, they moved onto Concord, to destroy the Continental Army's supplies. But they were met by 4,000 minutemen, which greatly outnumbered their 800. The minutemen easily pushed back the British. The British retreated to Boston, and the Revolutionary War had begun. -
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in Philedelphia. They declared their loyalty to Britian, but asked for the Intolerable Acts to be removed. This was known as the Olive Branch Petition. When Britian refused, they established George Washington as Commander of the Continental Army. -
Bunker Hill
On June 13 1775, 1,200 colonial troops, under the command of William Prescott, hid away in Bunker Hill, waiting to attack the British. However the British learned of the ambush, and knew what to expect. The result was a British victory. -
The Battle at Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga was surprised and taken by the Continental Army, for they needed the supplies in it to forced British General Gage out of Boston. But the British came back, unwilling to give it up. It was 7,213 British and Hessian (German assassins for hire) against about 3,000 Continental Troops. The Americans withdrew from the Fort after countless attacks from the British and mericless Hessians, leaving Britian the fort. -
The Declaration of Independence
In June of 1776, the Continental Congress decided it was best to seperate from Britain. They created a commitee to write the declaration. This commitee consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston, and Roger Sherman. Thomas Jefferson was assigned to write the Declaration and nearly two weeks later on July 4, 1776 he had completed almost all of it. It was presented to the Congress, it was then signed and passed. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine was englishmen living in the colonies, he believed that it was ridiculous for America to be ruled by such a far away land and that there was a good market away from Britain. So in 1776, he published the book: Common Sense and the public support for an independent America became larger. -
The Battle of New York
On a snowy day, the British invaded New York with a massive 8,000 that greatly outnumbered the American troop number of 3,000. Washington was greatly outnumbered and outmaneuvered and suffered an embarassing loss. The British lost 84 soldiers and had 374 wounded. 59 Minutemen were killed, 96 wounded, and 2,837 were captured. It was truely a great loss on the American side. -
Battle of Trenton
After George Washington crossed the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The foggy weather allowed George Washington to lead his troops against the Hessians. After a brief battle, the Continental Army had captured most of the Hessian troops. It was a major victory for the Continental Army, as the Germans had been Britians major ally, and now they were captured. -
Battle of Princeton
On the night of January 2, 1977, Washington encircled Lord Cornwallis' British troops. He attacked the morning of January 3, 1977 at Princeton, New Jersey. The Americans had 4,500 troops, while the British had 1,200.The Americans lost 44 soldiers and had 40 wounded. While the British lost 100 soldiers, had 70 wounded, and had nearly 280 captured, while the rest escaped. The result was an American victory. -
Battle of Saratoga
With 12,000 American soldiers and 6,600 British soldiers, this resulted in an American victory. With 6,222 captured British soldiers the rest were either dead or wounded and left to die. The Americans lost 90 soldiers, and 240 were wounded. This was a major turning point in the war, during this battle Benjamin Franklin convinced France to join the battle against the British. -
Winter at Valley Forge
General Washington and his army were unable to travel and had to stay a bitter cold winter at Valley Forge. The conditions were harsh and horrible. There was little food and frostbite. Washington lost more than a fourth of his men due to sickness, starvation, dehydration, and frostbite. -
Battle of Yorktown
Located in Yorktown, Virginia this battle proved to be the last important battle of the Revolution. Britain had a total of 9,000 soldiers, while America, with the combined power of France, had a total amount of soldiers to be around 30,000 soldiers. After the British leader Lord Cornwallis fell ill, it was easy to over take the British and capture 7,000 soldiers, while the rest were dead. -
Treaty of Paris
Signed by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay on the American side and David Hartley from the British. Britian had to relay the land to America and acknowledge that America was free. America and Britain were no longer trade partners and America allowed loyalists to stay in America without prosecution. The Revolutionary War was over and America had gained ther independence.
