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Representatives of the colonial governments adopted the Albany Plan during a larger meeting known as the Albany Congress. The British government in London had ordered the colonial governments to meet in 1754, initially because of a breakdown in negotiations between the colony of New York and the Mohawk nation, part of the Iroquois Confederation. Benjamin Franklin was an important figure of this time.
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The British craned up the forced impressment of american men to join the royal navy. The war had ended in 1763 with the signing of the peace of Paris. This treaty had massive results for the american colonies. First Spain ceded Florida to the British. Second the french were ousted from the north american continent and the Spanish were giving control over the former french lands west of the Mississippi. Third all the land east of the Mississippi river were granted granted to the British.
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Salutary Neglect led the colonists to rebel against Great Britain because the colonists enjoyed the lax rule under salutary neglect and they did not want to be ruled strictly by Britain. In the first of what became known as the Navigation Acts, declared that only English ships would be allowed to bring goods into England, and that the North American colonies could only export its commodities, such as tobacco and sugar, to England.
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sugar act: In U.S. colonial history, British legislation aimed at ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies and at providing increased revenues to fund enlarged British Empire responsibilities following the French and Indian.
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Currency Act: The Currency Act is one of many several Acts of the Parliament of Great Britain that regulated paper money issued by the colonies of British America. The Acts sought to protect British merchants and creditors from being paid in depreciated colonial currency.
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The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. Parliament passed the Stamp Act on March 22, 1765 British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help replenish their finances after the costly Seven Years’ War with France. Part of the revenue from the Stamp Act would be used to maintain several regiments of British soldiers in North America to maintain peace between Native Americans and the colonists.
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Most Americans called for a boycott of British goods, and some organized attacks on the customhouses and homes of tax collectors. After months of protest, and an appeal by Benjamin Franklin before the British House of Commons, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. However, the same day, Parliament passed the Declaratory Acts, asserting that the British government had free and total legislative power over the colonies.
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The Townshend Acts is named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies. The Townshend Acts would use the revenue raised by the duties to pay the salaries of colonial governors and judges, ensuring the loyalty of America’s governmental officials to the British Crown. These policies prompted colonists to take action by boycotting British goods.
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The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing stones and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers.The presence of British troops in the city of Boston was increasingly unwelcome. The riot began when about 50 citizens attacked a British sentinel. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in more soldiers and these too were attacked, so the soldiers fired into the mob, killing 3 on the spot, and wounding 8 others.
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The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies.The tea tax was kept in order to maintain Parliament’s right to tax the colonies. The Tea Act was not intended to anger American colonists, instead it was meant to be a bailout policy to get the British East India Company out of debt.
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The Coercive Acts describe a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774, relating to Britain’s colonies in North America. Passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, the Coercive Acts sought to punish Massachusetts as a warning to other colonies.
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On September 5, 1774, representative from each of the 13 colonies except for Georgia (which was fighting a Native American uprising and was dependent on the British for military supplies) met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts.
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). stress had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts.
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The Second Continental Congress was a convention of representatives from the 13 colonies that formed in Philadelphia in May 1775, after the launch of the American Revolutionary War. The First Continental Congress petitioned King George III to repeal the Intolerable Acts and initiated a boycott of British goods. The First Congress established that the Second Continental Congress would convene on May 10, 1775.
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The Olive Branch Petition was a final attempt by the colonists to avoid going to war with Britain during the American Revolution. It was a document in which the colonists pledged their loyalty to the crown and asserted their rights as British citizens. The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775.
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Congress appointed a Committee of Five on June 11, 1776, to explain why the American colonies decided to become independent states and wanted separation from the British Empire. The Committee consisted of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R. Livingston and Roger Sherman.
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Thomas Paine was an England-born political philosopher and writer who supported revolutionary causes in America and Europe. Published in 1776 to international acclaim, “Common Sense” was the first pamphlet to advocate American independence. during the Revolutionary War, Paine returned to Europe and offered a stirring defense of the French Revolution with “Rights of Man.”
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The United States Declaration of Independence is an important document in the history of the United States of America. the thirteen British colonies came together to become a union of new free and independent states. Many Americans did not like paying taxes to Great Britain when they did not have anyone to speak for them in Parliament. When the american citizens were not treated like everyone should have the right to have the freedom of speech and that all men and women are created equal.
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August 2, 1776, is one of the most important but least celebrated days in American history when 56 members of the Second Continental Congress started signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
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The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain.The colonies knew they needed some form of official government that united the thirteen colonies. They wanted to have written down rules that all the states agreed to. The Articles allowed the Congress to do things like raise an army, be able to create laws, and print money.
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The Franco-American alliance was the 1778 alliance between the Kingdom of France and the United States during the American Revolutionary War. The first, a treaty of amity and commerce, officially recognized the new country and encouraged Franco-American trade. The second provided for a military alliance against Great Britain and also required recognition of absolute independence for the United States as a condition of peace.
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In the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown formally recognized American independence and ceded most of its territory east of the Mississippi River to the United States. The American Revolutionary War was formally ended. The British acknowledged the independence of the United States. The colonial empire of Great Britain was destroyed in North America.
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The purpose of the convention was to amend the inefficient Articles of Confederation that had served as the preliminary constitution for the United States since 1781. As the United States fought for its independence from Great Britain in the American Revolution, a stable federal government was a crucial element in uniting the 13 states into a new nation.
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In 1789, the first presidential election, George Washington was unanimously elected president of the United States. Washington won the support of each participating elector. No other president since has come into office with a universal mandate to lead.
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The Constitution of the United States is empowered with the sovereign authority of the people by the framers and the consent of the legislatures of the states, it is the source of all government powers, and also provides important limitations on the government that protect the fundamental rights of United States citizens.
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The Anti-Federalists wanted power to remain with state and local governments, as the Constitution’s lack of a bill of rights would place specific limits on government power. Federalists argued that the Constitution did not need a bill of rights, because the people and the states kept any powers not given to the federal government. Anti-Federalists held that a bill of rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty.
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In his farewell Presidential address, George Washington advised American citizens to view themselves as a cohesive unit and avoid political parties and issued a special warning to be wary of attachments and entanglements with other nations. Washington warned against political parties or "factions" because he believed that the parties would split the nation apart.
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John Adams was the only Federalist to ever become president. He was one of only two signers of the Declaration of Independence to become president. The other was his vice president, Thomas Jefferson. Adams was well known for his extreme political independence, brilliant mind and passionate patriotism. He was a leader in the Continental Congress and an important diplomatic figure, before becoming America's first vice president.
