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Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by King Geoge lll, following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America. This was after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, where it forbade settlers from settling past a line that was drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of this proclamation was to organize Great Britiain's new North American empire and stabilize relations with Native North Americans through settlement, trade, and land purchases. -
Boston Massacre
This event is also known as the Incident on King Street. Five male citizens were killed by British Army Soldiers, and six others were injured. A mob of citizens formed around a British sentry, who was accused of verbal abuse and harassment. He was then supported by eight samely accused soldiers, and they fired into the crowd, this was not ordered. -
Boston Tea Party
Boston citizens were tired of the taxes that were placed on tea, so disguised as Indians, they crept their way to the Boston Harbor. After they reached the ships, they got on them and dumped the hundreds of crates of tea overboard into the ocean. Parliament responded to this event in 1774, with the Coercive Acts, or Intolerable Acts. -
Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revoluntionary War. These two battles were fought on April 19th, 1775 in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of an open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its Thirteen Colonies the mainland of British North America. -
Fort Ticonderoga
The name, Ticonderoga is from the Iroquois word, tekontaró:ken, this means, "it is at the junction of two waterways". It was built in between 1754 and 1757. During the Revolutionary War, this fort saw action once again in May 1775, from the Green Mountain Boys and other state militia under command and captured it in a surprise attack. The only direct attack on this fort was in September 1777. This was when John Brown had led 500 Americans in attempt to capture the fort, it was unsuccessful. -
Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly around and on Breed's Hill. This happened during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after the adjacent Bunker Hill, and this was peripherally involved in the battle and was the original objective of both British and coloniel troops. Occasionally, this is referred to as the 'Battle of Breed's Hill.' -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Continental Congress in July 1775 in a final attempt to avoid a full-blown war between the Thirteen Colonies, which the Continental Congress supported, and Great Britain. This petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. However, the Petition succeeded the July 6 Declaration of Taking up Arms which made its efficiency dubious in London. -
Publishing of Common Sense
This is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine from 1775-1776. That had inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for their own independence from Great Britain in the summer of 1776. In clear and simple language, it explained the advantages of and the need for immediate independence. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an instant sensation. This had also been read by Washington, to his troops. -
Dorchester Heights
This date holds one of the many battles fought here. The Siege of Boston lasted for many months, only breaking when Colonel Henry Knox returned from Fort Ticonderoga in New York. He had a sleds filled with tens of thousands of pounds of artillery/cannon in winter from across hundreds of miles to Boston. On the night of March 17, 1776, while American soldiers stood guard along the river of Dorchester shores, 1,200 American soldiers occupied Dorchester Heights. The battle was about to start. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a statement that was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. This announced that the thirteen colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. They formed a union instead, a union that would become a new nation-The United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was unanimously approved on July 2. -
Trenton
This battle took place on the morning of December 26, 1776. The dangerous crossing of the Delaware River made it possible for George Washington to lead the main body of the Continental Army against the Hessian soldiers garrisoned at Trenton. A brief battle was fought, and almost the entire Hessian force was captured, with negligible losses to the Americans. This battle significatly brought up the Continental Army's flagging morale, and inspired reenlistments. -
Princeton
In the Battle of Princeton, George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton, New Jersey. On the night of January 2, 1777, George Washing repulsed a British attack at the Battle of the Assunpink Creek in Trenton. Hugh Mercer and his troops were overrun and Washington sent some militia under Brigadier General John Cadwalader to help him. The militia fleed like Mercer's men, Washington railed them, then he led the attack on Mawhood's troops, and drove them back. -
Saratoga
There were two battles fought at Saratoga during the Revolutionary War (September 19 and October 7, 1777), these battles conclusively decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army the American War of Independence and often are generally regarded as a turning point in the war. Burgoyne's gains from a small tactical victory were erased when he again attacked the Americans in the battle on October 7 when the Americans captured a portion of the British defenses and defeated another. -
Valley Forge
There was never a battle fought at Valley Forge, but it was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. Valley Forge was the site of the military camp for the American Continental Army during the winter of 1777-1778 in the American Revoluntionary War. It lies approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia. By the end of February in 1778, nearly 2,500 American soldiers died from starvation, disease, and other exposures. -
Yorktown
The 1781 Battle of Yorktown is also known as the Siege of Yorktown, German Battle or Surrender at Yorktown. The latter that took place on the date of this battle, was a decisive victory by a combined force o American Continental Army troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau that was over a British Army commanded by British Lord Cornwallis. The Yorktown Campaign, proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War. -
Treaty of Paris 1783
The Treaty of Paris was signed on Semptember 3, 1783 and ended the American Revolutionary War. The other combatant nations, Spain, the Dutch Republic and France had separate agreements. Its territorial provisions were 'exceedingly generous' to the United States in terms of enlarged boundaries.
