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The French/Indian War
The French and Indian War was a Seven Year War that took place from 1756 to 1763. It was the bloodiest American war in the 18th century. The war took more lives than the American Revolution and involved people on three continents. The war was a clash between the French and English over colonial territory and wealth. After a year and a half of undeclared war between the two, the French and English formally declared war in May of 1756. -
The Sugar Act
In 1764, King George III and Parliment passed the Sugar Act with the goal of raising 100,000 pounds. The Sugar Act lowered the duty on foreign produced molasses from six pence per gallon to three pence per gallon in an attempt to stop smuggling. The Sugar Act complicated trade for shippers by requiring them to fill out a number of confusing forms to legalize their shipments. The act ended up providing the British treasury with about 30,000 pounds per year between 1766 and 1775. -
Committee of Correspondence Established
The commitee of correspondence was a group of shadow governments that were led by the patriot leaders of the thirteen colonies. They coordinated responses to Britain and decided on what plans to do. They met nightly in a British tavern so they were in complete secrecy about what was going on. -
The Stamp Act
Depsite the revenue that was raised by the Sugar Act, Britain's financial situation continued to spiral. In 1765, the average taxpayer in England paid 26 shillings per year in taxes and the average colonist paid only one-half to one and a half shillings so the Prime Minister Grenville decided to pass the Stamp act. The act required Americans to buy special paper for all newspapers and legal documents. -
The Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts were a series of acts passed in 1767 by Parliment for the thirteen colonies. The acts are named after Charles Townshend, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who proposed the idea. The idea for the Acts were to raise more revenue in the colonies to pay governers and judges. The Townshend Acts were met with resistence in the colonies, prompting the occupation of Boston by British troops in 1768 which resulted in the Boston Massacre. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occured March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob that threw all types of items that they could get their hands on, at the British soldiers. 50 citizens attacking British sentinel was when the whole thing started, and it go bloody from there. The British Officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in additional soldiers that began getting attacked as well. Then, the British soldiers opened fire on the rebelling citizens which resulted in killing 5 men. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act, passed by Parliment in 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. It granted the finacially troubled BritishEast India Company, an exclusive monopoly on tea that was exported to the colonies. Many Americans began to believe that Britain was trying to dupe them into accepting the tax that they hated. This Tea Act is what started the Boston Tea Party. -
The Boston Tea Party
In response to the unpopular acts that Parliment had set, American cities started rebelling and cancelling orders. In Boston, the Governor Thomas Hutchinson continued to uphold the law and ordered three ships to arrive in Boston harbor with the cargo. The Boston Tea Party consisted of about 60 men that boarded the ship when it docked at the harbor, dumping all of the tea chests into the water as their revolt. -
The Intolerable Acts
Parliment, very upset with how the Tea Act went over, decided to pass the Coercive Acts in 1774, quickly renamed the Intolerable Acts by the colonists. Among these acts included the Boston Port Bill which closed the Boston Harbor to all Bostonians until they had repaid the damage done with the Boston Tea Party. The acts also restricted public assemblies and suspended many civil liberties. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve colonies that met on September 5th 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was called to talk about the Intolerable Acts that were passed by Parliment and they talked about a total boycott of British goods. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought in Massachusetts and for many years, tensions had been building between the 13 colonies and the British. On the night of April 18 1775, British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to take an arms cache. Soon the battle moved to Lexington and Britain eventually retreated during intense fire. -
Publishing of Common Sense
In Common Sense, the writer, Thomas Paine, argues for American independence. He talks about distinguishing between government and society. He believed that society is everything constructive and good that people should join to accomplish. Government, in his eyes, is an institution whos purpose is to protect us from our own vices. He goes on with his views in the pamphlet that eventually changed many peoples minds about government and how they believed America should be run. -
Second Continental Congress
State governments sent representatives to the Second Continental Congress in 1776 to organize American efforts immediately before and during the Revolutionary War. Instead of just demanding better treatment from Britain, the representatives decided on fighting for full independence against Britain.
