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Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris is the treaty that ended the French and Indian War. The British gained control of all the land west of the colonies to the Mississippi River. The French agreed to no longer help the colonies. Because Spain sided with the French they were forced to give up their claim to Florida. The Spanish kept their land west of the Mississippi River and in Central and Southern America. -
Proclamation line
The Royal Proclomation was issued by King George III after they gained former French territory.The Proclomation line kept the colonists east of Apalacians and prevented them from going in the land between the Apalacians and the Mississippi. This managed the land the British had recently gained after the seven years war -
Sugar Act
The British passed an act which forced colonists to pay a three cent tax on all sugar. The sugar act not only added a tax on sugar but on indigo, coffee, and wine as well. -
The Stamp Act
British Parliment passed the stamp act allowing a new taxation on each piece of printed paper used. This tax was placed on Americans which made them very angry. There was now a tax on newspapers, playing cards, legal documents, licences, and other publications. -
Quartering Act
This act declared that if there was not enough room for troops in the barracks then they could be housed in public houses or inns. The quatering act was fine for a while until the colonists became angered because they did not like how the British were walking all over them and just walking into their houses and demanding food and housing. -
Townshend Act
Charles Townshend passed the Townshend Acts in 1767 which was a taxation on glass, paint, paper, lead, and tea imported to the colonies. The colonists felt this was unfair taxing and an abuse of power. (could not find an exact date the acts were passed however found the year) -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was an event that took place on a cole evening in Boston. A street fight broke out between a mob of angry Americans and some British soilders. The mob began to taunt the soilders by throwing rocks, snow and sticks at the soilders and the soilders fired back by shooting at the colonists leaving many dead. -
Boston Tea Party
The colonists rebelled against the British by dumping a large amount of tea into the Boston Harbor. The colonists did this to take a stand because the British gained the right to sell tea directly to the colonists which undercut American merchants. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a group of punitive laws passed by British parliment follownig the Boston Tea Party. The acts were ment to punish the Massachusetts colonists for dumping a shipment of tea into the Boston Harbor. -
1st Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was when a group of delagates from twelve of the thirteen colonies met in the begining of the American Revolution to petition the British government for a redress of their greivances. -
2nd Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in 1775, when the Revolutionary war had started. Things were going badly, and the armed forces were disorganized. The Continental Congress created the Continental Army and named George Washington as commander-in-chief. The Congress continued through the summer. Out of the discussions came the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, and the Marines Corps. -
Lexington and Concord
The first battle of the American Revolution. British troops marched to Boston to destroy American military weapons in Concord. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Two-day battle between British forces under the command of General William Howe and American forces under Colonel William Prescott. The Americans had occupied Breed's Hill in Charlestown on June 16, 1775, in order to protect the shipyard of nearby Boston. The next day, the British attacked. They took the hill but suffered heavy losses. The Americans fired until they were out of ammunition, then quickly retreated. -
Olive Branch Petition
the Second Continental Congress met to discuss the ongoing problems between Great Britain and the colonies. A small group of radicals, led by John Adams, felt that war with Great Britain was inevitable. However, in an effort to avoid war, they passed a resolution known as the Olive Branch Petition. The Olive Branch petition was the Americans asking for the Britih ot recognize their grievances. -
Common Sense
The common sense rallied public opinion in support for the rebel cause. It challanged the athourity of the British government and royal monarchy. -
Declaration of Indepencance
In 1776, soon after the beginning of the American Revolutionary War, the leaders of the war got together to write a letter to the King of England. They wanted to explain why they were fighting to be their own country, independent of England. -
Crisis by Thomas Paine
A series of phamplets written by Thomas Paine during the American Revolutionary War. In 1776 Paine wrote Common Sense, an extremely popular and successful pamphlet arguing for Independence from England. -
Battle of Trenton
This battle took place the morning after Christmas. Americans surprised a drunken Hessian force that celebrated the holiday a little too much. The battle lasted about 45 minutes and resulted in 900 Hessian prisoners. The Americans then marched on Princeton and won there, too. They were smashing victories for the weary Americans, and they were also an opportunity to gain some badly needed guns and ammunition. -
Battle of Princeton
American victory on January 3, 1777, following hard on the heels of General George Washington's great success at Trenton. The victory at Princeton drove the British out of New Jersey, almost for good. -
Battle of Saratoga
This was the turning point in the war. On October 17, 1777, 5,895 British and Hessian troops surrendered their arms. General John Burgoyne had lost 86 percent of his expeditionary force that had triumphantly marched into New York from Canada in the early summer of 1777. -
Battle of Camden
When the British captured the port of Charleston in South Carolina in their attempts to assert control over the southern colonies. -
Battle of King's Mountian
This battle took place in modern day town Kings Mountian and North Carolina in rural York County, South Carolina, where the Patriot militia defeated the Loyalist militia commanded by British Major Patrick Ferguson of the 71st Foot. -
Battle of Cowpens
The continental army forces under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan won over the British. This battle was a decisive victory. -
Battle of Yorktown
The last battle of the Revolutionary war fought near the seacoast of Virginia. In this battle the British general surrendered his army to the American general, George Washington. -
Treaty of Paris 1783
Treaty that officially ended the Revolutionary War on September 3, 1783. It was signed in Paris by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay. Under the terms of the treaty, Britain recognized the independent nation of the United States of America. Britain agreed to remove all of its troops from the new nation. The treaty also set new borders for the United States, including all land from the Great Lakes on the north to Florida on the south, and from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River.
