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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War is a war between the British and the French. It began because the French and British were fighting over who got the Ohio River land and who got an alliance with the Indians living there. This resulted in a war which the French was winning in the beginning, but then the British got William Pitt to help them out- which he did because then the British started to win. The war officially ended with the Treaty of Paris, which gave England most of Canada and all of Spanish FL. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris was written in 1763 and signed on February 10th by legislatures from Britain, France, Spain, and Portugal. This signaled the official end of the French and Indian War. At the end of the war the British reacted triumphantly with having many new lands given to them making them the dominant power in North America. Following the end of the war, the British drove out the French from the North American Continent which helped them a lot. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was the mark of the first direct tax on the colonies on March 22, 1765. The colonists protested and organized many different protests. The Stamp Act consisted of paper products and all official documents to be taxed, so many colonial businesses shut down because they didn't want to abide by the taxes. The act was eventually repealed on March 18, 1766, but at the same time passed a new act called the Declaratory Act. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre took place on the evening of March 5, 1770 during the Townshend Acts. It all started because a boy who was insulting a British soldier because of his hatred towards the British and what they were doing to the colonies reacted by hitting him on the ear by the butt of his gun. Then one of the nine soldiers fell to the ground causing the remaining eight on their feet to fire into the crowd, killing five colonists. This event resulted in colonial boycotts against British goods. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act was placed on the colonists by the British Parliament in 1773 and it served about two purposes for the British. The first purpose was to help the British East India Company which was in debt, while the second purpose was a symbol of tax on the colonists. This not only resulted in the Boston Tea Party, but also the colonists continued to boycott tea. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party is not a legitimatetea party, but a symbol of one of the many times the American colonists have rebelled. It was organized by the Sons of Liberty and happened at the Boston Harbor on December 16,1773. The Boston Tea Party consisted of 150 American Patriots who boarded three British ships dressed as Indians and tossed 342 chests of tea into the water, it took three hours to do. They dumped 90,000 pounds of tea overboard and them doing this, lead to the Intolerable Acts. -
Townshend Act
The Intolerable Acts were a series of four acts passed by the British Parliament in the spring of 1774. Its main goal is to punish the people of Boston, but the Quartering Act was also strengthened during the act. Also, the port of Boston was closed until all $90,000 worth of tea was paid off. Sadly, this was a very tough time for the people of Boston. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of four acts passed by the British Parliament in the spring of 1774. Its main goal is to punish the people of Boston, but the Quartering Act was also strengthened during the act. Also, the port of Boston was closed until all $90,000 worth of tea was paid off. Sadly, this was a very tough time for the people of Boston. -
Fighting at Lexington and Concord
The battles at Lexington and Concord in 1775 were a series of battles while the American colonists were constantly in all out rebellion. British troops then came from Boston with a plan to capture the patriot’s leaders camping out it Lexington. But luckily we escaped. But the British then found us in Concord and had a battle there. We killed many more of their men then they killed of ours so that was an accomplishment. -
Second Continental Congress
After the battle at Lexington and Concord many American colonists felt strong about declaring independence from Britain, so they decided to organize an army. Thousands of people came to sign up for the army, while Washington was chosen to be the commander. Congress then began to print money to finance the war, but the more they made the less the money was worth. -
Battle at Bunker Hill
In June 1775, many American soldiers gathered around Boston ready for a fight. At this battle Britain won but lost over 1,000 soldiers in the process. It happened because the colonists got cannons from Fort Ticonderoga and wanted to drive the British out of Boston. So they saw the chance and took it. And their plan worked, they drove out the British from Boston by surrounding Boston with the cannons forcing the British to surrender. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Second Continental Congress sent this petition to King George lll in July 1775 asking him to create a compromise between the American Patriots and British Parliament. At this time, the American colonists were fighting with the British Army. King George never replied to it which angered the Congress a lot. The fighting between the two then started to rise in seriousness causing the Congress to start making the Declaration of Independence. -
Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense"
Thomas Paine was a very influential man in the time of the Revolutionary War - well his words were very influential. He wrote a 50 page pamphlet that inspired the Declaration of Independence and helped American colonists who wanted to break free from British but weren't sure of actually doing it. 20,000 copies were sold the first three months of it being published. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a famous document in American history that explains the reasons of why the American colonies want to declare independence from Great Britain in 1776. Specific people from the Second Continental Congress were put in charge of writing the document including Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston. Thomas Jefferson was the one who wrote the drafts, while the Congress as a whole revised and went over it together. -
Battle at Trenton
During the Battle at Trenton, the colonist soldiers weren't having any victories against the British so they were getting very discouraged.Their commander, George Washington needed a victory to get the soldiers ready to fight and for new ones to enlist, so he plans a surprise attack against Hessian forces in Trenton, NJ. This battle took place on Christmas night in 1776, and they killed or captured all of the Hessian forces. This new victory persuades men to once again join the Continental Army.
