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The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a war between The French and the British over the Ohio River Valley. The colonists helped the British and most Native tribes helped the French. The British invited the Iroquois to join them, but they wanted to wait until they knew who would win. It looked like the British would lose so they fought for the French. Some switched sides during the battle when it seemed like the British was winning. The French wanted the land for trade and The British and The Colonists w -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight on March 5, 1770, between patriots throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a group of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed. British troops in the city of Boston were highly disliked by patriots. The fight began when about fifty colonists attacked a British guard. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, brought in more soldiers which the British also attacked. The British soldiers fired into the mob killing three patriots and wounding eight -
The Boston Tea Party
Because of colonists complaints parliament removed all taxes except the one on tea. Since people were starting to stop buying tea they lowered the prices. This hurt smugglers badly because the tea they brought from other countries was more expensive so no one would buy it...When ships started to arrive no one would unload them, which made Governor Hutchinson angry. He ordered the captain of Dartmouth (ship going to Boston) to stay in Boston until all the tea was unloaded. The law was that tea wa -
Intolerable Acts
The four acts really made it hard for the colonies. The Boston Port closed, a lot of power was taken away from the colonies and given to the King, they were no longer able to hold meetings, trials were now held in Britain (unfair to colonists), and British soldiers were allowed to come stay at people’s houses and you had to provide them with food. The little power the colonists had was taken away and they hated that they didn't have any representation in the British government. -
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The First Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia. Each colony except Georgia sent 2 representatives. Some of the representatives were, John Adams, Samuel Adams, and George Washington. During the meeting they wrote “The Declaration of Resolve”. “The Declaration and Resolve” was a statement adopted by the congress on October 14, 1774, in response to the intolerable acts. The Declaration outlined colonial objections to the Intolerable Acts, listed a colonial bill of rights, an -
Paul Revere's Ride
Paul Revere’s ride was a warning to colonists that British troops were coming. Although it is named after Paul Revere Many other people were involved. General Gage sent British soldiers in Boston to Lexington to capture colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock and then to Concord to steal colonial gunpowder and weapons. Spies and friends of colonists told them of the plan. Two lanterns at Boston's North Church let the colonists know that the British were going to attack by sea. A few horse ri -
The Shot Heard Round the World & The Battle of Lexington & Concord
When 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen (men would could be ready to fight in 1 minute) formed on the Lexington Green waiting for them. The shot heard round the world was the official start of the revolutionary war No one knows who fired it or if it was a British or Patriot soldier, but either way that’s when it started. After that shot was fired everyone started firing. The British killed seven colonists and continued to Concord where militias were already -
Battle of Fort Ticonderoga and 2nd Contiental Congress
The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga was a surprise attack on the British by a group called “The Green Mountain Boys” lead by Ethan Allen in the middle of the night. Since they had to surrender the fort, Patriots got a lot of weapons and ammunition that they needed. Fort Ticonderoga was one of The British’s main forts. Once they lost it a lot of their other forts were taken over, too. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill, in Boston, is known for how bloody it was. This battle was hard for both the British and the Patriots. The Patriots had very little ammunition so the general told them to fire once they could see the whites of the British’s eyes. The Patriots were up on a hill which gave them an advantage firing down on The British ships in Boston Harbor. Although the Patriots lost because they ran out of ammunition The British Army lost many soldiers. -
Paine's "Common Sense" is Published
Thomas Paine published a 50 page pamphlet in Philadelphia supporting independence and highly criticizing parliament and King George III. He persuaded people to fight for independence. Over about 6 months almost 500,000 copies were sold! George Washington wrote, “Common Sense is working a powerful change in the minds of men.” -
Declaration of Independence is adopted and sent to the printer
“The Declaration of Independence” was written by Thomas Jefferson. It contains 4 parts; The Preamble, which says why the Declaration of Independence was written. The Declaration of Natural Rights says that people are born with natural rights that can't be taken away. (This idea came from John Locke. He said that people should be born with certain rights that can't be taken away like life, liberty, and property. He didn't like the idea of divine rights that said monarchs were rulers specially cho -
Declaration of Independence is signed
Although we celebrate Independence Day on July 4th. That was just the day the declaration was sent to the printer. “The Declaration of Independence” wasn’t actually signed by the continental congress until August 2. -
Burgoyne surrenders to American General Gates during Battle of Saratoga
During The Battle of Saratoga Patriots captured a lot of British soldiers. Burgoyne was forced to retreat and his army was surrounded by bigger American forces at Saratoga, forcing him to surrender on October 17. This was good for the Patriots because then French and Spain started to help them once it looked like they had a chance of winning. -
The Americans and French become allies
The French wanted to do anything to weaken the British. For a while they had secretly been supplying money and battle equipment for the Patriots, but they didn’t want to make an official alliance until it looked like they might win. The French also brought in some of their allies to help. (Netherlands & Spain) -
Benedict Arnold plans to give West Point to the British
Benedict Arnold was loved by George Washington because he was an amazing General. It broke his heart when Arnold tried to give West Point to the British. Arnold felt like he wasn’t getting enough credit for the battles he was winning and the things he was doing for the patriots so he started using his wife to pass information to the British. People think his wife might have convinced him to help the British since she was a very strong loyalist. -
Battle of Cowpens (SC)
The Battle of Cowpens was in South Carolina
(on the border with North Carolina) It was The Patriots lead by General Morgan against the British. The Battle of Cowpens was a turning point in the battle for the Patriots and it also lead up to their win in Yorktown, VA. 110 British soldiers died and 200 were wounded. About 712 British soldiers were captured by patriots. -
Battle of Yorktown VA - Cornwallis is forced to surrender to Americans
It was very important that the patriots won the Battle of Yorktown and it might not have happened if the British didn’t make so many mistakes. General Cornwallis had to go near the water so that the British ships could bring him reinforcements, but the French blocked them with ships. Then Washington brought his army down and trapped them by land. Cornwallis’s army was surrounded. In three weeks they surrendered. -
1783 - Treaty of Paris
The 1783 Treaty of Paris was the treaty that the Patriots and British signed saying that the war was over and that the colonies were now independent from Britain.
