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Navigation Laws
Laws that stated that the colonies had to use English ships or colonial ships and that 3/4 of the sailors on each ship have to be English born. It also stated that there were certain products that could only be traded with England. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
The treaty that came at the end of the French and Indian war. It displaced the French and gave the English and colonies the Ohio Valley area which the colonists wanted to settle in. -
Proclamation of 1763
Banned settlement west of the Appalachian Mountains out of fear of Indian attacks. -
Sugar Act
A law made by the English to tax the colonies sugar. This greatly angered the colonists so they protested it. After protests the tax was lowered and the colonist were partially appeased. -
Stamp Act
Another law to tax the colonies. It said that all paper had to be taxed and to show that you paid the tax there would be a stamp of the items. It was viewed as reasonable by the British but the colonist argued it was not because the did not have representation in parliament. Repealed by English after about a year due to protests. -
Quartering Act
A law passed by the British that proclaimed that colonists were required to house and feed British soldiers if needed. This angered the colonists further. -
Stamp Act Repealed/Declaratory Act
An act that was meant to show the colonist that they were still England's and England controlled them. It was declared the same day as the stamp act was repealed. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts put a light import tax on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. It actually hurt the merchants more than it hurt the colonists. Soon they were all repealed except for the taxes on tea. -
Boston Massacre
A class that occurred between the British and the Colonists due to the colonist provoking the British. It ended with five deaths and eleven in total killed or injured. -
Committees of Correspondence
Committees that were set up by colonists to keep opposition to British policy alive. The first committee was started by Samuel Adams in Boston. -
Boston Tea Party
When the Sons of Liberty invaded British ships that contained tea and dumped all the tea on the boats overboard in order to protest and show their outrage over the continuing taxes on tea. During it they destroyed 342 chest of tea and dumped their contents into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Know in America as the Intolerable Acts but known in Britain as the Coercive Acts. These acts were made to punish Boston for the Boston Tea Party and everything else that they had done. They restricted town meeting, closed the harbor, put MA under military control, if officials killed colonist in the line of duty they would be taken to Britain for trial, and they had a new Quartering Act that had soldiers quartered even in private homes. -
First Continental Congress
It met in Philadelphia to address grievances and it drew up the Declaration of Rights. The Congress also tried negotiating with England, but were unsuccessful. -
Lexington and Concord
British troops were sent to Lexington and Concord in order to seise any firearms that were there and also to arrest the ringleaders of the Sons of Liberty, Samuel Adams and JohnHancock. There was a battle when the Colonist would not back down and 8 Americans were killed but the Redcoats suffered many losses. This was the start of the war. -
Second Continental Congress
The Congress created the Olive Branch Petition, professing loyalty to the crown, but George III did not accept. The Congress also selected George Washington as the leader of the continental army. -
Bunker Hill
The colonists seized Breed's Hill, which is now know as Bunker Hill. It was originally a success for the colonist and they were able to hold of the British, but eventually the colonists ran out of ammo and were forced to retreat. -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
The pamphlet Common Sense lit a fire under the colonists. In it he said that it was just common sense that a small island like Britain should not control the vast America. He also said that as Britains child America would one day have to leave it's mother country. -
The Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson. It was a remodel of Richard Henry Lee's paper and professed that everyman has the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It's on of the most important documents in history. -
The Battle of Trenton
Where George Washington and the colonial army cross the Delaware river. After crossing the river they surprised and captured 1,000 Hessians. -
Battle of Saratoga
This battle was a turning point in the war, as the French were now openly supporting the colonists. -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge was were some of the colonial soldiers had to make camp during the winter of 1777-1778. There the soldiers starved and went without food for days. They also did not have appropriate clothing for the temperature so they also froze during the time. It greatly diminished the moral of the Americans. -
The Treaty of Amity and Commerce/ The Treaty of Alliance
The treaty made between the French and Americas and showed the the French recognized us as our own nation and they were allied with us and would trade with us. Benjamin Franklin helped make it. -
The Battle of Yorktown
The final great battle of the war, fought at Yorktown. The Americans and the British fought for the city and the Americans won due to the support of the French and their navy. -
Treaty of Paris
Britain recognized independence of the United States, and granted boundaries. The United States had Mississippi, Great Lakes, and to Spanish Florida, and retained fisheries of Newfoundland.
