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Treaty of Paris
The fighting was over. Now the British and the British Americans could enjoy the fruits of victory.The port of New Orleans and the Louisiana Territory west of the Mississippi were ceded to Spain for their efforts as a British ally. -
The Stamp Act
George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. The bill was passed on February 17, approved by the Lords on March 8th, and two weeks later ordered in effect by the King. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizens. -
Boston Tea Party
Too much had already happened. Not only had the Crown attempted to tax the colonies on several occasions, but taxes were still being collected one on sugar and one on tea. The american colonies decided to protest against the British government by boarding three trade ships in Boston Harbor and threw 342 crates of tea into the water. -
The Intolerable Acts
A whole bunch of harsh laws were passed after the Boston Tea Party by the British government. The result was a public outbreak of dismay throughout British america. The Americans thought that their basic human rights were taken away from them. -
First Continental Congress
All the colonies except Georgia met up to discuss a plan on how to make the British government cancel all the laws that have been imposed on Boston. They sent a letter to the King George III and demanded that he stop the Intolerable Act or they would boycott all English goods. The king chose to ignore them and the Americans started the boycott. -
Second Continental Congress
This was another meeting of all 13 colonies, this time including Georgia. The Revolutionary War had been underway for about a month. They attempted to make peace with the King using the Olive Branch Petition but the king rejected it. It was the last attempt of peace that the king rejected and that's why they established up the Continental Army. -
Declaration of Independence
The Congress chose 5 people called the “Committee of Five”(Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, Roger Sherman, and Thomas Jefferson), to write a letter on why they were declaring independence. On June 28 1776 they presented it to the Congress. At first not all of the 13 colonies agreed but the end vote was 12 yes’ and 1 abstention because New York chose not to vote. America gained its independence from Britain and that’s why we celebrate independence day every 4th of July.