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A series of laws that the English Parliament put on the colonists in 1600s. It made colonists sell all their raw materials to England, even though they could get better prices elsewhere in Europe. -
A British law that imposed a heavy tax on molasses, sugar, and rum imported into the American colonies from non-British territories, primarily the French West Indies. -
After George Washington and his army marched to Fort Duquesne he set up Fort Necessity but later got attacked by the French and their native allies. -
The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended in February of 1763 with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revelation. -
Enacted on April 5, 1764, to take effect on September 29, the new Sugar Act cut the duty on foreign molasses from 6 to 3 pence per gallon, retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar, and prohibited the importation of all foreign rum. -
On March 22, 1765, British Parliament finally passed the Stamp Act or Duties in American Colonies Act. It required colonists to pay taxes on every page of printed paper they used. The tax also included fees for playing cards, dice, and newspaper. -
The Declaratory Act of 1766 granted Great Britain's Parliment the authority to tax the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever." The main purpose of this act was to assert power to enforce taxes on British colonies in North America. -
To help pay expenses involved in governing the American colonies, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. -
On March 5th, 1770, seven British soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile Bostonian, killing five, wounding another six, and angering an entire colony. -
Intolerable Acts, in U.S. colonial history, four punitive measures enacted by the British Parliment in the retaliation for acts of colonial defiance, together with Quebec Act etablishing a new administration for the territory ceded to Britain after the French and Indian War (1754-1763). -
Like the earlier Quartering Act of 1765, this act protected people's private homes and did not allow British soldiers to be quartered in the private homes against their owners' will. In the earlier act, British soldiers could only be quarter in public buildings if the area's barracks were full. -
An act for or the impartial administration of justice in the cases of persons questioned for any acts done by them in execution of the law, or the suppression of riots and tumults, in the province of the Massachusetts' Bay, in New England. -
The British expanded its territory giving religious freedom to Catholics, and allowing french civil law while adopting English criminal law. -
This convention, the First Continental Congress, formally declared that colonists should have the same rights as Englishmen; they also agreed to form the Continental Association, which called for the suspension of trade with Great Britain. The mural depicts an oration by Patrick Henry in Carpenters' Hall. -
He arrived in Boston in May 1774 to replace Thomas Hutchinson as royal governor of Massachusetts. Charged with enforcing the Coercive Acts, Gage soon realized that it would be difficult to subdue the well-organized patriot forces in New England. -
Revere and William Dawes rode, via different routes, from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams that British troops were marching from Boston to Lexington to arrest them and seize Patriot weapons stores in Concord. -
In April 1775, when British troops are sent to confiscate colonial weapons, they run into an untrained and angry militia. This ragtag army defeats 700 British soldiers and the surprise victory bolsters their confidence for the war ahead. -
A historic 18-century star fort on Lake Champlain in upstate New York that played a crucial role in both the French and Indian War and American Revelation. -
The Second Continental Congress functioned as the national government of the American colonies throughout the Revolutionary War. The delegates were responsible for: coordinating the war effort, diplomacy and foreign affairs, issuing currency, economics and budgeting, and administrative duties. -
The American patriots were defeated at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but they proved they could hold their own against the superior British Army. The fierce fight confirmed that any reconciliation between England and her American colonies was no longer possible. -
During the siege, disease and the harsh winter weakened Arnold's forces. Despite their best efforts, the ineffectiveness of the siege coupled with the arrival of British reinforcements forced the Patriots to retreat from the city in May 1776. The failures at Quebec ended the American campaign in Canada. -
The Siege of Boston (April 19, 1775 – March 17, 1776) was the opening phase of the American Revolutionary War. In the siege, American patriot militia led by newly-installed Continental Army commander George Washington prevented the British Army, which was garrisoned in Boston, from moving by land. -
Of the 32,000 men in that British expeditionary force, nearly 8,000 of them were Hessians. The Americans were outraged at the idea of King George III hiring foreign troops to subdue them and specifically called this practice out in the Declaration of Independence. -
By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. The Declaration summarized the colonists' motivations for seeking independence. -
The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by Congress on July 5, 1775, to be sent to the King as a last attempt to prevent formal war from being declared. The Petition emphasized their loyalty to the British crown and emphasized their rights as British citizens. The Congress met according to adjournment.