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The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment was a time when man began to use his reason to discover the world. The effort to discover the natural laws which governed the universe led to scientific, political and social advances. -
French and Indian War
British soldiers fought against French soldiers and Native Americans. Native Americans joined in the battle against the British because they were afraid the British would take over their land. -
Proclamation of 1763
It was an attempt to keep the Colonists from going west to pass through the Appalachian Mountains to prevent future issues between Native Americans and the Colonists. This angered the Colonists because they wanted the benefits that would come with the western lands. Thousands of Colonists crossed the imaginary boundary line anyway. -
Stamp Act
The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British soldiers. The tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. The Sons of Liberty used this incident as propaganda against the British. -
Tea Act
An act of the British Parliament that created a monopoly unfair to American tea merchants, and and was the chief cause of the boston tea party. -
Boston Tea Party
Boston colonists, disguised as Indians, threw the contents of several hundred chests of tea into the harbor as a protest against British taxes on tea and against the monopoly granted the East India Company. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were laws that were really punishments that King George III put on the colonies. He did this to the Colonists because he wanted to punish them for dumping tea into the harbor at the Boston Tea Party. The Colonists wanted King George to repeal the acts, but he said that the colonies must submit to these English laws. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates from all thirteen colonies met in Philadelphia to discuss responses to increased British oppression. The First Continental Congress formally declared that colonists should have the same rights as Englishmen. -
Lexington and Concord
The Battle of Lexington and Concord was made up of two battles. British troops were sent to Concord to capture John Hancock and Samuel Adams, but both men had been warned about the British attack. Paul Revere rode through Concord warning everybody about the British attack. So when the British came in to take and attack the Rebels, the Minutemen, Americans were waiting to attack at Lexington. -
Second Continental Congress
The delegates of the 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia to discuss their next steps in revolutionizing America.They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
Declaration of Independence
The Second Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, which severed the colonies from the British Crown.
