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The Sugar Act lowered taxes on molasses, brought to the colonists to minimize smuggling. Colonists believed the Sugar Act violated their legal rights as British citizens, by denying the right to trial. -
The Stamp Act passed any printed paper goods, including legal documents, that needed to be taxed and needed a stamp to prove the tax was paid. Nine colonies met in New York wrote that the stamp act was a violation of their natural and political rights. -
Instead of repealing the Intolerable Acts, King George lll sent more troops to Boston. Revere would then take a midnight ride shouting "The regulars are coming out" as a secret code to warn the colonists the British were coming. -
Parliament wanted to pay British troops in America for the French, and Indian War. The Townshend Acts taxed imports and tea, colonists became infuriated by another tax being passed without their permission. -
The Massacre that happened on King Street between the British soldiers and the colonists. A soldier and some Bostonians were fighting, some citizens dared the soldiers to fire, a few soldiers panicked and killed five Boston citizens. -
The sons of liberty disguised themselves as Native Americans, boarded British ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. Some colonists considered themselves loyal British citizens, the colonists attempted to pay England back for the tea to repeal the Tea Act. -
King George lll acknowledged England either needed to "master" the colonists or "leave them to themselves." George picked "master." The coercive acts known to the colonists as the Intolerable Acts because Boston Harbor was closed, most town meetings were banned, the charter was revoked, and were put under martial law, etc. -
The colonies sent representatives to meet in Philadelphia to figure out how to respond. The debate was about how to best oppose British policy or negotiate with Parliament. -
Colonel William Prescott set up the Massachusetts militias on Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, across the harbor from Boston. On June 17, 1775 Prescott ordered the militias not to fire at the Redcoats until they could see "the whited of their eyes." -
Thomas Paine wrote an anonymous pamphlet arguing for democracy and independence titled "Common Sense." Paine blamed king George lll personally-not just Parliament, pretty radical for a time when most countries were ruled by kings and who claimed to have God on their side. -
First introduced by Richard Henry Lee, a resolution in the Second Continental Congress calling the colonies free and independent states. A committee was created to draft a Declaration of Independence, written by Jefferson within two weeks, and drawing ideas from John Locke. -
30,000 British soldiers arrived in New York City out-numbering Washington's troops, that drove the patriots out of New York. The British were so sure that the war would be over soon, they left the defense of New Jersey up to a group of German mercenaries the Hessians. -
Washington and thousands of his troops secretly rowed across the Delaware River, while the Hessians were celebrating Christmas. The next morning while the Hessians were camped out and still sleeping, the continental army attacked and won an important victory. -
The British plan to capture the city of Albany and take control of the Hudson River. The British wanted to cut off New England from other colonies, while General William Howe, General John Burgoyne, and Lieutenant Colonel Barry ST. Leger will meet in Albany. -
The Continental army had suffered through one of the worst winters on record. With almost no food, clothing, or supplies, a quarter of them died, those who survived trained under Prussian officer Baron and became a small but very skilled New Continental army. -
The French had been secretly providing supplies and their navy to the Patriots. The victory of Saratoga and the charm of Benjamin Franklin as an American diplomat in France, King Louis XVI decided that France would officially become an ally and declare war against Great Britain. -
British commander Henry Clinton captured Savannah, Georgia, then eventually the entire state of Georgia. Clinton gained control of Charleston, South Carolina, in a battle that destroyed most of the American army in the South, and Congress appointed General Horatio Gates who led troops to victory in Saratoga to create a New Southern army. -
Instead of using the traditional European style of lining up for combat. The Patriots used their knowledge of the terrain by attacking supply and communication centers in small groups and escaping before they could be caught, using a New kind of warfare, Guerrilla Warfare. -
Cornwallis moved his troops to Yorktown Virginia, on the banks of York River. Philadelphia and New York were controlled by the British, and Washington took the opportunity to take a fast march south with the Continental army, and 7,000 French troops to surround Yorktown. -
After The Battle of Yorktown, the Treaty of Paris was favorable for the U.S. it took two years to finish the negotiating. On September 3, 1783, Britain officially agreed that the U.S. was a free and independent nation, able to expand its boundaries, to the Mississippi River, the southern border of Canada, and the northern border of Spanish Florida.