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The Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th centuries.
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The Seven Years War pitted the French and Native Americans against the British to gain control of the Ohio River Valley.
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The Sons of Liberty were a clandestine organization who fought for the rights of colonists and against taxation in the 13 colonies. -
The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax that was worth "2 Shillings and 6 Pence. -
This act imposed duties on British imports to the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston. -
The Boston Tea Party was an American political and mercantile protest by the sons of liberty in Boston. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor
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The Intolerable Acts where laws passed by the British parliament after the Boston tea party .These laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. -
This meeting contained delegates from 12 of Britain's 13 colonies to discuss the future of America as Britain was growing more aggresive.
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The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the first battle that started the American Revolution, due to the tensions that had been growing between the colonies and Britain. -
The Olive Branch Petition, adopted by the Second Continental Congress was signed on July 8 of 1775 and was the final attempt made by the colonists to avoid war with Britain. Read the petition here.
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"Common Sense" was a 47-page pamphlet published by Thomas Paine that advocated independence for colonists. Read the pamphlet here. -
The Articles of Confederation served as the first constitution of the United States, and established how the government would function shortly after the colonies became independent. -
Siege of Yorktown, joint Franco-American land and sea campaign that entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced its surrender. The siege virtually ended military operations in the American
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The Treaty of Paris was signed by U.S. and British Representatives on September 3, 1783, ending the War of the American Revolution. Based on a 1782 preliminary treaty, the agreement recognized U.S. independence and granted the U.S. significant western territory. Read the treaty here
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The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The point of the event was decide how America was going to be governed. The Convention had been officially called to revise the existing Articles of Confederation.
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Congress agreed on the first twelve amendments, and they later became ratified and the Bill of Rights, an integral part of the United States Constitution.
