-
The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a battle that occured in the year 1754. This war happened because the French chose to build Fort Duquesne in the Ohio River valley which did not belong to them. This event caused tension between Britain and the colonies because after Britain losing the first battle and coming back to defeat their enemy there was battles for who would get to extend their land. -
Writ of Assistance
The Writ of Assistance was authorized by the royal governor of Massachusetts, which granted a general search warrant that allowed British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods. After this happened it caused the merchants of Boston to get upset -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris happened in 1763 where the war was ended by signing of the Treaty of Paris. After signing the Treaty of Paris, Britain acquired significant territorial gains, including all French territory east of the Mississippi river, as well as Spanish Florida, although the treaty returned Cuba to Spain. Unfortunately for the British, the fruits of victory brought seeds of future trouble with Great Britain's American colonies. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 established a proclamation line along the Appalachians, where colonists were not allowed to cross. Although as the colonists were eager to explore they crossed the line and streamed onto native lands. -
Sugar Act & Colonists response
The sugar act of 1764 did three things, it halved the duty on foreign-made molasses so that the amount of people smuggling things in would get lowered, it placed duties on certain imports, and it provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp act started in March of 1765, allowed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards. A stamp would be placed on the items to prove that the tax had been paid. The tax mainly affected the colonists because it included taxes on the products that they would buy and sell. In May of 1765 the colonists united to defy the law. -
Sons of Liberty is formed
The Sons of Liberty was a organization that was created to fight against the taxations that were given by the british. They played a large factor in fighting the Stamp Act. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act which was passed in 1766 gave the parliament full rights to bind the colonies together no matter what. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Act of 1767 which was lead by Samuel Adams allowed all imported goods from Britain such as lead, glass, paint, paper, and one of the most famous drinks tea. After this occured the city erupted and almost started a bloody war. -
John Locke Social contract
John Lockes social contract stated that only the right people give up in order to enter into civil society and its benefits is the right to punish other people for violating rights. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurred in 1770 when a mob of people stood in front of the Boston Customs house and taunted them, after a while shots were fired and 5 people died and then became labeled as the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
Tea Act was passed in order to save the nearly bankrupt British East India Company. The act allowed the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an event that occured where a group of rebels disguised as Native Americans and dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company's into the water off a boat into the boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The first law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. To keep the peace, he placed Boston under martial law, or rule imposed by military force. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a group of 12 of the 13 colonies, they met because they didn't agree with the blockade of the Boston Harbor. -
continental army
The colonial militia which was renamed to the continental army and led by George Washington. -
Minute Men
Minutemen were civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minutes notice, they were stocked on firearms and gunpowder. -
Battle of Lexington
The Americans won the battle. The British retreated back to Boston. The Battle of Concord proved to the British that the American army was not just a band of unorganized rebels, but an army that deserved respect. -
Battle of concord
the same as the battle of Lexington -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Congress functioned as (a de facto) national government at the outset of the Revolutionary War by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing treatises such as the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and the Olive Branch Petition. -
Battle of Bunker H
one of the deadliest battles of the war. The colonists lost over 450 and Britain lost over 1000. -
Olive Branch Petition
The olive branch petition was sent out in order to try and return the harmony between Britain and the colonies. -
Red coats and Washingtons army cross the Delaware River
In the summer of 1776 Washington created an army of german mercenaries and colonists, but in war the British pushed them back across the Delaware river and into Pennsylvania. -
Publication of Common Sense
This was written in order to try and encourage common people in the colonies to fight for egalitarian government. -
Declaration of independence
The D.O.I was written by the second continental congress and was finally drafted by Thomas Jefferson. The Document states that "all men are created equally". Lastly the date of adoption was august 2,1776 -
Washington's Christmas night attack
Desperate for a victory Washington risked everything and attacked the British when they least expected it. -
Saratoga
Burgoyne's plan was to launch a surprise attack with 8000 Canadian troops but it dint not work and he was forced to surrender. -
French-American Alliance
the Saratoga victory bolstered France’s belief that the Americans could win the war. As a result, the French signed an alliance with the Americans in February 1778 and openly joined them in their fight. -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania is where 2000 of George Washingtons soldiers died from a lack of everything. -
Friedrich Von Steuben and Marquis da Lafayette
In February 1778, in the midst of the frozen winter at Valley
Forge, American troops began an amazing transformation.
Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster, helped to train the Continental Army. Other foreign military leaders, such as the Marquis de Lafayette also arrived to offer their help. -
British Victory in the south
After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the
British began to shift their operations to the South. At the end of 1778, a British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia. In their greatest victory of the war, the British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. Clinton then left for New York, while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South. -
British surrender at YorkTown
Shortly after learning of Cornwallis’s actions, the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown. Meanwhile, a French naval force defeated a British fleet and then blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British sea
routes to the bay. -
Treat of Paris 1783
In September 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border. -
3 interesting Facts
-U.S. troops engaged: 217,000
-American battle deaths: 4,435
-The 13 American colonies fought for independence from British rule to become the United State
