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Boston Tea Party
For weeks feelings were tense in Boston. Finally the colonists took action. A large crowed gathered in the harbor, and then a large amount of men dressed as Native Americans got on the ship. In three hours they dumped 9,000 lbs of tea into the sea, a million dollars worth. -
Albany Congress
A meeting called bye the british government for the colonial leaders, the british wanted the colonies to join together to defend against the French. They also wanted the Iroquois to join them, but they refused because they thought the French would win. Ben Franklin put in his newspaper, the philidelphia gazzete, and in it was a chopped up snake with the colonies that said Join or Die. -
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The French and Indian War
The French and Native Americans faced British, Iroquois and Colonists in a war for control over Ohio River valley. The British win, and France lose there entire empire. -
Treaty of Paris
France could not defend the rest of their North American territory. When Montreal fell in 1760, that lead France to sign the treaty of Paris. This happened in Paris Frace. France ceded French Canada to the British, Britan also gained all other territory east of the missisipi, with the exeption of New Orleans. The British also got Spanish Florida. The rest of the territory west of the missisipi went to Spain. -
Pontiac's war
Pontiacs war happened in May of 1763. Pontiac and his allies attacked British forts Nearly half a dozen western British forts were destroyed and at least 2,000 backcountry settlers were killed. The British killed Native Americans, even ones that didn't attack them. The war continues until the British defeated Pontiac's forces near fort Pitt. Pontiac continued to fight another year but fell in 1764. -
Proclaimation of 1763
Britan wanted to avoid further wars with Native Americans on the frontier. Therefore the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763. It banned colonial settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachain Mountains. This proclamation angered many colonists, since they were forced to move east. They ignored the proclamation an Britan could do nothing about it. -
Sugar Act
The British effort to impose new taxes on the colonies began in 1764 when parliament passed the sugar act, which put a import tax on several products, including molasses. Colonial merchant who sometimes traded in smuggled goods, protested. -
The Stamp Act
The stamp act requiered colonists to put special stamps on all document. If there wasn't a stamp on it it wasn't legal. Patrick Henry made an emotional speech against the act. He referenced the murder of Julius Cesar in it. He said some good american would do the same to King George The III. There were protests and they worked. The law was lifted but at the same time the Declatory Act was passed. -
The Quartering Act
One year later the Quartering Act was passed by parliament. The purpose was to save money. This made it so the colonies had to house British troops and provide them with nourishment. The colonists protested angrily. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5 1770, parliament repealed all the Townshend duties, accept for the one on tea. This angered the Colonists, and a group of them threw snowballs and rocks at the soldiers. The soldiers got worried, killed 5 colonists and wounding 6. The soldiers were put on trial for this, with John Addams as their lawyer. Even though he didn't support parliament he thought everyone deserved a fair trial. In the end two of the soldiers had branded thumbs. -
Tea Act
This was an act to help the British East India company. The company was making steady money, however after the Boycott of tea the sales rate went way down. It made it so that they had to buy the tea Britan provides. The colonial merchants suffered a great deal from this, because they wouldn't be able to compete with lower priced tea. Colonists also argued that even though the price of tea was lowered, there was still a tax on it. -
Intolerable Acts
The Boston Tea Party andered the British. They wanted to make an example of the colonists in Boston and Massachusetts. Parliament passed four laws to do this, the Intolerable Acts. The first closed the port of Boston, ruining merchants trade and not letting the town get recources. The second abolished the upper house of Massachusetts legislature, and the third cut the powers of town meetings. Finally, a fourth law strengthened the Quartering Act, so that meant housing more soldiers. -
First Continental Congress
This was a meeting with 12 of the 13 colnies delagates. Only Georgia didn't send representatives. The Congress demanded the repeal of the intolerable acts, and declared the colonies had the right to tax and govern themselves. They also wanted the training of militias to stand up to British Troops if needed. They also wanted to boycott British goods. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The British government didn't want to meet the demands of the Continental Congress. In the meantime colonists prepared for war by training minutemen. The governor of Massachusetts, found out that they were storing arms in concord. So he sent men to go to concord, were shot at but not killed in lexington, killing many minutemen. When they got to concord they didn't find the wepons. On their way back to Boston, they were ambused and 1/3 of the British that Thomas sent died. -
The Second Continental Congress
The second continental congress came together in Philadelphia. The Congress chose George Washington to be the army leader. The Congress took steps to building an army by making paper bills. The second continental congress was starting to form into a government. -
Battle for Fort Ticonderoga
On this day an important battle took place. A band of colonists made a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga. This Fort protected the water route to Canada. The leader of the force was Ethan Allen, a blacksmith. His fleet was known as the Green Mountain Boys. He crossed lake Champlain in the night to surprise attack the fort in the morning. Allen had 83 men and the fort only had 42 troops. Britain surrendered almost immediately. They got cannons from the fort to drive Britain from Boston. -
Battles of Bunker and Breeds Hill
The Americans around Boston were farmers and workers, not trained soldiers. British general William Howe decided to attack up Breed's hill. The American commander, Israel Putnam knew his troops were low on ammo. The Americans waited until they could see the white in the Brits eyes. When they shot hundreds of British soldiers died. Only because the Americans ran out of ammo the British won. But the colonists proved they could fight and killed or wounded 1,000 Brits. -
Olive Branch Petition
The second continental congress hoped there could still be peace with Britain. They sent a petition called the Olive Branch petition to king George. It said that the colonists were loyal to the king, and asked George to stop all fighting and disputes. The King didn't even bother to read it. He declared the colonies in open rebellion. He sent 20,000 more troops to flood the colonies. -
Invasion of Quebec
While training of an army outside of Boston, two other American armies were moving north into Canada. One was led by Richard Montgomery, the other by Benidict Arnold. Arnold has a terrible journy through the Maine woods. His toops had to eat wax candles, bark and shoe leather! In late december, the Americans attacked Quebec during a severe snowstorm. They lost the attack that killed Montgomery, and wounded Arnold, giving Canada to Britan. -
The British Withdrawal From Boston
Washington knew he had to build a normal army. He also needed powerful weapons to drive the Brits from Boston. He had the British cannons seized at Ticonderoga. They dragged the cannons 300 miles to Boston in three months. Washington put the cannons on high ground overlooking Boston. The British could no longer defend the city and fled Boston by sea and never returned.