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Treaty of Paris 1763
The Treaty of Paris marked the end of the French and Indian War. The British gained control of the Ohio River Valley. -
Sugar Act
The first law to be passed by parliament to raise tax revenue in the colonies for the crown. This increased the duty on sugar imported from the West Indies. Although later being lowered due to bitter protests. -
Quartering Act
Colonists were required to provide food and shelter for British troops causing more resentment toward the British. -
Declaratory Act
After repealing the Stamp Act parliament passed the Declaratory Act. In result parliament was allowed “to bind the colonies in all cases whatsoever.” The Declaratory Act was a way to show Britain had absolute sovereignty over the colonies. -
Townsend Acts
The Townshend Acts were passed by parliament after being persuaded by Charles Townshend. These created new regulations including an import duty on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and tea. The colonists remained taxed without representation during this causing them to rebel more. -
Boston Massacre
Townspeople in a group of around 60 were taunting and attacking ten redcoats with snowballs full of rocks. The townspeople who angered over the death of an eleven year old boy that had happened ten days before during a protest. The troops fired at the townspeople killing five the first to die being Crispus Attucks. -
Boston Tea Party
Bostonians in Indian disguises, boarded docked ships full of tea. 324 crates were shattered and dumped into the Atlantic at Bar Harbor. As this went on a crowd watched on the shore as the tea began to fill the water. The Sons of Liberty were protesting the tax on tea hoping to show its cheap price was not an “invincible temptation to the people.” -
Intolerable Acts
A series of acts passed by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party. The acts were designed to chastise Boston and Massachusetts. The most drastic act of the Intolerable acts was the Boston Port Act. This act closed the harbor until damages were paid and order was ensued. -
Quebec Act
The Quebec Act accompanied the Intolerable Acts. The act revoked the Proclamation of 1763 in aim to gain the loyalty of French speaking people in Quebec. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was brought about in response to the Intolerable Acts. 55 men from 12 of the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia including George Washington, John Adams, Samual Adams, and Patrick Henry. The First Continental Congress lasted for seven weeks. In result “several dignified papers” were written including the Declaration of Rights, appeals to the other British A,Eric an colonies and the King himself. -
Lexington and Concord
The British Commander in Boston sent troops to Lexington and Concord to seize colonial gunpowder and “to bag the rebel ringleaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock.” The minute men at Lexington refused to hand over the gunpowder quickly and thus shits were fired killing eight Americans. Moving on to Concord the British were not able to collect what they came for as the Americans were ready to fight back. -
Second continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress again met in Philadelphia although this time all 13 colonies were present. The Congress drafted new appeals to the king and British people in hopes they’d be heard. A measure to raise money to create an army and a navy was brought about in anticipation that there would be a rebuff. -
Bunker Hill
The colonists seized a store of gunpowder and artillery as the seize of Boston was secured. The British began a Frontal attack on the Americans at Bunker Hill who were ready to attack. -
Common Sense
The Common Sense written by Thomas Paine is one of the most influential pamphlets ever written. Paine in the pamphlet argued a republic was superior to a monarchy. The Common Sense was a way to convince colonists to see the real cause of the fighting was independence not reconciliation. A total of 120,000 copies were sold within a few months. -
Declaration of Independence
A committee was appointed “to prepare a more formal statement of separation.“ Thomas Jefferson a Virginia lawyer was assigned the task of drafting this formal statement of separation. The Declaration of Independence was formally approved by the Congress on July 4, 1776. -
Trenton
George Washington along with twenty-four hundred men recrossed the Delaware River. The Hessians sleeping after their Christmas celebrations were captured to their surprise. A week later Washington left campfires lit as a ploy to allow him to sneak away and attack a small British detachment at Princeton. -
Valley Forge
Americans were without food during the freezing winter in Pennsylvania. Some men fainted from the lack of food. As well manufactured goods were in short supply. Men walked barefoot and nearly naked through the snow some leaving bloody footprints behind them. -
Battle of the Chesapeake Capes
French and British fleets engaged in battle September 5th. A two day chase ensued u til September 8th the French turned back northward occupying Chesapeake Bay successfully cutting off general Cornwallis leading to the attack at Yorktown. -
Yorktown
British general Cornwallis fell back to Chesapeake Bay at Yorktown awaiting supplies. During this time Britain’s naval superiority slipped away. The French joined the Americans on an attack on Cornwallis at Yorktown. The French attacked by sea while Washington “beset the British by land”. Cornwallis was forced to surrender his force of seven thousand men October 19, 1781. -
Treaty of Paris 1783
The treaty of Paris 1783 made the British formally recognize the United States independence. As well, it granted generous boundaries to the Americans that stretched from the “Mississippi on the West, to the Great Lakes on the North, and to Spanish Florida from Britain.” In return the Americans had to yield important concessions and loyalists were not to be persecuted any further.
