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Stono Rebellion
The largest uprising of the colonial period, so frightened White planters that they convinced the South Carolina assembly to ban the importation of enslaved Africans for ten years and pass the Negro Act of 1740. -
The Great Awakening
The Great Awakening in the 1730s-1740s was a religious revival in the colonies. This event was a time when people felt a renewed connection with religion. It also led to new branches of Christianity and also set the base of the American Revolution. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a conflict between Britain and France. The war was over the control of North America, mainly the Ohio River Valley. Britain won the War and gained a lot of territory, but it was too expensive which caused taxing. This taxing upset the American colonies which eventually sparked the American Revolution. -
First Treaty of Paris
Gave Britain control of France's territories east of the Mississippi River. -
Proclamation Act
It drew an imaginary line along the crest of the Appalachian Mountains from Canada to Georgia. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 forced the colonists to pay their taxes, in which it was represented by a stamp. It was a tax by the British government without approval of the colonial legislatures. The taxes had to be paid for with British money. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre of 1770 was a riot that took place on King Street in Boston. It began with just a street brawl between an American colonists and a British soldier. It quickly escalated to a slaughter and helped spark the revolution. -
Declaration of Independence
The congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. It was written by Thomas Jefferson in Philadelphia on July 4, a date now celebrated as the birth of American Independence. -
Battle of Saratoga
As Patriot militiamen converged from across central, New York, Burgoyne pulled his forces back to the village of Saratoga, where the reinforced American army surrounded the British. -
Valley Forge
The winter of 1777-1778 was a time of intense suffering. Keeping his ragtag army intact and preserving morale was George Washington's greatest leadership test. -
Battle of Yorktown
The American and French troops closed off Cornwallis's last escape route and began bombarding the British with cannons. Cornwallis held out for three weeks, but on October 17, 1781 the anniversary of the American victory at Saratoga, he surrendered. -
Second Treaty of Paris
Its provisions were surprisingly favorable to the United States. Great Britain recognized the independence of the thirteen former colonies and agreed that the Mississippi River was America's western boundary. -
Freedom
The Revolution also tested traditional religious loyalties and triggered important changes in the relationship between churches and governments. Before the Revolution, Americans tolerated religious dissent; after the revolution, they insisted on complete freedom of religion as embodied in the principle of separation of church and state. -
Shay's Rebellion
The news of Shay's Rebellion sent shock waves across the nation. In Massachusetts, Abigail Adams dismissed the rebel farmers as "ignorant, restless desperadoes, without conscience or principles." George Washington was equally concerned. America, he said, needed a stronger national "government by which our lives, liberty, and properties will be secured." -
Northwest Ordinance
It set forth two key principles: the new territories would eventually become coequal states, as Jefferson had proposed, and slavery would be banned from the region north of the Ohio River.