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French-Indian War (1756-1763)
the French burned Fort Duquesne to the ground before retreating. -
Navigation Acts (1763)
declared that only English ships would be allowed to bring goods into England, and that the North American colonies could only export -
Quartering Act
provided that colonial authorities would arrange for British troops to be housed in local barracks and public houses -
Stamp Act
Colonial resistance to the Stamp Act and pressure from London merchants prompt Parliament to abolish the Stamp Act. -
Townshend Acts
a group of 60 American colonists threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against both a tax on tea -
Boston Massacre
seven British soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile Bostonians, killing five, wounding another six, and angering an entire colony. -
Olive Branch Petition
to be sent to the King as a last attempt to prevent formal war from being declared. -
Intolerable Acts
which replaced the elective local government with an appointive one and increased the powers of the military governor -
Boston Tea Party
dozens of disguised men, some as Indigenous Americans, boarded the three East India Company ships and dumped 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor. -
Second Continental Congress
John Hancock was elected president of Congress. George Washington is named commander-in-chief. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord
British forces succeed in destroying cannon and supplies in Concord.
Militia successfully drive British back to Boston. -
Declaration of Independence
God made all men equal and gave them the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness -
Articles of Confederation
the Constitution of 1787 and the stronger federal government it created, the Articles enabled the infant United States to wage war against the British successfully, -
Common Sense
a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. -
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. -
Daniel Shays’ Rebellion
uprising in western Massachusetts in opposition to high taxes and stringent economic conditions.