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French-Indian War
The conflict between the French, which the Huron Native Americans were allied with them, and the British, both claimed lands in the Ohio River Valley. -
Navigation Acts
The British Parliament made a series of laws that imposed restrictions on the colonial trade. -
Stamp act
It taxed all papers and required all colonists to pay for a represented stamp. -
Quartering Act
Stated that colonists were to house and feed the soldiers. -
Townshend Acts
Taxed on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile Bostonians, killing a few, and wounding another few, and angering an entire colony. -
Boston Tea Party
American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing "taxation without representation," dumped 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts (aka Coercive Acts)
4 laws that the British Parliament passed to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord
Marked the start of the American War of Independence. -
Second Continental Congress
The Congress took control of the colonies' new Continental Army. It also issued and borrowed money and established a postal service and a navy. -
Olive Branch Petition
It was a last attempt to prevent a war and emphasized loyalty to the British crown and rights as British citizens. -
Common Sense
Written by Thomas Paine, it helped sway the Thirteen Colonies toward independence with his persuasive and passionate case for separation from Britain. -
Declaration of Independence
Unity, freedom, and protection of individual rights. -
Articles of Confederation
Served as the United States' first constitution. Established a "league of friendship" for the 13 sovereign and independent states. -
Daniel Shays’ Rebellion
A violent insurrection in the Massachusetts countryside during 1786 and 1787. -
Constitutional Convention
Decided that the best solution to the young country's problems was to set aside the Articles of Confederation and write a new constitution.