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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years' War. -
The Stamp Act
British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help replenish their finances after the costly Seven Years' War with France. -
The Townshend Acts
To help pay the expenses involved in governing the American colonies, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were abusing them verbally and throwing various missiles. -
Boston Tea Party
Colonists disguised as red coats and when on a Boston ship dumped £10,000 worth of tea into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The Coercive Acts of 1774, known as the Intolerable Acts in the American colonies, were a series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party. -
The Coercive Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. -
First Continental Congress convenes
Delegates from twelve of Britain's thirteen American colonies met to discuss America's future under growing British aggression. -
Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech
Convinced that war with Great Britain was inevitable, Virginian Patrick Henry defended strong resolutions for equipping the Virginia militia to fight against the British in a fiery speech in a Richmond church with the famous words, “I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, the famous 'shot heard 'round the world', marked the start of the American War of Independence. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Breed’s Hill in Charlestown was the primary locus of combat in the misleadingly named Battle of Bunker Hill, which was part of the American siege of British-held Boston. -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Common Sense is a 47-page pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence expresses the ideals on which the United States was founded and the reasons for its separation from Great Britain. -
Nathan Hale executed
Nathan Hale, a Connecticut schoolteacher, and captain in the Continental Army, is executed by the British for spying. -
Washington crosses the Delaware
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War. -
Battle of Valley Forge
General Wilhelm von Knyphausen led British soldiers on a raid of Valley Forge, where American troops had built a handful of storage facilities. -
Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga
British Major General John Burgoyne surrenders 5,000 men to the Continental Army at Saratoga, New York. The surrender came following battles in and around Saratoga in September. -
Washington winters at Valley Forge
Valley Forge is the location of the 1777-1778 winter encampment of the Continental Army under General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War. -
France and the United States form an alliance
The United States and France signed the Treaty of Alliance, creating a military alliance against Great Britain. This guide provides access to digital materials, links to external websites, and a print bibliography. -
Battle of Yorktown
The Siege of Yorktown was a joint Franco-American land and sea campaign that entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced its surrender.