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French and Indian War
As the French empire in North America expanded, it collided with the growing British Empire. During the late 17 and first half of the 18 centuries, France and Great Britain had fought three inconclusive wars. Each war had begun in Europe, but spread to their overseas colonies. In 1754, after six relatively peaceful years, the French-British conflict reignited. -
Writ of Assistance
The royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the use of writs of assistance, a general search warrant that allowed British customs officials to search any colonial ship in response to smugglers. Because many merchants worked out of their residences, the writs enabled British officials to enter and search colonial homes whether there was evidence of smuggling or not. This outraged the merchants. -
Treaty of Paris
Signing the Treaty ended the war in 1763. Great Britain claimed Canada and all of North America east of the Mississippi river. Britain took Florida from Spain, who was allied with France. The treaty permitted Spain to keep its land west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans, which it gained from France. France retained control of a few islands and small colonies near Newfoundland, in the West Indies, and elsewhere. -
Proclamation of 1763
To avoid further costly conflicts with Native Americans, the British government prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The Proclamation established a Proclamation Line along the Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. However, the colonists, eager to expand westward, ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native American lands. -
Sugar Act & Colonists' Response
Great Britain's national debt nearly doubled from the war, so King George III hoped to lower it.The Sugar Act halved the duty on foreign-made molasses so colonists would not smuggle, placed duties on certain imports, and provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried by a single judge instead of a jury. Merchants complained that the Act reduced their profits and others thought parliament had no right to tax because the colonists did not elect representatives to the body. -
Stamp Act & Colonists' Reponse
This act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards. It was the first tax that directly affected the colonists because it was levied on goods and services. In May, the colonists unified to create the Sons of Liberty to protest and the colonial assemblies declared Parliament lacked power to tax because they had no representation. In October, merchants agreed to boycott British goods until the Stamp Act was repealed. -
Sons of Liberty is Formed and Samuel Adams
Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized the Sons of Liberty to protest the Stamp Act. Once the Stamp Act was repealed, Parliament passed the Declaratory and Townshend Acts. Samuel Adams, one of the founders of the Sons of Liberty, led colonists to boycott British goods. -
Declaratory Act
Passed on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed, The Declaratory Act asserted Parliament's full rights "to bind the colonie sand people of America in all cases whatsoever." -
Townshend Acts & Colonists' Response & Why They Were Repealed
The Townshend Acts taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. The Acts also imposed a tax on tea. Led by Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, the colonists boycotted British goods.They were repealed because new prime minister Lord Frederick North realized the taxes were costing more to enforce than they would ever bring in. Townshend Acts were repealed, except for the tax on tea. -
Boston Massacre
A mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers standing guard. Shots were fired and five colonists, including, Crispus Attucks, were killed or mortally wounded. Colonial leaders quickly labeled the confrontation the Boston Massacre. -
Boston Tea Party
On December 16, 1773, a large group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against three British ships anchored in the harbor. In this incident, known as the Boston Tea Party, the "Indians" dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company's tea into the Boston Harbor. -
Tea Act
Lord North devised the Tea Act in order to save the nearly bankrupt British East India Company. The act granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. This action would have cut colonial merchants out of the the tea trade by enabling the company to sell its tea directly to consumers for less. North hoped colonists would just buy the cheaper tea, but they protested. -
Intolerable Acts -- All 3 Parts
These acts were passed in response to the Boston Tea Party. One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. General Thomas Gage, commander of British forces in America, was appointed governor of Massachusetts and put Boston martial law, rule imposed by military forces. -
First Continental Congress Meets
In response to Britain’s actions, the committees of correspondence assembled the First Continental Congress. In September 1774, 56 delegates met in Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the colonies’ right to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British used forceagainst the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
Minutemen
After the First Continental Congress met, colonists in many eastern New England towns stepped up military preparations. Minutemen—civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice—quietly stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. General Thomas Gage soon learned about these activities. In the spring of 1775, he ordered troops to march from Boston to nearby Concord, Massachusetts, and to seize illegal weapons. -
Midnight Riders: Revere, Dawes, Prescott
Colonists in Boston were watching, and on the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode out to spread word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord. The darkened countryside rang with church bells and gunshots—prearranged signals, sent from town to town, that the British were coming. -
Battle of Lexington
70 minutemen were lined up in the greens of Lexington.The British commander ordered the minutemen to lay down their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out without laying down their muskets. Then someone fired, and the British soldiers sent a volley of shots into the departing militia. Eight minutemen were killed and ten more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured. The Battle of Lexington, the first battle of the Revolutionary War, lasted only 15 minutes -
Battle Of Concord
The British marched on to Concord, where they found an empty arsenal. After a brief skirmish with minutemen, the British soldiers lined up to march back to Boston, but the march quickly became a slaughter. Between 3,000 and 4,000 minutemen had assembled by now, and they fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls and trees,killing British by the dozen. Colonists had become enemies of Britain and now held Boston and its encampment of British troops under siege. -
Second Continental Congress
In May of 1775, colonial leaders called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next
move. The loyalties that divided colonists sparked endless debates at the Second Continental Congress. Some delegates called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. -
Continental Army
The Second Continental Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander -
Battle of Bunker Hill
British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at militiamen on Breed’s Hill, north of the city and near Bunker Hill. Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. The colonists held their fire until the last minute and then began to mow down the advancing redcoats before finally retreating. The colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties.The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
By July, the Second Continental Congress was readying the colonies for war though still hoping for peace. Many remained loyal to the King so the Congress sent the king the Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. King George flatly rejected the petition. Furthermore, he issued a proclamation stating that the colonies were in rebellion and urged Parliament to order a naval blockade to isolate a line of ships meant for the American coast. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists—those who opposed independence
and remained loyal to the British king. Many Loyalists thought that the British were going to win and wanted to avoid punishment as rebels. Still others thought that the Crown would protect their rights more effectively than the new colonial governments would.
Patriots—the supporters of independence—drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America.Many Americans remained neutral, -
Publication of Common Sense
In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titled Common Sense,
Paine attacked King George and the monarchy. Paine declared that independence would allow America to trade more freely. He
also stated that independence would give American colonists the chance to create a better society—one free from tyranny, with equal social and economic opportunities for all. Common Sense sold nearly 500,000 copies in 1776 and was widely applauded. -
Declaration of Independence
Author: Thomas Jefferson
Jefferson’s document declared the
rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to be “unalienable” rights. Jefferson then asserted that a government’s
legitimate power can only come from the consent of the governed, and that when a government denies their unalienable rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government. -
Redcoats push Washington's Army Across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
The British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about 32,000 soldiers. Although the Continental Army attempted to defend New York in late August, the untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated. By late fall, the British had pushed Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. -
Washington's Christmas Night Surprise Attack
Desperate for an early victory, Washington risked everything on one bold stroke set for Christmas night, 1776. In the face of a fierce storm, he led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River. They then marched to their objective—Trenton, New Jersey—and defeated a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. The British soon regrouped, however, and in September of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia. -
John Locke's Social Contract
Locke maintained that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Furthermore, he contended, every society is based on a social contract—an agreement in which the people consent to choose and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights. If the government violates that social contract by taking away or interfering with those rights, people have the right to resist and even overthrow the government. -
Saratoga
British General John Burgoyne planned to lead an army down a route of lakes from Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops as they arrived from New York City. The two regiments would then join forces to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. While he was fighting off the colonial troops, Burgoyne didn’t realize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and weren’t coming to meet him. Burgoyne surrendered on Oct. 17, 1777 at Saratoga. -
French-American Alliance
The surrender at Saratoga turned out to be one of the most important events of the war. Although the French had secretly aided the Patriots since early 1776, the Saratoga victory bolstered France’s belief that the Americans could win the war. As a result, the
French signed an alliance with the Americans in February
1778 and openly joined them in their fight. -
Valley Forge
While this hopeful turn of events took place in Paris,
Washington and his Continental Army—desperately low on
food and supplies—fought to stay alive at winter camp in
Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 2,000 soldiers died,
yet the survivors didn’t desert. Their endurance and suffering
filled Washington’s letters to the Congress and his friends. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
In February 1778, in the midst of the frozen winter at Valley
Forge, American troops began an amazing transformation.
Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster,
helped to train the Continental Army. Other foreign
military leaders, such as the Marquis de Lafayette also arrived to offer their help.Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779, and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war -
British Victories in the South
After their devastating defeat at Saratoga, the British began to shift their operations to the South. At the end of 1778, a British expedition easily took Savannah, Georgia. In their greatest victory of the war, the British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780. -
British Surrender at Yorktown
Cornwalis (British General) planned to fortify Yorktown,take Virginia, and join Clinton's troops. Lafayette and Washington's armies went to Yorktown while the French naval force defeated a British fleet and then, blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British sea routes to the bay. By late September, about 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding them. On October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally surrendered. -
Treaty Of Paris
Peace talks began in Paris in 1782. The American negotiating team included John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. In September 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border.
