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French and Indian War
1754–1763 As the French empire in North America expanded, it collided with the growing British empire. During the late 17th and first half of the 18th 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. The French were more interested in exploiting their territories than in settling them. Major area of contention between Fran -
Writ of Assistance
In 1761, the writs of assistance was a general search warrant that allowed British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods authorized by royal governor of Massachusetts since 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. The merchants of Boston were outraged -
Treaty of Paris
The war officially ended when the treaty of Paris was signed in 1763. Great Britain claimed Canada, North America east of the Mississippi River, and Florida from Spain, which resulted in an alliance with France. Although it Allowed Spain to keep its lands west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans, which it gained from France in 1762. France still had control of only a few islands and small colonies near Newfoundland, in the West Indies, and elsewhere. -
The Proclamation
To avoid any further conflicts with Native Americans, the British government prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains, so they established a Proclamation Line along the Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. The However, the colonists, eager to expand to the west from the increasingly crowded Atlantic seaboard, therefore they ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native American lands. -
Sugar Act & Colonists Response
The Sugar Act halved the duty on foreign-made molasses in hopes of colonists to pay a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling. Placed duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before. Provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court. Each case would be decided by a single judge. Colonial merchants complained that the Sugar Act would reduce their profits. -
Declatory Act
The British Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, in order to assert Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
Stamp Acts & Colonists Responce
Imposed tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards. A stamp would be placed on the items to prove that the tax had been paid. It was the first tax that affected colonists directly because it was levied on goods and services. People from Merchants in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia agreed to boycott British goods. Colonists also united to rebel against it. Boston citizens organized a secret group called the Sons of Liberty to protest the law. -
Sons of Liberty is Formed & Samuel Adams
Because of the Stamps Acts, Samuel Adams, one founder of the Sons of Liberty, boycotted British goods and created the secret organization of Sons of Liberty which mostly consisted of shopkeepers, artisans and laborers protested and defied the law. -
Townshend Acts & Colonists Response (Why they were repealed)
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister. 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, the most popular drink in the colonies. Led by men such as Samuel Adams, one of the founders of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists again boycotted British goods. -
Boston Massacre
March 5, 1770, it all started with mob gathering in front of the Boston Customs House and taunting the British soldiers standing guard there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed or mortally wounded. Colonial leaders quickly labeled the confrontation the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
In 1773, Tea Act was devised 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 the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. This action would have cut colonial merchants out of the tea trade by enabling the East India Company to sell its tea directly to consumers for less. This casued the colonists in Boston rebel, dumping 18,000 pounds of East India Company tea into Boston harbor. -
Boston Tea Party
a large group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against three British tea ships anchored in the harbor. In this incident, later known as the Boston Tea Party, the “Indians” dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Parliament passed Intolerable Acts in a furious response:
1. shut down Boston harbor
2. Quartering Act let British commanders house soldiers in vacant private homes/buildings
3. British General Thomas Gage was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts, holding Boston under martial law (rule imposed by military forces) -
First Continental Congress Meets
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 force against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
MinuteMen
After First Continental Congress, colonists step up military prep. Minutemen (civilian soldiers who pledged ready to fight British on a minute’s notice) quietly stocked firearms. General Thomas Gage learns of this, and in 1775 orders troops to march from Boston to Concord (Massachusetts) to seize illegal weapons. -
Battle of Concord
British marched on to Concord, and were about to head back to Boston. Between 3,000 and 4,000 minutemen assembled, and fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls and trees. Colonists are now enemies of Britain, holding Boston and its encampment of British troops under siege. -
Continental Army
Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Olive Branch Petition
Congress sent the king George III the Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. King George rejected the petition. 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. -
John Locke's Social Contract
One of the key Enlightenment thinkers was English philosopher Locke. Believed that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. 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. -
Midnight Riders (Revere,Dawes,Prescott)
Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott rode out to spread word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord. Church bells and gunshots sounded, signals to towns that the British were coming. -
Battle of Lexington
Redcoats reached Lexington, Massachusetts, 5 miles short of Concord, and are met by 70 minutemen who drawn up in lineson the village green. The British ordered them to lay down their arms and leave, the colonists began to move out without laying down their muskets. Then someone fired, and the British fired back.. Eight minutemen are killed and ten more wounded, one British soldier is injured. The Battle of Lexington, first battle of the Revolutionary War, lasted 15 minutes. -
Second Continental Congress
Colonists meet in Philadelphia to debate next move. Some delegates wanted independence, others wanted reconciliation. Either way, Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as Continental Army and appointed George Washington as commander -
Battle of Bunker Hill
British general Thomas Gage struck at militiamen on Breed’s Hill, near Bunker Hill. Gage sent 2,400 soldiers up the hill, colonists held fire until the last minute and then shot advancing redcoats before finally retreating. Colonists lost 450 men, British had over 1,000 casualties. -
Publicaion of Common Sense
50-page pamphlet by Thomas Paine attacking King George and the monarchy. Paine argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with “the royal brute of Britain.” His own revolt against the king begun with Lexington and Concord. Said that independence would allow and America to trade more freely, create a better society with equal social and economic opportunities for all. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king.included judges and governors, as well as people of more modest means. 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. -
Decloration of Independence
Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft. Mix Locke’s ideas of natural rights, Jefferson’s document declared the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to be “unalienable” rights, ones that can never be taken away. Then asserted that a government’s legitimate power can only come from the consent of the governed, and that when a government denies their rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government. All men are created equal. -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
British attempted to seize NY City, sailing into NY harbor summer of 1776 with about 32,000 soldiers. Colonial Army attempted to defend New York in late August but they were Untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated. By late fall, British pushed Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania -
Washington’s Christmas Night Surprise Attack
2,400 men in small boats sail across icy Delaware River. They march to Trenton, New Jersey and defeat a garrison of Hessians who were German mercenaries in a surprise attack. British soon regroup and in September of 1777, captured American capital at Philadelphia. -
Saratoga
General John Burgoyne planned to meet other British troops to isolate New England.As Burgoyne traveled, militiamen and soldiers from the Continental Army gathered from all over New York and New England. 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. American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777. -
French-American Alliance
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. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Marquis de Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779, and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. The raw Continental Army became an effective fighting force. Also Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain, helped the Continental Army in Valley Forge. -
Valley Forge
Washington and his Continental Army who were 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 was mentioned in Washington’s letters to the Congress and his friends. -
British victories in the South
British soldiers easily take Savannah, Georgia, after Saratoga. Under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis, they capture Charles Town, South Carolina. in May 1780. Clinton left for New York, while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South. British general moveed the fight to Virginia. Army of 7,500 onto the peninsula between the James and York rivers and camped at Yorktown. Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown, take Virginia, move north to join Clinton’s force. -
British surrender at Yorktown
Armies of Lafayette and Washington hear of Cornwallis' plan amd move to Yorktown. French naval force defeats a British fleet and block the entrance to Chesapeake Bay and British sea routes to the bay. By late September, 17,000 French and Amer. troops surround British at Yorktown. In October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrenders. -
Treaty of Paris
Peace talk begins in Paris 1782. American negotiating team includes John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. In September 1783, the delegates sign Treaty of Paris, confirming U.S. independence and setting boundaries of the new nation. The US now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to
the Florida border.
