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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. -
The French and Indian War
In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne despite the fact that Virginia government already had 200,000 acres of land in the Ohio country.The Virginia governor sent militia to evict the French. In the first battle of war, the french lost and their leader was George Washington. Washington came back to battle to be an aide to the British general Edward Braddock. General Edward Braddock relaunch his attack on Fort Duquesne. -
The French and Indian War Part 2
French soldiers and their Natice American allies ambushed them and the British soldiers fled. -
Writ of Assistance
Writ of assistance is a general search warrant that allowed British customs officials to search any colonial shi[ pr building they believed to be holding smuggled goods. -
Treaty of Paris
Britain's KIng George II selected new leaders to run his government in 1757. William Pitt leaded British and colonial troops to winning battles.British troops scaled the high cliffs and defeated the French by a surprise attack. great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi River. Britain also took florida from Spain. Spain kept lands west of Mississippi and the city of New Orleans. -
Proclamation of 1763
Native Americans captured eight British forts in the Ohio Valley and Great Lakes are to try to make the British treat them freely. In response, British officers deliberately presented blankets contaminated with smallpox. The virus spread rapidly among the Native Americans and decided to make peace negotiations. -
Sugar Act & colonists response
Great Britain borrowed so much money during the war that it nearly doubled its national debt.King George III hoped to lower the debt so he chose a financial expert,George Grenville,to serve as a prime minister.When Grenville took over,tensions between Britain and Massachusetts.The sugar act halved the duty on foreign made molasses in hopes colonists would pay a lower tax.It placed duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before.Colonists who violated the act went to vice-admiralty court -
Stamp Act & colonists response
This act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards.Having a stamp showed you paid for the tax.The colonists organized a secret resistance called Sons of Liberty to protest the law. -
Declaratory Act
Declaratory Act asserted Parliament's full right "to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever." -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
The sons of Liberty resisted the taxes and Samuel adams led them. -
Townshend Acts & colonists response
Townshend Acts taxed gods that were imported into the colony from Britain, such as lead,glass, paint, and paper.Also imposed taxes on tea, the most popular drink. A mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted British soldiers standing guard. They were shot and killed. -
Boston Massacre
A mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers standing guard there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed or mortally wounded. -
Tea Act
This act granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. -
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. They dumped 18,000 pounds in the waters of Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
king George III pressed Parliament to act. One law shut down Boston harbor. Second law authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. General Thomas Gage was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. He placed Boston under martial law, or rule imposed by military forces. -
First Continental Congress
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
Civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute's notice- stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. -
Continental Army
Some delegates called for independence, while others
argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite such differences, the Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Second Continental Congress
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. -
Publication of Common Sense
Just as important were the ideas of
Thomas Paine. In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titled Common Sense Paine attacked King George and the monarchy. Paine, a recent immigrant, argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with “the royal brute of Britain.” Paine explained that his own revolt against the king had begun with Lexington and Concord. -
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. -
Battle of Lexington
The redcoats reached Lexington, Massachusetts.They saw 70 people at the village.The British commander ordered the people to lay down their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out without laying down their muskets.Someone fired, and the British soldiers sent shots into the departing militia.Eight people 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 went to Concord and they found an empty arsenal.The British soldiers lined up to march back to Boston, but the march quickly became a slaughter. Between 3,000 and 4,000 people had assembled by now, and they fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls and trees. The remaining British soldiers made their way back to Boston that night. Colonists had become enemies of Britain and now held Boston and its encampment of British troops under siege. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Stuck in Boston, 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. By the time the smoke cleared, the colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Second Continental Congress was readying the colonies for war though still hoping for peace. Most of the delegates, like most colonists, felt deep loyalty to George III and blamed the bloodshed on the king’s ministers. Congress sent the king the so-called Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. -
Declaration of Independence author, summary of statements made, date of adoption
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. In April 1776, George Washington wrote, “I find Common Sense is working a powerful change in the minds of many men.” -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists were those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king, included judges and governors, as well as people of more modest means. 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. Patriots, the supporters of independence, drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America. -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
The British sailed into New York harbor with a force of about 32,000 soldiers. 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 -
Saratoga
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. 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. -
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. -
Valley Forge
While this hopeful turn of events took place in Paris,
Washington and his Continental Army were desperately low on
food and supplies and they 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 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 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. 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. Clinton then left for New York, while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South. -
British surrender at Yorktown
Shortly after learning of Corwallis’s actions, the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown. Meanwhile, a French naval force defeated a British fleet and then blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British sea routes to the bay. 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding them day and night. Cornwallis finally surrendered. The Americans defeated the British. -
Treaty of Paris
The American negotiating team included John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. 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.