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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 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. This conflict is known as the French and Indian War. -
Writ of Assistance
In 1761, the royal governor of Massachusetts authorized the use of the writs of assistance, a general search warrant that allowed
British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods. -
Treaty of Paris
The war officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. The treaty permitted Spain to keep possession of its lands west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans, which it had gained from France in 1762. France retained control of only a few islands and small colonies near Newfoundland, in the West Indies, and elsewhere. -
Proclamation of 1763
Proclamation of 1763 established a Proclamation Line along the
Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. However, the colonists, eager to expand westward from the increasingly crowded Atlantic seaboard, ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native American lands. -
Sugar Act & Colonists Response
The Sugar Act did three things. It halved the duty on foreign-made molasses in the hopes that colonists would pay a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling. It placed duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before. Most important, it provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice admiralty court rather than a colonial court. Colonial merchants complained that the Sugar Act would reduce their profits. -
Stamp Act & colonists response
This act imposed a 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. In May of 1765, the colonists united to defy the law. Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to protest the law. -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adam
In May of 1765, the colonists united to defy the law. Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to protest the law. Led by men such as Samuel Adams, one of
the founders of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists again boycotted British goods. -
Declaratory Act
But on the same day that it repealed the Stamp Act, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act, which asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
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. As hostilities between the colonists and the British mounted, the atmosphere in Boston grew increasingly tense which led to the Boston Massacre. -
John Locke’s Social Contract
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. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5, 1770, 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. Colonial leaders quickly labeled the confrontation the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
In 1773, 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 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. -
Boston Tea Party
On the moonlit evening of December 16, 1773, 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 – all 3 parts
In 1774, Parliament responded by passing a series of measures that colonists called the Intolerable Acts. One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. Also, General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. To keep the peace, he placed Boston under martial law, or 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 force against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
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. Despite such differences, the Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Minutemen
Minutemen—civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice -
Continental Army
The Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
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. -
Battle of Lexington
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 -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Cooped up in Boston, British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at militiamen on Breed’s Hill, north of the city and near Bunker Hill. On June 17, 1775, 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. -
Olive Branch Petition
By July, 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.
On July 8, Congress sent the king the so-called Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies. -
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 declared that independence would allow America to trade more freely. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists—those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king
Patriots—the supporters of independence -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
As part of a plan to stop the rebellion by isolating New England, the British quickly attempted to seize New York City. The British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about
32,000 soldiers. They included thousands of German mercenaries, or hired soldiers, known as Hessians because many of them came from the German region of Hesse. -
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. -
Declaration of Independence
Congress appointed a committee to prepare a formal Declaration of Independence. Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft.
Jefferson asserted that a the people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government. Jefferson provided a long list of violations committed by the king and Parliament against the colonists’ unalienable rights. On that basis, the American colonies declared their independence from Britain. -
Saratoga
American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777.
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. -
French-American Alliance
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
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.
With the help of such European military leaders, the raw
Continental Army became an effective fighting force. -
British victories in the South
In their greatest victory of the war, the British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780.
In early 1781, the colonists continued to battle Cornwallis
The British general then chose to move the fight to Virginia. He led his army of 7,500 onto the peninsula between the James and York rivers and camped at Yorktown. Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown, take Virginia, and then move north to join Clinton’s forces. -
British surrender at Yorktown
Shortly after learning of Corwallis’s actions, the armies of Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown.
By late September, about 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and began bombarding them day and night. Less than a month later, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally surrendered. The Americans had shocked the world and defeated the British. -
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
