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French and Indian War
The French began building in the Ohio River valley, which was territory that belonged to the British. -
Writ of Assistance
a seach warrant that allowed British officials to seach and ships or buildings they thought to be holding smuggled goods. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
Treaty that ended the French and Indian War. Britain claimed Canada, all of North America east of the Mississippi
River, and Florida from Spain. France kept control of only a few islands, some small colonies near Newfoundland, in
the West Indies, and elsewhere. -
Proclamation of 1763
A document that the British government created that prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. however, the colonists ignored the proclamation and continued foward onto Native American lands -
Sugar Act & colonists response
merchants complained that it would reduce their profits, and claimed that Parliament had no right to tax them because the colonists had not elected representatives to the body -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
-Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to protest the law
-Samuel Adams, one of the founders of The Sons of LIberty -
Stamp Act & colonists response
shopkeepers, artisans,and laborers organized a secret resistance group, and merchants in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia agreed to a boycott of British goods -
Declaratory Act
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Townshend Acts & colonists response Why they were repealed
-taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain such as lead, glass, paint, paper, and TEA.
-colonists again boycotted British good
-city soon erupted in bloody clashes -
John Locke’s Social Contract
every society is based on a social contract. 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
A mob surrounded the bostom customs house and taunted the british soldiers that were standing guard. shoots were fired and 5 colonists were killed -
Tea Act
granted the British East India Company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay -
Boston Tea Party
Boston rebels, disguised as Native Americans, dumped 18,000 pounds of tea of the East India Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Minutemen
civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice -
Intolerable Acts – all 3 parts
One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. And General Thomas Gage 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
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 -
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 first battle of the Revolutionary War, lasted only 15 minutes
Eight minutemen were killed and ten more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured -
Battle of Concord
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 -
Second Continental Congress
olonial leaders called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next move.Some delegates called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britain.
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. Held their fire until the last minute and then began to mow down the British before finally retreating. Colonists lost 450 men, while the British had over 1,000 casualties.deadliest battle of the war -
Olive Branch Petition
Petition urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists—those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king—included judges and governors, as well as people of more modest means.
Patriots—the supporters of independence—drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America -
Declaration of Independence
author: Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson
summary: declared the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” are rights that can never be taken away. people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across theDelaware River into Pennsylvania
British sailed into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with a force of about 32,000 soldiers, included thousands of German mercenaries known as Hessians
contribution to success: 32,000 soldiers, untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops -
Washington’s Christmas night surprise attack
George Washington 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
contributions: surprise attack, winter snow storm -
Saratoga
-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
-his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding
Philadelphia and weren’t coming to meet him
-American troops surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777. -
French-American Alliance
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
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 -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Friedrich von Steuben:February 1778 Prussian captain and talented drillmaster,helped to train the Continental Army
Marquis de Lafayette: 1779 Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war -
British victories in the South
1778, Savannah, Georgia
British under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780 -
British surrender at Yorktown
-learning of Corwallis’s actions, Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown
-French naval force defeated a British fleet and then blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay=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 -
Treaty of Paris
confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation, stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border. American negotiating team includ- ed John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin -
Continental Army
colonial militia with George Washington as its commander -
Publication of Common Sense
Thomas Paine, attacked King George and the monarchy, argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with “the royal brute of Britain.”
