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French And Indian War
As the French empire in the 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 as known as the French and Indian War. -
Writ of Assistance
Writ of assistance, in English and American colonial history, a general search warrant issued by superior provincial courts to assist the British government in enforcing trade and navigation laws. Such warrants authorized customhouse officers with the assistance of a sheriff, justice of the peace, or constable to search any house for smuggled goods without specifying either the house or the goods. -
Proclamation of 1763
To avoid costly conflicts with Native Americans, the British government prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. The 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 seabord, ignored the proclamation and continued to stream onto Native American lands. -
Treaty of Paris
The war ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of Mississippi River.Britain also took Florida from Spain, which it had allied itself with France.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 -
Sugar Act & Colonists response
The Sugar Act did three things. It halved the duty on foreign-made molasses in the hope 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. There, each case would be decided by a single judge rather than by a jury of sympathetic colonists. -
Declaratory Act
On the same day the Stamp Act passed so did the Declaratory Act did as well. It asserted Parliament's full right "to bind the colonies and the people of America in all cases whatsoever." Then in 1767, the Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, leading the government minister. -
Stamp Act & Colonists response
In March 1765 Parliament passed the Stamp Act. This act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers and playing cards.A stamp would be placed on 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. Previous taxes had been indirect, involving duties on imports. -
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. Led by men such as Samuel Adams, one of the founders of the Sons of Liberty, the colonists again boycotted british goods. -
Boston Massacre
On March 5 ,1770, a mob gathered in front of 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. -
John Locke’s Social Contract
Public opinion occurred in large part because of the Enlightenment ideas that had spread throughout the colonies in the 1760s and 1770s. One of the key Enlightenment thinkers was English philosopher John Locke. 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. -
Boston Tea Party
It was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor.The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists.It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldn’t take taxation and tyranny sitting down, and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight. -
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 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. North hope the American colonists would simply buy the cheaper tea; instead, they protested dramatically. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British to the detriment of colonial goods. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts. -
First Continental Congress meets
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies who met from September 5 to October 26, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the Intolerable Acts passed by the British Parliament, which the British referred to as the Coercive Acts, with which the British intended to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party. -
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. The king’s troops, known as “redcoats” because of their uniforms, reached Lexington, Massachusetts, five miles short of Concord, on the cold, windy dawn. -
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.British soldiers fell by the dozen. Bloodied and
humiliated, the remaining British soldiers made their way back to Boston that night. -
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 -
Battle Of Bunker Hill
Cooped up in Boston, British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at militia men 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. The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
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. 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. -
Minutemen
Minutemen were civilian colonists who independently organized to form well-prepared militia companies self-trained in weaponry, tactics, and military strategies from the American colonial partisan militia during the American Revolutionary War. They were also known for being ready at a minute's notice, hence the name. In the spring General Thomas Gage of 1775 he ordered troops so march from Boston to nearby Concord, Massachusetts, and to seize illegal weapons. -
Battle of Lexington
As they saw 70 minutemen drawn up in lines
on the village green. 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. -
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. -
Publication Of Common Sense
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.” -
Declaration of Independence
All men are created equal and there are certain unalienable rights that governments should never violate. These rights include the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. When a government fails to protect those rights, it is not only the right, but also the duty of the people to overthrow that government. -
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. Many Loyalists thought that the British were going to win and wanted to avoid punishment as rebels. Patriots—the supporters of independence—drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America.
Many Americans remained neutral. -
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. -
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 -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams Red coats push Washington's army across the Delaware river into Pennsylvania
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey, on the morning of December 26. The army crossed the river back to Pennsylvania, this time laden with prisoners and military stores taken as a result of the battle. -
Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
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. 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. -
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. -
Valley Forge
While this hopeful turn of events took place in Paris,
Washington and his Continental Arm 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 Surrender at Yorktown
In early 1781, despite several defeats, the colonists continued to battle Cornwallis—hindering his efforts to take the Carolinas. 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 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. Clinton then left for New York, while Cornwallis continued to conquer land throughout the South. -
Treaty Of Paris
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.
