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French and Indian War
As the French empire in North America expanded, a conflict with the British empire erupted. One reason of the war was because of the rich Ohio River valley. The French had given away 200,000 acres of land in the Ohio country, and, in response, the Virginia governor sent militia, hoping to evict the French and unfortunately, starting the French and Indian War. In the first battle, the French crushed the Virginians with outnumbering forces. After war, Britain claimed Canada and Florida. -
Writ of Assistance
By the time Grenville, prime minister aiming to lower Britain's debt, took control, tensions between Britain and Massachusetts were on the rise. In 1761, the use of the writs of assistance was authorized by the royal governor of Massachussetts. It would allow a search warrant that enabled British officials to search any ship or building they believed to be holding smuggling goods whether there were goods or not. This would only later add to the amount of angry merchants throughout the colonies. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
The Treaty of Paris officially ended the French and Indian War in 1763. France gave up all their territories in the mainland North America and Spain was permitted to keep their lands west of Mississippi and New Orleans. -
Proclamation of 1763
Hoping to avoid conflicts, the British attempted to keep the colonists away from settling west of the Appalachians, so the British government influenced the Proclamation of 1763. The Proclamation established a Proclamation line along the Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. Unfortunately, it was ignored by the colonists whom were eager to explore the Native American lands. -
Sugar Act and Colonists Response
Due to the French and Indian War, Britain was put in a financial debt. In an attempt to lower the debt, Prime Minister George Grenville prompted Parliament to enact the Sugar Act. The Sugar Act halved the duty on foreign made molasses, placed duties on imports that haven't been taxed before, and provided that colonists accused of disobeying the act would be tried by one judge. The merchants and traders expected it to reduce profits and did not like it especially because it had no voice for them. -
Stamp Act and Colonists Response
The Stamp Act was passed in March 1765. It imposed a tax on documents and printed items. Stamps would be used to prove that the tax was paid for, however, the colonists hated this idea and organized a group called the Sons of Liberty to protest. In the meantime, colonial assemblies claimed that the Parliament had no right to impose taxes because the colonists were not represented, but in 1765 a successful widespread boycott from merchants in New York, Boston and Philadelphia repealed the law. -
Sons of Liberty is formed and Samuel Adams
The Sons of Liberty consisted of Boston shopkeepers, artisans and laborers all working to repeal the Stamp Act. After the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act which gave Parliament's full right "to bind the colonies and people of America..." Then, in 1767, the Townshend Acts were passed to tax goods that were imported into the colony. Again, the Sons of Liberty, guided by Samuel Adams, boycotted British goods. -
Declaratory Act
After the Stamp Act was repealed, Parliament passed the Declaratory Act. This act gave Parliament the right "to bind the colonies and the people of America. -
Townshend Acts and Colonists Response
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister. This act would tax goods imported into the colony from Britain. Lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea were taxed. The colonists protested "taxation without representation" and boycotted the goods. However in the first year of the acts only 295 pounds would be raised. After costing the British 170,000 pounds to deploy troops, the taxes were repealed except for the tax on tea. -
Boston Massacre
After the passing of the Townshend Acts, colonists protested and tensions between the British and the colonists rose. The city soon erupted in a bloody conflicts between the British and the colonists. On March 5, 1770 a group of colonists gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers defending it. It resulted in shots being fired, leaving 5 colonists, including Crispus Attucks, dead. -
Boston Tea Party
During the evening of December 16, 1773, a squadron of Boston rebels, disguised as Native Americans, took part in what is known as the Boston Tea Party. The rebels dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company's tea into the waters of the Boston Harbor. -
Tea Act
In 1773, in order to save the nearly bankrupt British East Coast Company, Lord North devised the Tea Act. This would allow the company the right to sell tea to the colonies free of the taxes that the colonial tea sellers had to pay. This would mean that the company could sell its tea directly to its customers for less, cutting the colonial tea sellers off. Shockingly, the American colonists did not buy their tea, and instead, protested. -
Intolerable Acts - all 3 parts
After the dumping of tea into the harbor, an angry King George III influenced Parliament to act on it. In 1744 Parliament responded by passing the Intolerable Acts. One law shut down the Boston Harbor, another, the Quartering Act enabled British soldiers to be housed in vacant private homes and other buildings. In addition to those measures, General Thomas Gage, the commander in chief of British Forces in North America, was promoted to governor of Massachusetts. He put Boston under martial law. -
First Continental Congress Meets
In order to maintain Britain's actions, the committees of correspondence assembled the first Continental Congress. In September 1774, 56 delegates arranged a meet in Philadelphia and defended the colonies' right, stating that if the British use force against the colonies then the colonies have the right to fight back. -
Battle of Lexington
The king's troops reached Lexington, 5 miles from Concord, on a cold dawn of April 19. As they got closer to the town they saw 70 minutemen in rows. As the colonists were moving out, a shot was fired and and a volley of shots followed. 8 minutemen were killed and 10 more were wounded, but only 1 British soldier was injured. The Battle of Lexington was the first battle of the Revolution, and it only lasted 15 minutes. -
Minutemen
Minutemen were civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British troops in a minute's notice. As they prepared themselves for any occasion they stockpiled on weapons and gunpowder. After General Gage learned of these "secret" soldiers, he commanded troops to march from Boston to Concord and to seize illegal weapons. -
Midnight Riders: Revere, Dawes, Prescott
As the civilian soldiers prepared for war, Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott stayed watch for incoming redcoats. On the night of April 18, 1775 they were able to warn the others of the 700 British troops headed for Concord. In the darkness, church bells and gunshots set off as warnings for the other towns. -
Second Continental Congress
In May of 1755 colonial leaders called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to plan their next move. This time, some delegates called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britian. Despite different ideas, the Congress agreed to recognize the colonial army as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Continental Army
In May of 1775, as a result of the Second Continental Congress, the colonial militia was recognized as the new Continental Army. Despite many debates taking place it was decided that George Washington should be appointed as the commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Hoping for revenge, British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at the militiamen on Breed's Hill. On June 17, 1775, Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up the hill. Unfortunately for the redcoats, the colonists had a greater advantage shooting downhill and by the time the battle had ended and the smoke had cleared, the colonists had lost 450 men while the British suffered over 1,000 casualties. The Battle of Bunker Hill would be considered the deadliest battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Olive Branch Petition
Following the battles, the Second Continental Congress argued whether they wanted to get ready for the continuation of war, yet they still hoped for peace. Most of the delegates felt deep loyalty to George III. In hopes of returning the "former harmony" between Britain and the colonies, the Congress sent the king the Olive Branch Petition. King George rejected the petition, barely giving it attention. He went against their ideas and even stated that the colonies were in a rebellion. -
John Locke's Social Contract
Following the Olive Branch Petition, Enlightenment ideas had started to change public opinion. One of the key Enlightenment thinkers was John Locke. He stated that everyone has natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He strongly believed in a society based on a social contract to protect one's natural rights. If the government violates that social contract then the people have the right to resist and overthrow the government. -
Battle of Concord
After the battle of Lexington, the redcoats marched onto Concord, where they found an empty arsenal. After a short moment with the minutemen, the British troops lined up to march back, but it didn't go as planned. Between 3,000 to 4,000 minutemen had assembled by now, and they fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls and trees. The British lost their men exponentially and those who were able to escape unharmed made their way back to Boston that night. The colonists had made enemies. -
Washington's Christmas Night Surprise
Washington spent his time, thinking of a plan for an early victory when he thought of one bold move on Christmas Night. In 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 onto Trenton, New Jersey and defeated a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. The British were able to regroup and in September of 1777, they captured the American capital at Philadelphia. -
Declaration of Independence
By the early summer of 1776, the Continental Congress finally decided that each colony form its own government. Chosen to prepare a formal Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson, like Locke's ideas of natural right, also argued for the right of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. Jefferson also asserted that a government's power can be taken away if the government denies their unalienable rights and it also states that all men are created equal. It was adopted on July 4, 1776. -
Publication of Common Sense
Following the ideas of John Locke's right to liberty, Thomas Paine created a book called Common Sense. In it, he attacked King George and the monarchy. He argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with the :royal brute of Britain." He also declared that independence would enable America to trade more freely and that it would give American colonists the chance to create a better society, a society free from tyranny, with equal social and economic opportunities for all. -
Loyalists and Patriots
As the war slowly began, Americans found themselves on different sides of the conflict. Loyalists were those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king. Many loyalists expected the British to win and tried to avoid punishment as rebels. Patriots were the supporters of independence.They saw political and economic opportunities in an independent America. Many Americans remained neutral. -
Redcoats Push Washington's Army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
As part of the plan to isolate New England, the British quickly attempted to gain control over New York City. The British sailed into New York Harbor in the summer of 1776 with 32,000 soldiers, including German mercenaries. Although the Continental Army tried to defend New York in late August, the poorly trained colonists retreated. By fall, the redcoats had taken advantage of the colonists and had pushed them across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. -
Saratoga
General John Burgoyne had plans to lead an army down a route from Canada to Albany, where he'd meet British troops as they arrived from New York City. The forces would combine forces to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. As Burgoyne was fighting the colonial troops, he didn't realize that his fellow British offers were busy with holding Philadelphia and couldn't meet with him. American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777. -
French-American Alliance
As a result of the surrendering at Saratoga, Washington's victory bolstered France's belief that the Americans could win the war, therefore the French signed an alliance with 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 army were struggling to survive. Starting to run low on food and supplies, Washington and his soldiers struggled to survive in the winter camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Over 2,000 soldiers were killed by natural causes and those who survived 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 Valley Forge event, American troops began an amazing transformation. Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain, helped to train the Continental Army. Other foreign military leaders like Marquis de Lafayette lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779. Lafayette led a command in Virginia for the last years of the war. With the help of these strong military leaders, the poorly trained and equipped Continental Army became an effective fighting force. -
British Victories in the South
Hoping to reestablish their army, the British began to shift their operations toward the South. At the end of 1778, a British expedition easily took Savannah Georgia. The redcoats under General Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis claimed Charles Town, South Carolina in May 1780. The colonists continued to battle Cornwallis, lowering his efforts to take the Carolinas. The British General then chose to move the fight to Virginia, so he led his army of 7,500 onto the peninsula. -
British surrender at Yorktown
After Cornwallis planned to fortify Yorktown, he aimed to take Virginia and then move north to join Clinton's forces. Shortly after learning of Cornwallis' location, 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. Less than a month later, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis finally surrendered. The Americans shocked the world, defeating Britain. -
Treaty of Paris
Battle after battle, peace talks began in Paris 1782. The American negotiating team consisted of John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin. In September of 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which guaranteed US independence and set boundaries to the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border.
