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Stamp Act
Britain passes Stamp Act that requires colonsts to pay taxes on printed documents -
Sons of Liberty
A group of Boston workers who organized to protest the new laws -
Declaratory Act
An act that said parliment had the right "to bind the colonists and people of America in all cases whatsoever." -
Townshend Act
Taxed goods that were imported from Britain to the colonies. Also put tax on tea, the most popular drink in the coloies. -
Boston Massacre
A mob of protestors gathered infront of the Boston Customs House and taunteded the British soldierss. The soldiers fired upon the crowd and five colonist were killed. -
Tea Act
An act that was supposed to save the East India Company from going bankrupt by letting them sell tea directly to the colonist free of taxes. This plan backfired. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of Boston rebels dressed up as indians and dumped 18,000 pounds of East India Company tea into the Boston Harbor in the middle of the night. -
Intolerable Acts
King George III was frustrated with the colonies so he passed a series of acts that became known as the Intolerable acts. They did things like shut down the Boston Harbor, authorized british troops to stay in coloist homes, and put Boston under military rule. -
1st Continental Congress
56 delegates met to draw up a declaration of colonial rights. -
Lexington and Concord
British soldiers were marching to Concord to seize illegal weapons held there by the rebels. At Lexington, five miles from Concord, a line of 70 minutemen stood to oppose the redcoats. There, someone fired the first shot that began the Revolutionary War. -
2nd Continental Congress
The colonial leaders met in Philidelphia to debate whether or not to go to war for their independence. -
Common Sense
A 50-page pamphlet, written by Thomas Paine, in which he attacked King George and declared that America should be independent. -
Declaration of Independence
A document written by Thomas Jefferson that delcared that the American colonies were free. He addopted John Locke's ideas of Natural Rights and also stated that "all men are created equal." -
Battle of New York
An early victory for the British. Drove washingtons army out of New York, into Pennsylvania. -
Battle of Trenton
Washington led a supprise attack and defeated a group of Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey. -
Battle of Saratoga
American troops surround Burgoyne at Saratoga where he surrendered. -
Battle of Yorktown
Americans surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and bombarded them with attacks all day and night for almost a month. Britain finally surrendered the war on October 19th. -
Treaty of Paris
Confirmed the Idependence of the U.S. and set the boundaries of the new nation.
