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French and Indian War
Cause: Series of battles between the British and the French, long-time enemies. France's expansion into the Ohio River valley was also a cause of the war, as it brought conflict with the claims of the British colonies. (History.com Staff. “French and Indian War.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/french-and-indian-war.) -
Proclomation of 1763
At the end of the French and Indian War, a proclamation was issued, intending to console the Indians by checking the flooding of settlers on their lands. It closed down colonial expansion westward. (History.com Staff. “Proclamation of 1763.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/1763-proclamation-of.) -
Sugar Act
A modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733), it lowered the tax amounts on molasses from six pence per gallon to three, which came with included more foreign goods such as sugar, coffee, pimiento, etc. (“The Sugar Act.” Ushistory.org, Independence Hall Association, www.ushistory.org/declaration/related/sugaract.html.) -
Stamp Act
Considered as the first internal tax imposed directly on the colonists, it levied a tax on all paper documents in the colonies. Again, the colonists believed that this tax was unconstitutional, and resorted to violence to force the stamp collectors to resigning. (History.com Staff. “Stamp Act.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/stamp-act.) -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act, another act that was passed by British Parliament, had colonial authorities required to provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or villages. (The Editors of Encyclopædia Britannica. “Quartering Act.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 12 July 2016, www.britannica.com/event/Quartering-Act.) -
Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts, passed by British Parliament, placed taxes on things such as glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. Meant as good intention, colonists that were to pay those taxes felt as though it was another example of abuse of power. (History.com Staff. “Townshend Acts.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/townshend-acts.) -
Boston Massacre
A squad of British soldiers came to support a fellow soldier who was being surrounded by an angry colonist crowd started firing. Three people were killed immediately, with two dying later of wounds.
(History.com Staff. “Boston Massacre.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-massacre.) -
Tea Act
One of several acts by British Parliament, the Tea Act's main purpose was to bail out the East India Company, which was a key actor in the British economy, and not to raise revenue from the colonies. The colonists have already resented the taxes on tea, and this act started up their opposition. This resulted in the Boston Tea Party, an act of protest. (History.com Staff. “Tea Act.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/tea-act.) -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a form of blatant protest by Samuel Adams and a fellow group called the Sons of Liberty. Dress as Native Americans, they raced onto the boats from Britain that contained all the tea crates, and dumped millions of pounds worth of valuable tea products into the harbor, angering British Parliament even more. (History.com Staff. “Boston Tea Party.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/boston-tea-party.) -
Coercive Acts
The Coercive Acts, or considered by the colonists the Intolerable Acts, were a series of four acts established by Parliament. The aim was to keep order in the states and punish Massachusetts, specifically Bostonians for the act of protest on the harbor, in which protesters dumped nearly one million pounds worth into the harbor. (“British Parliament Adopts the Coercive Acts.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/british-parliament-adopts-the-coercive-acts.) -
First Continental Congress Meeting
This was a form of reaction to the Coercive Acts, and included conversation of organizing a colonial resistance to those acts. Georgia was the only colony out of the thirteen that was not present, as there was an uprising in its premises. The result of this meeting was a Declaration of Rights sent to the King of Britain. (History.com Staff. “The Continental Congress.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/the-continental-congress.) -
Second Continental Congress Meeting
A second part to the first Continental Congress Meeting, this meeting convened after the Revolutionary War had already begun. It sparked a document that would become a momentous step of declaring America's independence from Britain, which was the Declaration of Independence. (History.com Staff. “The Continental Congress.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2010, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/the-continental-congress.) -
Shot Heard 'Round the World
The "first shot" of the American Revolution, it occurred at the Old North Bridge in Massachusetts, in which the first of the British soldiers fell. There was no single shot that could be cited as the first shot of the battle, however, this battle did make witness to the first shots by Americans acting under orders. (“Shot Heard Round the World.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 6 Feb. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shot_heard_round_the_world.) -
Common Sense was published
Common Sense, a pamphlet published by Thomas Paine, expressed his arguments in favor of the country being free of British rule. This was met by both claims of agreement and dissent. This pamphlet turned colonial arguments into the American Revolution we know today. (“Thomas Paine Publishes Common Sense.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/thomas-paine-publishes-common-sense.) -
Declaration of Independence
The Second Continental Congress Meeting included conversations of the Declaration of Independence. It entailed the country's desires to sever all ties with the British. The authors were actually a five-man committee which included of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams, two of which would become future presidents. (History.com Staff. “Declaration of Independence.” History.com, A&E Television Networks, 2009, www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/declaration-of-independence.)