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French & Indian War
France and Britain are fighting for control of the Ohio River Valley in North America. Great Britain ends up winning, but they go into a massive debt. To pay it off, they start to heavily tax the colonists and the crown. -
Townshend Acts
A series of four acts that were passed by the British Parliament to exert authority over the colonies through suspension of a recalcitrant representative assembly and strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties. Imposed tax duties on glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported from China. American colonists named this parliament after Charles Townshend. -
Boston Massacre
A crowd of colonists threw snowballs at the "lobster scoundrels," the British soldiers or redcoats, on the day of March 5th, 1770. British troops grouped together during the harassment by angry colonists. Someone shouted, "Fire!" and the British fired into the crowd of colonists. The aftermath after the British fired had the outcome of five colonists deceased. One of the deceased colonists included an African American sailor named, Crispus Attucks. -
Boston Tea Party & Intolerable Acts
The Tea Act was one of the earliest organized political efforts by American women. 1774, the group of American women gathered in Edenton, North Carolina, and agreed to boycott tea, dumping the tea into the Boston Harbor.
The Intolerable Acts included four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the Massachusetts Bay after the Boston Tea Party. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord Pt. 1
Before Thomas Gage, a British commander in Boston, schemed a surprise attack on the night of April 18, 1775, at 10 o'clock, he waited for reinforcements and organized small groups of British soldiers for short marches to intimidate and see how well-trained they are. On the night he initiated it, about 700 British troops crossed the Charles River in small boats towards Concord.
As the British Troops approach, Joseph Warren learns about this and sends two couriers, Paul Revere and William Dawes. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord Pt. 2
--Both couriers, Paul Revere and William Dawes, went to deliver and alert the residents. They went to different routes, Paul crossing the Charles River by boat to get to Charlestown where other patriots were waiting for the news. During Paul Revere's midnight ride, he actually never shouted out "The British are coming!" since the news was meant to be discreet.
They used lanterns to signal whether if one lantern, the British is arriving by land, or two lanterns, the British were coming by sea. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord Pt. 3
--A poem about Revere's midnight ride was created by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow called, "Paul Revere's Ride."
While Revere was in Charlestown, Dawes leaves Boston and travels along the Boston Neck peninsula, then later meets up with Revere in Lexington. They both met up with the Revolutionary leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock, who later persuaded the two couriers to flee. On their way back, Revere got captured by the British patrol, and Dawes was thrown from his horse. Revere later escaped. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord Pt. 4
70 of the minutemen were waiting for the British troops. The minutemen were outnumbered, but accounts say that the British charged them towards them. One account said that, Major Pitcairn, a man leading the British soldiers, "Ye villains, ye rebels, disperse!" Then suddenly, a gunshot was fired but the British nor the colonists knew who shot it first. Shots soon fired on both sides until the British retreated. The British had more casualties than the colonists. -
Battle of Bunker Hill Cont.
As the British continued to advance towards the patriots, it immediately turned into slaughter after a commander shouted, "Don't fire until you can see whites of their eyes!" More of the British continued to walk up the hill over their wounded, or dead, comrades while the colonists were short of power and ammunition. On the third attempt, the colonists retreated to Bunker Hills (where it got its name) after they ran out of gunpowder. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
This battle soon followed a few months after the Battle of Lexington and Concord. Militia men, the colonists, prepared for future attacks from the British and fortified over the hills, Breed Hills and Bunker Hills. As they did this, General Thomas Gage waited for reinforcements, preparations, until June. On the afternoon of June 17, about 2,500 British troops attempted climbed up the hills twice as General William Howe also attempted to dislodge the colonists from the hilltop. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. It announced the separation of the 13 North American British colonies to live independently and freely as a resolution. -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge was a low point of the Revolution in 1777-1778 for Washington and his tired army in the winter. 12,000 men were placed in makeshift houses and tents while food was currently sacred. Washington's men were practically freezing to death and died of illness. It was hard for Washington, but he stayed determined with his leadership and inspired his men to stay on the battlefield. -
Battle of Saratoga
Burgoyne and 5,000 British troops settled to Saratoga, New York after their battles in Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Stanwix. Burgoyne and his men were short on supplies from Howe's delay and there were no reinforcements from the South. It was considered as the turning point in the Revolutionary War. -
Battle of Yorktown
Washington sought an opportunity to trap Cornwallis. Washington did this by sending word to Admiral de Grasse to create a blockade to prevent British ships from rescuing Cornwallis's men. Washington instructed him to keep Cornwallis's men trapped in the peninsula as Washington and Rochambeau with conjoined forces with a huge French and American army. The Battle of Yorktown only lasted for about three weeks with Cornwallis surrendering on October 19,1781. -
Treaty of Paris
American diplomats such as Benjamin Franklin and John Adams insisted on independence as some royal officials hoped that America would stay part of the British Empire. Americans reached out to Britain with a peace treaty in which the Treaty of Paris was created and signed on September 3rd, 1783. It declared the Mississippi River on the western boundary of the U.S, Britain agrees to leave its forts on the west, and Spain and France made peace with Britain in the Treaty of Paris.