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French and Indian War
After six years of peace, conflict between the British and French reignited. This happened because of the Ohio River valley between Pennsylvania and Virginia; in 1754, the French built Fort Duquense in the region. British kept losing 1755 and 1766. George II selected new leaders to run his government in 1757 ~ William Pitt ~ British began winning. Sept. 1759, British won at Quebec. -
Writ of Assistance
In 1790, royal governor of Massachusetts allowed revenue officers to use writs of assistance. This gave them search warrants able to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
1763, Treaty of Paris was signed giving Britain Canada, all of North America east of Mississippi, Florida from Spain, and the city of New Orleans. -
Proclamation of 1763
Pontiac led Native Americans to capture eight British forts in the Ohio Valley and the Great Lakes area. The British purposely gave them smallpox during peace negotiations to force them to be weakened and tired of fighting. This established a Proclamation Line along the Appalachians. In which colonists were not supposed to cross, but ignored the prohibition. -
Sugar Act & colonists response
In 1764, George Grenville the prime minister prompted the Sugar Act that halved the duty on foreign-made molasses in the hopes that colonists would pay a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling, placed duties on certain important that had not been taxed before, and provided that colonists that accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court. Colonists claimed that Parliament had no right, they had not elected representatives to the body -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers made a group to protest the Stamp Act. March 1766 repealed the law. Samuel Adams is one of the founders of Sons of Liberty. -
Stamp Act & colonist response
Parliament passed the Stamp Act which imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers , and playing cards. This as the first tax that affected colonists directly because it was levied on goods and services. -
Declaratory Act
Declaratory Act, which asserted Parliament’s full right “to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever.” -
Townshend Acts & colonists response
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. The Acts also imposed a tax on tea, the most popular drink in the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
March 5, 1770, a mob gathered in front 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. -
Tea Act
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 the taxes that colonial tea sellers had to pay. -
Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773, a large group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against three British tea ships anchored in the harbor. The “Indians” dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company’s tea into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Minutemen
Civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute’s notice -
First Continental Congress meets
In response to Britain’s actions, the committees of correspondence assembled the First Continental Congress. In September 1774, 56 delegates met in Philadelphia and drew up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the colonies’ right to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British used force against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
Intolerable Acts - all 3 parts
1774, Parliament responded by passing a series of measures that colonists called the Intolerable Acts. One law shut down Boston harbor. Another, the Quartering Act, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. In addition to these measures, General Thomas Gage, commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts. -
Midnight riders: Revere, Dawes, Prescott
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 -
Battle of Lexington
Eight minutemen were killed and ten more were wounded out of 70, but only one British soldier was injured. The Battle of Lexington, the first battle of the Revolutionary War, lasted only 15 minutes. -
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. -
Second Continental Congress
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. -
Continental Army
The Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
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. colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties.The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
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. -
John Locke's Social Contract
An Enlightenment Speaker who 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. If the government violates that social contract by taking away or interfering with those rights, people have the right to resist and even overthrow the government. -
Publication of Common Sense
In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titled Common Sense,
Paine attacked King George and the monarchy. Paine explained that his own revolt against the king had begun with Lexington and Concord. Paine declared that independence would allow America to trade more freely. 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. -
Declaration of Independence
Author: Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson
Statements:
“Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to be “unalienable” rights government’s
Legitimate power can only come from the consent of the governed, and that when a government denies their unalienable rights, the people have the right to “alter or abolish” that government
“All men are created equal.”
Date of Adoption: July 4, 1776 -
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. -
Redcoats push Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennysylvania
Date: Summer~Fall of 1776~1777
Place: New York City
Contributions: 32,000 soldiers; thousands of German mercenaries; and untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops -
Saratoga
Burgoyne's plan: lead an army down a route of lakes from Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops as they
arrived from New York City. The two regiments would then join forces to isolate New England from the rest of the colonies.
Reason for failure: Burgoyne didn’t realize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied with holding Philadelphia and weren’t coming to meet him.
Outcome: American troops finally surrounded Burgoyne at Saratoga, where he surrendered on October 17, 1777. -
Washington's Christmas night surprise attack
Date: Christmas night, 1776
Location: Trenton, New Jersey
Contributions: small rowboats, surprise attack -
French-American Alliance
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. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
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. With the help of such European military leaders, the raw Continental Army became an effective fighting force. -
British victories in the South
Date: At the end of 1778
Location: Savannah, Georgia
Contributions: shift of operations to the South Date: May 1780
Location: Charles Town, South Carolina
Contributions: Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis -
Valley Forge
Washington and his Continental Army—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. -
British surrender at Yorktown
Date: September 1783
Contributions: France, hardship, George Washington, purpose, will -
Treaty of Paris (edit)
Peace talks began in Paris in 1782. The American negotiating team included 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
