-
John Locke's Social Contract
Locke maintained that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. Also, he contended that 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. -
French and Indian War-1
Major area of contention between France and Great Britain was the rich Ohio River valley just went of Pennsylvania and Virginia. In 1754, the French built Fort Duquesne in the region despite the fact that the Virginia had already granted 200,000 acres of land in the Ohio country to a group of wealthy planters. In response Virginia governor sent militia to evict the French. -
French and Indian War-2
The war officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi River, took Florida from Spain. The treaty permitted Spain to keep possession of its lands west of the Mississippi and the city of New Orleans, which it had gained from France in 1762. -
Writ of Assistance
General search warrant that allowed British customs officials to search any colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggling goods. -
Treaty of Paris
Great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi River. Britain also took Florida from Spain, since Spain had allied itself with France. -
Proclamation of 1763
Established a proclamation Line along the Appalachians, which the colonists were not allowed to cross. However the colonists, eager to expand westward continued to stream onto Native American lands. -
Sugar Act & colonists response
- It halved the duty on foreign made molasses in the hopes that colonists would pay a lower tax rather than risk arrest by smuggling. 2. It placed duties on certain imports that had not been taxed before. 3. It provided that colonists accused of violating the act would be tried in a vice-admiralty court rather than a colonial court.
-
Stamp Act & colonists response
Imposed tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspaper, and playing cards. It was the first tax affected colonists directly because it was levied on goods and services. -
Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized a secret resistance group called the Sons of Liberty to protest the law. Samuel was member of the Sons of Liberty, led boycotting British goods. -
Declaratory Act
Asserted Parliament's full right to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever. -
Townshend Acts & colonists response
Named after Charles Townshend. Taxed goods that were imported into colony from Britain, such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. Also tea as well. -
Boston Massacre
Mob gathered in front of the Boston custom house and taunted the British soldiers. Shots were fired and five colonists including Crispus Attucks, were killed or 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. This action would have cut colonial merchants out of the tea trade by enabling the East India Company to sell its tea directly to consumers for less. -
Boston Tea Party
On the moonlit evening of 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. 18,000 pounds of the East India Company's tea was dumped into the waters of Boston harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
King George III pressed Parliament to act. 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. To keep peace, he placed Boston under martial law. -
First Continental Congress meets
In response to Britain's actions, the committees of correspondence assembled the First Continental Congress. 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. -
Minutemen
Minutemen are civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute's notice. they stockpiled firearms and gunpowder. -
Continental Army
At the Second Continental Congress, the colonial militia was recognized as the Continental Army and George Washington was appointed as its commander. -
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
The king's troops, known as "redcoats", reached Lexington, Massachusetts. the British commander ordered the minutemen to lay down their arms and leave, and the colonists began to move out without laying down their muskets. Then someone fired, and the British soldiers sent shots into the departing militia. Eight minutemen were killed and 10 more wounded, but only one British soldier injured. -
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 were slaughtered by 3,000 to 4.000 minutemen shooting behind stone walls and trees. Dozens of British soldiers fell and went back to Boston that night. Britain and colonists became enemies. -
Second Continental Congress
Colonial leaders called the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia to debate their next move. The loyalties that divided colonists sparked endless debates. Some delegates called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite such differences, the congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
British general Thomas Gage decided to strike at militiamen on Breed's Hill, north of Boston and near Bunker Hill. Colonists had lost 450 men and the British had over 1,000 casualties and this battle was proven the deadliest battle of the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
Congress sent George III the Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to "the former harmony" between Britain and the colonies. King George rejected the petition and 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. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists were those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king. They thought the Crown would protect their rights more effectively than the new colonial governments would.
Patriots were supporters of independence who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America. -
Redcoats push Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
By late fall of 1776, the British had pushed Washington's army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops could not defend New York. -
Washington's Christmas Night Surprise Attack
On Christmas night in 1776, Washington led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River and marched to Trenton, New Jersey and defeated a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. It was a success since it was a surprise attack. -
Publication of Common Sense
In a widely read 50-page pamphlet titled "Common Sense" Thomas Paine attacked Kind George and the monarchy. He argued that responsibility for British tyranny lay with "the royal brute of Britain." He declared that independence would allow America to trade more freely and the chance to create a better society-one free from tyranny, with equal social and economic opportunities for all. -
Declaration of Independence
Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson prepared the final draft. The Declaration states the rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" to be "unalienable" rights-ones that can never be taken away. It also states that "all men are created equal". A long list of violations committed by the king and Parliament against the colonists' unalienable rights was provided and on that basis, the American colonies declared their independence from Britain. It was adopted on July 4, 1776. -
Saratoga
British general John Burgoyne planned to lead down a rout of lakes from Canada to Albany, where he would meet British troops as they arrived from New York City. They were to join forces and isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. It failed because the British officers were preoccupied in Philadelphia and couldn't come. Burgoyne at Saratoga surrendered on October 17, 1777. -
French-American Alliance
The surrender at Saratoga bolstered France's belief that the Americans could win the war and they signed an alliance with the Americans in February 1778 and openly joined them in their fight. -
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. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
In February 1778, Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drillmaster helped train the Continental Army. Marquis de Lafayette a foreign military leader arrived to offer their help. He lobbied France for French reinforcements in 1779 and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
British victories in the South
After their defeat at Saratoga, at the end of 1778, a British expedition took Savannah, Georgia. British Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis captured Charles Town, South Carolina, in May 1780.
The two generals had shifted their operation to the south and brought their greatest victory of the war. -
British surrender at Yorktown
Lafayette and Washington moved south toward Yorktown while the French naval force blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay, thereby obstructing British sea routes to the bay. After bombarding the British day and night, on October 19, 1781, Cornwallis surrendered. -
Treaty of Paris
Peace talks began in Paris in 1782 and the American negotiating team included John Adams, Joh 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.
