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Lexington and Concord
General Gage dispatched 700 British troops to capture colonial leaders and supplies. Paul Revere warned the Patriots, and militiamen confronted them first at Lexington and then Concord. The British retreated to Boston. -
Second Continetal Congress
Governed the US through the war's duration. Esatblished, the continetal army, created it's own money, and declared indepednace from Britian. -
Bunker Hill
The British drove the Americans from Breed hill, but the Patriots still gained confidence. -
Olive Branch Petition
John Dickinson presuaded Congress to send this petition to George III, pleading the king to negotiate. It failed -
George Washington
Washington assumes command of Continental Army. -
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. He fired up the colonists and advocated the need for independance and a republican form of governement. -
Declaration of Independance
Adopted by the Second Continental Congress. Document containing philisophical principles and a list of grievances that declared seperation from Great Britian. -
Battle of Long Island
General Howe landed 32,000 troops outisde of New York City and defeated Washington's army. They then escaped in the night. -
Pennsylvania constitution of 1776
Granted all taxpaying men the right to vote and hold office and created a one-house legistlature with complete power, there was no governer to veto. mandated a system of elementary education and protected citizens from imprisonment from debt. -
Thoughts on Governement
Published by John Adams. Adapted the theory of mixed governemnt, sharing the power among a monarch, the House of Lords, and the Commons, to a republican society. He insisted on sepearte instituions: legislative, executive, and judiciary. Also demanded a two-house legislature. -
Surprise attack in Trenton, NJ
Washington crossed the Deleware river and staged a successful surprise attack on Trenton, New Jersey. He forced the surrender of 1,000 German soldiers. -
Battle of Saratoga
A three-pronged attack launched by Lord Germain. Took place in New York and ended with the surrender of British General Burgoyne. This victory ensurured dipolamtic sucess, winning the Americans an alliance with France. -
Articles of Confederation
Document defining the structure of the governemnt in America from 1781 to 1788. The Union was a confederation of equal states, with no executive and limited powers. (Adopted March 2nd, 1781) -
Valley Forge
The miltary camp where Washingotn and his 12,000 troops retired to for the winter. They suffered horribly.The cold weather combined with scarce supplies took as many American lives as two years of fighting would. -
Treaty of Alliance
Specified that once France entered the war, neither partner would sign a seperate peace without the "liberty, sovereignty, and independance" of the United States. In return, the Continental congress would recognize any French conquests in the West Indies. -
Savannah, GA
Sir Henry Clinton launched a seaborne attack on Savanah, Georgia. -
Phillipsburg Proclomation
Declared that any slave who deserted a rebel aster would recieve protection, freedom, and land from Great Brittian. -
Lord Charles Cornwallis
Clinton forced the surrender of Charleston, South Caolina. Then Lord Charles Cornwallis assumed control of the Brittish forces. -
General Nathanial Greene
Washngton dispatched General Nathanial Greene to recapture the Carolinas. Local militiamen defeated a regiment of loyalists at King's Mountian, SC. Then in March, Greene's soldiers fought Cornwallis's army to a draw at North Carolina's Guilford Courthouse. Cornwallis conceded the Carolinas to Greene. -
Batte of Yorktown
Washington acted lke he was going to attack NYC,but then marched his army from Rhode Island to Virginia while the French fleet simultaniously took control of the Chesapeke bay. Cornwallis was surrounded and forced to surrender. "Oh God! It's all over!" -Lord North -
Lord North
Lord North resigns as British prime minister. -
Treaty of Paris
Ended the revolutionary war. Great Britian formally recognized American independance and relinquished its claims to lands south of the Great lakes and east of the Mississippi River. -
Treaty of Versailles
Brittian made peace with France and Spain. -
Ordinance of 1784
Written by Thomas Jefferson. Established the principle that territories could become states as their proprotions grew. -
The Land Ordinance of 1785
Mandated a rectangular grid system of surveying and specified a minimum price of $1 an acre. -
Shay's Rebellion
Led by farmers in Massachusetts protesting the taxation policies of the mercantile elites who controlled the states governement. -
The Philadelphia Convention
A meeting to address and revise the problems of the governement under the articles of confederation. -
Virginia Plan
Presented at the Philidelphia Constitutional Convention. It designed a three-branch governement, with representation in both houses of congress tied to population, limiting the voice of small states. -
New Jersey Plan
Alternative to the Virginia Plan drafted by delegates from small states. Gave the Confederation the power to raise revenue, control commerce, and make binding requisitions on states. It preserved the states' control of their own laws and garunteed their equality. -
The Great Compromise
The national legislature's upper chamber have two members from each state, while the seats in the lower chamber be apportioned by population. -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Created the territories that wpild eventually become the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, amd Wisconson. It also banned slavery. -
Signing of the Constitiution
Benjamin Franklin urged the delgates to sign the constitution. Although it was not perfect, all but 3 signed it. -
Ratification of the Constitution
Pennsylvania, then Deleware, New Jersey, Georgia, and Conneticut, then Massacusetts, then Maryland, South Carolina, and New Hampshire agreed. They thus reached the nine-state quota for ratification.
