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French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a war between the colonies and France. Both had claimed the land in the Ohio River Valley, and they began to fight over it. The Indians sided with the French, as they were winning in the beginning, and the British with the colonies. After years of the French winning, the colonists turned the tables and took over one of their largest forts, starting their uprising and eventual victory to the war. The British began to tax the colonies to pay for the war. -
Proclamation of 1763
The British prohibited the colonists from moving west of the Appalachian Mountains, and the colonists did not like this as that is why the even fought the French. -
Sugar Act
The British taxed the sugar and molasses that the colonies used to profit. As a result, colonists began to boycott British goods. -
Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were established to regulate trade in the colonies. It encouraged British shipping and allowed Britain to obtain the monopoly on the colonies. It also put taxes on the shipping of sugar and molasses. -
Stamp Act
Britain put a tax on all legal documents and printed papers and sent stamp agents to enforce the laws. The colonists did not like the taxes the Stamp Act enforced, so they would find the stamp agents, tar and feather them, and pour boiling tea down their throats. -
Quartering Act
Britain forced the colonists to allow the British soldiers into their house and give them everything they asked for. Colonists did not like this and began to refuse to quarter them, and quarrels would break out on the streets occasionally. -
Declaratory Acts
Britain stated that they had control over the colonies and Britain, and they also repealed the Stamp Act with this act. The colonists did not like the Declaratory Acts as they copied the Irish Declaratory Acts word for word, meaning the King was granted all the power over everything the colonies had to do.They also found it to be getting rid of everything they had fought for and was going against the Magna Carta, which had put limits on the king's power. -
Townsend Act
Britain levied and tax on glass, lead, paper, paint and tea. In response, the colonists made petitions and sent them to England. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a quarrel between British soldiers and the colonists. The colonists, drunken sailors, began to throw snowballs at the British soldiers. The snowballs contained rocks and broken glass, or whatever they could find on the ground. An accidental shot was fired, and the soldiers ended up killing five colonists. -
Committees of Correspondence
This was a network of communication for passing along British activity to the colonists. It rallied colonial opposition against the British. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act repealed the Townsend Acts, and made tea cheaper, but all money went to the East India Company. As a result, the colonists started the Boston Tea Party. -
The Boston Tea Party
The colonists dumped all of the tea off of three ships, dressed as Native Americans, and into the harbor. It was a protest against the Tea Acts the British proposed earlier that year. As a result, the colonies were split. Some, the patriots, were against the British rules, while others, the loyalists, were for them (or at least followed them without revolt). Many tea protests followed, and there was a limit on town meetings. -
The Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts followed the Boston Tea Party. Boston's port was closed, meaning no shipments were being brought to the colonists there. It also limited town meetings, and all trials had to be in Britain or Canada. Colonists also had to allow soldiers in their home. As a result, the colonists were forced to form militias. -
First Continental Congress
Colonists finally stopped following British rule, and a unified boycott was approved. None of the colonists would buy any British goods, and the colonies began to fend for themselves. They no longer depended on Britain's goods, and 98% of the colonists agreed with the boycott. -
Second Continental Congress
Second Continental Congress is when the colonists began talking about building a colonial army. This is when they also decided to write the Olive Branch Petition and send it to King George III. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The battle of Bunker Hill was one of the first battles in the Revolutionary war. One thousand minutemen were positioned on the hill, and when the British marched up and the minutemen finally shot, the British were sent into a retreat. They marched up again, and were forced to retreat a second time. The battle was eventually lost by the colonists after they ran out of ammunition. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was a petition for peace that was sent to King George III in a hope to avoid war. King George III refused, calling the colonists rebels and sending them into war. -
The Shot Heard 'Round the World
The "shot heard 'round the world" was the first shot of the American Revolution. It was an accidental shot that started the battle of Lexington and Concord. The British were going to steal the guns from the colonists and leave, but the colonists knew they were coming. Men and women were firing at the British from inside their homes or behind them, and they took the British by surprise as they thought the colonists didn't know they were coming. -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
Thomas Paine's 'Common Sense' was a pamphlet he wrote that was used to persuade colonists to fight for an equal government (known as egalitarian government) by arranging moral and political arguments. It also recommended independence from the British rule to the 13 colonies. It was 48 pages long.
