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Albany congress
The British government called a meeting of colonial leaders. They wanted the colonies to agree to cooperate in defending themselves against the French. They also invited the Iroquois tribes to the meeting. The British hoped to form an alliance with the Iroquois against the French. The Iroquois refused. Ben Franklin believed the colonies had to succeed, so he published a picture of a snake chopped into pieces with the warning, "Join or Die". The Albany Congress approved Franklin's plan. -
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French and Indian war
French/NA vs. British/Iroquois/colonists fight/have war for control over Ohio River valley, The British win and France lost their entire empire to the British. The colonists begin settling in the Ohio River valley where the French used to be before they won and the NA's resist colonists settling in the Ohio River valley. British took fort Duquesne right after the war ended and right after William Pitt became prime minister. -
Treaty Of Paris.
Britain and France signed the Treaty of Paris in February 1763 at the location of Paris. France lost all of its North American possessions so France ceded, or surrendered, French Canada To great Britain. Great Britain gained all other French territory east of the Mississippi with the exception of New Orleans. NA's also lost a great deal. Without French help, the NA's could not stop British settlers from moving on their lands. -
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Pontiac's war
After the French and Indian war ended, the leader of the Ottawa nation, Pontiac, formed an alliance of western Native Americans. Pontiac and his allies attacked British forts and settlements throughout the area. About half a dozen of western British forts were destroyed and at least 2,000 back country settlers were killed. The British killed Native Americans who didn't even attack them. The British finally defeated Pontiac's forces in early August at a battle near Fort Pitt. -
The Proclamation of 1763
Britain wanted to avoid further wars with Native Americans on the frontier, so the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763. It banned colonial settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. The settlers were told they had to move to a location wast of that line. The Proclamation of 1763 angered many colonists who believed they has the right to reside wherever they wanted. The Proclamation was widely ignored and proved impossible for the British to enforce. -
The Quartering Act
One year later, Parliament passed the Quartering act. The purpose of the Quartering act was to save money. To enforce the Proclamation of 1763, Britain kept about 10,000 soldiers in the colonies. The Act required colonists to quarter, or house British troops and provide them with food and other supplies. The colonists protested angrily. Once again, The colonists complained that Parliament was violating their rights. -
Sugar Act
The British effort to impose new taxes on the colonies began in 1764 when parliament passed the Sugar Act, which put a duty on several products, including molasses. It also called for harsh punishment of smugglers. Colonial merchants, who sometimes traded in smuggled goods, protested. -
The Stamp Act
Parliament passed an even more unpopular law in early 1765, And that was the Stamp Act. The Stamp act required that all colonists buy special tax stamps for all kinds of products and activities. The stamps had to be placed on newspapers, wills, licenses, insurance polices, land titles, contracts, and other documents. Virginia's House of Burgesses passed several resolutions declaring that it alone had the right to tax the people of Virginia. After sending a petition, the protests worked. -
Boston Massacre
Parliament repealed all of the townshend duties, except for the one on tea. That tax was left in force to demonstrate Parliament's right to tax the colonies. Parliament didn't act in time, so an angry crowd of workers and sailors surrounded a small group of soldiers. They shouted at the soldiers and threw snowball and rocks at them. That frightened the soldiers so much that shot fired and killing 5 and wounding 6. There were 2 people convicted so they got thier thumbs branded. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act was intended to help the British East India company, one of Britain's most important companies. for many years, the company had made money growing tea. However, the boycott really hurt the company. the tea Act lowered the price of tea by allowing the East India company to ship directly to Britain. Some colonists reacted by being angry about the company being gave a monopoly. The monopoly really hurt the colonial merchants. Now, they can't complete with the lower priced company. -
Boston Tea party
A group of colonists called the sons of liberty soon organized in port cities to stop the East India company tea from being unloaded. They threatened ship captains who were bringing in the tea and colonial tea merchants who said they would buy it. Thomas Hutchinson let NY and PHL be unloaded. He refused to let the tea ships to return to England, so a big group of NA's boarded the tea ship and threw 342 cases into the harbor, wasted 90,000lbs of tea, and wasted thousands of dollars. -
Intolerable Acts
The Boston Tea Party outraged the British government. The king called for tough action to make examples of the people of Boston and Massachusetts, so in response, Parliament passed 4 laws. the 1st law closed the port of Boston, the 2nd law increased the powers of the royal governor, the 3rd law cut the powers of town meeting, and the 4th law strengthened the 1765 Quartering act. These laws were so harsh that colonists called them The Intolerable Acts. The acts were ended by the congress. -
First Continential Congress
At the meeting, known as the First Continental Congress, took place in Philadelphia. 12 of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Only Georgia did not send representatives. The delegates were John Adams, Samuel Adams from MA, John Jay of NY, George Washington, Patrick Henry from VA, and many more. The Congress also called for a new boycott of British goods. It then voted to meet again in May 1775 if its demands were not met. The British government had no interest of meeting the congress. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
700 troops were sent to seize the arms and capture some important colonial leaders from the minutemen. Paul Revere warned them. In Lexington, 77 MM were waiting when the British arrived. They were told to go home, they refused. Suddenly, a shot rang out by an unknown person, killing 8 Americans. It was the 1st shot of the American Revolution. Another battle took place in Concord. 400 MM fought the British, killing 3 of them. 4,000 Americans fired at them. 300 of them have been killed or wounded. -
The Second Continental Congress
After the battles of Lexington and Concord, most colonists still did not favor independence. But at the same time, many of them were ready to use force if necessary to defend their rights against the British. The delegates of the congress were Thomas Jefferson, John Hancock, Benjamin Franklin and many more. The Congress was divided at first of what to do. They decided to form a army for war. The congress chose Washington as the commander and the congress printed paper money to pay for the army. -
Battle for Fort Ticonderoga
During when the 2nd continental congress were meeting up , an important battle took place in northern New York. A daring band of colonists made a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga. The fort stood at the southern end of lake Champlain and protected the water route to Canada. Leading the force was Ethan Allen. Allen's force of 83 men reached the fort. George Washington got Cannons which were needed to match the powerful British weapons to drive the British away from the city. The Americans won. -
battles of Bunker and Breeds Hill
The Americans surrounding Boston were farmers and workers, not trained soldiers like the British troops. General William Howe decided to attack straight up Breed's hill, but they didn't have much ammunition. When the British were 150 feet away, fire shot out and British soldiers fell dead or wounded. The first and second attack failed, but the third one worked, but only Because the Americans ran out of ammunition and had to retreat. The British won, but at a bad cost. -
Olive Branch Petition
The petition stated that the colonists were loyal to the king. It asked George to stop the fighting so all disputes between the colonists and Britain could be solved peacefully. Congress passed a tougher statement called the declaration of the causes and Necessities of taking up arms. The document stated that the colonists were ready "to die freemen rather to be slaves". The petition failed and Parliament voted to send 20,000 soldiers to the colonies to end the revolt. -
Invasion of Quebec
While Washington was training an army outside Boston, 2 other American armies were moving north into Canada. Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold, moved north through Maine. He had a bad journey through the Maine woods in winter. His troops were forced to boil candles, bark, and shoe leather for food. The Americans attacked Quebec during a snowstorm. Arnold was wounded and Montgomery was killed. British landed new forces in Canada, and The Americans withdrew and left Canada to the British. -
The British withdrawal from Boston
After the war with the British winning, at a bad cost, More than 1,000 were killed or wounded. Americans losses were about 400 killed or wounded. Boston was still surrounded by American forces, so George Washington arrived and took charge of the army. He knew he had to build a regular army, and he needed good weapons to drive the British away from Boston. He eventually got cannons to Boston, so now the British could not defend the city. They withdrew from Boston by sea and never returned.