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The new fort angered the British governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddie. In 1754, he sent colonial troops to evict the French. Dinwiddie entrusted the command to a young, ambitious Virginian named George Washington. Washington's troops attacked and defeated a small French force. But Washington had to surrender when the French counterattacked.
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The tide of war shifted in 1758 and 1759. The British managed to cut off French shipping to the Americas. As a result, many American Indians deserted the French in favor of the better-supplied British. This allowed the British to capture Fort Duquesne.
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Jeffrey Amherst quickly cut off delivery of goods to American Indians. British settlers flooded onto American Indian lands in western Pennsylvania and Virginia. The American Indians affected included the Mississauga, Ottawa, Potawatomi, Ojibwa, Wyandot, Miami, Kickapoo, Mascouten, Delaware, Shawnee, and Seneca. During the spring of 1763, members of these groups surprised and captured most of the British forts in the Ohio River valley and along the Great Lakes.
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In 1764, the new prime minister, George Grenville, proposed raising money by collecting duties already in effect.
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In March 1765, Parliament passed a bill intended to raise money from the colonies. The Stamp Act required colonists to pay a tax on almost all printed materials, including newspapers, books, court documents, contracts, and land deeds. This was the first time that Parliament had imposed a direct tax within the colonies.
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One night in March 1770, a group of colonists hurled snowballs and rocks at British soldiers guarding the Customs House. The nervous soldiers fired into the crowd, killing five colonists. The dead included Crispus Attucks, a sailor who may have been an escaped slave of mixed American Indian and African ancestry. Under the leadership of Samuel Adams, Patriots called the killings the Boston Massacre.
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The battle of Bunker Hill takes places, which is a complete bloodbath for the British.
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The first major battle of the Revolutionary War is fought.
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Paul Revere makes his ride along the countryside, letting his fellow colonists know that the British are coming
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The colonists declared independence from the British, after having to deal with their harsh rule for many years.
