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1492
Colombus journeys to the Americas
Columbus sailed to the Americas to find a passage way to India and China. Europe was able to colonize the New World because of this "discovery" -
Jamestown was Founded
Jamestown was one of the first colonies but due to them being unprepared ended up with hundreds of colonists being killed by Natives and natural disasters. This was also important because it is where Tobacco first blew up. -
Pilgrims land in Plymouth
Pilgrims traveled to the new world for religious freedom and for a new start, the took with them many Strangers. This was also the starting point of Self-Government in America -
French and Indian War
This was a 7 year war between the British and French and Natives. This war is the reason the Albany plan of union was signed and why both the Treaty of Paris and the Proclamation of 1763 were made. -
Albany Plan of Union
This was a plan created by Ben Franklin that was used to try and get all 13 colonies to join and fight (which used the slogan "Join or Die".) It's failing caused the British to not be able to over take the french for many more years. -
Treaty of Paris
This document marked the end of the French and Indian war and it allowed the British colonists to gain control up to the Mississippi river. This allowed the British to have much control over the colony's for a long time. -
Proclamation of 1763
A document created by the King of England that told the British colonists who had been up into this point because of Salutary Neglect (the king ignoring the colonies allowing them to make their own government) ignoring the colonies. The document stated that the colonists shouldn't go past the mountains which all the colonists ignored. This direct ignorance of the King and his rules could've led up to the other laws being set. -
Quartering Act
This was another law set by the British, but this time it was to provide quarters to the British solider stationed in the colonies. Disagreements between the New York assembly and the British government resulted in behavior rising in the colonies. The soldiers were being sent there to regulate smuggling and finding ways around the laws being set. -
Stamp Act
The stamp act was a law made by the British to force the colonists to pay taxes, after the 7 years war due to all the debt. This act caused the colonists to revolt and a month after its creation, the stamp act was removed. This was the beginning of the anger to boil in the colonies and put them on edge for what was to come (quartering act and townshead act.) -
Townshead act
This was a tax on all imports for the colonists. So all the colonists figured out a few loop holes in the system, like trading between each other and using american materials. All of the revolts then caused the British to send soldiers to Boston which was the starting point in the revolutionary war. -
Boston Massacre
This event occurred on a moonlight night on march 5th when a group of boys were teasing private Hugh White, but this escalated into a large gathering of Bostonians pelting White with snowballs and rocks. Hearing the uproar a captain and 7 grenadiers showed up to settle down the colonists but after a shot was accidentally fired by one of the grenadiers, everything turned to chaos and 7 men were killed. This was the event that angered all the colonists and caused them to revolt. -
Tea Act
This was the law signed by the British in the early 1700s, it stated that the only tea that could be sold to Britain and its colonies was from the East India trading company. This resulted the colonists revolting and smuggling in tea from Dutch smugglers. This law was the spark for the later Boston Tea Party which was a protest against the British. -
Boston Tea Party
This was an act planned by the Sons of Liberty a group dedicated to the stopping of taxes from the British. 3 groups of colonists dressed as Native Americans boarded 3 different ships docked at the post containing crates of tea, after commandeering the ships they took the cargo split it open and threw it and its contents into the water. -
First Continental Congress
This group met in 1774, and their goal was to avoid war at all costs. They favored economic coercion which was forcing them into something using the economy (like not buying there resources to make them have less money form exports.) They decided that and acceptable form of protest would be to place "sanctions" on the British, which was nonimportation of British goods. -
Intolerable (Coercive) Acts
These acts were 4 laws that were made as punishment to the Massachusetts area, because of their behavior at the Boston Tea Party. As the name states the acts were not able to be tolerated by the colonists so they revolted and fought against the acts. They led to the revolutionary wars beginning. -
The 2nd Continental Congress
The 2nd continental congress was the birth of the creation for the new continental army. This new army needed a commander and so the congress chose George Washington as commander. This was the spark that kicked off the Patriots fight against the British army to army. -
Olive Branch Petition
This was a petition sent from the Continental Congress to the king of England. The petition was filled with complements towards the kings as well as them telling the king that they need him and what a bad idea going to war with them would be. But to the dismay of the Continental Congress he declined it sending the colonies and Britian to war. -
Battle of Lexington
This battle happened on the British's march to Concord. 200 to 300 colonist fighters had gathered to fight the British troops on their way to Concord, the first shots fired were by the colonists but after being fired on the British shot back killing 7 colonists. But after the British continued on to Concord they heard the colonists shout that the revolution had begun. -
Battle of Concord
This battle lasted only ten minutes and resulted in American victory and a bloody British retreat. After arriving in Concord to find the American weapon stash the British searched for hours with no prevail, and after a defeat at Concord's north bridge and losing 3 men the British began their retreat in a panic. This was one of the first American victories and gave the Americans renewed hope about the war. -
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
This was a pamphlet written around the time the king sent his response to the Olive Branch Petition back. This document written by Thomas Paine stated that it would be Common sense for the colonies to go to war, because why would a Country need to be controlled by an Island. hundreds of copies of this were made and it put fire in many colonists mind about war. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays rebellion started near the end of the revolutionary war ,it began because of the Financial problems in the colonies. After the war most of the colonies had a lot less money from when they started so they began to do what the colonists had juts fought a war stop, taxing the colonists. When the Massachusetts government raised taxes the colonists weren't happy so they rebelled against the high taxes into what would later be known as the Shays Rebellion. -
Congress Ratifies the U.S Constitution
The U.S Constitution was a much fought over point in the colonists world for many years, the two groups doing the fighting were the Federalists and the Antifederalists who were for and against the constitution. But eventually after much fighting the constitution was ratified and it became a pillar for the idea of the American dream and has been updated over the years to fit the current scenario. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was, another rebellion caused by taxes. Once the colonists discovered how to make whiskey, the government saw a good way to gain money by taxing. Because of this the local people of southern Pennsylvania revolted and stormed through Pennsylvania. George Washingtons way to deal with this was to that the. colonists couldn't just revolt to get anything they wanted, and so he sent many Militias and they put the colonists in their place and taught them never to rebel. -
XYZ affair
The XYZ affair happened when the U.S and France were trying to negotiate a deal with France and so in response the French sent out 3 agents who went by the names of X, Y, and Z. The agents came with a message and said that they would only agree to talk about the treaty if the U.S payed a bribe pf 250,000 dollars. This outraged the citizens so much that they wanted to go right to war and the President had to make a decision to fight, pay, or do nothing. -
War of 1812
The war of 1812 was a war fought between the American colonists and Britain (as well as some of Britain's allies in North America. The war took place because of the British impressment that was happening to the American sailors who were being forced to fight for Britain in their wars.after the American Government had had enough they went to war on June 18 1812. The war lasted for about 3 years and it resulted in neither side winning, but a peace treaty was signed and America gained respect.