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End of French Indian War
The French and Indian War was a series of conflicts between the British colonist backed by their mother country, Britain, and French backed by their mother country, France and Native American allies for control in Europe and their expanding overseas empires. The war began in 1756 in North America and spread to Europe. The war ended with a British victory. The British won French territory in the new world and the colonist began to expand into the new claimed territory (Travors). -
Proclamation of 1763
Given the fact that the colonist were having trouble from the Native tribes that inhabited the newly claimed territory that was won from the French in the French and Indian War, The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued from the mother country, Britain. The Royal Proclamation stated the the colonist were not permitted to settle past the Appalachian Mountain into Native territory (Magazine of History & Biography, p406.). -
Stamp Act of 1765
In attempts to make the colonist pay their taxes, Parliament decided to issue the Stamp Act of 1765 which placed taxes on legal documents, newspapers, magazines and other types of paper used throughout the colonies (Bullion, p89). -
Stamp Act Congress
The colonist were outraged about the Stamp Act of 1765, so delegates from each colony met in New York and established the Idea of, "No taxation without representation," and issued the Declaration of Rights and Grievances (Bullion, p89). -
Quartering Act of 1765
When the French and Indian War was over the colonist thought that the soldiers would return to the mother country and the colonist would be alone like before except parliament had something else in mind.The Quartering Act of 1765 required colonist to house British soldiers in their homes or in the local inns. This act led to many conflicts between the colonist and the British soldiers and many soldiers were not friendly house guest (Military Affairs, p8). -
Boston Masacre
British Soldiers were sent to the Massachusetts Colony to aid in keeping the colonists under the yolk of Britain. When a soldier stationed at Boston's Customs House struck a colonist was bombarded with snowballs and rubbish by angry colonist. Soldiers who rushed to the soldier's aid find themselves surrounded. When a soldiers is hit by a stick, the soldiers fired into the crowd fatally wounding five colonists. Samuel Adams uses this as support for independence (Smithsonian, p12). -
Tea Act of 1773
In an attempt to save the British East India Company from its financial trouble Parliament passed the Tea Act of 1773 which placed taxes on tea, coffee, and etc. that colonist were fond of receiving and using. This upset many colonists and led the Sons of Liberty to take action (Hartmann, p 360). -
Boston Tea Party
Men united by a sense of liberty dressed as Mohawk Natives and threw barrels of tea into the Boston Harbor. This was an act of rebellion against the Tea Act of 1773 (This Month in History, p 12). -
Coercive Act of 1774
The Coercive Acts of 1774 were put in place by Parliament during the spring of 1774 as punishment for the Boston Tea Party. The Coercive Acts were put in place to reimburse the British East India Company for their financial loss and to tighten control over the rebellious Massachusetts Colony. These Acts included the Administration of Justice Act , the Massachusetts Government Act , the Boston Port Act, the Quartering act , and the Quebec Act (Barnes, p130 ). -
First Continental Congress
Colonists of the thirteen colonies had elected Congressmen to meet in the city of Philadelphia to establish religion, laws, and liberties. The English colonist agreed that they have the right to life, liberty, and property (Schwartz, p66). -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The men in the colonies began regularly training their militia. When the British generals heard of what the colonist were up to, British generals in America were ordered to act against the rebels. They believed that concord was the main location of the colonist goods and supplies. In order to reach Concord the troops had to march through many towns; Lexington included. The British were successful in the Battle of Lexington but were forced to retreat in the Battle of Concord (Blackbirch, 32). -
Second Continental Congress
At the second continental congress the representatives’ objective was to create an army and George Washington was voted to be its commander (Oberie, p48). -
New York Campaign
This was a series of confrontations for control over New York City and the State of New Jersey between the Continental army led by General George Washington and British army led by General Sir William Howe in 1776 to the winter of 1777. General Washington and his army were driven out of New York City and British troops controlled New York City for the remainder of the war (PediaPress, p 2). -
Battle of Princeton
Lord Cornwallis and the Hessians, who had arrived in Princeton in December 28 1776, were heading to Trenton but were surprised by General Washington and his men. The British troops were defeated. This served as the turning point of the American Revolutionary War (Sinclair, p7-10). -
Battle of Saratoga
Thousands of British troops were marching toward Saratoga, New York to weaken the colonist army by splitting them the colonist army. The British were only trained for open field warfare so on this march the British soldiers were introduced to new battle tactics and expert riflemen (snippers) driving the British forces to surrender (Nardo, p48). -
Southern Campaign
This was a British attempt to get southern loyalist to join British forces to win the American Revolutionary War. after the British defeat in the Battle of Saratoga, General Sir Henry Clinton began to march his army south. Cornwallis took over the campaign after the British Victory in Charleston in 1780. Cornwallis scored another victory in Camden before Nathaniel Green, a southern farmer, became the leader of the southern forces and turned the British victory in the south around (USMC, p 46) -
Articles of Conferderation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution for the United States that was established after the American Revolutionary War in 1781. This gave central government very little power and gave state government greater power for the colonist disliked the thought of their own government becoming like British Parliament. The Articles of Confederation will soon be replaced with the US Constitution for central government would need more power than originally believed (Callahan, p 11). -
Battle of Yorktown
After many victories in the south, Lord Cornwallis marched his army to northern Virginia. He believed that he could bring the war to an end in Virginia and it did end in Virginia; but not the way Lord Cornwallis thought it would. Cornwallis found his soldiers along with himself trapped by on land by the French Navy and unable to move further inland because of General Washington and his men. This led Lord Cornwallis to surrender and war was over and America was free (Greene, p507) -
Constitutional Convention
Under the Articles of Confederation the central government did not hold enough power to hold the United States. This demand for a stronger central government led to two parties forming; the federalist (supports a strong central government) and the anti federalist (support a strong state government). The US constitution was revised to ensure the rights of the people while giving central government more power (Callahan, 14p). -
Ratifying the US Constitution
Nine of the thirteen colonies had to ratify the constitution so that the government may enforce the constitution. There were four states whose agreement to the US Constitution was crucial; VA, NY, MA, and PA. James Madison convinces the state of Virginia (Bullion,p89), Alexander Hamilton convinced New York (Maier, p84), Massachusetts was convinced with the promise of the Bill of rights (Maier, p140), and Pennsylvania was convinced by James Wilson with to ratify the constitution (Maier, p77).
