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French and Indian War
War between Great Britain and France in North America from 1754 to 1763. In 1756, the war erupted into the world-wide conflict known as the Seven Years' War. -
Albany Conference
Meeting of representatives from seven of the thirteen British North American colonies in 1754 (specifically, Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island). Representatives met daily at Albany, New York to discuss better relations with the Indian tribes and common defensive measures against the French. -
Stamp Act
A direct tax imposed by the British Parliament specifically on the colonies of British America. The act required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. -
Townshend Acts
These laws placed new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Colonial reaction to these taxes was the same as to the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, and Britain eventually repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. -
Boston Massacre
British troops had been stationed in Boston in order to protect and support crown-appointed colonial officials attempting to enforce unpopular Parliamentary legislation. They fired into a crowd, apparently without orders, instantly killing three people and wounding others. Two more people died later of wounds sustained in the incident. -
Tea Act
Its objective was to reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses. A related objective was to undercut the price of tea smuggled into Britain's North American colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
After officials in Boston refused to return three shiploads of taxed tea to Britain, a group of colonists boarded the ships and destroyed the tea by throwing it into Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Four exceedingly severe Acts made to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. The most important of these, the Boston Port Act, closed Boston’s port to all commerce except for food and fuel—and provisions for the Royal army. -
Lexington and Concord
The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. -
Declaration of Independence
The thirteen American colonies declared independence from Great Britain.
