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The Great Awakening
The Great Awakening impacted the English colonies in the 1740s and 1730s. It occurred when secular rationalism was prevalent, and passion for religion had decreased. Evangelical preachers like Jonathan Edwards promoted revivals where people felt a transforming contact with an overwhelming Holy Spirit. This led to new churches and increased religious tolerance. Many came to believe that if they could decide how to worship God, they could also decide how to govern themselves. -
Invention of the Lightning Rod
By 1750, in addition to wanting to prove that lightning was electricity, Benjamin Franklin started to think about protecting people, buildings, and other structures from lightning. This grew into his idea for the lightning rod, which has saved the life of many. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France that was called the Seven Years' War. The French and Indian War commenced in 1754 and terminated following the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The war began over the controversy of whether the upper Ohio River valley was a part of the British Empire, and therefore open for trade and settlement by Virginians and Pennsylvanians, or part of the French Empire. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act lowered the tax on imported sugar by half, but also took steps to enforce it more strictly. The goal of the act was ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies and providing increased revenues to fund enlarged British Empire responsibilities following the French and Indian War. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act stated that all legal documents such as wills, contracts, diplomas, playing cards, etc. had to be written on paper with a stamp purchased from the British government. This act prompted the Stamp Act Congress to openly protest, boycott, attack tax collectors, pass resolutions and produce petitions to the king. All of this caused the Stamp Act to be repealed in 1766. -
The Townshend Acts
This act taxed items such as glass, paper, TEA, lead, and paint that were not made in the colonies. The tax had to be paid at the dock before unloading goods. Colonists reacted to this act by complaining about taxation without representation, and they continued to protest, boycott, have public meetings, petition the king. They even formed the Sons of Liberty and committees of correspondence. This led to all of the taxes being repealed except the tax in tea. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that transpired in 1770 between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Multiple colonists were killed. This event led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
The Tea Act
This act required colonists to buy their tea from the British East India Company, which was the company that King George III
tea was still taxed owned. This act was a major cause of the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
In December 1773, colonists threw 342 chests of tea imported by the British East India Company overboard into the Boston Harbor to protest the tea duty. The colonists refused to obey a law that they disagreed with without violence. -
The Intolerable Acts
This act closed the Boston Harbor until the people agreed to pay for the destroyed tea, eliminated the colonists’ elected government, allowed King George III to eliminate all positions in the government,
required colonists to house soldiers in empty buildings and in the homes of the colonists (Quartering Act), and allowed no public meetings. The colonists responded by forming the first Continental Congress. -
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress met in September 1774 in Philadelphia, PA. Both loyalists and patriots attended. The people in attendance made a request for peace and fairness,
did not approve of taxation without representation,
gathered a list of grievances and stated their rights as colonists, decided to continue to boycott and stop all trade with England,
recommended that militias prepare to fight, and set their next meeting time. -
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia, PA.
Both Loyalists and Patriots attended. Here, they
appointed George Washington as Commander of the Continental Army, made a request for peace with the Olive Branch Petition,
set up a committee to draft the Declaration of Independence,
set up a national government under the Articles of Confederation, and declared independence on July 4, 1776. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
This battle took place in April of 1775 when open warfare finally broke out between British soldiers and colonial militia, known as "minutemen." It began when British soldiers were sent to Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts to arrest several Patriot leaders and to capture a suspected storehouse of weapons. No one is sure who fired the first shots, but it was the "Shot Heard 'Round the World." This event marked the commencement of the American Revolutionary War. -
Declaration of Independence
The purpose of the Declaration of Independence was to explain to the entire world why the thirteen British colonies were seeking to start their own country. It explains the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based. It demonstrated John Locke's idea of a "social contract." -
Articles of Confederation
The Second Continental Congress formed the Articles of Confederation. This created a loose confederation of states. Each state had one vote in the Confederation Congress, and nine states were needed to pass a law. The Confederation Congress controlled foreign affairs but was unable to raise its own army or collect taxes. It was reliant on the state governments for support. This document was the first constitution of the United States. -
Treaty of Paris of 1783
This was the document that officially ended the Revolutionary War. Britain gave up their land between the Atlantic Ocean and Mississippi River and north of Florida. Britain also recognized the United States of America as an independent nation. -
Discarding the Articles of Confederation
In May 1787, representatives from the states met in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation. George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton were among the delegates. The representatives quickly agreed on discarding the Articles of Confederation. They decided that a new national constitution was needed. -
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution
The Constitution became the official framework of the government of the United States of America after New Hampshire was the ninth of 13 states to ratify it. -
First President of the United States
George Washington was known as the "Father of our Country" and was unanimously elected the first President of the United States after the Constitution was ratified. He was Commander of the American forces during the Revolutionary War and helped frame the Constitution of the United States. -
Second President of the United States
John Adams' presidency was quickly taken up with foreign affairs. Britain and France were at war, which directly affected American trade. Adams, unlike George Washington who did not belong to a political party, was a Federalist.
