-
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was an act that set duties (or taxes) on molasses and sugar imported by the colonies. The sugar act was also know as the American Revenue Act. It arrived to the colonies in a time of economic depression. Which made smuggling molasses more dangerous and risky. It was eventually repealed in 1766 and was replaced with the Revenue Act of 1766. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act required colonists to pay for a stamp to be put on all paper products. They were very angered at this and pressure to repeal it was put on Parlament. The Act was repealed in 1776. -
The Townshend Act
The Townshend Act was an act that placed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. To make sure the act was being followed the British officials used writs of assistance which allowed tax collectors to search through people's homes for smuggled goods. The colonists responded to this by boycotting british goods. -
The Boston Massacre
On the fith of March a crowd of colonists gathered around a group of British soldiers. Conflict arose and the colonists started pestering the soldiers by throwing snowballs and sticks at them. Through this confusion one of the soldier's guns went off and a dozen went off after it. Three people died on the spot and two died later of injuries. This caused anger throughout the people torwards the British. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act stated that the colonies were only alowed to buy tea from the East India Company. Even though that tea was cheaper than their tea, the colonists were angered that their freedom of choosing had been taken away. The colonists were so upset that it led to the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
British parlament passed a tea act making it illegal for the colonists to buy their tea from anyone but them. This greatly upset the colonists and on the night of December 16, 1773, colonists disguised themsevels as Indians, snuck onto a ship, and dumped over 340 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. In reation to this, the King passes another set of laws called the intolerable acts. -
Period: to
American Revolution
-
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable acts were a set of laws passed by Parlament in reaction to the Boston Tea Party. They included the closing of Boston Harbor, Massachusett's charter is cancelled, trials of royal officials had to be held in Great Britian, the Quartering Act saying colonists had to house British soilders, giving land to the colony of Qubec, and general Thomas Gage became the new govenor of Massachusetts. The colonists were very upset with these acts. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The Patriots were low on supplies as they dug in at Breed's HIll. The British awoke to the realization that they would have to fight their way uphill. The Patirots eventually ran out of ammunition, and the Brittish won, but with heavy losses. This battle proved that the Patriots were capable of taking on the British. -
The First Continental Congress
The First continental congress was a gathering of colonial leaders who did not like the relationship that was developing between Great Britain and the colonies. Delegates from all the colonies, except Georgia, met at Carpenters' Hall in Philidalphia to express these concearns. Their main goal was to state their concearns to the king and ask that he fix the problem. -
Lexington and Concord
The battle at Lexington and Concord consisted of 70 minute men as the colonies army. The Battle at Lexington ended within minutes with eight dead minutement and ten wounded and only one wounded British soldier. Before the British got to Concord though, most of the stolen weapons had already been hidden. Therefore, the British burned houses out of anger causing the minutemen to attack the British. This was also know as "the shot heard 'round the world" wich caused the British to retreat. -
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a second group of delegates from the colonies who had met in Philidelphia again. They represented a first attempt to establishing a republican goverment for the colonies. During this gathering they created the Massachusetts militia to become the continental army if they could not settle the dispute between them and Great Britain peacefully. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was a last stich effort for peace with Great Britian. King George refused to read it, and decided to look for new ways to punish the colonies. -
Common Sense
Common Sense was written about the abuse of goverment power and made a fairly strong case for economic freedom. It was written by Thomas Paine even though it was published anonymously. It also sold over 500,000 copies changing the way many colonists thought about their king. -
The Battle of New York
In New York British naval ships approached the New York Bay where George Washington was waiting. Unfortunately the British naval fleet forced his army off of long island. Using all of his knowledge and skills to keep his army alive George washigton kept getting pushed back further and further. Even though it was 32,000 British soldiers against 23,000 militia, George Washington's troops soon had to cross the hudson river into New Jersey letting the British take control of New York. -
Declaration of Independance
The Declaration of Independance was a document written by Thomas Jefferson that formally anncounced the colonies' break from Great Britian. The writing proclaimd that people have unalienalbe rights, the King infringed upon those rights, and that the colonies had a right to break away from Great Britian. The Declaration made people realize that it was no longer a rebellion, but a revolution. -
The Battle of Trenton
On the night of Christmas George Washington and 2,400 soldiers silently rowed across the Delaware River. In the morning they marched to the enemies camp where they planneed a suprise attack on the Hessians. They had taken more than 900 soldiers as prisoners. It was a very important victory for the Patriots to keep the revolution going. -
Battle of Saratoga
British general Burgoyne and general Howe had planned to work together to cut New England off from the other colonies. The first parts of their plan went well, but then the timing went wrong and Burgoyne eventually found himself surrounded by Patriots and was forced to surrender. The Battle of Saratoga was concidered the turning point in the American Revolution. -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge was located about 20 miles north of philadelphia. There was about 12,000 soldiers at the fort during the winter of 1777-1778. At Valley Forge they suffered shortaged of food and clothing to a point where some soldiers had no shirts or shoes. Over the winter about 2,000 soldiers died of disease or malnutrition but the ones who had survived stayed and became better soldiers. -
Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown was concidered the last major battle of the Revolutionary War. British general Cornwallis decided to move his troops, 7,200 in number, to Yorktown Virginia. Washington saw an opportunity to trap him there and combined his force with French allie's force and surrounded Cornwallis with around 16,000 soilders. For weeks, the fighting ensued and eventually Cornwallis sent a surrender. -
Treaty of Paris (ending Revolutionary War)
The Treaty of Paris was the treaty that ended the Revlutionary War. Great Britian finally recongnized the United States as independant. It also set boundries and boarders with Britian and Spain.
