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Proclamation of 1763
This banned settlement beyond the Appalachian Mountains. This upset colonists because they had just spent years fighting the French for the land. The British wanted to avoid having to fight the Indians over the land. Colonists then refused the proclamation. -
Navigation Laws
Prime Minister George Grenville ordered the navy to enforce these laws due to the great cost of the French and Indian War. -
Sugar Act
After the Grenville enforced the Navigation Laws, the first taxing was on molasses. Protesting colonists were angered by the taxation. -
Quartering Act
The second act King George III made demanded that colonists let British soldiers live in their homes. This renewed their anger because they knew that the war was over and they were using the soldiers as spies to make sure the colonists wouldn’t rebel. -
Stamp Act
The second tax the motherland made the colonists pay was on every paper product including their playing cards. Grenville saw this as reasonable because people in England paid a higher stamp tax. People who refused to pay were sent to admiralty courts, without a jury and on an “innocent until proven guilty” type concept. -
Stamp Act Congress
This specific congress stated the rights and grievances of colonists on the taxation as a sort of representation. Although, it was ignored England, this was the first step towards inter colonial unity. -
Stamp Act Gets Repealed
Parliament repealed the Stamp Act due to the eruption of anger from united colonists and boycotts that hurt the English economy. All stamp takers were forced to resign. -
Townsend Acts
Following previous acts, tax was put on glass, white lead, paper, paint, and most famously known, tea. After this last set of taxes, the colonists refused to pay without representation. -
Boston Massacre
This was said to have been a British attack on the French Patriots after they refused to pay taxes. -
Boston Tea Party
Due to lack of purchase by the colonists, the British East India Company was left with 17 million pounds of unsold tea as well as facing bankruptcy. Colonists saw this as a chance to trick the British government into thinking they were accepting the taxes. Around 100 Bostonians then dressed up as Indians and boarded the ships containing the tea and smashed 342 chests and dumped them into the sea. -
First Continental Congress
This congress met to readdress grievances of the colonists which was held in Philadelphia. John Adams played a Katy role here. This brought together 12 out of the 13 colonies (Georgia being the only one not there). -
Intolerable Acts
As a result of the Boston Tea Party, these Acts were put on the colonists as a sort of punishment. The most drastic was the Boston Port Act which closed the port until damages were paid. -
Battle at Lexington and Concord
These were essentially the last battles that set off the American Revolution. British commanders in Boston sent troops to collect gunpowder from stores in these cities, and fighting broke out. -
Bunker Hill and the Olive Branch Petition
Colonists attacked this hill but ran out of ammo and were forced to flee. The Continental Congress then adopted this petition in hopes for mercy from the British government, however the King rejected it. -
Second Continental Congress
At this congress, George Washington was selected to lead an army into Boston at the age of 43. -
Thomas Paine Preaches Common Sense
Paine expressed his thoughts by writing this book. In it he explained how their true cause was to have independence for their newfound country. If they did not do this, he claimed that they would struggle to have any alliances with other countries. -
The Declaration of Independence
This was approved by congress stating that America had gained its independence. It also included some of the tyrannies oof King George III. -
Battle at Trenton
At this battle, Washington crossed the Delaware River and captured 1,000 Hessians -
Battles of Saratoga
John Burgoyne, British military officer was forced to surrender after being cornered by General Horatio Gates. -
Battle at Yorktown
British general, Charles Cornwallis, was forced to surrender around 7,000 soldiers to American and French forces after French Admiral de Grasse allied with the Americans to take down the British. -
Treaty of Paris
This treaty was a way of Britain recognizing the United States’ independence. For the Americans, however hey could no longer persecute Loyalists, and their possessions needed to be returned and debts needed to be paid. For the British, they had to accept their defeat and they were now allowed to rebuild in England.
