-
John Locke's Social Contract
John Locke, an Enlightenment philosopher, thought that people have natural rights to life, liberty, and property. He also thought that every society is based on a social contract--an agreement in which the people consent to choose and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights. If the government violates that social contract by taking away or interfering with those rights, people have the right to resist and even overthrow the government. -
The French and Indian War
The French built Fort Duquesne in the Ohio River valley when Virginia already granted 200,000 acres of land in the region to wealthy planters, creating a war. The war officially ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. -
Writ of Assistance
The governor of Massachusetts allowed British customs officials to search and colonial ship or building they believed to be holding smuggled goods through the use of the writ of assistance. -
The Treaty of Paris 1763
This treaty was signed to end the French and Indian War between France and Great Britain. Great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi River and Florida from Spain. Spain kept its lands west of the Mississippi and New Orleans. France only kept a few islands and small colonies in Newfoundland in the West Indies. -
Proclamation of 1763
The British created the Proclamation of 1763, which established the Proclamation Line along the Appalachian Mountains past which colonists were not allowed to settle in order to appease the Native Americans. However, some colonists ignored the proclamation and settled past the Appalachians anyways. -
Sugar Act and Colonists' Response
The Sugar Act passed by Parliament halved the duty on foreign molasses, placed new duties on imports, and had any colonist who violated the act be tried in a vice-admiralty court instead of a colonial court (single judge instead of jury of sympathetic colonists). Colonial merchants complained that the act would reduce their profits and that no colonists should be taxed if they had no representation in the government. -
Stamp Act & Colonists' Response
This act, passed in March, imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards; a stamp would be placed on items to prove that the tax was paid. Colonists united to defy the law in May, New York, Boston, and Philadelphia agreed to boycott British goods until it was repealed in October, and the law was repealed in March of 1766. -
Sons of Liberty is Formed & Samuel Adams
The Sons of Liberty, an secret resistance group made of Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers, was formed in response to the Stamp Act. The group boycotted British goods in protest of the laws being passed in Parliament to tax to colonists. Samuel Adams was one of the leaders of this group. -
Declaratory Act
This act asserted Parliament's full right "to bind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever." It was passed in response to the repeal of the Stamp Act. -
Townshend Acts & Colonists' Response
These acts, named after Charles Townshend, the leading government minister, taxed imported goods from Britain such as lead, glass, paint, and paper. They also taxed tea, the most popular drink in the colonies. All of them except the tax on tea were repealed at the request of Lord Frederick North, who realized they costed more to enforce than they would ever bring in. -
The Boston Massacre
A mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted the British soldiers standing guard there. Shots were fired and five colonists, including Crispus Attucks, were killed or mortally wounded. -
Tea Act
This act, devised by Lord North to save the nearly bankrupt British East India Tea Company, granted the company the right to sell tea to the colonists free of the taxes that the colonial sellers had to pay. This outraged the colonists since colonial tea sellers were being cut out of trade by the lower prices. -
The Boston Tea Party
A large group of Boston rebels disguised themselves as Native Americans and proceeded to take action against three British tea ships anchored in the harbor. In this incident, later known as the Boston Tea Party, the "Indians" dumped 18,000 pounds of the East India Company's tea into the waters of the Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
In response to the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts. One shut down Boston harbor, the Quartering Act authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings. General Thomas Gage, the commander-in-chief of British forces in North America, placed Boston under marital law. -
First Continental Congress Meets
56 delegates from the colonies met in Philadelphia in September 1774 to draw up a declaration of colonial rights. They defended the colonies' right to run their own affairs and stated that, if the British soldiers used force against the colonies, the colonies should fight back. -
Minutemen
Civilian soldiers who pledged to be ready to fight against the British on a minute's notice. They stockpiled firearms and gunpowder in preparation of defending themselves against the British military. -
Midnight Riders: Revere, Dawes, and Prescott
Paul Revere, William Dawes, and Samuel Prescott all rode out in the night to spread word that 700 British troops were headed for Concord. -
Battle of Concord
The British marched to Concord to find that the arms stash was empty. As they were marching back to Boston, between 3,000 and 4,000 minutemen had assembled and began their attack. British soldiers fell by the dozen. The colonists had become the enemies of Britain and held Boston and the encampment of British soldiers under siege. -
Battle of Lexington
70 minutemen assembled to fight against the redcoats in Lexington, Massachusetts. Tensions rose and the battle began after someone fired "the shot heard round the world." Eight minutemen were killed and ten more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured. -
Second Continental Congress
Colonial leaders met to debate their next move; loyalties divided colonists and sparked intense debate. Some called for independence, while others argued for reconciliation with Great Britain. Despite this, the Congress agreed to recognize the colonial militia as the Continental Army and appointed George Washington as its commander. -
Continental Army
The colonial army made of minutemen that was recognized by the First Continental Congress. George Washington was appointed as its commander. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
British general Thomas Gage sent 2,400 British soldiers up Breed's Hill to attack militiamen. The colonists held their fire until the last minute and then began to mow down the advancing redcoats before finally retreating. By the time the smoke cleared, the colonists had lost 450 men, while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties. The misnamed Battle of Bunker Hill would prove to be the deadliest battle of the war. -
Olive Branch Petition
Most of the delegates of the Second Continental Congress felt deep loyalty to George III and blamed the bloodshed on his ministers. Congress sent the king the Olive Branch Petition, urging a return to "the former harmony" between Britain and the colonies. King George rejected the petition and issued a proclamation stating that the colonies were in rebellion and urged Parliament to order a naval blockade to isolate a line of ships meant for the American coast. -
Publication of Common Sense
Thomas Paine, an influential American writer, wrote the 50 page pamphlet that attacked King George and the monarchy. He was a recent immigrant that supported reconciliation in the past but decided to strive for independence after Lexington and Concord. He thought that independence would allow America to trade more freely and give American colonists the chance to create a better society--one free from tyranny, with equal social and economic opportunities for all. -
Declaration of Independence
Virginia lawyer Thomas Jefferson was chosen to prepare the final draft of the Declaration of Independence. The document declared the rights of "Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness" to be "unalienable" rights--ones that can never be taken away. It also declared that the power of a government comes from the consent of the governed, that "all men are created equal," and declared the colonies' independence from Britain. The Declaration was adopted on July 4th, 1776. -
Loyalists and Patriots
Loyalists, those who opposed independence and remained loyal to the British king, included judges and governors, as well as people of more modest means. Many thought that the British were going to win and wanted to avoid punishment as rebels. Some thought the Crown would protect their rights more effectively than the new colonial governments would.
Patriots, the supporters of independence, drew their numbers from people who saw political and economic opportunity in an independent America. -
Redcoats Push Washington's Army Across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
The British quickly attempted to seize New York City by sailing into New York harbor in the summer of 1776 with 32,000 soldiers, some of which were Hessians. Although the Continental Army attempted to defend New York in August, the untrained and poorly equipped colonial troops soon retreated. By late fall, the British had pushed Washington's army across the Delaware river into Pennsylvania. -
Washington's Christmas Night Surprise Attack
General George Washington led 2,400 men in small rowboats across the ice-choked Delaware River in the early morning of Christmas day. They then marched to Trenton, New Jersey and defeated a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack. The Continental Army split into two parts to attack the enemy camp from both sides. -
Saratoga
British general John Burgoyne planned to lead an army down a route of lakes from Canada to Albany, where he would join forces with the other British troops arriving from New York City and isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. When he was fighting off the colonial troops, he didn't realize that his fellow British officers were preoccupied holding Philadelphia; Burgoyne was surrounded by American troops at Saratoga. -
Valley Forge
While the Franco-American Alliance was being created in Paris, Washington and his Continental Army--desperately low on food and supplies--fought to stay alive at winter camp in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 2,000 soldiers died, yet the survivors didn't desert. Their endurance and suffering filled Washington's letters to Congress and his friends. -
French-American Alliance
Although the French had secretly aided the Patriots since early 1776, the Saratoga victory bolstered France's belief that the Americans could win the war. As a result, the French signed an alliance with the Americans in February 1778 and openly joined them in their fight. -
Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
Friedrich von Steuben, a Prussian captain and talented drill-master, helped to train the Continental Army while they were in Valley Forge in 1778. Marquis de Lafayette, a French military leader, lobbied for French reinforcements in 1779 and led a command in Virginia in the last years of the war. -
British Victories in the South
The British easily captured Savannah, Georiga at the end of 1778. Under Generals Henry Clinton and Charles Cornwallis, the British captured Charles Town, South Carolina in May 1780. -
British Surrender at Yorktown
Cornwallis camped at Yorktown with an army of 7,500 with the intent to fortify Yorkown, take Virginia, and then move north to join Clinton's forces. After learning of Cornwallis's plan, Lafayette and Washington moved their armies south towards Yorktown. A French naval force defeated a British fleet and then blocked the entrance to the Chesapeake Bay. French and American troops began bombarding the British day and night by late September, and Cornwallis surrendered less than a month later. -
Treaty of Paris
Peace talks began in Paris in 1782. John Adams, John Jay of New York, and Benjamin Franklin were part of the negotiating time. In 1783, the delegates signed the Treaty of Paris, which confirmed U.S. independence and set the boundaries of the new nation. The United States now stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River and from Canada to the Florida border.
