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French and Indian War
Caused by France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley and brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies. Virginia sent a small militia under the command of George Washington. After gaining a small initial victory, Washington's troops surrendered. British victory resulted in the "Treaty of Paris" which France lost all claims to Canada and gave Louisiana to Spain, while Britain received Spanish Florida, Upper Canada, and various French holdings overseas. -
Proclamation of 1763
Prohibited colonists from settling west of the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar Act
This act placed duties on foreign sugar and certain luxuries. Its chief purpose was to raise money for the crown, and a companion law also provided for stricter enforcement of the Navigation Acts to stop smuggling. -
Stamp Act
This new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. -
Quartering Act
This act required the colonists to provide food and living quarters for British soldiers stationed in the colonies. -
Townshend Act
Imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
A crowed of colonists harassed the guards near the customs house. The guards fired into the crowd, killing five people including African American, Crispus Attucks. -
Tea Act
Made the price of the company's tea-even with the tax included- cheaper than that of smuggled Dutch tea. -
Boston Tea Party
A political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts. They destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Laws passed by the British Parliament that were meant to punish the American colonists for the Boston Tea Party and other protests. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates from each of the 13 colonies except, for Georgia, met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts. -
Committees of correspondence
Rallied colonial opposition against British policy and established a political union among the Thirteen Colonies. -
Lexington and Concord
The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine published the pamphlet Common Sense which argued that the colonists should free themselves from British rule and establish an independent government based on Enlightenment ideals - one that would protect man's natural rights. -
Second Continental Congress
Managed the Colonial war effort and moved incrementally towards independence. -
Declaration of Independence
States the reasons the British colonies of North America sought independence.