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French and Indian War
The French and Indian war was fought between France and Great Britain, not France and India. Mercantilism changed the economic attitude towards the colonies which led to conflict. (Also known as the Seven Years War). -
Proclaimation of 1763
Was created in response to Pontiac's war and forbade colonist from settling in the Appalachian Mountains -
Sugar Act
British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764, that was designed to raise revenue from the American colonists in the 13 Colonies. -
Stamp Act
Tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. -
Quatering Act
Required the colonies to house British soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies. -
Townshend Act
A series of laws which set new import taxes on British goods including paint, paper, lead, glass & tea & used revenues to maintain British troops in America & to pay the salaries of some Royal officials who were chosen to work in the American colonies. -
Boston Massacre
A squad of British soldiers, come to support a sentry who was being harassed by a heckling, snowballing crowd, let loose a volley of shots. The Boston Massacre is remembered as a key event in helping to urge the colonial public to the Patriot cause. -
Committees of Correspondence
Provisional Patriot emergency governments established in response to British policy on the eve of the American Revolution throughout the Thirteen Colonies. They served as a vast network of communication throughout the Thirteen Colonies between Patriot leaders. -
Tea Act
Main purpose was not to raise revenue from the colonies but to bail out the floundering East India Company, a key factor in the British economy. The British government granted the company a monopoly on the importation and sale of tea in the colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
A direct protest by colonists in Boston against the Tea Tax that had been imposed by the British government. Boston patriots, dressed as Mohawk Indians, raided three British ships in Boston harbor and dumped 342 containers of tea into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Series of British Laws, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain 1774. Four of the Intolerable Acts were specifically aimed at punishing the Massachusetts colonists for the actions taken in the incident known as the Boston Tea Party. The fifth of the Intolerable Acts series was related to Quebec was seen as an additional threat to the liberty and expansion of the colonies. -
First Continental Congress
Comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes. -
Lexington and Concord
first revolutionary battle in the American Revolution -
Second Continental Congress
Met after the American Revolutionary War had already begun. In 1776, it took the momentous step of declaring America’s independence from Britain. Met to organize a war plan. -
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine where he advocates for American Independence. -
Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson. Justified the Americans' desire to separate from England.Which finally led the grant to america's independence. Co-wrote by Samuel Adams and Benjamin Franklin.