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King George made a law called the Proclamation of 1763 which stated the colonists could not move westward over the Appalachian Mountains.
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In 1765 the Stamp Act was passed. Which means that a tax on anything paper-related in the colonies from playing cards to wil and diplomas. The tax stamps had to be put on 54 kinds of paper.
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In October 1765 nine colonies sent people to a meeting in New York City to talk abot the Stamp Act. They made the decisio that the Parliament could not tax the American colonies since they had no representation in Parliament.
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In 1767 the Britsh passed the Townsend Act. This act placed taxes on tea, glass, paper, and paint. Many colonists refused to pay the taxes or to buy any goods made in England.
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Fighting finally erupted netweem colonists and the British army in April 1775 in Lexington and Concord. Massachusetts. Meeting soon afterward, the Second Continental Congress set up an army, called the Contienetal Army. George Washignton served as its commander in chief.
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More than a year passed before the colonies declared independence from the British Empire. On July 4, 1776 the Second Contienntal Congress approved the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. With this stirring political document, the American Revolution had formally begun.
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Shortly after the Declaration of Independence was approved in 1776, work began on the Articles of Confederation. It would take over a year to agree on a final draft of thia document, and another three and a half years for it to be ratified by the states of the new nation.
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In February 1778, following a British defeat, the French granted diplomatic recognition to the new United States.
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When General Cornwallis was forced to surrender to the American and French forces under Washington at Yorktown in 1781, the British decided to end the War.
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The Treaty of Paris, signed in 1783, recognized the independence of the American colonies. The treaty also granted the Americans control of the western territory from the Appalachians to the Mississippi River.
