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The American Revolution
The Revolutionary War came to an end in the "City of Lights" -- when British representative David Hartley and an American delegation of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. -
The Theory of Mercantilism
The theory of mercantilsm held that a country's main goal was indeed self-sufficiency; all coutries were in a competition to obtain the most silver and gold. Nations were inspired by this and concentrated on the balance of trade. As well as the amount of goods bought compoared to the amount sold. Because of this, Birtain looked to their American colonies as a market for British goods, a source of raw materials and a producer of goods that they could sell to other nations. -
Salutary Neglect
Meaning that England relaxed it's enforcemnt on most regulations in hopes of the continuation of economic loyalty from the colonies. This would continue as long as raw materials continued to flow into the homeland and all the colonist continued to buy goods producxed in England. This led to the idea of self government. -
French and Indian War
Washington's militia attacked french soldiers. The indian allies went too far and the French were not pleased. A battle followed in July and Washington was forced to surrender due to harsh rains ruining their weapons.This was the fourth war between Great Britain and Frence for control of North America. -
Proclamation of 1763
The British banned settlement west of the Appalachians to avoid any further cinlficts with Native Americans. The ban established a Proclamation Line in which the coonist were not allowd to cross. The British were unable to fully enforce the ban any more than they could force the Navigation Acts. Thus, colonists continued to west onto native American lands. -
The Stamp Act
The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years’ War (1756-63) and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source. Arguing that only their own representative assemblies could tax them, the colonists insisted that the act was unconstitutional, and they resorted to mob violence to intimidate stamp collectors into resigning. -
The Stamp Act Congress
It was a meeting held between October 7 and 25, 1765 in New York City, consisting of representatives from some of the British colonies in North America; it was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against new British taxation. -
The Declaratory Act of 1766
Declaration by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that the British Parliament's taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain. Parliament had directly taxed the colonies for revenue in the Sugar Act (1764) and the Stamp Act (1765). -
The Townshend Acts
A series of measures introduced into the English Parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend in 1767, the Townshend Acts imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. Townshend hoped the acts would defray imperial expenses in the colonies, but many Americans viewed the taxation as an abuse of power, resulting in the passage of agreements to limit imports from Britain. In 1770, Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except the tax on tea. -
The Boston Massacre
Tensions between the American colonists and the British were already running high in the early spring of 1770. Late in the afternoon, on March 5, a crowd of jeering Bostonians slinging snowballs gathered around a small group of British soldiers guarding the Boston Customs House. The soldiers became enraged after one of them had been hit, and they fired into the crowd, even though they were under orders not to fire. Five colonists were shot and killed. -
The Tea Act
A bill designed to save the faltering East India Company from bankruptcy by greatly lowering the tea tax it paid to the British government and, thus, granting it a de facto monopoly on the American tea trade. Because all legal tea entered the colonies through England, allowing the East India Company to pay lower taxes in Britain also allowed it to sell tea more cheaply in the colonies. Even untaxed Dutch tea, which entered the colonies illegally through smuggling, was more expensive the East Ind -
The Boston Tea Party
In Boston, the arrival of three tea ships ignited a furious reaction. The crisis came to a head on December 16, 1773 when as many as 7,000 agitated locals milled about the wharf where the ships were docked. A mass meeting at the Old South Meeting House that morning resolved that the tea ships should leave the harbor without payment of any duty. A committee was selected to take this message to the Customs House to force release of the ships out of the harbor. The Collector of Customs refused to a -
Quartering Act
This act authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes along with other buildings. General Thomas Gage, commander in cheif of British forces in North America, was appointed the new gononer of Massachusetts in addition to these measues. -
The Intolerable Acts
King George III was enraged by th organized destruction of British property so he passed Parliament to act. Parliament responded by passing a series of measures. Colonists called these measures The Intolerable ACts. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress met in Philadelphia from Sept. 5 to Oct. 26, 1774, to protest the Intolerable Acts. Representatives attended from all the colonies except Georgia. The leaders included Samuel Adams and John Adams of Massachusetts and George Washington and Patrick Henry of Virginia. The Congress voted to cut off colonial trade with Great Britain unless Parliament abolished the Intolerable Acts. It approved resolutions advising the colonies to begin training their citizens for wa -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the -
Second Continetal Congress
A declaration by the Representatives of the United Colonies of North-America, now met in Congress at Philadelphia, setting forth the causes and necessity of their taking up arms. -
Thomas Paine Writes Common Sense
Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the American political tradition. It articulates the fundamental ideas that form the American nation: All men are created free and equal and possess the same inherent, natural rights. Legitimate governments must therefore be based on the consent of the governed and must exist “to secure these rights.” -
The American Revolution Ends
The Revolutionary War came to an end in the "City of Lights" -- when British representative David Hartley and an American delegation of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. -
The Treaty of Paris
Confirmed U.S independence. Thus setting the boundaries of the new nation. Now, the United States streached from the Atlantic Ocean all the wy to this Mississippi River; from Canada to the Florida border. Although, Thew British put no effort into protecting the land interest of their Native American allies.
