• Stamp Act: March 1765 required piece of paper with a stamp on it for
all legal documents. Was repealed in 1766.
• Townshend Act: 1769 imposed taxes on imports from Britain
including Tea. Remained until the start of the war. (Profiteering also)
• Boston Massacre: March 5, 1770 British troops kill five colonists.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iloGkp5f_Hk
• Boston
Tea
Party:
1773 King George III gave the British East India
Cheers
to
the
Company a pass on taxes for tea imports that the tea selling colonist
Lobster
Backs. paying. This cut the colonist out of the market.
had
to continuing
(Tea
Act) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwEX_YVyAS4
Suckers!
• Intolerable Acts: 1774 a series of laws that shut down the Boston
Harbor, Quartering Act, made General Thomas Gage governor of
Massachusetts and placed Boston under martial law.
• The First Continental Congress is formed and shortly after in 1775
the fighting erupts at Lexington and Concord.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiIFRCk1hxY
• The Second Continental Congress: May of 1775 a second meeting is
held to discuss what to do with the English Rule debate. They
recognize the Continental Army in June the same year and appoint G.
Washington as their commander.
• Battle of Bunker Hill: June 17, 1775 Gage sent 2,400 troops by the
end of the battle the colonist lost only 311 men and the British had
suffered over 1,000 casualties. This gave the colonists confidence
that they could fight with the British.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZdM44rovn6c
• Olive Branch Petition: July 8, 1775 Congress sends King George III a
letter urging him to return to “the former harmony” between Britain
and colonies. He flatly rejected the petition.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDzwtl5Z2cA
• Common Sense: as things are heating up in the summer of 1775 a
series of essays published written by Thomas Paine attacked King
George and the monarchy system. He called King George “the royal
brute of Britain.” This essay persuaded a lot of colonists to support
the idea of revolution.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5JTxVHQAp8w
•Declaration of Independence: on July 4, 1776 Congress adopted the
Declaration of Independence by unanimous vote. This left the colonists
with a decision to make, either be a loyalist to the British crown, or be a
patriot and risk possible death for rebelling against it.
•The Americans won the war through hit and run tactics; Battle of
Saratoga (Forces British to only fight battles on the East Coast and not in
the interior parts of America)
http://www.history.com/topics/battle-of-saratoga/videos
•The Continental Army basically played a game of keep away from the
British Army and tried to avoid an open field type of battle unless they
had the advantage
• The American colonies gained a sense of independence from the
French and Indian War (Salutary Neglect in early colonial life)
• The Continental Congress heavily debated upon the issue of slavery
and eventually had to stop discussing the issue because it was
keeping the colonies from uniting
• They did not feel that they needed a King and a Parliament that lived
thousands of miles away to rule over them anymore
• King George III felt that the colonies should help pay off some of the
war debt since his army helped to save the colonist from the French
and Indian forces in the French and Indian War
• The citizens did not feel that they should have to pay taxes because
they were not getting representation in the British Government
(Parliament)
•The only advantages that the Americans had in the Revolutionary war
was the fact that they were fighting on familiar land, the leadership of
George Washington (Valley Forge), and the fact that they had a specific
cause that people were willing to die for, and the French as an ally
•Had many disadvantages like raising revenue for the war (inflation
through printing too many Continentals) Soldiers with improper
uniforms because of lack of production, supplies, and money to fund the
war
•Battle of Yorktown marks the end of the fighting between the Colonists
and British http://www.history.com/shows/america-the-story-ofus/videos/yorktown
•Treaty of Paris marks the end of the war in 1783
•Egalitarianism: a belief in the equality of all men begins to spread
throughout the colonies
•Republicanism: the idea that people can choose a government by
electing representatives through voting to make decisions for them
based on what is good for the entire republic