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The Albany congress
The British also invited the Iroquois tribes to a meeting to defend themselves from the French. The Iroquois tribes did not side with the British because they thought the French was going to win. This meeting took place in Albany New York. They had this meeting because they wanted to make a plan to defend themselves from the French. Franklin drew up a plan, called the Albany Plan of Union. It called for a council of representatives elected by the colonial assemblies. -
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The French and Indian War
French, Indians vs British, colonists, Iroquois. They both wanted control of the Ohio River Valley. The British ended up winning the French and Indian War. Before the war French had a huge empire and after the war all of that land became British territory and France was forced out of North America. -
The Treaty of Paris
Britain and France signed the treaty of Paris. France surrendered French Canada to the Great Britain after the British won the war. Great Britain also gained all of French territory east of the Mississippi. Britain also received Spanish Florida. New Orleans, along with all French territory west of the Mississippi, went to Spain. Native Americans also lost a great deal. Without French help, the Native Americans could not stop the British settlers from moving on their lands. -
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The Pontiac's War
The leader of the Ottawa nation, Pontiac, formed an alliance of western Native Americans. Him and his allies attacked British forts and settlements throughout the area. Nearly half a dozen western British forts where destroyed and at least 2,000 back country settlers died. The British also reacted with viciousness. They killed Native Americans who didn't attacked them. The British ended up defeating Pontiac's forces. This happened because they kept having conflicts with the Native Americans. -
The Proclamation of 1763
Britain wanted to avoid further wars with Native Americans on the frontier. Therefore, the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763. It banned colonial settlements west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. Settlers were told to move somewhere east of that line. The Proclamation of 1763 angered many colonists who believed they had the right to reside wherever they wanted. The proclamation was widely ignored and proved impossible for the British to enforce. -
The Sugar Act
The British efforts to impose new taxes on the colonies began in 1764 when parliament passed the Sugar Act, which put a import tax on several products, including molasses. It also called for harsh punishment of smugglers. Colonial merchants, who sometimes traded in smuggled goods, protested. -
The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act required that all colonists buy special tax stamps for all kind of products and activities. The stamps had to be placed on newspapers, wills, licencees, insurances policies, land tittles, contracts, and other documents. Protests against the Stamp Act were widespread. The protests worked because parliament repealed the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act was passed because the British wanted more money, and the only way to do that was to have them buy something to put on almost everything. -
The Quartering Act
The purpose of the Quartering Act was to save money. To enforce the Proclamation of 1763, Britain kept about 10,000 soldiers in the colonies. The act required colonists to quarter, or house, British troops and provide them with food and other supplies. The colonists protested angrily. Once again, the colonists complained that Parliament was violating their rights. -
The Boston Massacre
Once again, the protests worked. The boycott hurt British merchants and manufacturers, who put pressure on Parliament. On March 5, 1770, Parliament repealed all the Townshend duties except the one on tea. That tax was left in force to demonstrate Parliament's right to tax the colonies. Parliament had not acted in time. In Boston, an angry crowd of worker and sailors surrounded a small group of soldiers. The soldiers got frighted and started to fire in to the crowd killing five and wounding six. -
The Tea Act
In 1773, the parliament passed the tea act. It was intended to help the British east India company, one of Britain's most important companies. It lowered the price of the tea but some colonists were angry to the part of the act that gave the East India Company a monopoly on selling British tea in the colonies. A monopoly is total control of a market for a certain product. The monopoly hurt the colonial merchants. Now the East India tea is cheaper but you still had to pay tax on it. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Sons of Liberty threatened ship captains who were bringing in the tea and colonial tea merchants who said they would buy it. No tea was unloaded in New York, Philadelphia, or other ports. Feelings were tense in Boston for two weeks. Finally, one night a large crowd gathered in the harbor. A large group of people got on the tea ship and threw 342 cases of tea overboard, in a 3 hour spand. The people destroyed 90,000 pounds of tea worth thousands of dollars. -
The Intolerable Acts
The Boston Tea Party outraged the British government. In response to the incident, parliament passed four laws. These laws were so harsh the colonists called them the Intolerable Acts. The first act closed the port to Boston. Two abolished the upper house of the Massachusetts legislature, and three cut the powers of town meetings. Anyone accused of murdering a British colonial official could be tried in Britan. Finally, a fourth law strengthened the 1765 Quartering Act. -
The First Continental Congress
Twelve of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Only Georgia did not send representatives. Among the delegates were John Adams and Samuel Adams from Massachusetts, John Jay of New York, and George Washington and Patrick Henry from Virginia. The congress demanded the repeal of the Intolerable acts and the colonies had the right to tax and govern themselves. It also called for training of militias to stand up to British troops if necessary. The Congress also called for a new boycott of British goods. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
The British walked 20 miles to Lexington with 700 troops to seize the arms and capture some important colonial leaders. Two men Paul Revere and William Dawes, then rode through the night to warn the minutemen. In Lexington, about 77 minutemen were waiting when the British arrived. A larger battle took place in Concord. this time, 400 minutemen fought the British. About 4,000 Americans fired at them. By the time the British got back to Boston almost 300 of the British were killed or wounded. -
The Second Continental Congress
As the crisis deepened, the congress came together. The delegates were Thomas Jefferson, a young lawyer from Virginia, Boston merchant John Hancock, and Benjamin Franklin of Philadelphia. A group of delegates from New England wanted to declare independence. A more moderate group from the Middle Colonies favored less drastic action. Some delegates felt they needed to prepare for a war. The first step was to form a army. They would pay for the army buy printing paper money. -
The Battle for Fort Ticonderoga
An important battle took place in northern New York. A daring band of colonists made a surprise attack on Fort Ticonderoga. The Fort stood at the southern end of Lake Champlain and protected the water route to Canada. Ethan Allen's force of 83 men crossed the lake at night and surprised them in the morning. Only 42 men guarded the Fort and they surrendered immediately. It controlled the main water route between Canada and the Hudson River Valley. It held valuable weapons, especially cannons. -
The Olive Branch Petition
The petition was sent to King Geoge. The Petition stated that the colonists were loyal to the King. It asked Geoge to stop the fighting so all disputes between the colonists and Britain could be solved peacefully. The petition got its name from the Olive Branch, a symbol of peace since ancient times. It failed because King Geoge didn't even read it instead he declared the colonists were "in open...rebellion." Parliament, meanwhile, voted to send 20,000 soldiers to the colonies to end the revolt. -
The Battle of Bunker and Breeds Hill
British general William Howe decided to attack right up Breed's hill. The American commander, Isreal Putnam, knew his soldiers did not have a lot of ammunition. The Americans waited until the British were only 150 feet away. The first and second British attack failed but the third one succeeded, only because the Americans ran out of ammunition. Britain lost more than 1,000 soldiers while the Americans lost only a little more than 400. The hills were very important because it overlooked Boston. -
The Invasion of Quebec
While George Washington was training one army outside of Boston, two other American armies were moving north into Canada. One, led by Richard Montgomery, left from Fort Ticonderoga. The other, led by Benedict Arnold, moved north through Maine. Arnold's troops had a bad journey, they were forced to boil candles, bark, and shoe leather for food. The Americans attacked Quebec during a severe snowstorm. The attack was turned back, Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded. -
The British withdrawal from Boston
Washington knew he had to build a regular army. Washington also needed powerful weapons to drive the British away from Boston. He had the British cannons, which had been seized at Fort Ticonderoga, dragged on sleds across mountains and forests to Boston. That difficult 300-mile journey took three months. In March, Washington placed the cannons on high ground overlooking Boston. The British could no longer defend the city. On March 17, 1776, they withdrew from Boston by sea and never returned.