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French and Indian War
During the French and Indian War, the British and the French fought over control of the Northwest and Canada. Natives allied with the French, but the British won.
Cause: Tensions in Ohio River Valley
Effect: Stricter British taxation on colonies and end of salutary neglect -
Pontiac's Rebellion
Native uprising led by Chief Pontiac who unified tribes to fight British westward expansion. Burned down many forts along the east coast.
Cause: Increased British control as a result of the French and Indian War
Effect: The Proclamation Line of 1763 -
Proclamation Line of 1763
Law from parliament prohibiting colonial settlement past the Appalachian Mountains. They did this to stop conflict with Natives.
Cause: Pontiac's Rebellion
Effect: Colonies were angry and defied the rule anyway -
Stamp Act
Tax on the colonies passed by Britain imposing revenue stamps to be placed on printed paper in the colonies.
Cause: Immense British debt after the French and Indian War
Effect: Angered colonists who then formed the Stamp Act Congress. -
Declaratory Act
After repealing the Stamp Act, passed a new tax that stated that Parliament had the right to tax the colonies in "all cases whatsoever"
Cause: Colonial tensions surrounding the Stamp Act
Effect: Renewed conflict between the British and colonists after the Stamp Act, anti-British feelings, and boycotting British goods. -
Tea Act
Passed by Parliament, granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies.
Cause: Help English trading and get money for British
Effect: The Boston Tea Party -
Boston Tea Party
Colonists angry about taxation without representation, dressed as Natives and boarded British ships in a Boston harbor, then proceeded to dump all of the tea on the ship into the ocean.
Cause: The Tea Act, colonial anger
Effect: The Intolerable Acts, closed the Port of Boston and British became even more brutal towards colonies -
First Continental Congress
Convention in Philidelphia in which 12 colonies sent delegates to respond to British threats. Created a petition taht stated the British should repeal the Intolerable Acts, and if they didn't the delegates would meet again to discuss more drastic measures.
Cause: British taxation, specifically Intolerable Acts
Effect: British came to Concord and the war began soon after -
Second Continental Congress
Delegates met again and disagreed on whether the colonies should declare independence. They sent an Olive Branch Petition to the king and asked for protection of colonial rights from Parliament. The king refused, declaring the colonies in rebellion.
Cause: The first congress was not successful at resolving conflict with the British
Effect: Led to the Declaration of Independence, the official beginning of the war -
Declaration of Independence
The resolution was drafted by Henry Lee, and Jefferson officially wrote it and listed grievances against the King. It was adopted on July 4, 1776.
Cause: Failure of the Olive Branch Petition, pressure from delegates to leave the British
Effect: Revolutionary War, founding document and ideals of America -
Articles of Confederation
A document that stated there was a central government and legislature where each state had one vote. It had three major problems: Financial Issues, International relations, and Domestic tensions.
Cause: The U.S. won the war and wanted to build their own central government
Effect: Northwest Ordinance, Land Ordinance -
Treaty of Paris
The peace treaty was signed between the British and Americans. Britain agreed to recognize America as it's own country and it ended the war.
Cause: The war, the British were losing
Effect: Severed ties between the two nations and was the official beginning of the U.S. as a country -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
Set rules for creating new states in the Northwest, granted limited self-governance to those areas and prohibited slavery in the region.
Cause: The Articles of Confederation, the desire for westward expansion
Effect: Establishment of new states in the North, set for the rise of the deep South -
Constitutional Convention
States sent delegates to Philidelphia to address the issues with the Articles, some wanted to draft a new document and some didn't. After 17 weeks of debate, the delegates started drafting the United States Consitution.
Cause: Articles weren't working and needed a solution.
Effect: The U.S. Constitution was written and ratified, and the entire central government was changed forever -
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution
The delegates only needed 9/13 states to ratify the document for it to be passed. Ratification was debated for about a year after the Convention, as the Anti-Federalists were hesitant since people's liberties should be included, not just assumed. Between the addition of the Bill of Rights and the Federalist papers, the document was finally ratified.
Cause: Constitutional Convention following Articles
Effect: The Bill of Rights and the Three Branches of Central Government -
Whiskey Rebellion
When a whiskey tax was imposed under Hamilton's Financial Plan, a group of farmers from Pennsylvania refused to pay and rebelled against the government. Washington and Hamilton led an army to Pennsylvania to squash the rebellion.
Cause: Hamilton's Financial Plan
Effect: Proved to the U.S. that the Constitution worked and the central government was able to address domestic threats -
Proclamation of Neutrality
When the French Revolution started, Anti-Federalists like Jefferson argued the U.S. needed to aid France in it's war for freedom as they did in ours. However, Federalists like Hamilton thought the U.S. was too new and weak to get involved in a war. Washington agreed and issued a statement saying the U.S. was neutral in all foreign wars.
Causes: Debate between Federalists and Anti-Federalists about the French Revolution
Effect: The precedent of neutrality carried on for many years to come -
Jay's Treaty
Treaty with Britain where Britain agreed to evacuate it's posts on the Western Frontier, but didn't say anything about impressment.
Cause: British presence in the states frustrated Americans and impressment of U.S. ships
Effects: Angered Anti-Federalists, led to the Pinckney Treaty with Spanish -
Pinckney's Treaty
Treaty where Spain agreed to open the Port of New Orleans to American Trade, Spanish wanted to keep an eye on the American relationship with their enemy the British
Cause: The Jay Treaty worries the Spanish
Effect: Consolidation of Spanish control in Americas -
Washington's Farewell Address
At the end of Washington's second term, he decided to not run for reelection and wrote a farewell speech with Hamilton. He warned the American public not to create political parties, not to make permanent international alliances, not to get involved in European affairs, and not to fall into sectionalism.
Cause: Washington saw the patterns that the country could fall into when he left
Effects: People kept these precedents in mind, but they were all basically not listened to -
XYZ Affair
During Adam's Presidency, US merchant ships were impressed by France during their revolution. Adams sent delegates to France to negotiate a solution, but France refused unless the US would pay them.
Cause: Impressment of American ships
Effect: The American public wanted to go to war with France, but Adams thought the U.S. military wasn't strong enough -
Alien and Sedition Acts
Passed by a Federalist government, the Alien act authorized the President to deport "aliens" considered dangerous to the U.S. The Sedition Acts made it illegal for newspaper editors to criticize the government.
Cause: Quasi-War with France
Effect: Angered Democratic-Republicans, Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions -
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions
Angry about the Alien and Sedition Acts, Democratic Republicans in both Kentucky and Virginia mad their own state legislature stating that since the acts went against the Constitution, they didn't have to be followed because they weren't agreed upon with the Constitution.
Cause: Alien and Sedition Acts
Effects: Set forth the argument and rational to be used later about the government going against the Constitution -
Election of 1800
Race between Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr, both Democratic-Republicans. Jefferson won and Federalists lost almost all their power in Congress. The first peaceful passing of power between two parties without violence in the U.S.
Cause: Adams not run for reelection after the second term, following the example of Washington
Effect: Democratic-Republicans gained control of government, led to the next era of American government and policy