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The Albany Congress
The British were expecting war to break out soon so they called for a meeting of colonial leaders and Iriqouis tribes and tried to work out a plan to defend themselves, they called it the Albany Congress. The British wanted the colonies to work together during the war. The British also asked the Iriqouis to form an alliance with the British but the Iriqouis declined expecting the French to win the war. The colonies also declined to cooperate together. -
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The French and Indian War
The war began with the French and the British wanting the Ohio river valley but neither of them gave it up so this argument soon turned into a war with the French and Huron and Algonquin Native Americans vs. the British and the Iriquois Native Americans and the colonists living in North America. The British ended up winning the war taking most of Frances empire and France had to move out of North America. -
The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris singed by the British and French was singed in Paris 1763. France surrendered French Canada to Great Britain. Along with French Canada the British gained all land east of the Mississippi except New Orleans. With the Spanish being one of Frances allies Great Britain also gained Spanish Florida. -
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Pontiac's War
The leader of the Ottawa nation,Pontiac formed an alliance with western Native Americans, they attacked British forts and settlements all throughout the area. Nearly half a dozen British forts and over 2000 backcountry settlers were killed. British settlers reacted very violently, they killed Native Americans that had not even attacked them. Finally the British defeated Pontiac's forces near Fort Pitt in early August. After another year of fighting, the war was over -
Proclamation of 1763
Britain decided they wanted to avoid further wars with the Native Americans on the frontier. So the British government issued the Proclamation of 1763. The proclamation banned colonial settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. The settlers west of that line were told to move to a location east of the line. The proclamation angered many of the colonists who believed they had a right to reside anything they wanted, so the proclamation was widely ignored by most. -
Sugar Act
The British began to impose taxes on the colonies began with the Sugar Act. When Parliament passed the sugar act the British put a duty-or import tax on several products of which included molasses. The Sugar act also called for harsh punishments towards smugglers. Somecolonial merchants protested the Sugar Act. -
Stamp Act
One of the most unpopular laws passed by Parliment was the Stamp Act. The Stamp Act required all colonists to buy special stamps for all sorts of products such as contracts, newspapers, licenses, and wills. Protests against the Stamp Act happened all around the colonies. The House of Burgesses passed several resolutions declaring that it alone had the right to tax Virginia. Many other protests went on throughout the colonies, and in 1766 they worked and Parliment repealed the Stamp Act. -
The Quartering Act
One year after the sugar act, parliament passed the Quartering Act. The purpose of this act was to save money. To enforce the Proclamation of 1763 The Britsh kept about 10,000 soldiers in the colonies. The Quartering Act required colonists to house (or quarter) British soldiers and provide them with food and other supplies. The colonists protested and claimed that Parliment was violating their rights. -
The Boston Massacre
By 1770 Parliment repealed all of the Townshed duties, except for the one on tea. Which Parliment left just to show the colonists they still had control over the colonies. On March 5th 1770 an angry group of colonists gathered around a small group of British soldiers and yelled and threw rocks, and snowballs at the soldiers. The scared soldiers fired into the crowd killing five colonists and wounding six. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act was made to help the British East India Company, one of Britain's most important companies. The Tea Act actually lowered the price of tea, by having the ship go straight to the colonies instead of having to go through Britain first, like they had to in the previous years. Some colonists were angry about this though because it gave the British East India Company a monopoly in the colonies. The monopoly hurt many colonial merchants. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists called the Sons of Liberty organized in port cities to stop the East India Company tea from being unloaded. They threatened ship captains and colonial tea merchants who said they would buy it. No tea was unloaded in many ports. Massachusetts governer decided to make sure that the tea would be unloaded. For about two weeks feelings were tense in Boston, until a large group of men disguised as Indians raided the tea ship. Throwing thousands of dollars worth of tea overboard. -
Intolerable Acts
The British responded to the Boston Tea Party by passing four laws. The first one closed the port of Boston. The next two increased the power of the Royal governor, abolished the upper house of the Massachusetts legislature, cut power of town meetings, and let anyone who is accused of murdering a British officer can be tried in Britain instead of the colonies. And the last law strengthened the quartering act. They also passed a law that stopped colonists from moving west, called the Quebec Act. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
General Gage learned that militias were storing arms in Concord. So he sent 700 troops to seize the arms and capture colonial leaders. The patriots learned about this and sent a signal out. Two men saw the warning and left to warn the minutemen. There were minutemen waiting for them. The British were telling the minutemen to go home and suddenly someone shot at the British. The British ended up killing eight Americans. At another battle in a town nearby 400 minutemen killed 3 British soldiers. -
Battle of Fort Ticonderoga
A band of colonists from Vermont called the Green Mountain boys led by Ethan Allen decided to lead a surprise attack on fort Ticonderoga. The fort is at the southern end of Lake Champlain and protected the water route to Canada. Allen's forces had nearly double the soldiers the British did, so the British surrendered almost immediately. Fort Ticonderoga was important for two reasons. It controlled the water route between Canada and the Hudson River valley, it also had valuable weapons. -
The Second Continental Congress
Even after the battles at Lexington and Concord many colonists did not favor independence, while many colonists did. The Second Continental Congress met in Philadelphia to discuss what to do. . Nearly all of the delegates thought they needed to prepare for war. The first step to this was to form an army, they decided to choose George Washington as the commander of the Continental Army. The congress also had to pay for their newly founded army so they printed out paper money. -
Olive Branch Petition
Even after many months of the battles at Lexington and Concord many delegates still wanted to restore peace with Britain and the American Colonies. The Olive Branch petition stated that the colonists were still loyal to the king and asked George to stop the fighting so that all disputes could be solved peacefully. The petition got its name from the olive branch, a universal sign of peace. The King did not bother to answer the petition instead he sent 20,000 soldiers to end the revolt. -
Olive Branch Petition
Even after many months of the battles at Lexington and Concord many delegates still wanted to restore peace with Britain and the American Colonies. The Olive Branch petition stated that the colonists were still loyal to the king and asked George to stop the fighting so that all disputes could be solved peacefully. The petition got its name from the olive branch, a universal sign of peace. The King did not bother to answer the petition instead he sent 20,000 soldiers to end the revolt. -
Battle of Bunker and Breeds Hill
The Americans surrounding Boston were not professionally trained soldiers so the British thought they could easily take Breeds hill from the Americans. The British decided to attack straight up Breeds hill. The first and second attacks from the British failed. Unfortunately the Americans did not have much ammunition so they were forced to retreat. The British won but at a terrible cost. The British had 1,000 soldiers either wounded or killed while the Americans had only 400. -
First Continental Congress
Twelve of the thirteen colonies sent delegates out to Philadelphia for the first Continental Congress in 1774. The Congress demanded the repeal of the Intolerable Acts, and the right to govern and tax themselves. The Congress also demanded the training of militias to stand up to British troops if necessary. They also called for a new boycott of British goods. They decided to meet again May 1775 if there demands were not met. -
The British withdrawal from Boston
George Washington knew he needed powerful weapons to drive the British out of Boston. He had the British cannons he had seized from Fort Ticonderoga, but they journey from Fort Ticonderoga to Boston was 300 miles and took 3 months. In March when the cannons finally arrived George Washington places them on high ground over looking Boston. The British could no longer defend the city so they left Boston and never came back. -
Invasion of Quebec
Two armies one led by Benedict Arnold and the other led by Richard Montgomery were moving North to Canada. Arnold had a terrible journey and ran out of food. The Americans finally attacked Quebec in December during a severe snow storm. During the battle Montgomery was killed and Arnold was wounded. The Americans stayed out of Quebec until May, but then finally weakened by disease and hunger the Americans withdrew leaving Canada to the British.