American Revolution

  • French-Indian War (1756-1763)

    French-Indian War (1756-1763)

    Also known as the Seven Years' War, it was a conflict between France and England. In the colonies, it was called the French Indian War because the colonists fought with British soldiers against France the Indians, who were on the side of France. Because of the war, England had a massive war debt began to tax the people in the 13 colonies.
  • Salutary neglect(1763)

    Salutary neglect(1763)

    "hands off approach by Great Britain; British policy of loosely enforcing laws and regulations in the American colonies, allowing them to govern themselves.
  • Quartering Act

    Quartering Act

    A law passed in the 1760s and 1770s that required American colonists to provide housing, food, and supplies for British soldiers.
  • Stamp Act

    Stamp Act

    a tax on the American colonies requiring a tax stamp on legal documents, newspapers, playing cards, and other paper goods
  • Townshend Act

    Townshend Act

    A series of British parliamentary measures that imposed taxes on colonial imports of goods like glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.
  • Boston Massacre

    Boston Massacre

    a confrontation in Boston, Massachusetts, where British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists, killing five people and wounding others.
  • Boston tea party

    Boston tea party

    a political protest in Boston, Massachusetts, where American colonists, disguised as Indian people, dumped tea from the British East India Company into Boston Harbor
  • Intolerable Acts

    Intolerable Acts

    A punitive British law was passed, primarily to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party.
  • Battle of Lexington and Concord.

    Battle of Lexington and Concord.

    The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War
  • Olive Branch Petition

    Olive Branch Petition

    a final plea from the Second Continental Congress to King George III to avoid a full-scale war by affirming loyalty to the Crown and requesting a repeal of oppressive parliamentary measures.
  • Second Continental Congress

    Second Continental Congress

    The governing body of the American colonies from 1775 to 1781
  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration of Independence

    The foundational document of the United States officially cut the colonies' political ties with Great Britain.
  • "Common Sense"

    "Common Sense"

    A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to the people in the Thirteen Colonies.
  • Articles of Confederation

    Articles of Confederation

    The United States' first constitution
  • Annapolis Convention

    Annapolis Convention

    A meeting where delegates from five states discussed issues under the Articles of Confederation.
  • Daniel Shays Rebellion

    Daniel Shays Rebellion

    An armed uprising by the Massachusetts farmers, led by the Revolutionary War.
  • Constitutional Convention

    Constitutional Convention

    A meeting with 55 delegates in Philadelphia which drafted the U.S. Constitution.