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The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was a conflict between Great Britain and France for control of North America, also known as the Seven Years' War -
"Hands-off off approach by Great Britain; British policy of loosely enforcing laws and regulations in the American colonies, allowing them to govern themselves. -
Beginning in 1763, economic policy was followed when it came to the 13 colonies. England saw the colonies as a market for English goods wanted to get money (taxes) natural resources from the colonies. -
The government made it so that all paper documents had to have a government stamp on them, and people had to pay for these stamps. -
A tax on colonial imports, like glass, paper, lead, and tea this also made new customs officials and courts to collect these taxes for the purpose of the government. -
A deadly confrontation occurred when British soldiers fired into a crowd of angry colonists, killing 5 people and wounding a lot of others. -
A protest where American colonists dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor. -
People had to help British troops, and they had to let them live in their houses, and they had to feed them, etc. -
a set of four British laws that were passed in response to the Boston Tea Party, which closed the harbor and mandated the quartering of troops. -
a final plea from the Second Continental Congress to King George III in July 1775, attempting to prevent war by affirming loyalty to the crown and requesting reconciliation for the growing crisis between Great Britain and the American colonies -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, the famous 'shot heard 'round the world, marked the start of the American War of Independence -
The Second Continental Congress assumed the normal functions of a government, appointing ambassadors, issuing paper currency, raising the Continental Army through conscription, and appointing generals to lead the army. The powers of Congress were still very limited, however. -
Common Sense was an instant best-seller. Published in January 1776 in Philadelphia, nearly 120,000 copies were in circulation by April. Paine's brilliant arguments were straightforward. He argued for two main points: (1) independence from England and (2) the creation of a democratic republic -
The Declaration of Independence states three basic ideas: God made all men equal and gave them the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness; the main business of government is to protect these rights; if a government tries to withhold these rights, the people are free to revolt -
The Articles created a sovereign, national government, and, as such, limited the rights of the states to conduct their own diplomacy and foreign policy -
A violent insurrection in the Massachusetts countryside from 1786 to 1787, Shay's Rebellion was sparked by a monetary debt crisis at the end of the American Revolutionary War. Although Massachusetts was the focal point of the crisis, other states experienced similar economic hardships. -
Held from September 11 to 14, 1786, the Annapolis Convention was a meeting aimed at establishing uniform parameters to regulate trade between states during a time of political turbulence and economic strain. At this time, the government established by the Articles of Confederation did not regulate trade. -
A convention of delegates from all the states except Rhode Island met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in May of 1787. Known as the Constitutional Convention, at this meeting, it was decided that the best solution to the young country's problems was to set aside the Articles of Confederation and write a new constitution