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French-Indian War (1756-1763)
The French Indian war was fought between Great Britain and France.The British took a part of land from France.After the war Great Britain was in debt and wanted the colony to pay taxes. -
Navigation Acts (1763)
The Navigation Acts were rules by Britain to control trade in the American colonies. Only British ships could ship goods to and from the colonies.Which made colonies depend on British trades. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was a law from 1765 that made American colonists give shelter, food, and supply the British soldiers. -
Stamp Act
In 1765 they made the stamp.Which means the people had tax on paper goods.This is the stamp act and this led to the appeal of taxes. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were laws in 1767 that put taxes on paper, paint, lead, tea, and glass. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers shoot at an unarmed group of protestors killing colonist 5 and injuring 6 colonist. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party happened in 1773. They put taxes on the tea.The colonists were angry and snuck aboard and dumped all the tea in the ocean. To prove a point. -
Intolerable Acts (aka Coercive Acts)
The Intolerable Acts were laws passed by Britain in 1774 to punish the American colonies for the Boston Tea Party. British soldiers had colonist to house them and it closed the British ports. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord (aka “The Shot Heard Around the World”)
The Battle of Lexington and Concord happened in 1775, and is called the "Shot Heard 'Round the World" because it started the American Revolutionary War.british soldiers went to Lexington to take weapons and arrest the leader.Some colonies fought the British soldiers.Which started more fighting. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a document written in 1776 that said the American colonies were becoming their own country away from the British. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was a letter sent by the American colonists in 1775. They were trying to avoid war and asked the king to fix the problems between Britain and the colonies. The king rejected the petition and called the colonies rebels, which made war more likely. The petition showed that the colonists wanted peace at first, but Britain’s refused and pushed them for wanting independence. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in 1775 to manage the colonies during the Revolutionary War. They made George Washington the leader of the army, printed money for the war, sent the Olive Branch Petition to the king and eventually declared independence from Britain in 1776 with the Declaration of Independence. -
Common Sense
Common Sense was a pamphlet by Thomas Paine in 1776 that told Americans they should break away from Britain and become their own country.
Paine argued that it was silly for a small country like Britain to control a big land like America. He also said America could do well on its own without Britain’s help. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were the first rules for the United States, created in 1781. Most power was given to the states and made the central government very weak. The government couldn’t collect taxes or raise an army, and it could only ask states for help. Because it didn’t work well, the Articles were replaced by the U.S. Constitution in 1789, which created a stronger central government. -
Daniel Shays’ Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was a protest in 1786-1787 led by Daniel Shays and other farmers in Massachusetts. They were upset because they couldn’t pay their high taxes and were about to lose their farms.They tried to stop them from taking their land and tried to steal weapons but they was stopped by the state army. -
Constitutional Convention (aka Philadelphia Convention)
The Constitutional Convention was a meeting in 1787 in Philadelphia where leaders from 12 states got together to fix the problems with the old government.
Instead of fixing it, they decided to make a whole new government and wrote the U.S. Constitution.