Prelude to the Revolution

Salutary Neglect

The colonies were used to governing themselves.

French and Indian War

Debt led to taxes imposed on the colonies. Proclamation of 1763

Sugar Act

British try to cut down on smuggling by not giving colonists a jury trial, luxury tax

Stamp Act

Beginning of protests and organization - first tax to reach all social classes.

Protest Groups

Communication - newspapers, boycotts, organized protests (Sons of Liberty)

Declaratory Act

Threat leads to more resistance/protest

Townshend Act

More protests - smuggling, boycotts ramp up

Forms of Protest

Non-violent protest - getting larger and more organized, tar and feathering

Boston Massacre

First violent event of the Revolution - used for propaganda.

Boston Tea Party

Largest organized protest at this point - Sons of Liberty

Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

Punished the colonies for the tea party - closed the harbor, new Quartering Act, trials only in England.

First Continental Congress

The first official unified colonial government

Lexington and Concord

First official battle of the revolution - “Shot Heard Round the World”

2nd Continental Congress

George Washington named commander of the army, draft of the Declaration of Independence from Britain.

Bunker Hill

Bloodiest battle of the Revolution - showed the British that the colonies were not going to give up easily.

Olive Branch Petition

Last effort for peace from the colonists - the King tore it up.

Declaration of Independence

Formal declaration or break-up letter between the colonists and Britain.

Common Sense

Pamplet by Thomas Paine encouraging independence for the colonies

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of Independence.

John Locke

His Enlightenment ideas on natural rights inspired the Declaration of Independence

No taxation without representation

Reflected the colonists belief that they should not be taxed because they had no direct representatives in Parliament

Yorktown

Final battle of the Revolution

Treaty of Paris

Set up the conditions after the war - recognized independence, gave colonists land in the Ohio and Mississippi River valleys

Quartering Act

Required the colonists to provide food, lodging, and supplies for the British troops in the colonies

Declaratory Act

The British Parliament emphasized its authority to make binding laws on the American colonies

Proclamation of 1763

Boundary set up between colonies and the Natives over land west of the Appalachian Mts.