American Revolution: Key Events, People, and Legislation

French and Indian War

(1754-63) North American, territorial struggle between France and Great Britain.

George Washington

The French and Indian War general who oversaw the British army's campaign against the French and Native Americans.

Edward Braddock

A British major general infamous for heading a catastrophic mission during the French and Indian War in 1755.

Albany Plan of Union 1754

Ben Franklin's plan for a single colonial government in North America that was turned down by the British monarchy as well as the colonies.

Peace of Paris 1763

A deal reached by Britain and France that ended both the European Seven-Year War and the French and Indian War.

Salutary neglect

From around 1690 until 1763, the British government loosely enforced laws in the American colonies, allowing for more colonial self-governance and economic growth.

King George III

King of Great Britain and Ireland during the loss of the American colonies and the Napoleonic Wars.

Whigs

Term used during the Exclusion Crisis in the Parliament of England, favoring stronger Parliament and reduced power for the monarchy.

Parliament

The supreme legislative body of the United Kingdom, responsible for representing the electorate, passing laws, and overseeing the government.

Pontiac's Rebellion 1763

An armed conflict where Pontiac, an Ottawa war chief, led a coalition of Native American nations against the British Empire.

Proclamation of 1763

A decree by King George III that did not allow colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.

George Grenville

Known for serving as the Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1763 to 1765 and for introducing the Stamp Act of 1765.

Sugar Act 1764

A British parliamentary act that taxed the American colonies to help pay off Britain's war debt and fund a standing army in America.

Sugar Act

A law that enforced strict regulations and increased duties on goods, impacting the colonial economy and leading to protests.

Quartering Act 1765

Required American colonial assemblies to provide housing, supplies, and other necessities for British troops, with the colonies bearing the financial responsibility.

Stamp Act 1765

A British Tax on paper in the American colonies, taxing items made from paper such as money, documents, and newspapers.

Patrick Henry

A Virginian lawyer and statesman known for his 'Give me liberty, or give me death!' speech in 1775.

Stamp Act Congress

A 1765 meeting of delegates from nine American colonies in New York City to protest the British Stamp Act.

Sons of Liberty

A secret organization formed in 1765 that resisted British taxation and policies through protests and violence, known for the Boston Tea Party.

Daughters of Liberty

A patriotic women's group that supported the American Revolution by organizing boycotts of British goods and promoting homemade textiles.

Declaratory Act 1766

A British parliamentary act asserting Parliament's full authority to make laws for the American colonies 'in all cases whatsoever.'

Townshend Act 1767

A series of British laws imposing taxes on imports like glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.

Writs of assistance

An open-ended search warrant allowing British customs officials to search any premises and seize smuggled goods without a specific warrant.

John Dickinson

Opposed the Declaration of Independence, believing it was premature due to lack of military preparation and foreign alliances.

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania

A series of twelve essays by John Dickinson articulating a constitutional argument against the Townshend Acts.

Samuel Adams

A key leader in the American Revolution.

James Otis

James Otis Jr. was a pivotal figure in colonial Massachusetts, known for his fervent arguments against the British Writs of Assistance and his powerful advocacy for colonial rights, popularizing the slogan 'taxation without representation is tyranny'.

Massachusetts Circular letter

A 1768 document written by Samuel Adams and James Otis for the Massachusetts House of Representatives that called for unified colonial protest against the Townshend Acts.

Lord Fredrick North

The Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1770 to 1782, leading the country through most of the American War of Independence, known for his close relationship with King George III and his role in imposing the Intolerable Acts.

Boston Massacre

The killing of five colonists by British soldiers on March 5, 1770, in Boston, Massachusetts, after a confrontation between an unruly crowd and soldiers escalated into gunfire.

Crispus Attucks

A man of African and Native American descent, known as the first man to die at the Boston Massacre on March 5, 1770, and a martyr for the cause of American liberty.

Committees of Correspondence

A series of colonial organizations, beginning in the 1760s and expanding in the 1770s, that served as networks for communicating and organizing collective action against British policies.

Gaspee Affair

A 1772 incident in Rhode Island where colonists destroyed a British customs schooner, the HMS Gaspee, after it ran aground while enforcing trade laws.

Tea Act (1773)

A tax imposed on tea that's exported from Britain to the 13 colonies in the New World.

British East India Company

A company that had a huge stockpile of tea from India and wanted to sell a large portion to raise funds for debts from the French and Indian and the Seven Year Wars.

Boston Tea Party (1773)

A political protest by American colonists on December 16, 1773, against taxation without representation, where members of the Sons of Liberty dumped 342 chests of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.

Coercive Acts (1774)

A series of four punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party, known as the Intolerable Acts by American colonists, aimed to punish Massachusetts and restore British authority.

Intolerable Acts

A series of four British laws passed in 1774 to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party, which instead united the colonies against British rule.

Port Bill

The Boston Port Act, passed in 1774, which closed Boston Harbor to all commercial traffic as punishment for the Boston Tea Party.

Massachusetts Government Act

A 1774 British law that revoked Massachusetts Bay's 1691 charter, ending self-governance and making it a crown colony, replacing elected officials with royally-appointed ones.

Quartering Act

Two acts passed by Great Britain requiring American colonies to house and supply British soldiers, with the 1774 Act allowing soldiers to be housed in private homes.

Quebec Act (1774)

A British parliamentary statute that expanded the boundaries of Quebec, reinstated French civil law, allowed Roman Catholics to hold public office, and granted religious freedom to the French-speaking population.

John Adams

The second President of the United States (1797-1801) and first Vice President, instrumental in drafting the Declaration of Independence and securing alliances with France.

The Association

Continental Association, a pact adopted by the First Continental Congress in 1774 to boycott British goods in response to the Intolerable Acts.

First Continental Congress

A convention of delegates from 12 of the 13 American colonies that met in Philadelphia from September 5 to October 26, 1774, to organize colonial resistance to the Intolerable Acts.