The French and Indian War and the American Revolution

A comprehensive vocabulary review of key figures, events, legislation, and concepts leading from the French and Indian War to the outbreak of the American Revolution.

Ohio River Valley

The region in North America fiercely competed for by Britain, France, and Spain, leading to imperial rivalry and increased tensions.

Fort Necessity

The site where young George Washington and his Virginia troops were defeated by the French in 1754, helping spark the French and Indian War.

Seven Years' War

A global conflict between Britain and France that encompassed the French and Indian War fought in North America.

General Edward Braddock

A British general whose European-style tactics proved ineffective in the American wilderness, leading to a disastrous defeat by French and Native American forces.

William Pitt

The British figure who reorganized Britain's war effort by providing increased financial and military support to the colonies, leading to victory over France.

Treaty of Paris of 1763

The treaty that ended the French and Indian War, granting Britain control of Canada and French North American territory while leaving Britain deeply in debt.

Mercantilism

An economic system used by Britain to control colonial trade to benefit the British economy, primarily enforced through laws like the Navigation Acts.

Navigation Acts

A series of laws passed under mercantilism to restrict and control colonial trade for Britain's economic benefit.

Stamp Act of 1765

A British law that placed a direct tax on printed materials in the colonies, triggering widespread protests over taxation without representation.

Stamp Act Congress

An assembly of colonial delegates that, along with protests and boycotts, successfully pressured Britain to repeal the Stamp Act in 1766.

Declaratory Act

A law passed by Parliament in 1766 immediately following the repeal of the Stamp Act, asserting Parliament's complete authority to make laws for the colonies.

Townshend Acts

British laws that placed taxes on imported goods entering the American colonies, heightening imperial tensions.

Boston Massacre

A 1770 conflict where British soldiers killed five colonists in Boston, an event colonial leaders subsequently utilized as propaganda against British rule.

Committees of Correspondence

Organizations established throughout the colonies to spread information, coordinate resistance against British policies, and foster colonial unity.

Boston Tea Party of 1773

A colonial protest against the Tea Act where colonists dumped British tea into Boston Harbor, leading Britain to enact harsh measures against Massachusetts.

Intolerable Acts

Punitive legislation passed by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party that restricted Massachusetts' self-government and united the colonies in opposition.

Battles of Lexington and Concord

The 1775 military engagements that marked the official transition of the dispute between Britain and the colonies into armed revolution.