The First and Second Continental Congresses met in this city.
Philadelphia
John Locke argued that all people are born with these fundamental rights, which influenced Thomas Jefferson in writing the Declaration of Independence.
Natural Rights
The Patriots’ victory in this battle convinced the French that joining the war was worth it:
Saratoga
The Tea Act was created to bail out this important British company:
The Tea Act was created to bail out this important British company:
Ratified in 1781, this first national government framework created a weak legislative authority, leaving Congress unable to tax, regulate commerce, or enforce laws effectively.
Articles of Confederation
Samuel Adams helped create this communications network after the Boston Massacre; it would later play a key role in organizing the Boston Tea Party.
Committee of Correspondence
This 18th-century debate questioned whether colonial Americans were truly represented in Parliament, contrasting direct election with the idea that members could represent all British subjects regardless of local consent.
Theories of Representation
Roughly this portion of American colonists were considered loyalists and remained loyal to the British cause
20%
The Sons of Liberty were formed specifically to protest this act:
Stamp Act
This 1787 constitutional compromise counted enslaved people as a fraction of a person for purposes of representation and taxation, increasing Southern political power while codifying the limits of equality in the new nation.
3/5 Clause
This secret organization, founded in response to the Stamp Act, coordinated protests, intimidation of tax collectors, and acts of civil disobedience, helping to unify colonial resistance against British authority.
Sons of Liberty
Introduced by James Madison in 1787, this proposal not only called for a strong national government with three branches, but also set the stage for heated debates over representation that would lead to a major compromise
Virginia Plan
This area was ground zero for the seven years war
Ohio River Valley
This act simultaneously repealed the Stamp Act and reasserted Parliament’s supreme authority over the colonies:
Declaratory Act
This group comprised of sailors, free people of color and enslaved was responsible for spreading revolutionary thought through port towns.
Motley Crew
In 1775, this body of colonial delegates managed the Revolutionary War effort, created the Continental Army, and eventually adopted the Declaration of Independence.
Second Continental Congress
Jefferson’s original draft of this document condemned slavery, but edits reveal the limitations and compromises of early American democracy.
Declaration of Independence
This 1781 siege in Virginia, aided by French troops and naval forces, forced the surrender of British General Cornwallis and effectively ended major combat in the Revolutionary War.
Yorktown
Following the repeal of the Stamp Act, Parliament imposed these 1767 duties on everyday goods to assert its authority and raise revenue, prompting colonial arguments over “taxation without representation.”
Townshend Acts
Historian Bernard Bailyn famously argues that revolutionary ideology was primarily spread through this medium.
Pamphlets
This Congress was organized primarily to coordinate colonial defenses against the French and gain Native American allies before the Seven Years War:
Albany Congress
The Constitution established this two-chamber system of Congress, balancing the interests of large and small states by creating the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Bicameral Legislature
The Southern theater of the Revolutionary War differed in that it was called involved a “tri-partite” dynamic due to three groups involved
Escaped enslaved, British and Colonists
This British Prime Minister signed the Sugar, Currency, and Stamp Acts into law:
Grenville
This African country was created by the British to repatriate escaped enslaved from Nova Scotia, Canada
Sierra Leone