Background
How many original colonies were there?
13
How did Britain attempt to raise money?
To raise money, Britain forced the colonies to pay new taxes.
What was the Boston Massacre?
On March 5, 1770 British soldiers were sent to Boston, Massachusetts and fired shots into a crowd. Crispus Attucks and several other Americans were killed.
What were the Intolerable Acts?
Harsh laws passed by the British government in 1774.
Where did the first major battle take place?
Bunker Hill
(near Boston)
What was the American Revolution?
The American Revolution was the war in which Great Britain’s 13 American colonies won their independence
What was the Stamp Act?
An act that put a tax on legal papers, newspapers, and other printed items.
What was the Boston Tea Party?
On December 16, 1773 protesting colonists boarded British ships in the Boston Harbor and threw their cargo of tea into the water.
Why were the Intolerable Acts passed?
To punish the American colonists for the Boston Tea Party and other protests.
What happened on July 4, 1776?
The Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence. With this document, the 13 colonies became the United States of America.
The colonies became a country known as what?
The United States
What years was the Stamp Act active?
1765 - 1766
Why did the British Tea Party take place?
The colonists were protesting the taxes on tea.
What was the strongest Intolerable Act?
The strongest of these acts closed the port of Boston until the colonists paid for the tea they had ruined.
The first Continental Congress met to cancel the Intolerable Acts. Why did the second Continental Congress meet?
The second Continental Congress brought together the military forces of the colonies to form the Continental Army and fight the British.
During what years did the Revolution take place?
1775-1783
What was the response of the colonists to the Stamp Act?
The colonists protested against the tax because Parliament was taxing them even though they had no representatives in Parliament.
Why is the Boston Massacre important to the American Revolution?
The event helped to turn American colonists against British rule, leading to the American Revolution.
What was the effect of the Intolerable Acts?
The colonies decided to work together against the British government. They set up the Continental Congress to cancel the acts.
Why were the Battles of Saratoga the turning point of the war?
Continental Army was led to a great victory over the British. The victory helped to bring France into the war on the side of the new United States. France sent ships and soldiers.
What impact did the French and Indian War have on the start of the American Revolution?
Britain defeated France in the war in 1763. But the war had been very costly. Afterward, Britain decided that its American colonies should help to pay its debts.
What happened (in detail) in 1767 after the Stamp Act ended?
Charles Townshend passed the Townshend Acts. This taxed tea, lead, paint, paper, and glass coming into colonial ports. These taxes made the colonists even angrier.
Why do Americans drink more coffee than tea?
In 1773, Britain passed a law that allowed a British company to sell tea more cheaply than colonial merchants. The colonies boycotted tea as a political statement.
How were the Intolerable Acts similar to the Stamp Act and Townshend Acts?
Like the Stamp Act and the Townshend Acts, the Intolerable Acts pushed the colonists toward war with Great Britain.
How did the American Revolution end?
The fighting ended with the surrender of the British at Yorktown on October 19, 1781. In 1783 Great Britain signed a formal treaty recognizing the independence of the colonies.