Battles
This 1775 military conflict marked the official start of the American Revolutionary War with the "shot heard 'round the world!"
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Usually, these events are reserved for little girls, but the Sons of Liberty had other ideas when they dumped 324 crates of a heavily taxed beverage into Boston Harbor.
Boston Tea Party
The Founding Father synonymous with Philadelphia who proposed the Albany Plan in 1754, arguing that the colonies must "join or die."
Benjamin Franklin
Legislation passed by the British Parliament in 1765 that attempted to tax all paper and parchment used by the American colonies before being repealed.
Stamp Act
Native American tribes such as the Huron and Iroquois used these ambush tactics, which the Continental Army later adopted during the American Revolutionary War.
Guerilla Warfare
"Hold your fire until you see the whites of their eyes" was the Continental Army's strategy in this 1775 battle that took place in Charlestown, Massachusetts. The British won despite losing nearly half of their troops.
Battle of Bunker Hill
This 1770 tragedy, in which 5 Bostonians were shot and killed by British soldiers, was not really a murderous rampage, as Paul Revere would have liked you to believe.
Boston Massacre
Massachusetts diplomat who "controversially" defended British soldiers on the grounds that the rights of the accused were more important than revolutionary fervor.
John Adams
The signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776 did not actually occur on July 4th (as many people mistakenly assume), but rather during this month.
1776
This barbaric and grotesque act, mostly inflicted upon governors and tax collectors during the American Revolution, was not meant to kill victims but to publicly humiliate them for their Loyalist views and activities.
Tar and Feathering
This 1776 battle gave the British control of the port of New York and was the largest battle of the American Revolutionary War.
Battle of Long Island
This 18th-century military conflict fought in the Ohio River Valley left the British with massive debt, which they sought to recoup from the colonies.
French and Indian War
Founder of the Sons of Liberty, who had better success as a political activist than as a brewer.
Sam Adams
This treaty, signed in France, ended the Seven Years' War in 1763. A treaty with the same name ended the American Revolutionary War in 1783.
Treaty of Paris
This French territory, once extending east of the Mississippi River in North America, shrank after the French lost an 18th-century war to the British.
Louisiana
This 1776 battle, fought just after Christmas, involved George Washington leading a nighttime crossing of the Delaware River and a successful surprise attack on the Hessians.
Battle of Trenton
This 1776 pamphlet convinced many colonists that patriotism was justified and that the colonies were well within their rights to seek independence immediately.
Common Sense
President of the Second Continental Congress and the first person to sign the Declaration of Independence in very large handwriting, I might add.
John Hancock
This 1774 legislation, passed by the British Parliament, banned political meetings and required Massachusetts colonists to quarter British troops as punishment for the Sons of Liberty's disloyal actions.
Intolerable Acts (Coercive Acts)
This 18th-century intellectual and political movement inspired many Founding Fathers and promoted the idea that all people are born with natural rights, ultimately fueling the American Revolution.
The Enlightenment
This 1755 military conflict, named after a British General, was an easy French victory over the British near Fort Duquesne in modern-day Pittsburgh, exposed the British Army's faults, and left an impression on a young George Washington.
Braddock's Defeat (1755)
This 3-word phrase, first uttered by Massachusetts politician James Otis, became a symbol of patriotism and protest against British tax policy leading up to the American Revolution.
"Taxation without representation"
An African American sailor and Boston resident who became the first unofficial victim of the American Revolution in 1770.
Crispus Attucks
This 1766 legislation, endorsed by British Prime Minister William Pitt, gave the British Parliament absolute authority over the American colonies.
Declaratory Act
Although it was not a document (though it sounds like one), it served as the basis of colonial government for much of the 18th century, emulating British institutions of monarchy and aristocracy.
British Constitution