Timeline by Vihaan Madam _ Student - GreenHopeES

Navigation Acts 1651 & 1660

vmadam — 2024-01-11 18:01:50 UTC

These acts imposed restrictions on

colonial trade. They banned colonial merchants from shipping goods to foreign countries and limited which items can be imported to the colonies.

Sugar Act 1733

vmadam — 2024-01-11 18:05:32 UTC

The Sugar Act place tax on sugar from the French West Indies, forcing the American rum distillers buy much more costly sugar from Britain West Indies.

Start Of The French And Indian War 1754

vmadam — 2024-01-12 15:19:13 UTC

This war was between Great Britain and French and Native Americans. The French and Native Americans were together because the French were a lot more peaceful to them and didn't take all of their land. The British empire on the other hand took all the land and only had a few Native American supporters. This war was to win a valuable piece of land called the Ohio River Valley. France also had some Hispanic support too. France started out by winning the war but then Britain appointed a new wartime political leader named William Pitt who conquered the capital of France, Quebec, two major supply rivers which were the St. Lawrence River and the Niagara River, and Fort Duquesne until finally France signed the Treaty of Paris which gave up forfeited in North America but gained other places like countries in Asia and Africa and the Caribbean Islands (also known as the Sugar Islands.)

Proclamation Of 1763

vmadam — 2024-01-12 16:51:47 UTC

Britain won a lot of land after the Treaty of Paris was signed by France but the Proclamation of 1763 recognized the Native Americans rights and did not allow colonists to settle on Native land. Apart from this, British soldiers were on guard and colonists didn't like soldiers living amongst them and not being able to settle on the newly won land. Some colonists did not obey and settled on the land despite the guards

The Stamp Act 1765

vmadam — 2024-01-16 13:58:58 UTC

This act taxed colonists for anything that printed on paper requiring colonists to buy a stamp from a tax collector for paper products like newspapers, almanacs, pamphlets, broadsides, legal documents, dice, and even playing cards.

Quartering Act 1765

vmadam — 2024-01-16 14:09:19 UTC

This act forced colonists to provide quarters, housing, food, drinks, fuel, and transportation for British soldiers that were stationed in those towns or villages. This act was passed because Great Britain already had soldiers in America already and it would be very expensive to move all the soldiers back to Britain. The soldiers also got the best part of the house like the best bedroom, the best food, and also disrupted colonist privacy.

Townshend Acts 1767

vmadam — 2024-01-16 14:09:58 UTC

These acts made colonists pay taxes on imported tea, glass, paint, lead, paper, and other items to pay for rising military costs due to the Quartering Act. Many colonists, like the sons and daughters of liberty and patriots, decided to boycott the items that were being taxed upon. Patriots thought that this was a threat to their freedom and liberty so committees of correspondence were made. These were groups of people that would spread the news by television to inform colonists if their rights ever got threatened again.

Tea Act 1773

vmadam — 2024-01-16 15:15:39 UTC

This act repealed tax on everything from the Townshend Act except for tea and made it so that colonists could only buy tea from the British East India Company. They did this because after the British Parliament saw what the colonists would do for protest during the Boston Massacre. Great Britain thought that because they repealed tax on most of everything, the colonists would be happy and not boycott on the one item they did leave, tea. The thing is, tea was well enjoyed by colonists back then so it was still a big deal. So instead of completely leaving tea, they bought it from Dutch smugglers so that they could boycott Britain but still enjoy there precious tea.

Boston Massacre 1770

vmadam — 2024-01-16 15:15:44 UTC

Colonists began to shout insults and throw snowballs at a few sentries guarding the Boston Customs House. Soon more soldiers began to arrive, and as the mob grew louder and angrier, shots were fired. This deadly riot resulted in five colonists dead that evening. Usually, a massacre is where a lot more than five people get killed but the soldiers had guns while the colonists had snowballs making this a very unfair resulting in it being considered a massacre.

Boston Tea Party 1773

vmadam — 2024-01-16 16:48:35 UTC

To protest against the new tea rule, men in Boston, who were dressed as Native Americans to disguise themselves, secretly boarded 3 British ships and threw all of the tea in crates overboard. 342 chests of tea were thrown overboard and this was an iconic and historic moment. Francis Akeley was the only one imprised and caught even though there were dozens of men who were apart of the Boston Tea Party.

Coercive/Intolerable Acts 1774

vmadam — 2024-01-16 18:50:10 UTC

These acts were originally called the coercive acts but it was called the Intolerable Acts by the colonists. These acts were supposed to be punishment against the Boston Tea Party and put an end to the colonists from planning any other attacks. These laws stopped all trade between Boston and Britain, did not allow town meetings, gave Britain control of the colony of Massachusetts (which was a big one), and strengthened the Quartering Act. Since the port of Boston was closed, the trading of goods between the colonies also stopped which greatly impacted the economies of all the colonies

Treaty Of Paris 1763

vmadam — 2024-01-18 13:58:17 UTC

This was a treaty that was signed in Paris to forfeit the war. This gave Britain Florida and a lot of North America while giving Spain the rest of North America. The French and Indian war was mainly in North America but happened all around the world. France got countries in Asia, Africa and the Sugar Islands which are now known as the Carribean Islands.

Battles Of Lexington And Concord 1775

vmadam — 2024-01-18 16:37:08 UTC

This was almost a manhunt for Sons of Liberty leaders to be arrested. General Thomas Gage was sent there with 700 troops and was told to arrest leaders Samuel Adams and John Hammocks and to destroy the weapons that were secretly hidden in Concord. (Technically the colonists weren't supposed to have any weapons because of the Coercive/Intolerable Acts). Minutemen were patriots that were pretty untrained but could respond to the minute. Any patriotic man that was the age of 16 to 60 was required to be a minuteman but these people could still have other jobs like a silversmith, a merchant, etc. Timing could have been better for the British. All the leaders were meeting together but the British were a day or two late. By the time they came the leaders all went there on the way. So, after they got information about where the leaders were, they marched down to Lexington to meet 77 minutemen. Now this was 77 untrained soldiers versus 700 of the best army men in the world. The colonists were told to stand down by the British but refused. No one knows who fired the first shot but it became known as The Shot Heard 'Round The World. 8 patriots and 1 British soldier died through the process.The British won in Lexington and kept on marching to Concord. This time the battlefield was a bridge and the British were outnumbered 2000 to 700. This still might have been unfair because again, these were trained soldiers but another thing that kept the colonists winning was the fact that the British were always in a line format. Also the colonists knew this place a lot better and were able to hide behind trees, rocks, walls, bushes, etc efficiently. The colonists drove the soldiers away and chased them for a very long time. The reason the rebel leaders had gotten away in the end was because of this guy named Paul Revere who got there faster than the British.

Declaration Of Independence July 4, 1776

vmadam — 2024-01-18 18:54:26 UTC

This was an important document written mainly by Thomas Jefferson which took 17 days. It was worded by the founding fathers and was meant to be sent to King George|||. It was written to try and gain independence from Britain but what happened instead was the Revolutionary War. Britain called this treason probably because there were insults about King George and the British Parliament. The main ideas were "Hey. We don't like the way you rule us and we think we should be able to govern ourselves. Here is a list of all the reasons we think that...[Gives reasons]...We are officially declaring this country the United States Of America." The founding fathers signed the Declaration of Independence and this guy named John Hancock who signed first because he was the president of the Second Continental Congress and is known for signing in big letters. 56 people signed the Declaration of Independence and most of them in very small letters because they were afraid of the punishment that they might get from British Parliament.

Winter At Valley Forge

vmadam — 2024-01-22 14:10:45 UTC

This was the location where General George Washington located the Continental Army because it was a good spot to drive at the British if they came. It was named after an iron forge nearby. Unfortunately for the army, the people who were supposed to supply them, didn't and it was a brutally cold, bitter, and harsh winter. The men built huts there each with a campfire and for 12 men each. Many men died from starvation, diseases, the cold, and some left as they thought they might have a better chance of surviving the winter by running away from it. (which technically weren't allowed to. That's supposedly treason). The continental army lost about half of their men because of these tragic events but the men who did stay got trained by this guy named Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben, who had to translate the words that he would speak from German to French and the from French to English. No one knew at the beginning that this man was actually lying and was not someone who had experience with training an army. He was actually someone who left the military 6 years ago but George Washington did not care. The Continental Army might have lost many people but the people who stayed got much stronger after surviving The Winter At Valley Forge.

Battle Of Yorktown 1781

vmadam — 2024-01-22 18:14:34 UTC

This was when George Washington and general Rochambeau marched to Yorktown with 20,000 soldiers and fired their muskets and cannons. The continental army already blockaded the shore to where the British were getting most of their supplies. The British surrendered due to the lack of supplies.

Constitution 1787

vmadam — 2024-01-23 18:35:00 UTC

This was after the colonies broke away from Britain. The thing is that after breaking away, they had no government and not really any rules. The only ones they did have were the Articles of Confederation and that wasn't very strong. So, the founding fathers made the Constitution. Even then, the Constitution had its own 3 problems.

Representation- The bigger states, with more population, thought that they should get more votes but the smaller states didn't agree because they would lose representation. So, this guy named Roger Sherman thought up the Great Compromise. What it was, was basically that there would be a House Of Representatives and a Senate. The Senate was more powerful than the House Of Representatives but here's how the compromise worked. The larger states would get more votes in the House Of Representatives (the small states would still get to vote) but then the House Of Representatives would then again vote for a Senate.
Counting Of Population- The next issue was the counting of population which was the debate on weather slaves should be counted towards population. Southern states thought that every 5 slaves, 5 of them got to vote (all of them). This was because Southern states had much more slaves than Northern states so they would get lots more population numbers. However, the North thought the opposite and that for every 5 slaves, none of them should be counted towards the population. So then, this guy named James Wilson made yet another compromise called the three-fifths compromise, where out of 5 slaves, 3 of them would get counted towards population.
Slave Trade- The next and final issue was that some people thought that slave trade should be banned and some thought that it should stay. Many Northern states as well as some Southern states, wanted slave trade to be banned. However, most Southern states thought that slave trade should stay because slaves help a lot on plantations which mostly happen in the south. So to resolve this, Roger Sherman, the man who came up with the Great Compromise, made a compromise to allow slave trade for the next 20 years and then regulate it so that the new government could focus on more important things. (In the next 20 years, those founding fathers will have retired or died so they will not have to do anything about it. So really, they used the cowards way out).

Louisiana Purchase

vmadam — 2024-03-15 17:07:47 UTC

The 13 colonies were fast growing, the current and third president of the US sent two men to negotiate with the French leader Napoleon Bonaparte to try and get him to let the colonies have a valuable port called New Orleans for 10 million dollars. Napoleon was fighting two wars at the time so he offered to sell the entire Louisiana Territory for 15 million dollars and Jefferson happily agreed. This was later known as the Louisiana Purchase.

William, Lewis And The Corps Of Discovery´s Voyage Of Discovery

vmadam — 2024-04-01 17:20:57 UTC

Jefferson wanted to learn more about this land and convinced congress to sponsor a trip led by Meriwether Lewis who later invited his friend William Clark as co-leader for a 3 year long mission called the Voyage Of Discovery. They set out on the mission making charts and maps and finding Native Americans both hostile and friendly and met a Native American women named Sacagawea who was an important asset to the team.

The Oregon Trail

vmadam — 2024-04-01 18:01:06 UTC

After Lewis and Clark had explored this new area, President Thomas Jefferson didn't want his money to go to waste so he encouraged people to settle in the new land. Many people put their things in covered wagons with other people and walked beside their wagon. It was a dangerous journey with a mysterious disease called Cholera, no safety features on the wagons, rough terrain, river crossings, etc. It was a 2,000 mile journey that had many challenges.

The Indian Removal Act 1830

vmadam — 2024-04-03 17:22:08 UTC

There were 5 tribes living in Georgia and when in one of the tribes, gold was found, Americans wanted the government to do something to get the Native Americans off of the land so that they could mine the gold. This case got all the way to the supreme court and they decided to remove the Natives from their land if they agreed to move by signing a paper. 3 of the 5 tribes moved, one fought a 10 year war and lost, and the Cherokee decided to stay until 3 rebellious men signed the paper and were later killed for their act. The Cherokee wanted to undo the signature but it was already too late and the Indian Removal Act had Already begun

Trail Of Tears

vmadam — 2024-04-03 17:49:12 UTC

Because these tribes had to move off, the American government sent soldiers to guide the Native Americans off of the land. This was a hard journey and about 1 out of every 4 people died. The conditions were not good either. At one point it was so hot that the Cherokee leader, John Ross, begged for a winter walk which turned out to be worse than the heat. If you couldn't keep up, then you would be left on the side to die and this was a problem for elders who had trouble walking. During this relocation, around 15,000 people died and was known to the Natives as the Trail Where They Cried but is more commonly known as the Trail Of Tears.

The Missouri Compromise

vmadam — 2024-06-03 17:03:16 UTC

This compromise admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state.

Attack On Fort Sumter

vmadam — 2024-06-03 17:12:10 UTC

This was the very first battle of the Civil War where President Jefferson Davis (president of the Confederacy) told Southern General Pierre Gustave Toutant Beauregard (P.G.T Beauregard) to attack Fort Sumter, a base off South Carolina, where General Robert Anderson and union troops where. General P.G.T Beauregard sent a message to General Robert Anderson saying that he would attack Fort Sumter in 1 hour if Anderson

did not surrender. Anderson refused and Beauregard and his troops bombarded Fort Sumter and after a while of fighting, General Anderson realized he was going to lose this battle due to the fact that he was running out of food and ammunition and so he surrendered. Miraculously, no one died in the battle but it did mark the beginning of the Civil War.

The Emancipation Proclamation

vmadam — 2024-06-03 17:14:57 UTC

The Emancipation Proclamation was a speech issued by President Abraham Lincoln to end slavery throughout the States. However, the Confederacy thought of itself as its own country and thought that these rules did not apply to them.

The Gettysburg Address

vmadam — 2024-06-04 18:02:33 UTC

A speech given by President Abraham Lincoln to honor those lost in the Battle of Gettysburg. He says that these men sacrificed their lives for the nation and that we should continue their work and bring the North and South together. The place of the battle becomes a cemetery and although the President said that this speech would not be remembered for years to come, he was wrong because this speech was thought to be one of the most important speeches of American history.

Sherman's March To Sea

vmadam — 2024-06-04 18:07:35 UTC

This was where General Sherman and his troops, after getting permission from President Lincoln, marched from Atlanta, Georgia to Savannah Georgia. While marching, Sherman destroyed everything in his path including houses, farms and plantations,bridges and just everything in his way. Then, from Savannah, Georgia, he went to Columbia, South Carolina doing the same thing. Though this was very cruel, it did end the war with the union winning because troops in West Virginia did not have much help or reinforcements.

The Surrender At Appomattox Courthouse

vmadam — 2024-06-05 13:04:10 UTC

This event indicated the end of the war where Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appomattox Courthouse. After Sherman's March to Sea and the Battle of Gettysburg, the Union had been winning more and more battles until the Confederacy finally admitted defeat.

President Abraham Lincoln Assassination

vmadam — 2024-06-05 13:10:26 UTC

After the war ended with the surrender at Appomattox Courthouse, some Confederates still were mad about not being able to own slaves. So, some people who were still proslavery wanted Lincoln dead and wanted to avenge the Confederacy in its loss against the union. A person by the name of John Wilkes Booth assassinated President Abraham Lincoln on April 15, 1865, Peterson House, Washington, D.C..