American Revolution
By: Danielle Smith October 14, 2015 Block 3
The Boston Tea Party
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a group of British soldiers. Five colonists were killed, among the dead was Crispus Attucks. It was the high point of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since British troops first arrived in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts.
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were the American Patriots' term for a series of laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into the Boston harbor. The acts took away Massachusetts' self-government and historic rights, resulting in outrage and resistance in the 13 colonies.
Battle of Saratoga
Battle of Yorktown
General George Washington, leading an army of French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. Luckily for the Patriots, the French fleet commanded by Francois, Count de Grasse, departed St. Domingue for the Chesapeake Bay, just as Cornwallis chose Yorktown, at the mouth of the Chesapeake, as his base. Washington realized that it was time to act. He ordered Marquis de Lafayette and an American army of 5,000 troops to block Cornwallis’ escape from Yorktown by land while the French naval fleet blocked the British escape by sea. Washington had completely encircled Cornwallis and Yorktown with the combined forces of Continental and French troops. After three weeks, Cornwallis surrendered to Washington in the field at Yorktown on October 17, 1781, effectively ending the War for Independence.
Lexington and Concord
Word spread from town to town, and militias prepared to confront the British and help their neighbors in Lexington and Concord. These colonial militias had originally been organized to defend settlers from civil unrest and attacks by French or Native Americans. Selected members of the militia were called minutemen because they could be ready to fight in a minute's time. When the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed on the Lexington green awaiting them. Both sides did not know what to expect. Suddenly, a bullet buzzed through the morning air. It was "the shot heard round the world."
George Washington
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was one of America's Founding Fathers and the third President of the United States. He served two terms as President. Jefferson also is the author of the Declaration of Independence.