1. The American Revolution
CFA-WR #1:
The American Revolution

2. Theme: Change — Turning Points
Major historical events are often referred to as turning points because they have led to important political, social, and economic changes.
Task:
Identify two major events in United States history that were important turning points and for each:
Describe the historical circumstances that led to the event
Discuss the political, social, and/or economic changes that resulted from the event.
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3. The French and Indian War was a turning point in American history.
CLAIM:
The French and Indian War was a turning point in American history.

4. Another thing that changed was that Britain tried to tax the colonies
Another thing that changed was that Britain tried to tax the colonies. To pay for the high cost of the war, Parliament passed taxes like the Stamp Act.
Several British colonies developed in the Americas through the 1700’s and everything was fine.
Things changed after the French and Indian War, which ended in Colonists started to get upset with British rule.
1700's
1763
1765
Up until then, the policy—though unofficial—was to not strictly enforce English laws on the colonies. Colonist thought it unfair that the crown now sought to tax them. They claimed salutary neglect prevented the crown from making these laws.
England made money off of the colonies and the colonists made money too.
One thing that changed was King George’s Proclamation of 1763, prohibiting settlement of the newly acquired lands to the west of the Appalachian Mountains.

5. Crying “no taxation without representation,” the colonists boycotted the paper goods the Stamp Act was levied on and committed acts of terrorism to prevent taxes from being collected.
In part due to colonists’ dissatisfaction with the Townshend Acts, an unruly crowd of colonists was fired upon, killing five, in what the colonists called the Boston Massacre.
Parliament made another attempt to collect taxes to pay down England’s war debt. The Townshend Acts taxed several products, including the famous tax on tea.
1765
1767
1770
In response to the uproar caused by the Boston Massacre, Parliament repealed all of the Townshend Acts, with the exception of the Tea Tax. They also removed all troops from Boston.
Parliament was forced to repeal the Stamp Act because so much money was being lost as a result of the boycott.
Another of the Townshend Acts was the Quartering Act, which authorized British officers to house soldiers in colonial buildings.

6. British troops march on Lexington and Concord to seize weapons being stockpiled by colonists. The militia tries to stop them, causing the first conflict of the Revolutionary War.
To protest the Tea Tax, a group of colonists boarded ships in Boston harbor and dump $1 million in tea.
Parliament decided to teach the colonies a lesson by harshly punishing Boston for the Tea Party with the Intolerable Acts, declaring martial law.
1773
1774
1775
Thomas Paine published “Common Sense,” a pamphlet persuading colonists to break away from England.
In response, a group of colonists met at the First Continental Congress. There they reluctantly decided to prepare for a possible conflict with the British.

7. Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence, a letter to King George stating that the colonists consider themselves free from him and his government.
Colonial leaders met again at the Second Continental Congress.
1776
There, they decided that the colonies must break away from England.
England tried to hold on to the colonies. The Revolutionary War was fought and in 1781, the British gave up and the colonies were free.