Revolutions

A brief tour of the Thirteen Colonies.

After the French and Indian War, the British Ministry started levying new taxes on the colonies. The colonists were not amused.

After the failure of the Stamp Act, Parliament passed a new series of taxes known as the Townshend Acts. The colonists were not amused.

The Boston Tea Party led Parliament to pass the Intolerable Acts in 1774. The colonists were really super not amused.

After the skirmishes at Lexington and Concord, war between Britain and the colonies broke out. George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief and laid siege to Boston.

The American colonies declared independence in July 1776. Then their armies got chased around New York.

When in the course of human events...

With the revolution on the line, George Washginton led his army to victory at Trenton. Unfortunately he would be unable to stop the British from taking Philadelphia in 1777.

Gentleman Johnny's Party Train ran into some trouble in 1777.

After Saratoga the French joined the war, the British changed strategies and Washington's army spent a miserable winter at Valley Forge.

The Episode That Wouldn't Die.

Despite the thrashing he gave Horatio Gates at the Battle of Camden, Lord Cornwallis found the Carolinas slipping out of his grasp.

Lord Cornwallis was trapped in Yorktown in October 1781. His surrender ended the American War of Independence.

As the newly independent United States trasitioned from war to peace, it was tripped up by the ineffective Articles of Confederation.

Between the end of the War of Independence and the Constitutional Convention the new United States was plagued by problems. The Articles of Confederation were not up to solving them.

The ratification of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights marks the end of the Revolutionary Era.

Hang them on the wall of every classroom.