A new tax levied by the British Parliament in 1765 that required by law a royal stamp on all printed materials in the colonies, such as legal documents, newspapers, and playing cards.

A 1765 meeting of representatives from 9 of the13 colonies in order to coordinate a response to the Stamp Act imposed by the British crown.

The 1770 incident in which five colonists were killed by British soldiers amidst a protest in Boston; it served as a lightning rod for the cause of independence.

During the Boston Massacre, the supposed ringleader the protesters, a mixed race individual by the name of___ was the first of those killed.

Groups formed within each of the colonies tasked with managing intercolonial communication, as well as the organization and mobilization of the American rebellion.

An organization established by Samuel Adams, John Hancock, and other radicals in response to the Stamp Act; It was known for coercing and intimidating officials of the Crown and those opposed to American resistance.

A set of 1767 parliamentary measures that placed a tax on frequently used colonial items such as glass, paper, paint, and tea; it created supervisory commissions and courts to enforce taxation; it was an attempt to save the British East India Company.

The incident on December 16, 1773, in which the Sons of Liberty, dressed as Indians, dumped hundreds of chests of tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act of 1773.

Four parliamentary measures in reaction to the Boston Tea Party that forced payment for the tea, disallowed colonial trials of British soldiers, forced their quartering in private homes, and reduced the number of elected officials in Massachusetts.

The Philadelphia-based meeting of representatives from each of the colonies in which the formal diplomatic and military response of American colonists to British policies were decided; the de facto central government of the American Colonies.

In Revolutionary Era New England, colonial militia members who readied themselves for conflict at a moment's notice.

The first shots fired in the Revolutionary War, on April 19, 1775, near Boston; approximately 100 minutemen and 250 British soldiers were killed.

First major battle of the Revolutionary War which took place at Breed’s Hill, Massachusetts, on June 17, 1775; Though a defeat for the Americans initially, it forced the British under William Howe to surrender their control of Boston.

Army authorized by the Continental Congress in 1775 to fight the British; commanded by General George Washington.

A proclamation issued in 1775 by the earl of Dunmore, the British governor of Virginia, that offered freedom to any slave who fought for the king against the rebelling colonists.

A decree passed by the Continental Congress on July 5th, 1775 to be sent to the King as a last attempt to prevent formal war from being declared; It emphasized their loyalty to the British crown and emphasized their rights as British citizens.

A pamphlet anonymously written by Thomas Paine in January 1776 that attacked the English principles of hereditary rule and monarchical government.

Document adopted on July 4, 1776, that made the break with Britain official; drafted by a committee of the Second Continental Congress, including principal writer Thomas Jefferson.

An important win for American forces against Hessian mercenaries (supporters of the British army) in a surprise attack by Washington and the Continental Army in New Jersey on December 26th. 1776.

Major defeat of British general John Burgoyne and more than 5,000 British troops at Saratoga, New York, on October 17, 1777; it turned the tide of the Revolutionary War by convincing the French to support the Continental Army militarily.

Last battle of the Revolutionary War; General Lord Charles Cornwallis along with over 7,000 British troops surrendered at Yorktown, Virginia, on October 17, 1781.

Signed on September 3, 1783, the treaty that ended the Revolutionary War, recognized American independence from Britain, established the border between Canada and the United States, fixed the western border at the Mississippi River, and ceded Florida to Spain.

Women who supported the American boycott of British goods by spinning, weaving, and producing other essential goods in the home.

A declaration by Massachusetts leaders--and later adopted by the Continental Congress--calling on citizens to disobey the Intolerable Acts, cease paying taxes, and prepare for war.