American Revolution
- Olive Branch Petition: John Dickinson from PA hoped for an early reconciliation with Great Britain. Proclaimed that the British government had left the American people with only two alternatives, "unconditional submission to the tyranny of irritated ministers or resistance by force"
- Articles of Confederation: Congress adopted them in November 1777. They did little more than confirm the weak, decentralized system already in operation. The Articles did not make it entirely clear that the Congress was to be a real government at all.
- George Washington: Became the general of the American Army and with the aid of foreign military experts such as Marquis de Lafayette from France and Baron von Steuben from Prussia succeeded in building and holding together an army of fewer than 10,00 men that ultimately prevailed against the greatest military power in the world.
- American Advantages for War: They were fighting on their own ground, the American Patriots were deeply committed to the conflict whereas the British people were only halfheartedly involved in it.
- Bunker Hill: American forces besieged the army of General Thomas Gage in Boston after the British withdrew from Concord and Lexington in April 1775. The Patriots suffered severe casualties on June 17, 1775 were ultimately driven from their postilion there. British lost the most amount of men.
- invasion of Canada: Benedict Arnold threatened Quebec after a winter march of incredible hardship. British evacuated from Boston.
- British Take New York: The British pushed the defenders off Long Island, compelled them to abandon Manhattan and then drove then in slow retreat over the plains of New Jersey across the Delaware River into PA.
- Howe's Plan: Planned to move north form New York City up the Hudson to Albany while another British force would come south from Canada to meet him. After setting it in motion, he abandoned it and decided to launch an assault on the rebel capital Philadelphia which he hoped would bring the war to a speedy conclusion. Ended in an ultimate failure.
- Iroquois mostly allied with the British
- France became America's allies, helping them to win the war
- British and the South: British wanted to get support from Loyalists in the south however there weren't many there as Patriots were spreading throughout the nation
- Nathanael Greene: Joined the southern army, was a Quaker and a former blacksmith form Rhode Island. Was probably the ablest of all the American generals of the time next to Washington himself.
- Yorktown: Washington and Rochambeau marched a French-American army form New York to join other French forces under Lafayette in Virginia, while de Grasse sailed with additional troops for Chesapeake bay and the York River, ultimately ending the war.
- Treaty of Paris: Spain and France agreed to end hostilities. Granted U.S. a clear-cut recognition of its independence and a generous cession of territory from the southern boundary of Canada to the northern boundary of Florida and from the Atlantic to the Mississippi.