American Revolution Timeline

Nearing the end of the French and Indian war, the British had successfully captured Montreal, a major territory in Canada. Soon the rest of Canada was surrendered to the British. They successfully pushed the French out of North America, leaving only Spanish and British owned lands. The French and Indian war now ceased to exist with the signing of the Treaty of Paris in 1763. Great Britain gained an enormous sum of land including Canada, The Great Lakes, the Ohio River Valley and Florida. The French, who had previously owned the bulk of the land in North America, were now nonexistent (Prentice Hall).

England had immense debt after the French and Indian War and many British were trying to think of ways to alleviate this debt. George Greenville, the new Prime Minister of England, proposed to collect the existing tax on molasses and other items from the colonies. He sent more tax collectors to harshly enforce the tax and also encouraged the punishment of smugglers. Although it actually lowered the tax on molasses, the negative controlling aspect that England enforced on the colonies outweighed the positive lower price. This act seemed to be the first of the many series of unfair laws from Parliament. It sparked a fire that would become an uprising, and soon a war in the colonies (Prentice Hall).

Shortly after the passing of the Sugar Act, George Greenville passed the Stamp Act in 1765. Colonists now had to pay a tax in order to receive a stamp that was required to be put on all printed materials including wills, deeds and newspapers. Like the Sugar Act, it goal was to collect money solely for England, with no benefit to the colonies. But, rather than an indirect tax, like the Sugar Act, where the tax is placed right into the price of a product, the Stamp Act was a direct tax and the colonists were fully aware of it and they had to comply to its rules. American colonists began to resist the Stamp Act and argued that only their own representative assembly could tax them directly, not Parliament. At this point, colonists question the authority of England and Parliament and ponder independence of their own (History.com).

Another law was passed by Parliament in the same year as the Stamp Act. This was called the Quartering Act. It required that the colonists house British soldiers in specified locations, or even their own homes if necessary. Usually an image that comes to mind when thinking about this act is British soldiers forcibly removing colonists from their own homes and making them house the soldiers. This angered the colonists because of the fact that they had no say in whether they wanted to house the soldiers or not. England was demanding them, once again, to abide by a law that the British had made without approval of the colonies. The colonists were now truly angered and inspired to revolt (History.com).

Patrick Henry was a lawyer from Virginia who opposed the Stamp Act and created seven resolutions later called the Virginia Resolutions. These resolutions were presented to the Virginia House of Burgesses on May 29, 1765 for consideration. Four of the resolves were adopted on May 30, 1765. These four resolves include ideas such as the rights of the colonists and the equality of British citizens and the colonists. The House of Burgesses did not accept the last few resolves because they were simply too radical and included the idea that only the General Assembly of the colonies could tax the colonies (history.org).

The Sons of Liberty were originally created in 1765 to oppose and stop the Stamp Act that was passed on March 22, 1765. They were a group of radical men, including the well-known Sam Adams, who would commit atrocious acts of violence against the British in the hopes of gaining liberty (revolutionarywararchives.com). The Sons of Liberty could meet at the Liberty Tree, a large elm tree in Boston. Here, they would also perform acts of violence or cruelty as well. For example, on August 14th, they hanged several men who were not opposed to the Stamp Act. People were also tarred and feathered under the tree by the radical men (celebrateboston.com). The Sons of Liberty were the first group to fight back against unfair British rule and to publically denounce them.

The Stamp Act Congress was a gathering of representatives of the colonies in New York city from October 7 to October 25, 1765. It had the purpose of openly censuring the numerous taxes of the British, especially the Stamp Act. They discussed the matter of taxation without representation and questioned the right of Parliament to assert its power on them through direct taxes. Petitions and letters were eventually send to Parliament regarding the tax made on the colonists. This meeting helped to bring the colonies together and acted as the foundation for more gatherings to come, including the Continental Congress (galegroup.com).

Since the colonists would not accept the direct tax of the Stamp Act, Parliament thought they would still accept a non direct tax added onto imports. Charles Townshend introduced the Townshend Acts as an indirect tax in hopes of alleviating Britain's debt. This act was passed on June 29, 1767 and added taxes onto common materials such as glass, lead paper and paints. The colonists would not pay this tax as Parliament had expected because the colonists now believed that Parliament had no right to tax them at all. only the colonial government could tax their own colonies. Parliament was soon forced to repeal the taxes in 1770 due to the boycott of all British goods. Although they kept the tax on tea in an effort to keep asserting power over the colonies (History.com).

John Hancock is known to be an American Revolutionary, famous signer of the Declaration of independence and the governor of Massachusetts. He owned a merchant ship named "Liberty" in 1768 which had a conflict with British troops in Boston. It was captured by the British officials on Boston Harbor for supposedly bringing in goods without paying the mandatory taxes. This event angered the colonists ho already were enraged by the taxes. It inspired more riots and acts of violence by colonial citizens. It also inspired Hancock to become more involved with the revolutionary movement and to stand up for the independence of America (History.com).

Boston was furious about the Townshend Acts and the seizing of the Liberty ship at this point. Boston was the hub of revolutionary riots and acts of violence. In 1770, colonists began to instigate fighting with the British soldiers stationed at the Customs House. Snowballs and rocks were being thrown at the soldiers. One of the soldiers fired at the crowd in self defense and anxiety and killed five of the colonists. This shooting was called the Boston Massacre. It created more tension between the colonists, British soldiers, and Parliament. Parliament eventually took out their soldiers form Boston and also withdrew most of the Townshend Acts (Prentice Hall).

Parliament withdrew most of the taxes of the Townshend Acts, but had left the tax on tea. This purpose was to continue to show that Parliament had power over the colonies. The colonists then began to boycott drinking British tea and instead smuggled tea from elsewhere. This hurt the British tea company, the British East India company. So, Parliament thought that they would lower the price of their tea drastically. The colonists still resisted and would not give into the demands of Parliament. On December 16, 1773, Bostonians dressed up in Indian costumes and dumped the British tea into the Boston Harbor. This was called the Boston Tea Party. It infuriated Parliament who hated that the precious tea was wasted and no tax was paid on it. (Prentice Hall).

Another unlawful and unpopular act was brought about by Parliament. They created the Coercive Acts, or the Intolerable Acts. This act included the closing of the Boston port in response to the violence in Boston. In response to this act, the colonies formed the First Continental Congress to denounce the act and to come up with a further plan of action against England. A representative of each of the colonies was chosen to attend. The only colony not in attendance was Georgia. They discussed the rights of the colonies and devised a petition against it (galegroup.com).

In 1775, General Thomas Gage was named the new governor of Massachusetts by the British Crown. Colonists wanted to govern themselves without anyone involved with England. so, john Hancock and Samuel Adams created a Provincial congress and began to gather guns and other materials in Concord. Thomas Gage found out about John and Sam's plan and soon sent British troops to seize the weapons and the Congress. A patriot militia was soon formed and consisted of the colonists. The Patriots efforts failed in Lexington, most men were shot down. but in Concord, the tables were turned. Patriot minutemen killed hundreds of British troops and prevented them from advancing into concord and seizing the gathered guns and materials. The British troops were forced to flee back to Boston. This event shows the strength of the colonists when they band together for a cause. It is amazing how the untrained colonists could bring down the highly trained British troops carrying powerful guns (Prentice Hall).

Most colonists still believed that the king of England was on the side of the colonists and that it was Parliament who was the enemy and who blocked their independence. This idea all changed when the Continental Congress sent the Olive Branch Petition to King George III. This petition stated that the colonists were not against the king, but instead the ways of Parliament. the colonists wanted to make sure that king George III wanted the best for the colonists and that their assumptions about him were true. When King George received this petition, he refused to even read it . this totally changed the colonist's perspective about the king and now they knew he was not for the colonist, but instead in favor of the decisions of Parliament (History.com).

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is Published

Thomas Paine's influential pamphlet, "Common Sense", was published on January 9, 1776. It stressed three main ideas. These ideas included that of independence from Britain, a new republican government and the union of all the states of America. Paine used strong words against the King of England and disliked the rigid and unmoving classes of British society. America was better off to be independent and to create a republic where people had more chance to succeed in the society. Paine's ideas inspired the colonists that they could truly stand up to England and it also influenced the writing of the Declaration of Independence which was the foundation for the United States of America (Prentice Hall).

Congress declared that America was free on July 2, 1776. The next step was to write the Declaration of Independence. It was written by Thomas Jefferson who was inspired by the previous ideas laid out by Thomas Paine. It also included some ideas from the Enlightenment, like the idea of natural rights. It states that "all men are created equal" and are born with natural rights that a government cannot take away from them. This statement later inspired women and other people with little rights to stand up for equality and fairness for everyone. The Declaration also gave a list of the previous grievances of the colonists while under British rule. (Prentice Hall).

England made efforts to try to stop the Revolutionary War. They devised a plan to cut off New England from the other colonies and thus have control once British troops are placed in a central location. These British troops would come down from Canada and begin to advance into the colonies. The British succeeded at one of the first battles of Ticonderoga, but as they advanced, the Patriots began to succeed. One of the most notable successes was at the Battle of Saratoga. The British General Burgoyne brought his troops into the town of Saratoga and was taken down and captured by Patriots. This was an immense victory for the colonists. This battle was truly a turning point in the war. It showed how the Patriots had gotten stronger and could even take down the extremely trained and organized British military. Their victory was also noted by France who was compelled to become an ally to the colonies (ushistory.org).

After the Continental Army had been stationed at Valley Forge for a long period in the winter, they began to move towards New Jersey in the summer. The Colonial Army met up with the British Army at the Monmouth Courthouse in New Jersey. Washington ordered his assistant, General Charles Lee, to order the army to attack the British. He did not follow his orders and instead Washington had to plan another strategy. The colonial troops went back to attack and the British troops attacked back just as fiercely. The British eventually backed down and retreated. Both sides lost a considerable amount of troops, and neither side was actually declared the winner. this battle showed how well the continental Army listened to the orders of Washington and held through the fierce fighting that occurred (galegroup.com).

The Battle of Yorktown began on September 28, 1781. It is considered to be one of the most important battle of the American Revolution. The British troops were lead by General Cornwallis and the Continental Army lead by George Washington. It began with Washington's plan to trap Cornwallis's army at Yorktown. French fleets and American troops surrounded the British Army, leaving them trapped. Fighting and attacks ensued, and Washington came out on top. Cornwallis surrendered and the Continental Army had won the battle. This battle marked the end of most of the fighting in the colonies and once again showed the strength of the Continental Army over the British (History.com).

The Battle of Blue Licks could be considered the last battle of the American Revolution. It involved a conflict between the British, the colonists of Kentucky and American Indians coupled with inspiration from the Revolution. Many conflicts were still occurring after the Battle of Yorktown, including in Kentucky which was not part of the original thirteen colonies. British and Indians had gathered in Ohio in order to attack frontier settlements. A Kentucky militia was formed in order to defend themselves from the British and Indians. They all met up at the location of Blue Licks, Kentucky. It was a disastrous defeat for the Kentucky militia who were caught by surprise. This battle did not actually affect the outcome of the American Revolution but rather it was inspired by the previous battles of the revolution (ky.gov).