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Albany Plan of Union
Benjamin Franklin proposed this plan for uniting the colonies. However, the plan was rejected because it gave too much power to an assembly made up of representatives from all 13 colonies. -
Stamp Act Congress
The first meeting (held by delegates from 9 colonies) organized by the colonies to pretest King George's actions. Delegates to the Congress sent a petition to the king, arguing that only colonial legislatures could impose direct taxes such as the Stamp Tax. -
George III becomes king of Great Britain
He had different ideas about how the colonies should be governed. -
French and Indian War
Great Britain wins the French and Indian War -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act imposed the first direct tax on colonists. It required them to pay a tax on legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers, and even dice and playing cards. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists dressed as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor to protest taxes. -
Coercive Acts
Parliament passed these acts (called the Intolerable Acts) in retaliation of the Boston Tea Party. One of these acts closed the Boston Harbor, while another withdrew the right of the Massachusetts colony to govern itself. -
Committees of Correspondence
Committees were urging resistance to the British. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates from all colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia. -
Lexington and Concord
The first blow fell early this morning when the British Redcoats clashed with colonial minutemen. -
Second Continental Congress
Delegates from all 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia. Congress immediately assumed the powers of a central gvt. Chose John Hancock as president, organized an army & navy, issue money, and appoint George Washington as Continental Army commander -
Resolution of Independence
Lee stated "[t]hat these United colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." -
Declaration of Independence
Congress approved final draft. Hancock first to sign the document, which eventually hold the signatures of all 56 delegates. It explained the reasons for decliaring independence. Actual title was "The unonimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America."
