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Albany Plan of Union
In response to French attacks on the frontier, in 1754, Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the colonies-the Albany Plan of Union. The colonies rejected the plan, however, because it gave too much power to an assembly made up of representatives from all thirteen colonies. -
George III becomes King of Great Britain
Because he became king, this greatly changed the relationship between the colonies and Britain. He had different ideas about how the colonies should be governed. He and Britain's leaders believed the colonists had an obligation to "pay up" for the debt left on Great Britain from the French and Indian War. He dealt firmly with the American colonies by making them pay taxes to help pay for the war. -
Great Britain won French and Indian War
The French and Indian war started as a struggle between the French and British over lands in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. By 1756, several other countries became involved. Great Britain won the war in 1763 and gained complete control of the eastern third of the continent. This meant that American colonists no longer needed the British to protect them from the French. Great Britain was left with a large huge war debt.Levied taxes were put on tea, sugar, glass, paper, and other products. -
Stamp Act
This act imposed the first direct tax on the colonists. It required them to pay taxes on legal documents, pamphlets, newspaper, dice, and playing cards. Parliament also passed laws that regulated colonial trade in a way which benefited Great Britain but not the colonies. Britain's revenue (the money a government collects from other taxes/sources) increased, but so did colonial resentment. Political protests spread and colonists refused to buy British goods.The Stamp Act was repealed. -
Stamp Act Congress
In 1765, 9 colonies sent delegates to a meeting in New York called the Stamp Act Congress. This was the first meeting organized by the colonies to protest 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 Act. -
Boston Tea Party
When a other tax laws were passed to replace the Stamp Act, the situation reached a boiling point. A group of colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor in protest. In retaliation, Parliament passed the Coercive Acts. -
Coercive Acts
Parliament passed these acts in retaliation for the Boston Tea Party incident. The colonists called these the Intolerable Acts. One of these acts closed Boston Harbor. Another act withdrew the right of the Massachusetts colony to govern itself. By the early 1770's, a revolution was brewing. -
Committees of Correspondence
Organizations called committees of correspondence pushed for resistance from Britain. These were made up of colonists who wanted communication with one another as events unfolded. Samuel Adams created the first one in Boston. Within a few months, Massachusetts grew to have 80 committees.Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry were key leaders in Virginia. -
First Continental Congress
The Intolerable Acts prompted a call for a general meeting of the colonies. Other than Georgia, the colonies met in Philadelphia on Sept. 5, 1774 for the meeting of the First Continental Congress. Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, George Washington, and Richard Henry Lee attended. The delegates debated on the relationship with Britain. An embargo, agreement prohibiting trade, was issued on Britain and no use of their goods. They also agreed to meet in a year if Britain didn't change their policy. -
Lexington and Concord
Events moved quickly and Britain adopted stronger measures. The New England governments were in a state of rebellion. George III announced that blows were decided whether they were subject to Britain or not. Redcoats clashed with colonial minutemen at Lexington and Concord Massachusetts in the early morning of April 19, 1775. The skirmish was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Second Continental Congress
Within 3 weeks of of the first battle, delegates from all 13 colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. The Second Continental Congress assumed powers of a central government of the 13 colonies throughout the war. It chose John Handcock as president. Next, it had to organize an army and a navy, issue money, and appoint George Washington as commander of the Continental Army. It purchased supplies, negotiated treaties, and rallied support for the colonists' cause. -
Resolution of Indpendence
In June 1776, more than a year after fighting had begun in the colonies, Richard Henry Lee of Virginia did declare independence. Lee introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress that the United Colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states. This spurred Congress to promptly name a committee to prepare the Declaration of Independence. -
Declaration of Independence or Unaminous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America
John Adams, Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman were a part of the committee to prepare a written declaration. Thomas Jefferson wrote the draft. On June 28, the committee submitted the edited draft to the Congress. On July 2, the Congress approved Lee's resolution. The colonies officially broke from Great Britain. The draft was debated and edited again and on July 4th Congress approved the final draft. 56 delegates signed the document that declared independence.
