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Albany Plan of Union
In 1754 Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the colonies. The colony rejected the plan, however, because it gave too much power to an assembly made up of representatives from all thirteen colonies. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War started as a struggle between the French and British over lands in the western Pennsylvania and Ohio. By 1756, several other European countries became involved. Great Britain won the war in 1763 and gained complete control of the eastern third of the continent. -
George III becomes king of Great Britain
He had different ideas about how the colonies should be governed. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 imposed the first direct tax on the colonists. It required them to pay a tax on legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers and even dice and playing cards. Parliament also passed laws regulating colonial trade in ways that benefited Great Britain but not the colonies. -
Stamp Act Congress
In 1765 nine 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. -
Committees of Correspondence
These committees consisted of colonists who wanted to keep in touch with one another as events unfolded. Samuel Adams established the first committee in Boston. The idea spread quickly, and within a few months, Massachusetts alone had more than 80 such committees. Virginia and other colonies soon joined in this communication network. Two prominent members of the Virginia committee of correspondence were Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 chests of British tea into the Boston Harbor. This protest became known as the Boston Tea Party. -
Coercive Acts
In retaliation to the Boston Tea Party, also known as the Intolerable Acts. One of the acts closed the Boston Harbor, another withdrew the right of the Massachusetts colony to govern itself. -
First Continental Congress
The Intolerable Acts prompted Virginia and Massachusetts to call a general meeting of the colonies. Delegates from all the colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, for he First Continental Congress. Key colonial leaders such as Patrick Henry, Samuel Adams, Richard Henry Lee, and George Washington attended. They debated on what o do about the relationship with Great Britain. They finally imposed and embargo. -
Lexington and Congress
The first blow fell early on the morning of April 19, 1775. British Redcoats clashed with colonial minutemen at Lexington and Concord Massachusetts. This skirmish was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Second Continental Congress
Within three weeks, delegates from all thirteen colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the Second Continental Congress. The Continental Congress immediately assumed powers of the central government. It chose John Hancock as president. The next critical steps were to organize an army and navy, to issue money, and to appoint George Washington as commander of the Continental Army. -
Resolution of Independence
In June of 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 had these united colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independent states." -
Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the congress approved the final draft. John Hancock, the president of Congress, was the first to sign the document, which held the signatures of 56 delegates. It explained the reasons for declaring independence. Its actual title was "The unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America."
