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Albany Plan of the Union
Franklin proposed the creation of an annual congress of delegates from each of the 13 colonies. That body would have the power to raise military and naval forces, make war and peace with the Native American regulate trade with them, tax and collect customs duties. -
French and Indian War
Colonists objected to taxes imposed on them from afar. That arrangement they claimed was "taxation without representation." They saw little need for the costly presence of British troops on North American soil since the French had been defeated and their power broken in the French and Indian War. -
George III becomes King of Great Britian
Britain began to deal more firmly with its colonies. Restrictive trading acts were expanded and enforced. New taxes were imposed mostly to support British troops in North America. -
Stamp Act
The law required the use of tax stamps on al legal documents, on certain business agreements, and on newspapers. -
Stamp Act Congress
Strong protest called the Declaration of Rights and Grievances against the new British policies and sent it to the king. The Stamp Act Congress marked the first time a signification number of the colonies had joined to oppose the British government. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act but frictions still mounted. -
Boston Massacre
British troops in Boston fired on a jeering crowd killing five. -
Committees of Correspondence
Organized resistance was carried on through Committees of Correspondence which had grown out of a group formed by political leader Samuel Adams in Boston. Those committees soon spread throughout the colonies providing a network for cooperation and the exchange of information among the patriots. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of men disguised as Native Americans, boarded three tea ships in Boston Harbor. They broke open the chests and dumped the ship's cargo into the sea to protest British control of the tea trade. -
Coercive Acts
Punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British government. -
First Continental Congress
Members discussed the worsening situation and debated plans for action. They sent a Declaration of Rights protesting Britain's colonial policies to King George III. The delegates urged the colonies to refuse all trade with England until the hated taxes and trade regulations were repealed. The delegates also called for the creation of local committees to enforce that boycott. -
Lexington and Concord
The Revolution had begun. The "shot heard 'round the world" had been fired. The battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought three weeks earlier. -
Second Continental Congress
British government continues to refuse to compromise, let alone reverse its colonial policies. It reacted to the Declaration of Rights as it had to other expressions of colonial discontent - with even stricter and more repressive measures. The Second Continental Congress became by force of circumstance that nation's first government. However it rested on no constitutional base. It was condemned by the British as an unlawful assembly and a den of traitors. -
Resolution of Independence
On July 2, the final break cam. The delegates agreed to Lee's resolution - but only after spirited debate for many of the delegates had serious doubts about the wisdom of a complete separation from England -
Declaration of Independence
No political system had ever been founded on the notion that the people should rule instead of being ruled nor on the idea that every person is "created equal" and endowed with "certain unalienable rights." The Declaration was also groundbreaking because it was founded on the concept of "the consent of the governed" not divine right or tradition as the basis for the exercise of power. The Declaration of Independence was very largely the work of Thomas Jefferson.
