Declaration of Independence Timeline

  • Sugar Act

    The Sugar Act that put a three-cent tax on foreign refined sugar and increased taxes on coffee, indigo, and certain kinds of wine. It banned importation of rum and French wines. These taxes only affected some of the population.
  • Stamp Act

    This new tax was imposed on all American colonists. This act required them to pay taxes on every piece of paper they used. Documents, newspapers, and even playing cards.
  • Boston Massacre

    The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists. This event occurred in the evening of March 5,1770
  • Tea Act

    This bill was passed to save the East India Company from bankruptcy. This greatly decreased the tea tax the company paid to the British Government. This was also to undercut the price of tea smuggled into Britain's North American colonies.
  • Boston Tea Party

    Many colonists dumped a ton of chests of tea overboard a ship on the Boston Harbor. The event was in protest to the Tea Act passed by British Parliament.
  • Quartering Act

    This act passed by parliament made it so that the colonists had to house British soldiers if they needed it. They also had to feed them and help them.
  • Common Sense

    Common Sense was a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1776 in the colonies. The pamphlet explained why the colonists needed to be independent from Britain.
  • Drafting Of The Declaration

    Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston wrote the draft for the Declaration of Independence in 1776. This was them writing about declaring the colonies independence.