Events Leading to The Declaration

Jamestown

May 14, 1607

First permanent English settlement

Virginia House of Burgess

Jul 30, 1619

First legislative body in the colonies.

Mayflower Compact

Nov 11, 1620

Led to first self-governing colony in the Americas.

Bacon's Rebellion

Jul 30, 1676

Rebellion led by Nathaniel Bacon to protest Native American special treatment.

Salem Witch Trials

Feb 1, 1692

Series of trials and executions against people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts.

French and Indian War

May 28, 1754

War between British colonists and soldiers versus French and Native Americans.

Proclamation of 1763

Oct 7, 1763

Ended French and Indian War and forbided the colonists from settling in the Ohio Valley.

Sugar Act

Apr 5, 1764

Tax on molasses. Aimed to stop the smuggling of foreign goods from the French and Dutch Indies.

Stamp Act

Mar 22, 1765

Tax on printed paper such as wills, deeds, newspapers, pamplets, playing cards, and dice.

Quartering Act

May 3, 1765

Law requiring colonists to provide British soldiers with room and food.

Townshend Acts

Jun 15, 1767

Tax imposed by Charles Townshend on tea, glass, lead, paint, paper, and British china.

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

Fight between mob of colonists and British soldiers. 11 colonists killed.

Committees of Correspondence

Mar 1, 1773

Created by Samuel Adams in Massachusetts for intercolonial correspondence.

Tea Act

May 10, 1773

Gave British East India Company exclusive rights to ship tea

Boston Tea Party

Dec 16, 1773

Colonists dressed up as Native Americans and threw the tea aboard British cargo ships overboard to protest tea tax.

Intolerable Acts

Mar 31, 1774

Boston Port Act (products couldn't be unloaded at Boston Port), Massachusetts Government Act (Regulated self-government and revoked charter), Administration of Justice Act (governor could send misbehaving colonists to Britain for trial), Quartering Act of 1774 (gave governor right to decide which houses soldiers would stay in) and Quebec Act (favored Catholics and took land from Massachusetts).

First Continental Congress

Sep 5, 1774

Meeting of 12 delegates from 13 colonies, wrote the Olive Branch Petition.

Lexington and Concord

Apr 18, 1775

First battle of American Revolution, "the shot heard around the world".

Olive Branch Petition

Jul 5, 1775

Letter to King of England, pleading for reconciliation between Britain and colonies.

Declaration of Independence

Jul 4, 1776

Written by Thomas Jefferson, announced the colonies' independence from Britain.