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The Enlightenment
European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the course of the “long 18th century” (1685-1815) as part of a movement referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason -
First Continental Congress Meeting
DescriptionThe First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States. -
Sons Of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a secret organization that was created in the Thirteen American Colonies to advance the rights of the European colonists and to fight taxation by the British government. It played a major role in most colonies in battling the Stamp Act -
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Boston Tea Party
Americans dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldn't take taxation and tyranny. -
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Battle of Lexington and Concord
Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. -
Second Continental Congress Meets
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the 13 colonies that formed in Philadelphia. Soon after the launch of the American Revolutionary War. -
Olive Branch Petition sent to England
a final attempt by the colonists to avoid going to war with Britain during the American Revolution. It was a document in which the colonists pledged their loyalty to the crown and asserted their rights as British citizens. -
Thomas Pain’s Common Sense Published
writer Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet “Common Sense,” setting forth his arguments in favor of American independence. Originally published anonymously, “Common Sense” advocated independence for the American colonies from Britain and is considered one of the most influential pamphlets in American history. -
Declaration of Independence
the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. -
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Battle of Yorktown
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Constitution is Ratified
It took 10 months for the first nine states to approve the Constitution. The first state to ratify was Delaware. -
Bill of Rights Adopted
Congress transmitted to the state Legislatures twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Numbers three through twelve were adopted by the states to become the United States
