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Albany Union Plan
In response to French attacks on the frontier, in 1754 Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for uniting the colonies- the Albany Plan of Union. the colonies rejected the plan, however, because it gave too much power to an assembly made up of representatives from all thirteen colonies. -
George III becomes king of Great Britain
He had different ideas about how the colonies should be governed. -
French and Indian War
the French and Indian War started as a struggle between the French and British over lands in 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. -
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. -
Stamp Act Congress
in 1765 nine colonies sent delegates to a meeting in New York called the tamp Act Congress. This was the first meeting organized by the colonies to protest King George's actions. Delegates to the Congress sent a petition to the king, arguing that only colonial legislatures could impose direct takes such as the Stamp Tax. -
Coercive Acts
Another of the Coercive Acts withdrew the right of the Massachusetts colony to govern itself. By the early 1770s, events clearly showed that revolution was not far off. -
Committees of Correspondence
By 1773, organizations called committees of correspondence were urging resistance to the British. These committees consisted of colonists who wanted o keep in touch with one another as events unfolded. Samuel Adams established the first committee in Boston. -
Boston Tea Party
the protest led to the repeal of the Stamp Act, but the British passed other tax laws to replace it. the situation reached a boiling point in 1773. A group of colonists, dressed as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor. This protest became know as the Boston Tea Party. -
First Continental Congress
The Intolerable Acts promoted Virginia and Massachusetts to call a general meeting of the colonies. Delegates from all the the colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, for the first Continental Congress. The delegates debated what to do about the relationship with Great Britain. They finally imposed an embargo, an agreement prohibiting trade, on Britain and agreed not use British goods. -
Second Continental Congress
Within three weeks, delegates from all thirteen colonies gathered in Philadelphia for the second Continental Congress. the Continental immediately assumed the powers of the central government. it chose John Hancock of Massachusetts as president. -
Lexington and Concord
The first blow fell early on the morning of April 19, 1775. British redcoats clashed with colonial minutemen at Lexington and concord in Massachusetts. this skirmish was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Resolution of Independence
By April 1776, the war had been going on for almost a year, yes no declaration of independence ha been made. in June 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 these United Colonies are, and fight of right ought to be, free and independent states." -
Delration of Independence
On July 4, the Congress approved the final draft. John Hancock, the president of the congress, was the first to sign the document, which eventually held the signatures of all 56 delegates. It explained the reasons for declaring independence. Its actual was "the unanimous declaration of the thirteen United States of America".
