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Pre-Revolutionary Events
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Albany Congress
The conference was convened by the British Board of Trade to help cement the loyalty of the Iroquois Confederacy, wavering between the French and the British in the early phases of the French and Indian War. After receiving presents, provisions, and promises of redress of grievances, 150 representatives of the tribes withdrew without committing themselves to the British cause. -
Capture of Fort Necessityby the French
The forces of the inexperienced Wshington attacked a Freanch scouting party. The French surrounded Washington's soldiers and forced them to surrender , but the soldiers were later relesaed and they returned to Virginia. -
French and Indian War
1754-1763
The French and Indian War was the last and most important of a series of colonial conflicts between the British and the American colonists on one side, and the French and their broad network of Native American allies on the other. Fighting began in the spring of 1754, but Britain and France did not officially declare war against each other until May 1756 and the outbreak of the Seven Years War in Europe. -
Genereal Braddock' defeat at Fort Duquesne
A combined force of Native American warriors and French troops ambushed the Britihs. The French and Native Americans were hidden, firing from behind trees and aiming at bright uniforms. -
Recapture of Fort Duquesne
Armhest and Wolfe led a British assault that recaptured the fortress at Louisburg. Still another British force marched across Pennsylvania and forced the French to abandon Fort Duquesne, which was renamed Fort Pitt. -
Battle of Quebec
Wolfe's scouts spotted a poorly guarded path up the back of the cliff. Wolfe's soldiers overwhelmed the guards posted on the path and then scrambled up the path during the night, and then the British troops assembled outside the fortress of Quebec on a field called the Plain of Abraham. -
Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac put together an alliance. They attacked the British fort at Detroit while other war parties captured most of the other British outposts in the Great Lakes Region. -
Sugar Act
Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act, which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. -
Currency Act
Parliament passed the Currency Act, effectively assuming control of the colonial currency system. The act prohibited the issue of any new bills and the reissue of existing currency. Parliament favored a "hard currency" system based on the pound sterling, but was not inclined to regulate the colonial bills. -
Stamp Act
George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. -
Quartering Act
Parliament passed the Quartering Act to address the practical concerns of such a troop deployment. Under the terms of this legislation, each colonial assembly was directed to provide for the basic needs of soldiers stationed within its borders. Specified items included bedding, cooking utensils, firewood, beer or cider and candles. -
Boston Massacre
The angry townspeople moved through the streets, picking up any weapon that they could find. They pushed forward the customshouse on King Street. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and in fact imposed no new taxes. -
Coercive (Intolerable) Acts
After the French and Indian War the British Government decided to reap greater benefits from the colonies. The colonies were pressed with greater taxes without any representation in Britain. This eventually lead to the Boston Tea Party. In retaliation the British passed several punative acts aimed at bringing the colonies back into submission of the King. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. These were elected by the people, by the colonial legislatures, or by the committees of correspondence of the respective colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
American patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians boarded the vessels of the East Indian Company docked in the Boston harbor and dumped all the tea that was on the three ships into the ocean. They emptied 342 chests of tea which was valued at more than 10,000 pounds.