-
1.) Treaty of Paris
During the war, British forces had scored important overseas victories against France: not only had the British conquered French Canada, they also won victories in India, and captured French island colonies in the Caribbean. -
2.) Proclamation
The proclamation provided that all lands west of the heads of all rivers which flowed into the Atlantic Ocean from the west or northwest were off-limits to the colonists. This excluded the rich Ohio Valley and all territory from the Ohio to the Mississippi rivers from settlement. -
3.) The Sugar Act
The First Lord of the Treasury, and Chancellor of the Exchequer Lord Grenville was trying to bring the colonies in line with regard to payment of taxes. This act, and the Currency Act, set the stage for the revolt at the imposition of the Stamp Act. -
4.) The Stamp Act
A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. The bill was passed on February 17, approved by the Lords on March 8th, and two weeks later ordered in effect by the King. English citizens in Britain were taxed at a rate that created a serious threat of revolt. -
5.) The Quarting Act
An act for punishing mutiny and desertion. Several regulations are made and enacted for the better government of the army, and their observing strict discipline, and for providing quarters for the army, and carriages on marches and other necessary occasions, and inflicting penalties on offenders against the same act, and for many other good purposes. -
6.) Stamp Act Congress
The members of this Congress, sincerely devoted, with the warmest sentiments of affection and duty to His Majesty's Person and Government. Their duty is to make the following declarations of their humble opinion, respecting the most essential rights and liberties of the colonists. -
7.) Declaration of Rights and Grievances
Representatives from only nine colonies appeared. Virginia, New Hampshire, North Carolina, and Georgia were not represented. The Congress agreed upon the Declaration of Rights reproduced here and, further, petitioned the king and Parliament. -
9.) Stamp Act Repealed
After months of protest, and an appeal by Benjamin Franklin before the British House of Commons, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. -
8.) The Declaratory Act
The American Colonies Act 1766, commonly known as the Declaratory Act, was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the Sugar Act. -
10.) Townshed Revenue Act
Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea were applied with the design of raising £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. They established non-importation agreements that quickly spread throughout the colonies. British trade soon dried up and the powerful merchants of Britain once again interceded on behalf of the colonies. -
11.) Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
12.) Committee of Correspondence
The Committees of Correspondence were the American colonies’ means for maintaining communication lines in the years before the Revolutionary War. Boston formed the earliest Committee of Correspondence to encourage opposition to Britain’s stiffening of customs enforcement and prohibition of American paper money. -
13.) Tea Act
The Tea Act was the final straw in a series of unpopular policies and taxes imposed by Britain on her American colonies. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and in fact imposed no new taxes. -
14.) Boston Tea Party
Governor Thomas Hutchinson allowed three ships carrying tea to enter Boston Harbor. Before the tax could be collected, Bostonians took action. On a cold December night, radical townspeople stormed the ships and tossed 342 chests of tea into the water. Disguised as Native Americans, the offenders could not be identified. -
15.) First Continantial Congress
The First Continental Congress brought together representatives from each of the colonies, except Georgia. They met to discuss their relationship with Britain, and how to assert their rights with the British government.The purpose of the First Continental Congress was not to seek independence from Britain. -
16.) Intolerable Acts
The government spent immense sums of money on troops and equipment in an attempt to subjugate Massachusetts. British merchants had lost huge sums of money on looted, spoiled, and destroyed goods shipped to the colonies. -
17.) Lexington & Concord
British soldiers were sent out to quartered in Boston. Their destinations were Lexington where they would capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock, then Concord, where they would seize gunpowder. -
18.) Bunker Hill
A detail of American troops acting under orders from Artemas Ward moved out of their camp, carrying picks, shovels, and guns. They entrenched themselves on a rise located on Charleston Peninsula overlooking Boston. Their destination was at Bunker Hill. -
19.) Appeal to Reason Rejected aka Olive BRanch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was adopted by the Second Continental Congress in a final attempt to avoid a full-on war between the Thirteen Colonies. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. -
20.) Common Sense
Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
21.) Declaration of Independence
Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in the morning of a bright, sunny, but cool Philadelphia day. John Dunlap prints the Declaration of Independence. These prints are now called "Dunlap Broadsides." Twenty-four copies are known to exist, two of which are in the Library of Congress. One of these was Washington's personal copy.
