Road to Revolution Timeline

By angelrm

  • Writs of Assistance

    Legal warrants that allowed customs officers to search any ship, home, or warehouse for smuggled goods without probable cause. Made to restrict colonial trade with foreign nations.
    In revolt, James Otis, a Boston Lawyer, argues that the colonists should be free from unreasonable searches and seizures. His argument is ineffective but colonists protest their use.
  • Period: to

    Road to Revolution

  • Proclamation of 1763

    Prohibited any further settlement of land West of the Appalachian Mountains.
    Colonists resented this proclamation and ignored it, although it served to create more civil unrest in the Western frontier and throughout the colonies.

  • Sugar Act

    (First of 3 taxation policies put into place by George Grenville.) Raised taxes on sugar from foreign nations and lowered taxes on molasses from Britain. The Navigation Acts simultaneously were bolstered in enforcement. Merchants in the colonies detested this act as it made their economy less diverse and sovereign. Smuggling continued, though.

  • Stamp Act

    (Third and final)
    British government stamp required on almost all printed material. This act was received with massive revolt, causing the boycott of British goods, and the mobbing of tax collectors by protestors like the Sons of Liberty. Also lead to the creation of the "Stamp Act Congress"

  • Quartering Act

    (Second of three)
    Colonists had to provide the funds, shelter, and supplies for British troops stationed in the colonies. Colonists opposed this act wholeheartedly, even going so far as to deny it in legislature causing the assembly in NY to be disbanded by Parliament.

  • Stamp Act Congress

    Delegates from 9 colonies join in New York to decide what to do about the Grenville Policies. Decided that;
    1. Colonists were entitled to the rights of British men,
    2. Taxation must come from representatives elected by the colonists.
    3. Since colonists aren't represented in Parliament, they shouldn't be taxed. As a result, merchants in the colonies struggle due to the boycott on British goods, and the Stamp Act was repealed in 1766. Declaratory Act gives Parliament full control of colonies.

  • Townshend Acts

    Import taxes set on lead, glass, paint, paper, and tea. A board of customs is instilled to end smuggling. As a result, Samuel Adams and other patriots motivate colonists to boycott British goods and the boycott is so effective that all taxes are repealed except the one on tea.

  • Boston Massacre

    Crowd of Bostonians surround a group of British soldiers until the situation escalates to the point of the British soldiers firing into the crowd and killing 5 colonists including a mulatto named Crispus Attucks. As a result, British soldiers are withdrawn from Boston and the situation is massively dramatized and made into propaganda by Samuel Adams and other patriots. Soldiers were tried but found innocent after being defended by John Adams (who is Samuel Adams cousin)

  • Committees of Correspondence

    Committees in every colony made to warn neighboring colonies about incidents with the British and strengthen the resistance.
    Lead to the meeting of the First Continental Congress.

  • Boston Tea Party

    Motivated by the tyranny of the Tea Act, 150 men dressed as Mohawk Indians dump three ships-worth of British tea into the Boston harbor. This act of retaliation inspires similar acts in other cities and colonies but also calls for the induction of the Coercive Acts (or Intolerable Acts)

  • Coercive/Intolerable Acts

    A number of acts set by Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party and other such rebellious behavior by the colonies.
    1. Boston Port Bill, closed Boston harbor.
    2. Massachusetts Govt. Act, revoked Mass. colonial charter and royally appointed new military governor Thomas Gage
    3. Reinstilled Quartering Act.
    4. Administration of Justice Act, British officials were to be tried in Britain. Lead to the formation of the First Continental Congress.

  • First Continental Congress

    55 delegates from 12 colonies come together to determine what to do about the Coercive Acts and the Quebec Act.
    1. Declaration of Rights and Grievances, created a list of grievances that demanded the repeal of all oppressive legislation and that only colonial legislature could tax the colonies.
    2. Boycott all British goods.
    3. Meet again in Spring of 1775. The first official and legislatured unified revolt against British policies, lead to the 2nd Continental Congress which instilled a militia.

  • "The Shot Heard 'Round the World"

    The first official battle between a colonial militia and British troops, and the official start of the American Revolutionary War. Happened in Lexington and Concord and lead to a war between the colonies and Britain and the creation of our country.

  • Second Continental Congress

    Met in Philadelphia to determine what to do about the war effort or future lack thereof. N.E. colonies generally wanted to declare independence while middle colonies desired to resolve the conflict with the British. Lead to the establishment of a continental army, that George Washington was appointed Commander-in-chief of. Peace efforts were made as well, in the form of the "Olive Branch Petition" that pledged loyalty to the king and asked the king to help them end the war peacefully.