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Britian passes a tax law requiring colonist to purchase stamps to prove payment of tax.
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Britian taxes colonial imports and places soldiers in colonial ports to protect custom officers.
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British troops fire into mobs protesting British actions, killing five colonist
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East India Companyis given special concessions, by the British and takes over tea manufacturing, causing colonial merchants to go out of business.
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Colonist in Boston dump 18,000 plds of tea into Boston Harbor in response to the Tea Act.
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King George III closes Boston Harbor and stations troops in Boston.
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Colonist agree to step up military preperations. Minutemen, civilian soldiers, begin to stockpile weapons.
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A declaration of colonial rights is drafted.
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British General Gage orders troops to march to Concord and Lexington and sieze colonial weapons.
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George Washington, a veteran of the French and Indian War, is appointed commander of the colonial troops.
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The British overcome colonial Minutemen after three trys at Breed's Hill, only after the Minutemen ran out of ammunition.
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The Second Continental Congress sent the king a petition urging a return to "the former harmony" between Britian and the colonies. King George rejects the petition.
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On July 2 1776 the delegates to the Continential Congress voted unanimouslly that the American colonies would be independent of Britian.