Timeline: American Revolution

  • French and Indian War

    French and Indian War
    War between Great Britain and France for control of North America. The Native Americans aided the French because of their friendly relationship.
  • Proclamation of 1763

    Proclamation of 1763
    The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains.
  • Treaty of Paris 1763

    Treaty of Paris 1763
    The French and Indian War ended on 1763, where Great Britain claimed Canada and virtually all of North America east of the Mississippi River. Britain also took Florida from Spain.
  • Sugar Act & Colonists Response

    Sugar Act & Colonists Response
    Great Britain borrowed so much money during the war that it nearly doubled its national debt so Parliament put the Sugar Act into action that halved the duty on foreign-made molasses. Colonial merchants complained about the tax, however, it had little effect on colonists besides merchants and traders.
  • Stamp Act & colonists response

    Stamp Act & colonists response
    The Stamp Act imposed a tax on documents and printed items such as wills, newspapers, and playing cards.The Sons of Liberty was created by the colonists to boycott all printed items.
  • Declaratory Act

    Declaratory Act
    Asserted Parliament's full right to "blind the colonies and people of America in all cases whatsoever."
  • Writ of Assistance

    Writ of Assistance
    A writs of assistance is a written order issued by a court instructing a law enforcement official, such as a sheriff or a tax collector, to perform a certain task.
  • Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams

    Sons of Liberty is formed & Samuel Adams
    Group of Boston shopkeepers, artisans, and laborers organized into a secret resistance group to protest the law. Samuel Adams was one of the founders of the organization.
  • John Locke’s Social Contract

    John Locke’s Social Contract
    An agreement in which the people consent to choose
    and obey a government so long as it safeguards their natural rights.
  • Boston Massacre

    Boston Massacre
    a mob gathered in front of the Boston Customs House and taunted British soldiers that were on guard there. Eventually, shots were fired and five colonists were killed or mortally wounded.
  • Tea Act

    cut the colonial merchants out of the tea trade and gave the British East India Company to sell the tea to the colonists for less.
  • The Boston Tea Party

    The Boston Tea Party
    large group of Boston rebels dressed themselves up as Native American Indians and snuck up on the British ships docked there and dumped 18,000 lbs. of tea into the Boston harbor.
  • Intolerable Acts

    Intolerable Acts
    shut down the Boston Harbor, authorized British commanders to house soldiers in vacant private homes and other buildings, and General Thomas Gage was appointed the new governor of Massachusetts.
  • Battle of Lexington

    Battle of Lexington
    This was the first battle of the Revolutionary War, and it only lasted 15 minutes. Eight minutemen were killed in the battle and ten more were wounded, but only one British soldier was injured.
  • Publication of Common Sense

    Publication of Common Sense
    Book by Thomas Paine attacking King George and the monarchy. He declared that America's independence would make trading easier and create a better society over the colonies.
  • Battle of Concord

    Battle of Concord
    The british marched to Concord to plan an attack, but were met by 3000-4000 minutemen who fired on the marching troops from behind stone walls.
  • Second Continental Congress

    Second Continental Congress
    The group of colonial leaders met in Philadelphia to to debate about the war. They also elected George Washinton as the commander of the Continental Army
  • Continental Army

    Continental Army
    What the colonial militia, Led by George Washington, was called after the second Continental Congress.
  • Battle of Bunker Hill

     Battle of Bunker Hill
    2,400 British soldiers were mowed down after the colonists held fire until the very last minute. The colonists lost 450 men while the British had suffered over 1,000 casualties.
  • Olive Branch Petition

    Olive Branch Petition
    Congress sent the king the "Olive Branch Petition",urging a return to “the former harmony” between Britain and the colonies.
  • Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania

    Redcoats push Washington’s army across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania
    The Continental Army failed at the attempt to defend New York from the British and were pushed back into Philadelphia but General Washington planned for a surprise attack on Christmas Night on the Hessians in Trenton, New Jersey
  • Townshend Acts & colonists response and why they were repealed

    Townshend Acts & colonists response and why they were repealed
    taxed goods that were imported into the colony from Britain and imposed a tax on tea. The colonists boycotted all British goods. It was repealed because it cost more to enforce than it brought in.
  • Washington’s Christmas night surprise attack

    Washington’s Christmas night surprise attack
    On Christmas night, 1776 Washington risked everything and crossed the frozen Deleware River with 2,400 men in small rowboats to Trenton, New Jersey to defeat a garrison of Hessians in a surprise attack.
  • Loyalists and Patriots

    Loyalists and Patriots
    Loyalist fought for Britain and believed that the colonies should still be under British control, while the patriots wanted freedom from England.
  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration of Independence
    The Declaration of Independence was based on Locke’s ideas of natural rights, and it declared that the rights of “Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness” to be unalienable. The document was written by Thomas Jefferson.
  • Valley Forge

    Valley Forge
    General Washington and his continental army faced a harsh winter at their winter cam Valley Forge ,Pennsylvania where they ran desperately low on food and supplies. More than 2,000 soldiers died.
  • Saratoga

    Saratoga
    British General Burgoyne planned to lead his army down from Canada to New York. As his army was walking through the wilderness, militiamen surrounded his army and General Burgoyne surrendered on October 17, 1777.
  • French-American Alliance

    French-American Alliance
    After the Saratoga victory, the French started to believe that the Americans could win the war and as a result, the French signed an alliance with the Americans and joined them in their fight for independence.
  • Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette

    Friedrich von Steuben and Marquis de Lafayette
    Friedrich von Steuben was a Prussian captain and drill sergeant. Marquis de Lafayette asked France for reinforcements in 1779.
  • British victories in the South

    British victories in the South
    After the British defeat at Saratoga, the British decided to shift their operations to the South. The British easily captured the South's many capitals.
  • British surrender at Yorktown

    British surrender at Yorktown
    In the late September of 1781 17,000 French and American troops surrounded the British on the Yorktown peninsula and British General Cornwallis eventually surrendered.
  • Treaty of Paris

    Treaty of Paris
    The American negotiators: John Adams, John Jay, and Benjamin Franklin signed the Treaty of Paris to confirmed the U.S.as an independent new nation.