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The Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 taxed colonists on virtually every piece of printed paper they used, from playing cards and business licenses to newspapers and legal documents. -
The Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts of 1767 went a step further, taxing essentials such as paint, paper, glass, lead and tea. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation on March 5, 1770, in which British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston. The event was heavily publicized by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. -
Battle Of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown, (September 28–October 19, 1781), joint Franco-American land and sea campaign that entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced its surrender. The siege virtually ended military operations in the American Revolution. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
The Intolerable Act
The Intolerable Acts (passed/Royal assent March 31–June 22, 1774) were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. -
Battles Of Lexington & Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord signaled the start of the American Revolutionary war on April 19, 1775. The British Army set out from Boston to capture rebel leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington as well as to destroy the Americans store of weapons and ammunition in Concord -
First Continental Congress Meets
On September 5, 1774, the first Continental Congress in the United States met in Philadelphia to consider its reaction to the British government's restraints on trade and representative government after the Boston Tea Party. -
British Attacks On Coastal Towns
British raids on American coastal towns in late 1775 also contributed to a general deterioration of relations between Great Britain and her American colonies. On October 18, 1775, the British Navy bombarded and burned the town of Falmouth, Massachusetts (known today as Portland, Maine). -
Thomas Paines 'Common Sense' Published
Writing in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution and became an immediate sensation. -
Declaration Of Independents 'Adopted'
The Declaration of Independence wasn't signed on July 4, 1776. While the Declaration of Independence was adopted and finalized on July 4, 1776, the majority of the other signers actually signed it on August 2, 1776. -
Article Of Confederation Created
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was the first written constitution of the United States. Written in 1777 and stemming from wartime urgency, its progress was slowed by fears of central authority and extensive land claims by states. It was not ratified until March 1, 1781. -
Battle Of Yorktown
Siege of Yorktown, (September 28–October 19, 1781), joint Franco-American land and sea campaign that entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced its surrender. The siege virtually ended military operations in the American Revolution. -
Treaty Of Paris Signed
The Treaty of Paris was the official peace treaty between the United States and Britain that ended the American Revolutionary War. It was signed on September 3, 1783. The Congress of the Confederation ratified the treaty on January 14, 1784. King George III ratified the treaty on April 9, 1784.
