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Boston Tea Party
In 1770, taxes on imports to the American Colonies had been repealed on all goods except tea. In 1773, colonists disguised as Native Americans dumped chests of tea from East India Company vessels into Boston harbour in protest against this remaining levy. Political tensions between the American colonists and the British government escalated as a result. -
Declaration of Independence is signed
Announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. A committee was assembled to draft the formal declaration, to be ready when congress voted on independence.The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. -
First Continental Congress meets
The First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia's Carpenters Hall on September 5, 1774.Twelve of the 13 colonies sent delegates. Georgia decided against roiling the waters.The Congress, which continued in session until late October, did not advocate independence. -
Declaration of Rights and grievances is passed
the British Parliament passed a series of laws they referred to as the Coercive Acts. The Americans called them the Intolerable Acts. The Acts were primarily designed to punish the colony of Massachusetts for defying British policies; specifically, for the Boston Tea Party. Outrage in the Americas over the Intolerable Acts led to the calling of the First Continental Congress in September, 1774. During the First Congress, which included representatives from all of the colonies except Georgia, the -
Revolutionary War begins
The first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at the
town of Lexington, which is located about 15 miles west of Boston.Later that day another fight took place at Concord, which is located about five miles west of Lexington. -
2nd Continental Congress meets
the members of the Second Continental Congress met at the State House in Philadelphia. There were several new delegates including: John Hancock from Massachusetts, Thomas Jefferson of Virginia, and Benjamin Franklin from Pennsylvania.meeting started with the battle of Lexington and Concord fresh in their memories. -
Articles of Confederation is signed
an agreement among the 13 founding states that legally established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution.Its drafting by the Continental Congress began in mid 1776 and an approved version was sent to the states for ratification in late 1777. -
Revolutionary War ends
the Continental Congress ratified preliminary articles of peace, ending the seven-year-long Revolutionary War with Great Britain.Formal peace talks had begun in Paris in April 1782. The French-key U.S. allies since 1778-put pressure on the Americans to negotiate a package deal that would also end France’s hostilities with Great Britain. Spain and the Netherlands, who were also at war with the British, similarly sought to be part of a grand bargain.Our treaty guaranteed U.S. independence. -
Constitutional Convention Opens
to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. Although the Convention was intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents, chief among them James Madison and Alexander Hamilton, was to create a new government rather than fix the existing one.The delegates elected George Washington to preside over the convention. -
Final draft of the Constitution is signed
Gouverneur Morris signed the final draft of the constitution. During Constitutional Convention states could not decide on many issues. some states were big, some small, some had large population, some small, some had slavery and some didn't. They had to compromise on those issues by making 3 major compromises:Great Compromise, sectional compromise and missourri compromise.
