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1215
The Magna Carta (1215)
The Magna Carta was a document issued to King John of England that described the principle that everybody, including the king, was subject to the law. The document still has great influence in today’s culture. -
The French and Indian War (1754-1763)
The French and Indian War pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, each side supported by military units from the parent country and by American Indian allies. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. -
Sugar Act (1764)
The Sugar Act, also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act, was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on 5 April 1764. The Sugar Act, was the first tax on the American colonies imposed by the British Parliament. Its purpose was to raise revenue through the colonial customs service and to give customs agents more power and latitude with respect to executing seizures and enforcing customs law. -
Quartering Act (May 1765)
Quartering Act is a name given to two or more Acts of British Parliament requiring local governments of the American colonies to provide the British soldiers with housing and food. On March 24, 1765, the British Parliament passed the Quartering Act, one of a series of measures primarily aimed at raising revenue from the British colonies in America. -
Stamp Act (March 1766)
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. The Stamp Act of 1765 was a tax to help the British pay for the French and Indian War. The British felt they were well justified in charging this tax because the colonies were receiving the benefit of the British troops and needed to help pay for the expense. The colonists didn't feel the same. -
Townshend Act (June 1767)
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British government on the American colonies in 1767. They placed new taxes and took away some freedoms from the colonists including the following: New taxes on imports of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea. The Townshend Acts were important because they were another example of new taxes levied by the British government in an attempt to raise money to help offset the cost of running the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre (March 1770)
The event in Boston helped to unite the colonies against Britain. What started as a minor fight became a turning point in the beginnings of the American Revolution. Boston Massacre Engraving by Paul Revere. Paul Revere created his most famous engraving titled the “Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in Kings Street in Boston” just 3 weeks after the Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. -
Tea Act (May 1773)
Tea Act 1773 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the financially struggling company survive. The policy ignited a “powder keg” of opposition and resentment among American colonists and was the catalyst of the Boston Tea Party. -
The Boston Tea Party (December 1773)
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. This event was important because it fueled the tension that had already begun between Britain and America. -
Intolerable Acts (March 1774)
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. Parliament closed the ports and reduced the power of self-government in the Massachusetts colony. -
Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech (March 1775)
"Give me liberty, or give me death!" is a quotation attributed to Patrick Henry from a speech he made to the Second Virginia Convention on March 23, 1775, at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. Henry was convinced that war was around the corner, and he arrived at the Virginia Convention determined to persuade his fellow delegates to adopt a defensive stance against Great Britain. -
Battle of Bunker Hill (June 1775)
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought on June 17, 1775, during the Siege of Boston in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after Bunker Hill in Charlestown, Massachusetts, which was peripherally involved in the battle. Despite their loss, the inexperienced colonial forces inflicted significant casualties against the enemy, and the battle provided them with an important confidence boost. -
Signing of the Declaration of Independence (July 1776)
The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (now known as Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on July 4, 1776. It explained why we should be free. It listed the grievances (complaints) we had with King George III and England’s Parliament.
It declared our independence! -
Washington crosses the Delaware (December 1776)
George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River, which occurred on the night of December 25–26, 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, was the first move in a surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey, on the morning of December 26. America was planning a surprise attack on the British led by George Washington -
The Battle of Yorktown (October 1781)
In the fall of 1781, a combined American force of Colonial and French troops laid siege to the British Army at Yorktown, Virginia. Led by George Washington and French General Comte de Rochambeau, they began their final attack on October 14th, capturing two British defenses and leading to the surrender, just days later, of British General Lord Cornwallis and nearly 9,000 troops. This led the British to surrender, thereby ending the American Revolution. -
The US Constitution is Ratified (December 1787)
The Constitution was written in the summer of 1787 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, by delegates from 12 states, in order to replace the Articles of Confederation with a new form of government. It created a federal system with a national government composed of 3 separated powers, and included both reserved and concurrent powers of states.
