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British Parliament finally passed the Stamp Act or Duties in American Colonies Act. It required colonists to pay taxes on every page of printed paper they used. The tax also included fees for playing cards, dice, and newspapers. -
the British Parliament passed a series of laws collectively known as the Intolerable Acts, with the intent to suppress unrest in colonial Boston by closing the port and placing it under martial law. -
By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. -
This year marked the beginning of government under the Articles of Confederation as well as the surrender of British armed forces in the American Revolution. -
A treaty between the United States and Great Britain is signed in Paris, formally ending the American Revolutionary War. -
The Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia met between May and September of 1787 to address the problems of the weak central government that existed under the Articles of Confederation. -
The War of 1812 pitted the young United States in a war against Great Britain, from whom the American colonies had won their independence in 1783. -
President John F. Kennedy was shot as he rode in a motorcade through the streets of Dallas, Texas; he died shortly thereafter.