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American History timeline

  • French indian war

    French indian war
    1754–1763. The war pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as by Native American allies.
  • treaty of paris 1763

    treaty of paris 1763
    was signed on 10 February 1763 by the kingdoms of Great Britain, France and Spain, with Portugal in agreement, after Great Britain's victory over France and Spain during the Seven Years' War.
  • proclomation of 1763

    proclomation 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.
  • Sugar Act

    Sugar Act
    imposed a tax of six pence per gallon of molasses, had never been effectively collected due to colonial evasion. By reducing the rate by half and increasing measures to enforce the tax, the British hoped that the tax would actually be collected These incidents increased the colonists' concerns about the intent of the British Parliament and helped the growing movement that became the American Revolution.
  • Stamp Act

    Stamp Act
    was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a direct tax on the colonies of British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp.
  • The quartering act

    The quartering act
    Issued by England. Made it so Colonists had to allow British soldiers to be quartered (live/stay) in colonists homes
  • Declaratory Act

    Declaratory Act
    was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the Sugar Act. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act because boycotts were hurting British trade and used the declaration to justify the repeal and save face. The declaration stated that the Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to pass laws that were binding on the American colonies.
  • Townshend Acts

    Townshend Acts
    "Townshend Acts", but five acts are often mentioned: the Revenue Act of 1767, the Indemnity Act (1767), the Commissioners of Customs Act (1767), the Ed Court Act (1768), and the New York Restraining Act (1767). The purpose of the Townshend Acts was to raise revenue in the colonies to pay the salaries of governors and judges so that they would remain loyal to Great Britain, to create a more effective means of enforcing compliance with trade regulations,
  • Boston Massacre

    Boston Massacre
    was an incident on March 5, 1770, in which British Army soldiers shot and killed people while under intense attack by a mob. The incident was heavily propagandized by leading Patriots, such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams, to fuel animosity toward the British authorities
  • Tea act

    Tea act
    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 struggling company survive.
  • boston tea party

    boston tea party
    was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on December 16, 1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Native Americans, in defiance of the Tea Act of May 10, 1773, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company. They boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into Boston Harbor. The British government responded harshly and the episode escalated into the American Revolution.
  • 1st contenential congress

    1st contenential congress
    met briefly in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from September 5 to October 26, 1774. It consisted of fifty-six delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies that were to become the United States of America.
  • Intolerable Acts

    Intolerable Acts
    were the American Patriots' term for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance of throwing a large tea shipment into Boston Harbor in reaction to being taxed by the British. In Great Britain, these laws were referred to as the Coercive Acts.
  • battle of lexington and concord

    battle of lexington and concord
    marking the beginning of the American Revolution. Acting on orders from London to suppress the rebellious colonists
  • 2nd Continental Congress

    2nd Continental Congress
    The Second Continental Congress convened on May 10, 1775, at Philadelphia's State House, passing the resolution for independence the following year on July 2, 1776, and publicly asserting the decision two days later with the Declaration of Independence. Thomas Jefferson of Virginia drafted the declaration, and John Adams was a leader in the debates in favor of its adoption. John Hancock of Massachusetts was the president during those debates.
  • Battle of bunker hill

    Battle of bunker hill
    While the battle was a victory for the British, since they were able to capture Breed’s Hill, the losses suffered dealt a devastating blow to the redcoats. Of the more than 2300 men who advanced at Major General Howe’s order, 226 were killed and another 928 were wounded. The American forces took heavy losses as well, with 139 killed and 278 wounded. The Battle of Bunker Hill lasted a mere three hours, but it was among the deadliest in the American Revolution
  • olive branch petition

    olive branch petition
    was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5, 1775 in a final attempt to avoid a full-on war between Great Britain and the Thirteen Colonies, which the Congress represented. Congress had already authorized the invasion of Canada over a week previously, but the petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and beseeched the king to prevent further conflict.
  • Common sense

    Common sense
    is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.
  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration of Independence
    the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. Instead they formed a new nation—the United States of America.
  • the battles of saratoga

    the battles of saratoga
    the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The Battle was the the entering point of France to enter the war against Britain, re-invigorating Washington’s Continental Army and providing much needed supplies and support.
  • Battle of yorktown

    Battle of yorktown
    October 19. At noon the French and American armies lined up to await the British surrender. Two hours later the British marched out with flags furled and their bands playing "The World Turned Upside Down."
  • Treaty of Paris, 1783

    Treaty of Paris, 1783
    signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War.