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Navigation Acts
These acts along with subsequent trade laws prevented colonists from selling their most valuable products to any country except Britain. -
French and Indian War
War erupted on the North American continent between the English and the French. Britain emerged victorious in 1763. -
Stamp Act
According to this law, colonists had to pay a tax to have an official stamp put on wills, deeds, newspapers, and other printed material. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists dumped a large load of British tea into the Boston Harbor to protest import tax. -
First Continental Congress
Representatives from every colony except Georgia gathered in Philadelphia to form the First Continental Congress. This group protested the treatment of Boston. -
Battle of Lexington
On this date British soldiers and American militiamen shot gunfire in Lexington, Massachusetts which soon spread to nearby Concord. -
Second Continental Congress and Declaration of Independence
The second continental congress voted to raise an army and organize for battle under the command of a Virginian named George Washington. The second Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson. -
French join the Americans
Louis XVI of France had little sympathy for the ideals of the American Revolution, but he was eager to weaken France's rival, Britain. -
Articles of Confederation
These articles established the US as a republic, a government in which citizens rule through elected representatives. -
Constitutional Convention
Congress approved a Constitutional Convention to revise the Articles of Confederation.
