-
The Boston Massacre
It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
The Boston Tea Party
This famed act of American colonial defiance served as a protest against taxation. Seeking to boost the troubled East India Company, British Parliament adjusted import duties with the passage of the Tea Act in 1773. -
Passage of the Intolerable Acts
In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British Parliament passed a series of laws that came to be known as Intolerable Acts or Coercive Acts. These closed the Boston harbor for all shipping until the city would pay for the destroyed tea carg -
Convocation of the First Continental Congress
Delegates from 12 colonies met at the First Continental Congress to discuss how to react to the Intolerable Acts. They decided to boycott British goods and ban the export of American goods to Britain if the Intolerable Acts would not be repealed. -
The Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord signaled the start of the American Revolutionary war on April 19, 1775. -
The Seige of Fort Ticonderoga
The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga was the first American victory of the Revolutionary War, and would give the Continental Army much-needed artillery to be used in future battles. -
The Battle of Bunker Hill
On June 17, some 2,200 British forces under the command of Major General William Howe (and Brigadier General Robert Pigot landed on the Charlestown Peninsula then marched to Breed's Hill. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence–written largely by Jefferson–in Philadelphia on July 4, a date now celebrated as the birth of American independence -
The Battle of Trenton
American troops surprised a Hessian picket guard, stationed in houses along the Pennington road about a half mile outside Trenton. -
The Battle of Princeton
The Battle of Princeton was a small battle in which General George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton, New Jersey. -
The Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. -
The Seige of Charleston
The Battle of Charleston was one of the major battles which took place toward the end of the American Revolutionary War, after the British began to shift their strategic focus to the American Southern Colonies -
Surrender of Yorktown
After successful land and sea campaign of joint American and French armies in Virginia in 1781, the British found themselves trapped on the Yorktown peninsula. -
The Culper Spy Ring
The Culper Ring was a spy ring organized by American Major (later Colonel) Benjamin Tallmadge under orders from General George Washington in the summer of 1778 during British occupation of New York City at the height of the American Revolutionary War. -
The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris of 1783, negotiated between the United States and Great Britain, ended the revolutionary war and recognized American independence.