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The Boston Massacre
Simmering tensions between the British occupiers and Boston residents boiled over one late afternoon, when a disagreement between an apprentice wigmaker and a British soldier led to a crowd of 200 colonists surrounding seven British troops. When the Americans began taunting the British and throwing things at them, the soldiers apparently lost their cool and began firing into the crowd. -
The Gaspee Affair
The Sons of Liberty were very active throughout the colonies, and the British officers charged with enforcing the customs laws and the Stamp Act were becoming aggressive. A group of men led by Abraham Whipple and John Brown attacked, boarded, and torched the ship. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and in fact imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. -
The Boston Tea Party
The British eventually withdrew their forces from Boston and repealed much of the onerous Townshend legislation. But they left in place the tax on tea, and in 1773 enacted a new law, the Tea Act, to prop up the financially struggling British East India Company. The act gave the company extended favorable treatment under tax regulations, so that it could sell tea at a price that undercut the American merchants who imported from Dutch traders. -
The Coercive Acts
In response to the Boston Tea Party, the British government decided that it had to tame the rebellious colonists in Massachusetts. In the spring 1774, Parliament passed a series of laws, the Coercive Acts, which closed Boston Harbor until restitution was paid for the destroyed tea, replaced the colony's elected council with one appointed by the British military governor General Thomas Gage, and forbade town meetings without approval. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the Redcoat column. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The British decided to take two hills, Bunker Hill and Breed's Hill, in order to gain a tactical advantage. The American forces heard about it and went to defend the hills. -
Battle of Long Island
The British Army successfully moved against the American Continental Army led by George Washington. The battles was part of a British campaign to seize control of New York and thereby isolate New England from the rest of the colonies. Washington's defeat could have led to the surrender of his entire force, but his ingenuity instead allowed him to escape and continue the fight. -
Battle of Trenton
General George Washington's army crossed the icy Delaware and, over the course of the next 10 days, won two crucial battles of the American Revolution. In the Battle of Trenton, Washington defeated a formidable garrison of Hessian mercenaries before withdrawing. -
Battle of Brandywine
General George Washington was determined to prevent the British from capturing the American seat of government, Philadelphia. Taking up positions along Brandywine Creek, Washington mistakenly believed that his army blocked all fords across the Brandywine. -
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Battles of Saratoga
This happened the second year of the American Revolution. It included two crucial battles, fought eighteen days apart, and was a decisive victory for the Continental Army and and a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary War. -
Battle of Germantown
British forces in Pennsylvania defeated the American Continental Army under General George Washington. After capturing Philadelphia in September 1777, British General William Howe camped a large contingent of his troops at nearby Germantown. Washington launched a surprise attack on the poorly defended British camp, but his army failed to pull off his complex battle plan. -
Battles of Monmouth
The British, Sir Henry Clinton, the new British commander, retreated from Philadelphia to new York. As Sir Henry Clinton led the British army across the Jerseys, George Washington decided to attack. -
Battle of Cowpens
American troops under Brigadier General Daniel Morgan routed British forces under Lieutenant Colonel Banastre Tarleton. The Americans inflicted heavy casualties on the British, and the battle was a turning point in the war's Southern campaign. -
Battle of Guilford Court House
A battlefield loss but strategic victory for the Americans in North Carolina over the British, who soon afterward were obligated to abandon control of the Carolinas. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris ratifies the independence of the 13 North American states. Canada remains a British province, beginning its separate development as a U.S. neighbor. -
The British evacuates New York City
The British evacuated their New York Loyalists to remaining British territories, mainly in Canada. -
Washington resigns as commander in Annapolis, MD
General George Washington resigns as commander in chief of the Continental Army and retires to his home at Mount Vernon, Virginia. -
Treaty of Fort Stanwix
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix imposes a peace on those members of the Iroquois Confederacy that sided with the British in the Revolution. -
U.S. Constitution
The supreme law of the United States of America. Originally comprising seven articles, delineates the national frame of government.
