-
Period: to
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War, the American phase of a worldwide nine years’ war fought between France and Great Britain, was ended by the Treaty of Paris. As a result of the war, France ceded all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi River to Britain. The costs of the war contributed to the British government’s decision to impose new taxes on its American colonies. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was the first British parliamentary effort to raise revenue through taxation in order to meet the costs of defending the enlarged British Empire. To succeed this, they imposed direct taxation on a wide variety of colonial transactions, including legal writs, newspaper advertisements, and ships’ bills of lading. However, the colonists got enraged and they nullified this attempt by refusing to use the stamp, as well as by stamp burning and intimidation of colonial stamp distributors. -
Period: to
Townshend Acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of four acts passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to exert authority over the colonies through strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties. The acts were resisted everywhere and in response, in October 1768, Parliament sent two regiments of the British army to Boston. -
Boston Massacre
In Boston, a small British army detachment killed five people, an incident soon known as the Boston Massacre. The soldiers were charged with murder and were given a civilian trial, in which John Adams conducted a successful defense. -
Boston Tea Party
Protesting both a tax on tea and the monopoly of the East India Company, a party of Bostonians disguised as Mohawk people dumped some £10,000 worth of tea into the harbor, an event popularly known as the Boston Tea Party. -
Period: to
Intolerable Acts
In retaliation for colonial resistance to British rule during the winter of 1773–74, the British Parliament enacted four measures that became known as the Intolerable (or Coercive) Acts: the Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, and Quartering Act. The oppressive acts became the justification for convening the First Continental Congress later in 1774. -
First Continental Congress convenes
Called by the Committees of Correspondence in response to the Intolerable Acts, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. Fifty-six delegates represented all the colonies except Georgia. -
Patrick Henry’s “Give me liberty or give me death” speech
Virginian Patrick Henry defended resolutions for equipping the Virginia militia, since he was convinced that war with Great Britain was inevitable. In a fiery speech he told the famous words; “I don't know what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!” -
Period: to
Paul Revere’s Ride and the Battles of Lexington and Concord
On the night of April 18, 1775, Paul Revere rode to Lexington, Massachusetts, to warn that the British were marching from Boston to seize the colonial armory at Concord and they met at Lexington Green with 700 men. At Concord, the British were met by hundreds of soldiers. Outnumbered and running low on ammunition, the British column was forced to retire to Boston. Total losses in the Battles of Lexington and Concord numbered 273 British and more than 90 Americans. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Breed’s Hill in Charlestown was the main location of the misleadingly named Battle of Bunker Hill, which was part of the American siege of British-held Boston. The British eventually cleared the hill of the entrenched Americans, but at the cost of more than 40 percent of their force. -
Period: to
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense published
In late 1775 the colonial conflict with the British still looked like a civil war. However, the publication of Thomas Paine’s pamphlet Common Sense, which sold more than 100,000 copies within a few months, paved the way for the Declaration of Independence. -
Declaration of Independence adopted
After the Congress recommended that colonies form their own governments, the Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and revised in committee. On July 2 the Congress voted for independence and on July 4 it adopted the Declaration of Independence. -
Execution of Nathan Hale
On September 21, 1776, American Capt, Nathan Hale, was captured by the British, because he tried to capture information from the British lines and he was hanged the next day. Before his death, Hale is thought to have said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,”. -
Period: to
Washington crosses the Delaware
Having been forced to abandon New York City, George Washington and the Continental Army struck back on Christmas night, surprising the Hessian garrison at Trenton at dawn, and taking some 900 prisoners. The American triumph at Trenton and in the Battle of Princeton (January 3, 1777) kept the struggle for independence alive. -
Period: to
Campaign at Valley Forge
Washington and 11,000 regulars made a campaign at Valley Forge, which was near to British-occupied Philadelphia at winter 1777. Although they faced serious problems like bitter cold and diseases the reorganized Continental Army emerged the following June. -
Franco-American alliance
The French had secretly furnished financial and material aid to the Americans since 1776, but the Franco-American alliance was formalized in February 1778. France formally entered to fight against Britain in June 1778. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, a plan of government organization, were written in 1776–77 and fully ratified by the states in March 1, 1781. -
Period: to
The Siege of Yorktown
Lord Cornwallis entered Virginia to join other British forces there, setting up a base at Yorktown. Washington’s army and a force under the French Count de Rochambeau placed Yorktown under siege, and Cornwallis surrendered his army of more than 7,000 men on October 19, 1781. -
The Treaty of Paris
After the British defeat at Yorktown, the land battles in America largely died out the fighting continued at sea. The military verdict in North America was reflected in the Anglo-American peace treaty of 1782, which was included in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. By its terms, Britain recognized the independence of the United States with generous boundaries, including the Mississippi River on the west.
