-
Navigation Acts
Parliament passed throughout the 1600’s to regulate colonial trade and manufacturing. Not rigorously enforced. So activities like smuggling were common and not considered crimes. -
French and Indian War Ends
British won, so France had to give up French Canada, as well as rich islands in the Caribbean. -
Stamp Act
Put a tax on items such as newspapers and pamphlets. Colonists bitterly resented them as an attack on their rights, although the new taxes were not burdensome. It was repealed on March 18, 1766. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a crowd that was pelting them with stones and snowballs. Colonists called the death of five protestors the Boston Massacre. -
Tea Act
Parliament passed the act, putting a tax on imported tea’s, causing the Boston Tea Party. -
Boston Tea Party
Handful of colonists hurled a cargo of recently arrived British tea into the harbor to protest a tax on tea. -
Coercive/Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws aimed to punish Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest of the Tea Act, a tax measure enacted by Parliament in May 1773. -
First Continental Congress
As tensions rose, representatives from 12 colonies gathered in Philadelphia. They discussed how to respond to Britain’s harsh moves against Massachusetts. It ended on October 26, 1774. -
Second Continental Congress
They set up a Continental Army with George Washington in command. -
Lexington and Concord
At the battles in Massachusetts, colonists clashed with British troops. The opening shots of the the American Revolution. -
Declaration of Independence Adopted
Congress took a momentous step, voting to declare independence form Britain, Young Thomas Jefferson was principal author. American leaders signed, pledging “our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honor” to the cause of the United States of America. -
The Battle of Saratoga
The first turning point in the war, Americans triumphed over British. The battle persuaded France to join Americans against its old rival, Britain. Alliance brought Americans supplies, soldiers, and ships. Ended on October 7, 1777. -
Winter at Valley Forge
While wintering in the camp, soldiers worked together to build huts for shelter, but unsanitary conditions, and shortages of food and blankets contributed to the disease and exhaustion which continually plagued the camp. Ending on June 19, 1778 -
The Battle of Yorktown
Washington, with the help of the French fleet, forced the surrender of the British army. Ended on October 19, 1781. -
U.S. Constitution Written
The Articles of Confederation was nation’s first constitution, proving to be too weak to rule effectively, so the nation’s leaders gathered to write the Constitution. -
U.S. Constitution Adopted
After New Hampshire became the ninth State to ratify, on June 22, 1788, the Confederation Congress established March 9, 1789 as the date to begin operating under the Constitution.