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The Boston Massacre
A street fight between a "patriot" mob throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks at a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed. -
The Boston Tea Party
A raid of three British ships in where colonists disguised as Indians threw hundreds of chests of tea into the harbor as a protest against British taxes on tea. -
Revere & Dawes Ride
Paul Revere was sent by Dr. Joseph Warren & instructed to ride to Lexington, Massachusetts to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were marching to arrest them. -
The Battle of Lexington & Concord
The first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. -
The Declaration of Independence
In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, which proclaims the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. The declaration came 442 days after the first volleys of the American Revolution were fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts and marked an ideological expansion of the conflict that would eventually encourage France’s intervention on behalf of the Patriots. -
Washington wins first major U.S victory at Trenton
The conflict was that the Hessian army was crushed in Washington's raid across the Delaware River and the Americans were invigorated by the easy defeat of the British Hessian forces. -
New Conneticut declares Independence
Having recognized the need for their territory to assert its independence from both Britain and New York and remove themselves from the war they were waging against each other, a convention of future Vermonters assembles in Westminster and declares independence from the crown of Great Britain and the colony of New York on this day in 1777. -
Valley Forge
The military camp in southeastern Pennsylvania, approximately 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–1778 during the American Revolutionary War. -
Franco-American alliances signed.
The 1778 alliance between the Kingdom of France and the United States during the American Revolutionary War. Formalized in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, it was a military pact in which the French provided many supplies for the Americans. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were signed. It was a terrible form of federal government because no decisions were ever made. Also, each state only got one vote, so most of the citizens didn't get a say in any political matters. In addition, the government couldn't collect taxes and each state had to have its own currency. Finally, you had to have a unanimous vote to make an amendment, which meant that no amendments were ever made. -
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
British General Charles Cornwallis formally surrenders 8,000 British soldiers and seamen to a French and American force at Yorktown, Virginia, bringing the American Revolution to a close. -
Treaty of Paris signed
It ended the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States, recognized American independence and established borders for the new nation. -
U.S. Constitution signed
It is signed by 38 of 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia. Supporters of the document waged a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of 13 U.S. states.