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The Battle of Lexington and Concord
The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. No one knows who fired first, the winner was the Patriots, and they considered it an encouraging start to the war. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence's committee included Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman, Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson. They chose Thomas Jefferson to write the Declaration because he was a good writer, and he came from Virginia. That was good because they had to have Virginia for the Delaration to succeed. -
Battle of Saratoga
The two battles of Saratoga were the turning point for the Revolutionary war. On September 19, 1777 the Brittish won, but it had a huge toll on them. The toll was their troops were weakened. They attacked again but this time they lost and were forced to retreat. The brittish surrendered ten days later and the victory convinced the French to become allys. -
Articles of Confederation Ratified
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution. Was made on November 15, 177 and finally ratified on March 1, 1781. The Articles of Confederation created a weak central government and it left most of the power with the state governments. So therefor iit was replaced on March 4, 1789. -
Start of Battle of Yorktown
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Battle of Yorktown
Cornwallis (Brittish) marched his army to seize Yorktown and Gloucester, towns on each side of the York River. Because they now had the French, General Washington was able to march south from New York with the joint American and French army to attack Cornwallis. The Americans and French marched out of Williamsburg and got there before Yorktown on 28th September 1781, forming a semi-circle around the entrenchments and putting the British under siege. After the seige the Brittish surrendered. -
The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris ended the war completely, eventhough Cornwallis' surrender at Yorktown in the Fall of 1781 marked the end of the Revolutionary War, minor battles between the British and the colonists continued for another two years. The Treaty of Paris also recognized American independence and established borders for their new nation. -
Land Ordinance of 1785
Law passed by Congress that allowed for sales of land in the Northwest Territory and set up standards for land sale that became a requrirement. -
Start of Shay's Rebellion
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Shay's Rebellion
The date is unknown. Shay's Rebellion was a series of acts by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. There were farms all over America but the worst was Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. The name is from their leader Daniel Shays, a former captain in the Continental army. -
Start of Constitutional Convention
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Constitutional Convention opens
The Americans realized that they needed to make some changes to the Articles of Confederation because they gave them no power to tax, no power to regulate trade. Without the power, Congress had to depend on financial contributions from the states, and they often time turned down requests. Congress had neither the money to pay soldiers for their service in the Revolutionary War or to repay foreign loans granted to support the war effort. In 1786, the United States was bankrupt. -
Great Compromise
This was mainly an agreement which was reached between large and small states in the course of the Constitutional Convention in July 1787. The large states wanted a vote based on population and the smaller states wanted it so there would be one vote per state. The Great Compromise made it so there was two, one based off population and one had one representative from each state. -
Three-Fifths Compromise
The 3/5 Compromise made it so one slave = 3/5 of a person. This happened because the states with more slaves wanted their slaves to count in the votes, but not in taxes. States with less/no slaves wanted it so the slaves weren't counted in the votes so the larger states wouldn't have an advantage there, and they wanted them to be counted in tax so they didn't have to pay as much. So what they did was make them count in each as a fraction of a person; 35th's. -
“Observations on the New Constitution, and on the Federal and State Conventions” is published
Only the year is known, November 21 isnt the exact date; but 1788 is. , Mercy Otis Warren wrote it, she said that the creaters of the Constitution, in the writing of the Constitution, sabotaged the recently won liberties of the American citizens. Which makes her an antifederalist. -
Constitution is ratified by Rhode Island
Rhode Island became the 13th state to enter the Union after ratifying the Constitution. Rhode Island was the only state not to send a representative to the Constitutional Convention. -
Agreed upon date for banning slave trade
(The date is unknown, only the year.) Congress passes a law that bannes slave trade, but that doesn't mean keeping slaves is illegal.
