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Albany Plan of Union
In response to French attacks on the frontier, Benjamin Franklin proposed a plan for untiry in the colonies. -
French and Indian War
A stuggle bewter French and Britsh over lands in western Pennsylvania and Ohio. 1763 Great Britan won the war and gained complete control of the eastern and western third of the continent. -
George III becomes king of Great Britain
He had a different idea about how the colonies should be governed. -
Stamp Act
The first direct tax on the colinsists. It required them to pay a tax on legal documents, pamphlets, newspapers, and even dice and playing cards. -
Stamp Act Congress
Nine colonies sent delegates to a meeting in New York called the Stamp Act Congress. It was the first meeting organized by the colonies to protest King George's actions. Congress sent a petition to the kind, arguing that only colonial legislatures could impose direct taxes such as the Stamp Act. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of colonists, dresssed as Mohawk Indians, dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor. -
Coercive Acts
(Intolerable Acts) The act closed the Boston Harbor and withdrew the right of the Massachusetts colony to govern itself. -
Committees of Correspondence
Urged resistance to the British. Committies consisted of colonists who wanted to keep in touch with one another as events unfolded. Samuel Adams created the first committee in Boston. -
First Continental Congress
Delegates from all the colonies except Georgia met in Philadelphia. The delegates debated wath to do about the relationship with Great Britan. They finally imposed an embargo on Britain and agreed not to use British goods. Also proposed a meeting the following year if Britain did not change its polocies. -
Second Continental Congress
Delegates from all thirteen colonies gathered 3 weeks after the battle in Lexington and Concord. They immediately assumed the powers of a central government. John Hancock became president. They then organized an army and a navy and appointed George Washington as commander of the Continental Army. -
Lexington and Concord
British Redcoats clashed with colonial minutemen at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. It marks the first skirmish in the Revolutioary War. -
Resolution of Independence
After a year of fighting Richard Henry Lee of Virginia did declare independance. Lee introduced a resolution in the Continental Congress "that these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be, free and independant states." -
Declaration of Independence
Congress created a committee to write the decloration of independance made up of John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman. The colonies officially broke with Great Britain. Thomas Jefferson's draft was used. July 4th the Congress approved it. It held all 56 delegates names.
