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Declaration of Rights and Grievances
The Declaration of Rights and Grievances was a document created and passed October 19, 1765 by the Stamp Act Congress, declaring that taxes imposed on British colonists without their formal consent were unconstitutional. This was especially directed at the Stamp Act, which required that documents, newspapers, and playing cards to be printed on special stamped and taxed paper. -
Boston Tea Party
The European countries were over taxing the colonist on many of the goods they had shipping. Hundreds colonist soon revolted against this action by throwing a shipment of tea into the harbor. -
2nd Continental Congress meets
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after the American Revolutionary War had begun. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from twelve British North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. -
Revolutionary war begins
The war began at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts on April 19, 1775.Revolutionary War is the war in which 13 British colonies in North America won their freedom and became the United States of America. -
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
The handwritten copy of the Declaration of Independence that was signed by Congress is dated July 4, 1776. The signatures of fifty-six delegates are affixed. Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, and John Adams all wrote that the Declaration had been signed by Congress on July 4. -
Articles of Confederations is signed
The Articles of Confederation is what the colonies government was founded upon. As a sure complete sign that they were their own indepedence from the King. -
Revolutionary war ends
It effectively ended in October, 1781 in Yorktown after George Washington forced General Cornwallis to surrender. But the Revolutionary War didn't officially end until the Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783. -
Constitutional Congress opens
The Constitutional Convention or the Grand Convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain. -
Final draft of the Constitution is signed
On September 17, 1787, members of the Constitutional Convention signed the final draft of the Constitution. Two days earlier, when a final vote was called, Edmund Randolph called for another convention to carefully review the Constitution as it stood. This motion, supported by George Mason and Elbridge Gerry, was voted down and the Constitution was adopted.
