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Stamp act
The Stamp Act was imposed to provide increased revenues to meet the costs of defending the enlarged British Empire. At the beginning British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation on a wide variety of colonial transactions, But colonist got mad (enraged) and burned stamps to intimidate stamp distributors. -
Boston massacre
In (march 5 1770) a small British army detachment that was threatened by mob harassment opened fire and killed five people, an incident soon known as the Boston Massacre. The soldiers involved in the massacre were charged with murder and given citizen trial in which case John Adams conducted a successful defense. -
Boston tea party
On (December 16,1773) people protested tax and tea. The Bostonians decided to disguised themselves as the Mohawk people and over boarded (dumped into water) over £10,000 worth of tea into the harbor (into the water). -
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Intolerable acts
the British Parliament enacted four measures that became known as the Intolerable Acts:the Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, and Quartering Act. Instead of intimidating Massachusetts and isolating it from the other colonies, the oppressive acts became the justification for convening the First Continental Congress later in 1774. -
First Continental Congress convenes
Committees of Correspondence in response to the Intolerable Acts, the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. -
Give me liberty or give me death
Virginian Patrick Henry believed that war with great Britain was inevitable, so Patrick defended strong resolutions for equipping the Virginia militia to fight against the British in a fiery speech. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Breed’s Hill in Charlestown was the primary locus of combat in the misleadingly named Battle of Bunker Hill. Some 2,300 British troops eventually cleared the hill of the entrenched Americans, but at the cost of more than 40 percent of the assault force. The battle was a moral victory for the Americans. -
Declaration of Independence adopted
Congress recommended that colonies form their own governments. this declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson, but revised in the committee. on the date of (July /2 /1776) the congress voted for Independence and two days after on July 4th Independence was adopted. -
Thomas Paine’s Common Sense published
Thomas Paine’s irreverent pamphlet Common Sense abruptly put independence on the agenda.Paine’s 50-page pamphlet, couched in elegant direct language but the copies were like 100,000 within a few months. The publication of common sense paved (lead to in a way) the way for the Declaration of Independence. -
Nathan Hale executed
Nathan Hale was captured by the British. He was hanged without trial the next day. Before his death, Hale is thought to have said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,”. -
Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga
John Burgoyne captured Fort Ticonderoga (July 5) before losing decisively at Bennington, Vermont (August 16), and Bemis Heights, New York (October 7). His forces depleted, Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga. -
France and the United States form an alliance
French were secretly furnished financial and material aid to the Americans since 1776, but with action signing in Paris of the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance, the Franco-American alliance were officially formalized. -
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Siege of Yorktown
Lord Cornwallis entered Virginia to join other British forces there, setting up a base at Yorktown. Washington’s army and a force under the French Count de Rochambeau placed Yorktown under siege, and Cornwallis surrendered his army of more than 7,000 men on October 19, 1781. -
Articles of Confederation ratified
The Articles of Confederation, a plan of government organization that served as a bridge between the initial government by the Continental Congress and the federal government provided under the U.S. Constitution of 1787. -
Treaty of Paris ends the war
The military verdict in North America was reflected in the preliminary Anglo-American peace treaty of 1782, which was included in the Treaty of Paris of 1783. By its terms, Britain recognized the independence of the United States with generous boundaries, including the Mississippi River on the west.
