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Passing of the Stamp Act
The British Parliament passed the Stamp Act, which placed a tax on all paper products in the American colonies. Many colonists protested, boycotting British goods, demanding representation in order to pay the tax, and even rioted. “No taxation without representation!” -
Passing of the Townshend Act
The Townshend Act was passed by the British Parliament, creating new taxes on multiple goods in America like paper, paint, tea, and glass. This caused further boycotts of British products and made colonists angrier. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was an event cause by the Sons of Liberty where they boarded a British ship in the Boston harbor and dumped all the tea into the ocean. It was done because the colonists were angry that the British had given the colony of India a monopoly in tea. This lead to the intolerable acts. -
Intolerable Acts Passed
Multiple acts were passed together by the British Parliament in order to punish the colonies for protesting. These included the shut down of a Boston harbor in reaction to the Boston Tea Party, the Quartering Act which allowed British soldiers to be quartered among civilians, the Quebec Act which gave the colony of Canada the land west of the Ohio river over the American colonies. Another was Massachusetts Government Act, which took power away from elected officials, replaced by a governor. -
Declaration of Independence is Signed
The final draft of the a Declaration of Independence was signed by the colonial representatives, and the colonies had officially declared independence. The revolution had truly begun. -
The Battle or Yorktown
General George Washington with his army and French land and naval assistance fought the British general Cornwallis at Yorktown. It was the most important battle in the war, and lead to a devastating British defeat and loss of strategy. -
The Treaty of Paris (1783)
The Treaty of Paris in 1783 marked the end of the Revolutionary war. The fighting had mostly stopped after Yorktown, but the treaty officially ended hostilities and forced the British to recognize the U.S.A. As an independent nation. -
The Constitution Signed
The Constitutional Convention had finished their writing of the new Constitution for the nation, being approved of by many states and totally accepted once the Bill of Rights were added. The nation could then recover from the dying economy and lack of a military.
