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French and Indian War Ends
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War.The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war’s expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. Both French and British imperial officials and colonists sought to extend each country’s sphere of influence in frontier regions. -
Stamp Act Congress
It was the first colonial action against a British measure and was formed to protest the Stamp Act issued by British Parliament on March 1765.The Stamp Act Congress was attended by 27 representatives of nine of the thirteen colonies. Virginia, North Carolina and Georgia were prevented from attending because their loyal governors refused to convene the assemblies to elect delegates. New Hampshire did not attend but approved the resolutions once Congress was over. -
Stamp Act Passed
The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. -
Stamp Act Repealed
A taxation measure enacted to raise revenues for a standing British army in America. British merchants and manufacturers pressured Parliament because their exports to the colonies were threatened by boycotts. Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies "in all cases whatsoever" by also passing the Declaratory Act. -
Declaratory Act Passed
Declaration by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that the British Parliament's taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain. -
Townshend Acts Passed
The Townshend Act constituted an attempt by the British government to consolidate fiscal and political power over the American colonies by placing import taxes on many of the British products bought by Americans, including lead, paper, paint, glass and tea. Originated by Charles Townshend and passed by the English Parliament shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act -
Townshend Acts Repealed
The British parliament repealed the Townshend duties on all but tea. Pressure from British merchants was partially responsible for the change. The British government, led by Prime Minister Lord North, maintained the taxes on tea, in order to underscore the supremacy of parliament. -
Boston Massacre
It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, but quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
Tea Act Passed
Granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies. This was what ultimately compelled a group of Sons of Liberty members who disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians, board three ships moored in Boston Harbor, and destroy over 92,000 pounds of tea. The Tea Act was the final straw in a series of unpopular policies and taxes imposed by Britain on her American colonies. -
Boston Tea Party
American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. The event was the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldn’t take taxation and tyranny sitting down, and rallied American patriots across the 13 colonies to fight for independence. -
Coercive Acts Passed
The Intolerable Acts also known as Coercive Acts were a package of five laws implemented by the British government with the purpose of restoring authority in its colonies. Five Acts were passed the Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, Quartering Act and Quebec Act. -
First Continental Congress
A reaction to the Coercive Acts, a series of measures imposed by the British government on the colonies in response to their resistance to new taxes. The first continental congress was enacted to ensure that the government in united states help the British empire to instate the punishment. -
Revolutionary War Begins
In April 1775 British soldiers, called lobsterbacks because of their red coats, and minutemen—the colonists' militia—exchanged gunfire at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. Described as "the shot heard round the world," it signaled the start of the American Revolution and led to the creation of a new nation. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from 13 colonies that formed in Philadelphia. It was founded when British failed to address the grievances of the First Continental Congress and to organize a Continental Army to fight. It would authorize a committee to write a declaration of our freedom from Great Britain. -
Declaration of Independence Signed
A date that John Adams believed would be “the most memorable epocha in the history of America." The historic document by means of which the 13 American colonies severed their political connections with Great Britain and declared themselves to be the United States of America.
