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Meeting of the Second Continental Congress
The second continental congress was a group of delegates represented by the thirteen colonies. They helped make decisions that they felt was in the countries best interest. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen of its colonies on the mainland of British America. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The British suffered many deaths trying to capture Boston Harbor. The Colonial Army was forced to retreat. -
Failed Seizure of Quebec under Benedict Arnold
During the American Revolutionary War, Patriot forces under Colonel Benedict Arnold and General Richard Montgomery attempted to capture the British occupied city of Quebec and with it win support for the American cause in Canada. The attack failed, and the effort cost Montgomery his life. -
Common Sense Published
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine, advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. -
Adoption of the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with the Kingdom of Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer under British rule. -
Battle of Trenton
In the Battle of Trenton, Washington defeated a formidable garrison of Hessian mercenaries before withdrawing. A week later he returned to Trenton to lure British forces south, then executed a daring night march to capture Princeton on January 3. -
Battle of Paoli
The battle was in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War, fought in the area surrounding present-day Malvern, Pennsylvania. Following the American retreats at the Battle of Brandywine and the Battle of the Clouds, George Washington left a force under Brigadier General Anthony Wayne behind to monitor and harass the British as they prepared to move on the revolutionary capital of Philadelphia. -
Battle of Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led a large invasion army up the Champlain Valley from Canada, hoping to meet a similar force marching northward from New York City. The southern force never arrived, and Burgoyne was surrounded by American forces in upstate New York. -
Washington's Encampment at Valley Forge
Valley Forge was the military camp 18 miles northwest of Philadelphia, where the American Continental Army spent the winter of 1777–78 during the American Revolutionary War. Starvation, disease, malnutrition, and exposure killed more than 2,500 American soldiers by the end of February.