Road to Revolution Timeline

By 18sweston

  • Proclamation Line

    After French and Indian War, King uses Appalachian Mountains as a border for the colonies and forbade settlement in Ohio River Valley. This ends westward expansion. Angers colonists because they weren't allowed to colonize land they had just fought for.

  • Stamp Act

    • Taxed all printed goods
    • Colonists boycotted goods and made non-importation agreements with retailers
    • They refused to pay taxes and continue to smuggle goods
    • Some attacked British soldiers and tax collectors
    • Stamp Act Congress and Sons/Daughters of Liberty were formed

  • Declaratory Act

    This claimed that British law was superior to colonial law and took away the colonists right to self-government. This angered colonists because it took away the government they had established over a hundred years prior.

  • Boston Massacre

    British soldiers were in front of the Customs house in Boston when school boys began throwing oyster shells and rocks at them. The crowd eventually grew to about 200 people. Many people were throwing things, some had clubs, and many were yelling. No one knows where the order to fire came from, but British soldiers did fire into the crowd, killing six.

  • Boston Tea Party

    This was a protest in response to the Tea Act, which put a tax on tea. Those involved in the protest dumped 347 chests of tea into the Boston harbor. It makes the King extremely angry.

  • Intolerable (Coercive) Acts

    -In response to the Boston Tea Party.
    - Goal: to isolate and punish Boston
    - Quartering Act: Enforces this Act
    - Boston Port Bill: Closes the port of Boston; economy becomes terrible.
    - Justice Act: British officials accused of a crime would be tried in England.
    - Government Act: Dissembles assemblies in Massachusetts, taking away the right to self-government.
    - Quebec Act: Extended Canadian borders, allowed Quebec to keep self-government, and gave Quebec the Ohio River Valley

  • First Continental Congress

    • Held in response to Intolerable Acts
    • All 13 colonies decide to take part in boycotts and non-importation agreements

  • Lexington and Concord

    • Militia was forming in Massachusetts
    • British learn where their supplies are kept and attack
    • Supplies were moved before British got there due to colonial spy network
    • British found nothing and colonists argued they violated their rights
    • British casualties: 273 American casualties: 95

  • Second Continental Congress

    • Held in response to Lexington and Concord
    • Issue: Reconciliation vs. Independence
    • John Dickinson wants reconciliation. So, he writes the Olive Branch Petition. It asks for a cease-fire in Boston, to repeal the Intolerable Acts, and to enumerate colonial rights. King sees it as a joke.
    • John Adams wants independence and to form Continental Army. He appoints George Washington to be general to show all 13 colonies are involved

  • Thomas Paine's "Common Sense"

    • Explains, in a simple way, why colonies need to separate from the King
    • Very popular and widely read
    • Sways most moderates to want independence