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The French Indian War
A colonial war between Great Britain and France in the late 17th and the 18th century. It was a campaign in the worldwide struggle for empire and was roughly linked to wars of the European coalitions. Both France and Britain wanted domination of the eastern part of the northern American continent. -
Treaty of Paris
This treaty formally ends the French and Indian War. France cedes most of its territories in North America to Great Britain, but Louisiana west of the Mississippi River is ceded to Spain. -
The Sugar Acts
Also known as the American Revenue Act or the American Duties Act. It was a revenue-raising act passed by the Parliament of Great Britain. -
The Stamp Act
To help defray the cost of keeping troops in America, Parliament enacts the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on many types of printed materials used in the colonies. -
The Tea Act
Its principal objective was to reduce the massive surplus of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses. A related objective was to undercut the price of tea smuggled into Britain's North American colonies. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a direct action by colonists in Boston against the British government and the monopolistic East India Company that controlled all the tea imported into the colonies. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
This battle was the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America. -
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. -
Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense"
Inspirational pamphlet. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Valley Forge
Valley Forge in Pennsylvania was the site of the military camp of the American Continental Army over the winter of 1777–1778 in the American Revolutionary War. -
Shay's Rebellion
An armed uprising in central and western Massachusetts from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War.
The rebellion started on August 21, 1786, over financial difficulties and by January 1787, over one thousand Shaysites had been arrested -
Constitutional Convention
This convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to address problems in governing the United States of America, which had been operating under the Articles of Confederation following independence from Great Britain -
Ratification of the Constitution
On September 17, 1787, the Constitution was completed, followed by a speech given by Benjamin Franklin. Franklin urged unanimity, although the Convention had decided only nine state ratification conventions were needed to inaugurate the new government. The Convention submitted the Constitution to the Congress of the Confederation.
