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Restrictions on Colonial Trade
The Navigation Acts and the Sugar Act were two of the laws enacted to restrict colonial trade. -
End of the Seven Years War
France surrenders all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi to Britain. -
The stamp Act
The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight between a "patriot" mob and a squad of British soldiers. -
British Troops Occupy Boston
The troops' presence doesn't sit well with locals and leads to street fights. -
Intolerable Acts
The British Parliament passes the Coercive Acts, often called the Intolerable Acts in America. Among other actions, Britain closes the port of Boston and requires British troops to be housed in taverns and vacant buildings. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
Politically disastrous for the British, it persuaded many Americans to take up arms and support the cause of independence. -
War Breaks Out
The first shots of the Revolutionary War are fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
In the first major action of the war, inexperienced colonial soldiers hold off hardened British veterans for more than two hours at Breed's Hill. -
Thomas Paine's Common Sense
independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. -
Moores Creek
most of them of Scots descent, is defeated by a patriot army at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge. This setback will largely quiet loyalist activity in the Carolinas for three years. -
British Attempt to Take Charleston
A British invasion force mounts an all-day attack on a patriot force on Sullivan’s Island. The invaders are unable to land their troops on the island, and the tricky waters of Charleston Harbor frustrate the British navy. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence states three basic the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based. -
Battle of Valley Forge
Valley Forge, where American troops had built a handful of storage facilities. -
Charleston Falls to the British
The British take Charleston, S.C., capture a large patriot army, and deal the rebels one of their worst defeats of the war. -
Kings Mountain Victory Revives Patriot Hopes
Patriot militia from the Carolinas, Virginia, and present-day Tennessee surround and defeat a force of loyalists under Major Patrick Ferguson at Kings Mountain. -
Battle of Cowpens
Continental soldiers and patriot militia under General Daniel Morgan defeat a British force under Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens. -
Guilford Courthouse
British troops win a costly victory over Continentals and militia at Guilford Courthouse, N.C. The battle is part of General Nathanael Greene's strategy of engaging the British on ground of his choosing. -
Battle of Yorktown
oint Franco-American land and sea campaign that entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown, Virginia, and forced its surrender -
Treaty of Paris Officially Ends the War
The Treaty of Paris ratifies the independence of the 13 North American states. Canada remains a British province, beginning its separate development as a U.S. neighbor.