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Navigation Acts
A series of laws designed to restrict England’s carrying trade to English ships, effective chiefly in the 17th and 18th centuries. The measures, originally framed to encourage the development of English shipping so that adequate auxiliary vessels would be available in wartime, became a form of trade protectionism during an era of mercantilism. -
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 French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. The act, which imposed a tax on all paper documents in the colonies, came at a time when the British Empire was deep in debt from the Seven Years' War (1756-63) and looking to its North American colonies as a revenue source. -
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. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act of 1773 was one of several measures imposed on the American colonists by the heavily indebted British government in the decade leading up to the American Revolutionary War. The act’s main purpose was not to raise revenue from the colonies but to bail out the floundering East India Company. -
Boston Tea Party
Americans frustrated with British for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. It showed Great Britain that Americans wouldn’t take taxation and began their fight for independence -
Coercive/Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. -
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress, which was comprised of delegates from the colonies, met in 1774 in 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. -
Lexington and Concord
It kicked off the American Revolutionary War. Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities. Many battles followed and colonists won independence. -
The Second Continental Congress
In 1775, the Second Continental Congress convened after the American Revolutionary War had already begun. In 1776, it took the momentous step of declaring America’s independence from Britain. Five years later, the Congress ratified the first national constitution, the Articles of Confederation, under which the country would be governed until 1789, when it was replaced by the current U.S. Constitution. -
Declaration of Independence adopted
The Declaration of Independence was the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government. -
Battle of Saratoga
It included two crucial battles, fought eighteen days apart, and was a decisive victory for the Continental Army and a crucial turning point in the Revolutionary War. -
Winter at Valley Forge
At Valley Forge in the winter of 1777-1778 was a major turning point in the American Revolutionary War. While conditions were extremely cold and harsh and provisions were in short supply, it was at the winter camp where George Washington proved his mettle. -
Battle of Yorktown
Virginia marked the conclusion of the last major battle of the American Revolution and the start of a new nation's independence. It also cemented Washington’s reputation as a great leader and eventual election as first president of the United States. -
U.S. Constitution Written
Took place at independence hall in Philadelphia. It does many things like puts government in the hands of people, outlines people’s rights, and sets up a system of checks and balances that ensures no one branch has too much power. -
U.S. Constitution adopted
It was adopted by New Hampshire and became the ninth state to ratify the constitution.