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Enlightenment
Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. The Enlightenment produced numerous books, essays, inventions, scientific discoveries, laws, wars and revolutions. The American and French Revolutions were directly inspired by Enlightenment ideals and respectively marked the peak of its influence and the beginning of its decline. -
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French and Indian War
As a result of the war, France ceded all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi River to Britain. The costs of the war contributed to the British government’s decision to impose new taxes on its American colonies. -
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty were a group of instigators who used extreme measures of public disobedience to intimidate loyalists and outrage the British. A major victory for the Sons of Liberty was abolishing the stamp act. They sent a threat letter to Andrew Oliver, in order for him to quit they threatened him with a terrible fate if he did not do what was instructed. Click to learn more. Another event by the group was the Boston Tea Party.
(https://www.history.com/news/sons-of-liberty-members-causes) -
Stamp Act
the Stamp Act was imposed to provide increased revenues to meet the costs of defending the enlarged British Empire. It was the first British parliamentary attempt to raise revenue through direct taxation on a wide variety of colonial transactions, including legal writs, newspaper advertisements, and ships’ bills of lading. Enraged colonists nullified the Stamp Act through outright refusal to use the stamps as well as by riots, stamp burning, and intimidation of colonial stamp distributors. -
Boston Massacre
In Boston, a small British army detachment that was threatened by mob harassment opened fire and killed five people, an incident soon known as the Boston Massacre. -
Boston Tea Party
Protesting both a tax on tea and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company, a party of Bostonians disguised as Mohawk people boarded ships and dumped £10,000 worth of tea into the harbor, an event popularly known as the Boston Tea Party. -
First Continental Congress Meets.
On September 5, 1774, delegates from each of the 13 colonies except for Georgia (which was fighting a Native American uprising and was dependent on the British for military supplies) met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament’s Coercive Acts. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
the British force of 700 men was met on Lexington Green by 77 local minutemen and others. It is unclear who fired the first shot, but it sparked a skirmish that left eight Americans dead. At Concord, the British were met by hundreds of militiamen. Outnumbered and running low on ammunition, the British column was forced to retire to Boston.
To learn more click (https://www.britannica.com/list/timeline-of-the-american-revolution) -
Declaration of Independence Adopted
By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain. -
Articles of Confederation Created
The Continental Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation, the first constitution of the United States. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. -
Battle of Yorktown
After winning a costly victory at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, on March 15, 1781, Lord Cornwallis entered Virginia to join other British forces there, setting up a base at Yorktown. Washington’s army and a force under the French Count de Rochambeau placed Yorktown under siege, and Cornwallis surrendered his army of more than 7,000 men on October 19, 1781. -
Treaty of Paris signed
The Treaty of Paris was signed by U.S. and British Representatives on September 3, 1783, ending the War of the American Revolution. The 1783 Treaty was one of a series of treaties signed in Paris that also established peace between Great Britain and the allied nations of France, Spain, and the Netherlands. -
3/5 Compromise
It was a compromise agreement between delegates from the northern and southern states at the united states constitutional convention, that 3/5s of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. To learn more click here. https://www.britannica.com/topic/three-fifths-compromise -
Bill of Rights Adopted
On September 25, 1789, Congress transmitted to the state Legislatures twelve proposed amendments to the Constitution. Numbers three through twelve were adopted by the states to become the United States (U.S.) Bill of Rights, effective December 15, 1791.
