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The Mayflower lands at Plymouth Rock
The Mayflower arrived in Plymouth Harbor in 1620, after first stopping near today's Provincetown. According to oral tradition, Plymouth Rock was the site where William Bradford and other Pilgrims first set foot on land. -
Pennsylvania Becomes a Colony
The king signed the charter of Pennsylvania on March 4, 1681, and it was officially proclaimed on April 2. The king named the new colony in honor of William Penn’s father. -
The French and Indian War
The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. -
The Sugar Act
In 1764 Parliament passed the Sugar Act, with the goal of raising 100,000 pounds, an amount equal to one-fifth of the military expenses in North America. ... The Sugar Act lowered the duty on foreign-produced molasses from six pence per gallon to 3 pence per gallon, in attempts to discourage smuggling. -
The Currency Act
Parliament passed the Currency Act, effectively assuming control of the colonial currency system. The act prohibited the issue of any new bills and the reissue of existing currency. -
The Stamp Act
England wanted to pay their troops in the colonies, so they passed the Stamp Act. It put a tax on papers, documents, and other stuff. If the colonists didn’t pay, they were punished unfairly without a jury. The colonists hated this act. For them, it was an example of “taxation without representation.” -
The Quartering Act
The British Parliament passed the Quartering Act, one of a series of measures primarily aimed at raising revenue from the British colonies in America.The act did require colonial governments to provide and pay for feeding and sheltering any troops stationed in their colony. -
The Townshend Revenue Act
Named after Charles Townshend, British chancellor of the Exchequer, imposed duties on British china, glass, lead, paint, paper and tea imported to the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre
Between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. -
The Boston Tea Party
At Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
The First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress convened in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, between September 5 and October 26, 1774. Delegates discussed boycotting British goods to establish the rights of Americans and planned for a Second Continental Congress -
Patrick Henry’s “Give me Liberty or give me Death” speech
The speech was written and presented by an American Politician and Founding Father, Patrick Henry. The purpose of Henry's speech was to persuade the people of Virginia with the use of his Logos, Ethos and Pathos appeals to take action against the British Oppression. -
The Ride of Paul Revere
The purpose of Paul Revere's midnight ride was to race to Concord to warn Patriots Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops - 700 of them - were marching to Concord to arrest them. True, warning Adams and Hancock triggered Revere's ride from Boston. -
The Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the 13 colonies that formed in Philadelphia in May 1775, soon after the launch of the American Revolutionary War. It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September and October of 1774 -
George Washington named Commander in Chief
The Continental Congress commissioned George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army on June 19, 1775. Washington was selected over other candidates such as John Hancock based on his previous military experience and the hope that a leader from Virginia could help unite the colonies.
