The Road to Independence Timeline

  • Stamp Act Congress meets in New York City

  • George III becomes King England

  • The Stamp Act

    Required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards.
  • Parliament Passes the Townshend Acts

    Initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea
  • The Boston Massacre

    British troops guarding the Boston Customs House shot into a crowd of civilians, killing 3 men
  • The Boston Tea Party

    The Boston Tea Party was the second American tax revolt against the British royal authority, the first occurring in April 1772, in Weare, New Hampshire known as the Pine Tree Riot where colonialists protested heavy fines levied against them for harvesting trees.
  • The Coercive Acts- [Intolerable Acts]

    Act that provided arrangements for housing British troops in American dwellings.
  • First Continental Congress Meets in Philadelphia

  • The Olive Branch Petition

    A petition sent by the citizens of British colonies in America to the British government and King George III. Its main purpose was to appease the British government and create reconciliation between the colonies and the British government.
  • First Shots of the American Revolution [Lexington and Concord]

  • Second Continental Congress Meets in Philadelphia

  • The Adoption of the Declaration of Independence

    The document announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. It was the last of a series of steps that led the colonies to final separation from Great Britain.
  • The Adoption of the Articles of Confederation

  • Treaty of Paris Signed- Official Ending of the American Revolution