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Treaty of Paris, 1763
Treaty that ends the French and Indian War. France gives up its North American colonies. All the land east of the Mississippi goes to England. Spain gives up Florida to England. -
Proclamation of 1763
England forbids colonization west of the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar Act, 1764
Parliament passes a law taxing the colonists for all of their sugar products. -
Stamp Act, 1765
The British Parliament passes a tax on the American colonists that requires them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper, including legal documents, licenses, publications, and even playing cards. -
Quartering Act, 1765
Law is passed requiring colonists to provide food and quarters for British troops. -
Sons of Liberty, 1765
Sons of Liberty are created to protect the rights of the colonists and fight the taxation by the British government. -
Stamp Act Congress, 1765
A meeting that consists of representatives from the British colonies, and is the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise a unified protest against the new British taxation. -
Declaratory Act, 1766
Parliament reaffirms their right to pass laws over the colonists. -
Townsend Act, 1767
The Townshend Acts imposed taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. -
The Boston Massacre, 1770
British troops open fire on rioting colonists in Boston, killing 5 and wounding 6. -
The Boston Tea Party, 1773
Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty board three ships in the Boston harbor and throw 342 chests of tea overboard. -
Intolerable Acts, 1774
A series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea party. -
First Continental Congress, 1774
Delegates from twelve of the thirteen colonies meet in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to respond to the Intolerable Acts. -
Continental Association, 1774
Called for a complete boycott of British goods. -
Lexington and Concord, 1775
A British commander in Boston sent troops to Lexington and Concord to seize stores of gunpowder. -
Second Continental Congress, 1775
Delegates from the thirteen colonies come together in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to manage the colonial war effort by raising armies, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and making formal treaties. -
Bunker Hill, 1775
The Battle of Bunker Hill was fought during the Siege of Boston in the early stages of the American Revolutionary War. -
Olive Branch Petition, 1775
The Second Continental Congress drafts a letter to the king professing American loyalty to the crown and begging him to prevent further hostilities. -
Common Sense, 1776
A pamphlet is written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. -
Declaration of Independence, 1776
A document is signed by the Continental Congress which announces the colonies independence from Great Britain. -
Battle of Trenton, 1776
After General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton the previous night, Washington led the main body of the Continental Army against Hessian soldiers garrisoned at Trenton. -
Battles of Saratoga (Begins), 1777
Fighting between the British and the Americans begins at the climax of the Saratoga campaign. -
Battles of Saratoga (Ends), 1777
The end of the Battles of Saratoga become a major turning point in the American Revolutionary War. Upon hearing about Burgoyne's surrender the French king, Louis XVI, decided to enter into negotiations with the American's. -
Treaty of Alliance (Franco-American Treaty), 1778
France offers a treaty to the Americans offering everything that Great Britain had in addition to recognizing them as an independent country. The treaty also stated that either would help the other in cases of fighting breaking out. -
The Siege of Yorktown (Begins), 1781
Washington leads the American army out of Williamsburg to surround Yorktown. The French take the positions on the left while the Americans take the position of honor on the right. -
The Siege of Yorktown (Ends), 1781
After viewing the British situation as hopeless General Cornwallis surrendered. The British soldiers marched out and laid down their arms in between the French and American armies. At this time, the troops on the other side of the river in Gloucester also surrendered. -
Treaty of Paris, 1783
Britain recognizes the independence of the United States and end the Revolutionary War. The American's were no longer permitted to punish British Loyalists and the Britain had to admit defeat.
