|
1760 |
25 October: King George III
ascends to the throne of England. |
|
1763 |
February 10: Treaty of Paris
ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada east
of the Mississippi River added to the British
empire. Pontiac's
Rebellion against the British
October 7: The Proclamation
of 1763 issued by King George III after the
end of the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War
to organize the new North American empire and
stabilize relations with Native Americans. No
British settlements allowed west of the Appalachian
mountains. Settlers already in these areas required
to return east
|
|
1764 |
1764 - The Sugar Act doubling
the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England
to the colonies. A court is established in Halifax,
Nova Scotia with jurisdiction over all of the
American colonies in trade matters.
The Currency Act prohibiting the colonists from
issuing any legal tender paper money
February: James Otis urges a united response to the
recent acts imposed by England. The phrase "Taxation
without Representation is Tyranny" is usually
attributed to James Otis
July: James Otis publishes
"The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and
Proved."
August: Boston
merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods.
|
|
1765 |
March 22: The Stamp Act was
passed by the British Parliament as a means to pay
for British troops on the American frontier.
Colonists violently protest the first direct tax on
the American colonies. Americans were forced to pay
tax directly to England. and not to their own local
legislatures in America.
March 24: The Quartering Act required American
colonists to house British troops and supply them
with food.
May: Patrick Henry presents seven Virginia
Resolutions claiming that only the Virginia assembly
can legally tax Virginia residents
July: The Sons of Liberty is formed - a secret
organization opposed to the Stamp Act
October: The Stamp Act Congress prepares a
resolution to be sent to King George III requesting
the repeal of the Stamp Act
November 1: Many daily transactions cease as the
Stamp Act goes into effect. Violence breaks out in
New York City
December: Over 200 Boston merchants refuse to pay
the Stamp Tax
|
|
1766 |
1766 March 18. Stamp Act
repealed - Ben Franklin argued for repeal and warned
of a possible revolution in the American colonies if
the Stamp Act was enforced by the British military
March 18: Declaratory Act
passed asserting the British right to make laws
binding on the colonies.
January: New York assembly
refuses to fully enforce the Quartering Act.
August: Violence breaks out in New York between
British soldiers and members of the Sons of Liberty
due to the continued refusal to comply with the
Quartering Act
December: New York
legislature is suspended after voting against
compliance with the Act.
|
|
1767 |
June: Townshend Revenue Acts -
new taxes on imports
October: Boston reinstates boycott of English luxury
goods
|
|
1768 |
The Treaty of Fort Stanwix,
the Treaty of Hard Labor (both 1768) and the Treaty
of Lochaber (1770) opened much of what is now West
Virginia and Kentucky to British settlement.
October. British troops arrive
in Boston to enforce customs laws.
July: Merchants in Boston
and New York boycott British goods until the
Townshend Acts are repealed
September: Boston colonists
encouraged to urged to arm themselves
September: English warships
sail into Boston Harbor leaving two regiments of
English troops to keep order.
|
|
1769 |
March: Merchants in
Philadelphia join the boycott
May: George Mason writes
resolutions presented by George Washington to the
Virginia House of Burgesses opposing taxation
without representation
October: Boycott of English goods spreads to Rhode
Island, New Jersey and North Carolina
|
|
1770 |
March: "The Boston Massacre" -
Four workers shot by British troops in Boston.
April: Repeal of the Townshend Acts and the
Quartering Act by the British. The only duties on
imports into the colonies are for tea
|
|
1772 |
June: A British customs
schooner called the Gaspee is attacked by colonists
from Providence
September: Reward offered for the capture of the
guilty colonists who would then be sent to England
for trial
November: Boston town meeting endorses proclamations
asserting the rights of the colonies to self-rule.
|
|
1773 |
May
10: The Tea Act claiming a threepenny per pound
import tax on tea arriving in the colonies and
provides the British East India Company a virtual
tea monopoly by selling directly to chosen tea
agents, bypassing and underselling American
merchants who acted as middlemen.
October: Colonists in Philadelphia force British tea
agents to resign their positions
November 6 : Colonists in
Boston fail to force their British tea agents to
resign
November 20: Three
ships carrying tea sail into Boston harbor
November 29/30: Colonists decide to send the tea
ships Dartmouth back to England without paying any
import duties
November 30: The Royal
Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson (1711 –
1780), orders harbor officials not to let the ship
sail out of the harbor unless the tea taxes have
been paid.
December 16: The Boston Tea Party occurs when
activists disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians then
board the ships and dump all 342 containers of tea
into the harbor. The Colonial activists were
believed to be organized by Samuel Adams and the
"Sons of Liberty" group. Samuel Adams then began to
make his case for independence to John Adams, his
second cousin, and a wealthy merchant named John
Hancock.
|
|
1774 |
March: The Coercive Acts
(called Intolerable Acts by Americans) in response
to the rebellion in Massachusetts. The Coercive Acts
included:
- Massachusetts
Government Act
- Administration of
Justice Act
- Boston Port Act
- Quartering Act
The Boston Port Act shut
down all commercial shipping in Boston harbor until
Massachusetts payed the taxes owed on the tea dumped
in the harbor and compensation to the East India
Company
May 12: Boston calls for a boycott of British
imports
May 13: General Thomas Gage
replaces Hutchinson as Royal governor and places
Massachusetts under military rule
May 17-23: Providence, New York and Philadelphia
call for an inter-colonial congress against the
Coercive Acts
May 20: The Quebec Act establishing a centralized
government in Canada controlled by the British and
extending the southern boundary of Canada into
territories claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut
and Virginia.
September 5 - October 26: The First Continental
Congress meets and declares its opposition to the
Coercive Acts. The rights to "life, liberty and
property" are asserted and delegates agree to a
boycott English imports, place an embargo of exports
to Britain and discontinue the slave trade.
|
|
1775 |
February 9: English Parliament
declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion
March 23: Patrick Henry
delivers the "Give me liberty or give me death!"
speech
March 30: New England
Restraining Act requiring New England colonies to
trade exclusively with England
April: Massachusetts
Governor Gage is ordered to enforce the Coercive
Acts and suppress the "open rebellion"
April 18: General Gage orders British soldiers to
destroy the colonists weapons depot in Concord. Paul
Revere leaves Boston to warn colonists.
April 19 Shots fired at
Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed.
"Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston.
George Washington takes command of the Continental
Army.
April 23: The Provincial Congress in Massachusetts
orders 13,600 American soldiers to be mobilized and
volunteers begin a year long siege of Boston which
is held by the British.
May 10: Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead the
capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York which contains
weapons
May 15: Congress places the colonies in a state of
defense
June 15: George Washington
appointed general and commander-in-chief of the new
Continental Army.
June 17: Battle of Bunker Hill
July 5: Olive Branch Petition aimed at
reconciliation with Britain which fails
July 6: Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of
Taking Up Arms stating that Americans are "resolved
to die free men rather than live as slaves."
|
|
1776 |
January. Thomas Paine's Common
Sense published providing strong arguments for
American independence.
March 4-17: American forces
capture Dorchester Heights and British evacuate
Boston
May 2: The American
revolution gains support from King Louis XVI
of France
June 7 Richard Henry Lee
from Virginia delegate presents a formal resolution
to the Continental Congress for America to declare
its independence from Britain.
1776 July 4. Thomas
Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of
Independence
July 12 A huge British force under the command of
General William Howe arrives in New York harbor to
crush the rebellion.
August 2 Members of
Congress sign the United States Declaration of
Independence
August 27-29: Battle of
Long Island - British victory
September 16: Battle of
Harlem Heights where Washington's army repulses
British attack
September 26: Congress
appoint Jefferson, Franklin and Silas Deane to
negotiate European treaties Franklin and Deane go to
France seeking financial and military aid
October 11: American Navy
defeated on Lake Champlain
October 28 Battle of White
Plains force General Washington to retreat to the
west pursued by Cornwallis
December 26: Washington
crosses the Delaware River and captures a Hessian
force (German mercenaries) at Trenton, New Jersey
|
|
1777 |
January 3: American victory at
Princeton April 27:
American troops under Benedict Arnold defeat the
British at Ridgefield, Connecticut
June 2: The second
Quartering Act
July. A British force led
by John Burgoyne takes Fort Ticonderoga on Lake
Champlain in a devastating loss to the Americans
July 27: Marquis de
Lafayette arrives in Philadelphia and is appointed
as a major general in the Continental Army
September 11 General
Washington defeated at Brandywine
October 7: American victory
at Battle of Saratoga
October 17: Americans
capture Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga.
November 15: Articles of
Confederation - Congress is made sole authority of
the new national government.
|
|
1778 |
February 6: France signs
a treaty of alliance with the United States and the
American Revolution soon becomes a world war.
March 16: A Peace Commission
rejected by Congress.
May 8: British General Henry Clinton replaces
General Howe as commander of all British forces in
the American colonies.
May 30: Iroquois Indians burn Cobleskill, New York.
June 27/28: The Battle of Monmouth occurs in New
Jersey as Washington's troops and General. Clinton's
troops fight to a standoff.
July 3: British Loyalists and Indians massacre
American settlers in the Wyoming Valley
July 8: General Washington sets up headquarters at
West Point
July 10: France declares war against Britain.
September 14: Benjamin Franklin appointed American
representative in France.
November 11: Loyalists and Indians massacre American
settlers at Cherry Valley, New York,
December 29: British capture Savannah and Augusta.
|
|
1779 |
April 1-30, 1779 - In
retaliation for Indian raids on colonial
settlements, American troops from North Carolina and
Virginia attack Chickamauga Indian villages in
Tennessee.
June 16: Spain declares war on England but no
alliance with America
August 14: A peace plan is approved by Congress
stipulating independence and British evacuation of
America
August 29: American victory at Elmira, New York
September 3 - October 28: American defeat at
Savannah
September 27: John Adams is appointed to negotiate
peace with England.
|
|
1780 |
April 8: British attack
Charleston, South Carolina
May 6: British capture Fort Moultrie at Charleston
May 12: Charleston falls to the British
June 11: A new Massachusetts constitution is
endorsed - "all men are born free and equal," which
includes black slaves.
June 23: Battle of Springfield American victory
August 3: Benedict Arnold appointed commander of
West Point
August 16: British victory in South Carolina
September 23: Plans discovered indicating
Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and
surrender West Point. Benedict Arnold joins the
British
|
|
1781 |
January: Series of mutinies by
American troops quashed
January 17: American victory
at Cowpens
March 15: Battle of
Guilford Courthouse British victory
June 10: American
troops in Virginia led by Marquis de Lafayette,
General Anthony Wayne and Baron von Steuben oppose
British forces under Benedict Arnold and General
Cornwallis.
July 20: Rebellion by
slaves in Williamsburg, Virginia
September 5-8 Victory for
French fleet of de Grasse. Cornwallis cut off from
any retreat by sea
September 6: Benedict Arnold leads troops who
burn the port of New London, Connecticut.
September 14-24: De Grasse sends ships up the
Chesapeake Bay to transport the American armies
to Yorktown.
September 28: Siege of Yorktown begins
October 17: American
victory at Yorktown terms discussed for the British
surrender.
October 19: The British army surrenders at
Yorktown - a devastating effect on the British
|
|
1782 |
February 27: English
Parliament votes against further war in America.
March 5: The British Parliament empowers King George
to negotiate peace with the United States.
March 20: British Prime Minister Lord Rockingham
starts negotiations with the American peace
commissioners.
April 4: Sir Guy Carleton replaces General Clinton
as the new commander of British forces in America
April 12: Paris Peace talks begin
August: Raids by Loyalist and Indian forces on
American settlers in Kentucky and Pennsylvania
August 27: Battle at Combahee River marks the last
fighting between British and American forces
November 10: The final battle of the Revolutionary
War when Americans retaliate by attacking a Shawnee
village in Ohio
November 30: Preliminary peace treaty signed in
Paris recognising American independence and the
British withdrawal from America.
|
|
1783 |
February 4: England
officially declares an end to hostilities in America
February: Spain, Sweden,
Denmark and Russia. recognize the United States of
America
April 11: Congress Official declaration of the end
to the Revolutionary War
July 8: Supreme Court of Massachusetts abolishes
slavery in the state.
September 3: The Treaty of Paris is signed by the
United States and Great Britain
November 2: George
Washington delivers farewell address
December 23: Washington
resigns his commission as commander-in-chief to the
Congress of the Confederation.
|
|
1784 |
January 14: The Treaty of
Paris is ratified by Congress and the American
Revolutionary War officially ends.
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