LIBERTY! . Chronicle of the Revolution . Timeline of the Revolution | PBS
King George III ascends to the throne of England.
Treaty signed between England and France ending the French and Indian War. Canada and the continent east of the Mississippi River added to Great
Britain’s growing empire.
Parliament passes The Stamp Act as a means to pay for British troops on the American frontier. Colonists violently protest the measure..
March 18. Stamp Act repealed, but on the same day parliament passes the Declaratory Act asserting its right to make laws binding on the colonies.
October. British troops arrive in Boston to enforce customs laws.
March. Four workers shot by British troops stationed in Boston. Patriots label the killings “The Boston Massacre.”
December. Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest
the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.
January. The Privy Council reprimands Benjamin
Franklin in London for leaking letters damaging to the Royal Governor of Massachusetts. September. First Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia.
April. Shots fired at Lexington and Concord. “Minute Men” force British troops back to Boston. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
January. Thomas Paine’s Common Sense published. Becomes an instant best seller and pushes the colonies closer to independence.
July 4. Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence ratified by the Congress
July. A huge British force arrives in New York harbor bent on crushing the rebellion.
August. Continental Army routed at Long Island, New York.
December 26. Washington crosses the Delaware River and captures a Hessian force at Trenton, New Jersey.
December. In desperate need of financing and arms, Congress sends Benjamin Franklin to France to urge the French to ally with America.
July. A British force led by John Burgoyne takes Fort Ticonderoga in a devastating loss to the Americans. The Marquis de Lafayette arrives in America
Washington defeated at Brandywine (September 11) and Germantown (October 4). Philadelphia is lost to the British.
October 17. Americans capture Burgoyne and his army at Saratoga.
February. France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution becomes a world war.
British attack Charleston, South Carolina. City falls in May.
1780-’81 Americans “lose” series of engagements in the south, but exact a heavy toll on the British army.
African-American Elizabeth Freeman sues for her freedom in Massachusetts. Her victory prohibits slavery in that state.
October 19. A miraculous
convergence of American and French forces traps Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia. He surrenders his British army.
September. A peace treaty is signed between Great Britain and the United States.
December. George Washington gives up command of the Continental Army and, to the astonishment of foreign observers, returns to private life.
1783-’87 Noah Webster creates and publishes a speller which helps standardize American English.
1785-’86 Treaty talks with Spain for rights to navigate the Mississippi fail because of regional conflicts between northern and southern states.
1786-’87 Shay’s Rebellion, an armed insurrection of debt-ridden farmers in Massachusetts, quashed by the state militia.
Northwest Ordinance adopted by Confederation Congress. Prohibits slavery in territories and provides a means for new states to enter the union.
In May, delegates
from all 13 states arrive in Philadelphia to rewrite the Articles of Confederation.
September 18. The Constitutional Convention adjourns having passed a National Constitution that needs ratification from 3/4 of the states.
The crucial states of Virginia (June 25) and New York (July 26) become the 10th and 11th states to pass the Constitution.
December. A Bill of Rights passed by the 1st Congress of the United States.
