Revolutionary War Timeline

French & Indian War (1754-1763)

#1

War between French and English over colonial territory and wealth.

Sugar Act (April 1764)

#2

A strongly enforced tax on sugar, molasses, and other products imported into the American colonies from non-British Caribbean sources.

Quartering Act (May 1764)

#3

Forces colonists to house British troops and provide them with food and general goods.

Boston Massacre (1770)

#4

A group of colonists surrounded some British soldiers and threw rocks and snow until the soldiers shot in to the crowd and killed 5 people. This is the first time the British use deadly force against Americans.

Tea Act (May 1773).

#5

Allowed the British East India Company to ship tea to the colonies without having to pay taxes. Leads to the Boston Tea Party, the single most important event leading to the American Revolution.

Boston Tea Party (December 1773)

#6

About sixty men, including some members of the Sons of Liberty, boarded ships on the night of December 16, 1 773 (disguised as Native Americans) and dumped 340 tea chests into the water.

Intolerable Acts (1774)

#7

1. Closing Boston Port
2.Increasing royal power
3. Cut upper house of Massachusetts legislature, decrease power of town meetings
4. Strengthen Quartering Act

Battle of Lexington and Concord (1775)

#8

First battle of the American Revolution. The famous “shot heard 'round the world”, marked the start of the American Revolution (1775-83). Politically disastrous for the British, it persuaded many Americans to take up arms and support the cause of independence.

Declaration of Independence (1776)

#9

Document explaining why colonists are breaking away from Britain.

Battle of Saratoga (1777)

#10

Americans win the battle and capture a British army

o The French now decide to join the Americans in the war.

o The French offer aid, supplies and the Navy.

This is the turning point of the war… it brought foreign support to the colonial war effort (France).

Articles of Confederation (1777-1781)

#11

The written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain.

• 1. First written constitution in the U.S.

• 2. Went into effect in 1781

• 3. Committee headed by John Dickinson

Battle of Yorktown (1781)

#12

Washington pins Cornwallis down on the peninsula of Yorktown

o Last major battle of the war

• Great Britain wants to discuss peace with America

Treaty of Paris (1783)

#13

British influenced by the French to offer generous peace terms

o 1. Granted the United States independence from Great Britain

o 2. Declared Americans should repay debts owed to the British

o 3. Set the borders of the new nation from the Atlantic coast westward to the Mississippi River and from the Great Lakes south to Florida

U.S. Constitution (1787)

#14

The supreme law of the United States.

• Created a bicameral legislature

• Gave power to both national and state government

• Created a system of checks and balances