Civi Us

1763

Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years’ War; Britain gains Canada and Florida but faces debt

1763

Proclamation Line forbids colonists from settling west of Appalachians

1763

Pontiac’s Rebellion Native uprising against British forts and settlers

1764

Sugar Act first revenue tax on colonies (duties on sugar

1764

Currency Act prohibits colonies from issuing paper money

1765

Stamp Act direct tax on legal documents

1765

Sons of Liberty founded to resist taxation (Samuel Adams

King George III

King of Britain insisting on parliamentary sovereignty

George Grenville

Prime Minister who introduced Sugar and Stamp Acts

Samuel Adams

Radical Boston leader

Patrick Henry quote

Virginia leader “no taxation without representation

1765

Virginia Resolves Patrick Henry claims only colonial assemblies can tax

1766

Repeal of Stamp Act Parliament repeals but passes Declaratory Act asserting authority “in all cases whatsoever” to tax american colonies

1767

Townshend Acts duties on glass

1768

British troops stationed in Boston to enforce order

1770

Boston Massacre British soldiers kill 5 civilians including Crispus Attucks

Patrick Henry

Orator of Virginia Resolves “Taxation without representation is tyranny” (Wirt, 1817 Sketches of the Life and Character of Patrick Henry)

Benjamin Franklin

Testimony before Parliament 1766 “They can never be made to pay any tax … They will never submit to it”

John Dickinson

Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania 1767–68 “We are taxed without our own consent

John Adams

Boston lawyer defended British soldiers after the Massacre

Boston Gazette March 12 1770

“The horrid massacre in Boston… a number of innocent and unarmed persons were cruelly murdered”

Griffin P, Essay “De-centering the Narrative: The Case for a Vast 1776,” (2021)

“To understand the American Revolution we must place 1776 within a ‘vast’ frame, one that stretches beyond the nation to encompass empire, global war, and the diverse peoples caught up in it.”

1776 Common Sense pamphlet by Thomas Paine

openly calls for independence “’TIS TIME TO PART”

1776

British evacuation of Boston Washington fortifies Dorchester Heights with cannon

1776 July 2

Congress votes for independence

1776 July 4

Declaration of Independence adopted “all men are created equal…unalienable Rights”

1776

Battle of Long Island British victory Washington retreats

1776 December

Washington crosses Delaware wins at Trenton and Princeton

Thomas Paine Common Sense 1776

“The sun never shined on a cause of greater worth… ’TIS TIME TO PART”

Declaration of Independence July 4 1776

“We hold these truths to be self-evident that all men are created equal…”

George Washington General Orders July 9 1776

“The General hopes this important Event will serve as a fresh incentive to every officer and soldier to act with Fidelity and Courage”

King George III Speech to Parliament Oct 27 1775

“The rebellion is manifestly carried on for the purpose of establishing an independent empire”

Edmund Burke Speech on Conciliation with America Mar 22 1775

“The question with me is not whether you have a right to render your people miserable but whether it is not your interest to make them happy”

1777, Articles of Confederation

“Each state retains its sovereignty, freedom, and independence” (Nov. 15, 1777 draft)

1777, Battle of Saratoga

General Burgoyne surrenders, turning point of the war

1778, Treaty of Alliance with France

“to maintain effectually the liberty, sovereignty, and independence absolute and unlimited, of the United States” (Feb. 6, 1778)

1777–78, Valley Forge

Harsh winter but von Steuben trains army

1777, Petition of African Americans to Massachusetts

“We have in common with all other men a natural and unalienable right to that freedom” (Jan. 13, 1777)

Loyalists

Persecuted and exiled for allegiance to Britain

Native Americans

Iroquois Confederacy divided, some allied with Britain

1778–1779, Globalization of War

France joins in 1778, Spain in 1779, Britain faces worldwide conflict

1779, John Paul Jones naval victory

“I have not yet begun to fight!” (Battle of Flamborough Head, Sept. 23, 1779)

1780, Charleston

British capture Charleston, major American loss

1780, Benedict Arnold

Defects to British after plotting to surrender West Point

1781, Articles of Confederation ratified

“The said States hereby severally enter into a firm league of friendship with each other” (March 1, 1781)

1781, Battle of Yorktown

Cornwallis surrenders to Washington and Rochambeau Oct. 19, 1781

Cornwallis, Letter Oct 20, 1781

“I have the mortification to inform your Lordship that I have been forced to surrender the troops under my command”

Lafayette, Letter to Vergennes Nov 1781

“The play, Sir, is over, and the fifth act has come to an end”

1782, Preliminary peace talks

Franklin, Adams, Jay negotiate directly with Britain in Paris

1783, Treaty of Paris Article I

“His Britannic Majesty acknowledges the said United States… to be free sovereign and independent states” (Sept. 3, 1783)

Loyalists

60,000–80,000 exiled to Canada, Britain, Caribbean

Native Americans

Excluded from Treaty of Paris negotiations, lost land

Black Loyalists

Evacuated by British to Nova Scotia and Sierra Leone

Abigail Adams, Letter to John Adams Mar. 31, 1776

“ remember the Ladies”

John Adams, Reply Apr. 14, 1776

“I cannot but laugh… we know better than to repeal our masculine systems”

Daughters of Liberty

Organized spinning bees (creating clothes to boycott british textiles) and boycotts to resist British imports

Camp followers

Women provided cooking, nursing, laundry, morale support to armies

Deborah Sampson

Disguised herself as a man to fight as a soldier

Molly Pitcher (Mary Ludwig Hays)

Became a symbol of women on the battlefield at Monmouth (1778)