American Revolution Timeline

  • Proclamation

    Proclamation
    George III prohibited all settlement west of the Appalachian mountains without guarantees of security from local Native American nations. The intervention in colonial affairs offended the thirteen colonies' claim to the exclusive right to govern lands to their west.
  • Sugar Act

    Sugar Act
    In order to deter smuggling and to encourage the production of British rum, taxes on molasses were dropped; lumber and other goods had to pass first through Britain and British customs. These measures led to widespread protest.
  • Stamp Act

    Stamp Act
    The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used.
  • Repeal Of Stamp Act

    Repeal Of Stamp Act
    After months of protest and an appeal by Benjamin Franklin, Parliament voted to repeal the Stamp Act in March 1766. Parliament passed the Declaratory Acts, asserting that the British government had free and total legislative power over the colonies.
  • Boston Massacre

    Boston Massacre
    It was a street fight that occurred between a patriot mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed.
  • Boston Tea Party

    Boston Tea Party
    It was a political protest at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing taxation without representation, dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor.
  • Intolerable Acts

    Intolerable Acts
    The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists.
  • 2nd Continental Congress - Declaration of Independence.

    2nd Continental Congress - Declaration of Independence.
    The Second Congress managed the Colonial war effort and moved incrementally towards independence.
  • Lexington and Concord

    Lexington and Concord
    The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought in Middle-sex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay.
  • Battle of Saratoga

    Battle of Saratoga
    The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary.
  • Valley Forge

    Valley Forge
    Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight military encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington.
  • Battle of Yorktown

    Battle of Yorktown
    Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington as French and American forces trapped the British at Yorktown. The British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown ended the American Revolutionary War.