Timeline
✓ February 10, 1763 -
The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years War. France surrenders all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi to Britain.
✓ March 22, 1765 - Britain passes the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards.
✓ October 1768 - British troops land in Boston to enforce the Townshend duties (taxes on paint, paper, tea, etc., passed in June 1767).
✓ Spring 1772 - Committees of Correspondence are established throughout the colonies to coordinate American response to British colonial policy.
✓ March to June, 1774 - The British Parliament passes the Coercive Acts, often called the Intolerable Acts in America. Among other actions, Britain closes the port of Boston and requires British troops to be housed in taverns and vacant buildings.
✓ April 19, 1775 - The first shots of the Revolutionary War are fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.
✓ November 1775 - The British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issues a proclamation offering freedom to any slaves of rebellious Americans who are able to enter British lines.
✓ June 17, 1775 - In the first major action of the war, inexperienced colonial soldiers hold off hardened British veterans for more than two hours at Breed's Hill.
✓ February 27, 1776 - A force of loyalists (Americans who want to remain British subjects), most of them of Scots descent, is defeated by a patriot army at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.
✓ August 1777 - American Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) survives a three week long siege forcing allied British forces under Barry St. Leger to retreat.
✓ October 17, 1777 - General John Burgoyne's attempt to separate the rebellious New England colonies from those farther south ends in failure. The surrender of 6,000 British regulars at Saratoga will help induce France to enter the war on the American side.
✓ December 1777 - With the British occupying Philadelphia just 20 miles away, the Continental Army enters winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
✓ February 1778 - As a result of the patriot victory at Saratoga and American diplomatic efforts, France allies itself with the new American government.
✓ May to December, 1778 - With barely 150 men, Virginian George Rogers Clark captures several British posts in the Ohio Territory (present-day Illinois and Indiana) and convinces French-speaking inhabitants of Kaskaskia and Cahokia to support the patriot side.
✓ May 12, 1780 - The British take Charleston, S.C., capture a large patriot army, and deal the rebels one of their worst defeats of the war.
✓ October 7, 1780 - Patriot militia from the Carolinas, Virginia, and present-day Tennessee surround and defeat a force of loyalists under Major Patrick Ferguson at Kings Mountain, S.C.
✓ January 17, 1781 - Continental soldiers and patriot militia under General Daniel Morgan defeat a British force under Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens.
✓ March 15, 1781 - British troops win a costly victory over Continentals and militia at Guilford Courthouse, N.C. The battle is part of General Nathanael Greene's strategy of engaging the British on ground of his choosing.
✓ May to June, 1781 - The isolated British garrison at Ninety Six is laid siege to by patriot forces under Gen. Nathanael Greene. The approach of a British relief column leads Greene to make a final, unsuccessful assault on the fort on June 18.
✓ September to October, 1781 - A joint French and American force traps a large British army on Virginia's Yorktown peninsula. Unable to evacuate or receive reinforcements because a French fleet has driven off a British fleet, General Cornwallis is forced to surrender.
✓ January 1782 - The evacuation of loyalists begins. Largely unwelcome in the new United States, about 100,000 Americans who remained loyal to the crown find new lives in Britain, Canada, and British colonies in the West Indies.
✓ September 3, 1783 - The Treaty of Paris ratifies the independence of the 13 North American states. Canada remains a British province, beginning its separate development as a U.S. neighbor.
✓ October 1784 - The Treaty of Fort Stanwix imposes a peace on those members of the Iroquois Confederacy that sided with the British in the Revolution.
✓ 1787 - A convention of states in Philadelphia proposes the Constitution to replace the much looser central government operating under the Articles of Confederation (adopted in 1777). With amendments, the Constitution remains the framework of government in the U.S.
✓ June 21, 1788 - U.S. Constitution adopted, when New Hampshire ratifies it
✓ March 22, 1765 - Britain passes the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on legal documents, newspapers, even playing cards.
✓ October 1768 - British troops land in Boston to enforce the Townshend duties (taxes on paint, paper, tea, etc., passed in June 1767).
✓ Spring 1772 - Committees of Correspondence are established throughout the colonies to coordinate American response to British colonial policy.
✓ March to June, 1774 - The British Parliament passes the Coercive Acts, often called the Intolerable Acts in America. Among other actions, Britain closes the port of Boston and requires British troops to be housed in taverns and vacant buildings.
✓ April 19, 1775 - The first shots of the Revolutionary War are fired at Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.
✓ November 1775 - The British governor of Virginia, Lord Dunmore, issues a proclamation offering freedom to any slaves of rebellious Americans who are able to enter British lines.
✓ June 17, 1775 - In the first major action of the war, inexperienced colonial soldiers hold off hardened British veterans for more than two hours at Breed's Hill.
✓ February 27, 1776 - A force of loyalists (Americans who want to remain British subjects), most of them of Scots descent, is defeated by a patriot army at the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge.
✓ August 1777 - American Fort Schuyler (Stanwix) survives a three week long siege forcing allied British forces under Barry St. Leger to retreat.
✓ October 17, 1777 - General John Burgoyne's attempt to separate the rebellious New England colonies from those farther south ends in failure. The surrender of 6,000 British regulars at Saratoga will help induce France to enter the war on the American side.
✓ December 1777 - With the British occupying Philadelphia just 20 miles away, the Continental Army enters winter quarters at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.
✓ February 1778 - As a result of the patriot victory at Saratoga and American diplomatic efforts, France allies itself with the new American government.
✓ May to December, 1778 - With barely 150 men, Virginian George Rogers Clark captures several British posts in the Ohio Territory (present-day Illinois and Indiana) and convinces French-speaking inhabitants of Kaskaskia and Cahokia to support the patriot side.
✓ May 12, 1780 - The British take Charleston, S.C., capture a large patriot army, and deal the rebels one of their worst defeats of the war.
✓ October 7, 1780 - Patriot militia from the Carolinas, Virginia, and present-day Tennessee surround and defeat a force of loyalists under Major Patrick Ferguson at Kings Mountain, S.C.
✓ January 17, 1781 - Continental soldiers and patriot militia under General Daniel Morgan defeat a British force under Banastre Tarleton at Cowpens.
✓ March 15, 1781 - British troops win a costly victory over Continentals and militia at Guilford Courthouse, N.C. The battle is part of General Nathanael Greene's strategy of engaging the British on ground of his choosing.
✓ May to June, 1781 - The isolated British garrison at Ninety Six is laid siege to by patriot forces under Gen. Nathanael Greene. The approach of a British relief column leads Greene to make a final, unsuccessful assault on the fort on June 18.
✓ September to October, 1781 - A joint French and American force traps a large British army on Virginia's Yorktown peninsula. Unable to evacuate or receive reinforcements because a French fleet has driven off a British fleet, General Cornwallis is forced to surrender.
✓ January 1782 - The evacuation of loyalists begins. Largely unwelcome in the new United States, about 100,000 Americans who remained loyal to the crown find new lives in Britain, Canada, and British colonies in the West Indies.
✓ September 3, 1783 - The Treaty of Paris ratifies the independence of the 13 North American states. Canada remains a British province, beginning its separate development as a U.S. neighbor.
✓ October 1784 - The Treaty of Fort Stanwix imposes a peace on those members of the Iroquois Confederacy that sided with the British in the Revolution.
✓ 1787 - A convention of states in Philadelphia proposes the Constitution to replace the much looser central government operating under the Articles of Confederation (adopted in 1777). With amendments, the Constitution remains the framework of government in the U.S.
✓ June 21, 1788 - U.S. Constitution adopted, when New Hampshire ratifies it
