Timeline of the American Revolution

Timeline of the American Revolution—timeline of the political upheaval culminating in the 18th century in which Thirteen Colonies in North America joined for independence from the British Empire, and after victory in the Revolutionary War combined to form the United States of America. The American Revolution includes political, social, and military aspects. The revolutionary era is generally considered to have begun in the wake of the French and Indian War (1754-1763), as the British government abandoned its longstanding practice of salutary neglect of the colonies, now seeking greater control over them. Ten thousand regular British army troops were left stationed in North America after the war ended. Parliament passed measures to increase revenues from the colonies. The Stamp Act in 1765 and ended with the ratification of the United States Bill of Rights in 1791. The military phase of the revolution, the American Revolutionary War, lasted from 1775 to 1783, but the land war effectively ended with the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia October 19, 1781. Britain continued the international conflict after Yorktown, fighting naval engagements with France and Spain until the signing of the Peace Treaty of Paris in 1783. Historical background to the break between the Thirteen Colonies and Britain includes a chronology of the dynasties of Britain, ideas of kingship, its relation to Parliament; establishment of colonies with assemblies ruling local affairs, including taxation. British American colonists had the historical example a century before, 1649-1660, Commonwealth of England, the Interregnum. Charles I had ruled as an autocrat, without Parliament, and abused power. Wars ensued, which the king lost. Parliament put him on trial and executed him, establishing a republic with a written constitution. American colonists in the 18th century saw the erosion of their rights as freeborn English subjects, which were enshrined in English law, particularly the Magna Carta (1215), Habeas corpus, and the English Bill of Rights (1689).

• Gathering Storm, 1763-1775
• American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783
• List of military leaders in the American Revolutionary War
• List of American Revolutionary War battles in chronological order, with location, outcome

Origins of English rights

1166

• Assize of Clarendon, an act of Henry II of England that began a transformation of English law and led to trial by jury in common law.

1215

• Magna Carta ("Great Charter"). Rebellious barons forced John I of England to sign the charter which defined and limited the power of monarch and established that the monarch was not above the law. It mandated the prompt administration of justice, forbade the sale of justice, and established the principle of due process. Power was to be exercised with consent. It forbade the king from introducing new forms of taxation without consent. Although King John almost immediately repudiated it, saying he had signed it under duress, but he died shortly therafter. His son Henry III affirmed Magna Carta in 1225 with some changed language, explicitly of his volition. It was reissued at intervals over the years, as a fundamental document protecting English rights. When American colonists fought against Britain, they were fighting not so much for new freedom, but to preserve liberties and rights that they believed to be enshrined in Magna Carta.

1236

• Establishment of the English Parliament

1485–1603, Tudor dynasty

Allegorical painting of the Tudor monarchs

House of Tudor rules England from 1485 victory of Henry Tudor's victory in a dynastic war, making him Henry VII.

1485-1509, Henry VII

First voyages of exploration by Portugal and Spain; voyage of Christopher Columbus, claiming sovereignty for Spain in the Western Hemisphere; division of the world between Portugal and Spain with the Treaty of Tordesillas(1494); first English voyages of exploration

1497-1498

• John Cabot voyages of exploration to the Western Hemisphere.

1509-1547, Henry VIII

Henry VIII

1509

• Henry VIII peacefully succeeds to the English throne, age 17, following the death of his father, Henry VII.
• Henry VIII marries Catherine of Aragon, his late brother's widow, five years his senior. Catherine's many pregnancies produce a daughter. Princess Mary, but no male heir. No woman had ever succeeded to the English throne, and prospect of it was a disputed succession, civil war, or domination by a foreign power through marriage.

1516

• Sir Thomas More publishes Utopia, full title The Best State of a Commonwealth and the New Island of Utopia

1529-1536

• English Reformation Parliament begins meeting 3 November 1529, lasting until 14 April 1536; established the legal basis for the English Reformation, passing major pieces of legislation leading to the break with Rome and increasing the authority of the Church of England. Under Henry VIII's direction, the Reformation Parliament was the first in English history to deal with major religious legislation, transferring many aspects of English life away from the control of the Catholic Church to control under The Crown, and setting a precedent for future monarchs to utilize parliamentary statutes affecting the Church of England. It strengthened the role of the English Parliament and resulted in a massive transfer of wealth from the Catholic Church to the English Crown.

1534

• Act of Supremacy making the monarch head of the Church, replacing the pope.

1536-1541

• Dissolution of the monasteries was the set of administrative and legal processes by which Henry VIII disbanded all Catholic monasteries, priories, convents, and friaries in England, Wales, and Ireland; seized their wealth; disposed of their assets; destroyed buildings and relics; dispersed or destroyed libraries; and provided for some of their former personnel and functions.

1534-1541

• Jacques Cartier explores North America for France, sailing up the St Lawrence River, claiming territory for Francis I of France.

1536-1603

• Tudor conquest of Ireland - Henry VIII of England was made "King of Ireland" by the Crown of Ireland Act 1542. The conquest involved assimilating the Gaelic nobility by way of "surrender and regrant"; the confiscation and colonization ('plantation') of lands with settlers from Britain; imposing English law and language; banning Catholicism, dissolving the monasteries, and making Anglican Protestantism the state religion.

1547-1553, Edward VI

Edward VI

• Henry VIII dies, succeeded by his Protestant young son Edward VI by Jane Seymour, who dies before he reaches his majority and rule in his own right.
• Edward's reign was marked by many economic problems and social unrest that in 1549 erupted into riot and rebellion. An expensive war with Scotland, at first successful, ended with military withdrawal from Scotland and Boulogne-sur-Mer in exchange for peace. The transformation of the Church of England into a recognizably Protestant body also occurred under Edward, who even as a youth took great interest in religious matters. Although Henry VIII had severed the link between the English Church and Rome it continued to uphold most Catholic doctrine and ceremony. During Edward's reign, Protestantism was established for the first time in England, with reforms that included the abolition of clerical celibacy and the Mass and the imposition of compulsory English rather than Latin in church services.
• Edward VI dies, age 15. Succession is complicated because his older, half-sister Mary is Catholic.

1553-1558, Mary I

Mary I

• Mary I of England, oldest child of Henry VIII, daughter of Catherine of Aragon, succeeds to the throne. She is the first ruling queen in English history. She attempts to return England to Catholicism and restore church properties that her father Henry VIII had confiscated.
• Mary I weds Philip II of Spain; the marriage is childless. Her death in 1558 ends the attempt to restore Catholicism in England.

1558-1603, Elizabeth I

Elizabeth I, with an inset of the Spanish Armada

• Elizabeth I, Protestant, daughter of Anne Boleyn succeeds to the throne as a ruling queen, reigning 44 years. She never marries, leaving succession in doubt. England begins explorations in North America, aiming at planting colonies on the fringes of Spain's Empire.

1558

• Act of Supremacy, the act of Parliament restoring the English monarch and successors as head of the Church, reversing the policy of Mary I, and restoring Protestantism.

1560s

Protestant Plantations of settlers in Ireland, 1550-1610

• Elizabeth I greatly expands the Tudor conquest of Ireland, aiming to subjugate the entire island and maintain it as a primitive economy with England supplying manufactured goods; beginning of plantation of Protestant settlers.

1578

• Elizabeth I grants a charter to Sir Humphrey Gilbert to explore and colonize territories "unclaimed by Christian kingdoms". The terms of the charter granted by the Queen were vague, although Gilbert understood it to give him rights to all territory in the New World north of Spanish Florida. Led by Gilbert, the English briefly claimed St. John's, Newfoundland, in 1583, as the first English territory in North America at the royal prerogative of Queen Elizabeth I, but Gilbert was lost at sea on his return journey to England.

1584

Richard Hakluyt

• Richard Hakluyt writes A Particuler Discourse Concerninge the Greate Necessitie and Manifolde Commodyties That Are Like to Growe to This Realme of Englande by the Westerne Discoueries Lately Attempted, Written in the Yere 1584, commissioned Sir Walter Raleigh and presented to the Queen. His objective was to recommend the enterprise of establishing English plantations in the region of North America not yet colonized by Europeans, and thus gain the Queen's support for Raleigh's expedition.

1585–1590

• Roanoke Colony, two failed attempts by Sir Walter Raleigh to found the first permanent English settlement in North America. The first colony was established at Roanoke Island in 1585 as a military outpost, and was evacuated in 1586. The more famous second colony, known as the Lost Colony, began when a new group of settlers under John White arrived on the island in 1587; a relief ship in 1590 found the colony mysteriously abandoned. The fate of the 112 to 121 colonists remains unknown.

1586

• Welsh colonist Sir William Herbert plants a Protestant colony in Ireland; he had been granted lands confiscated from the Irish Catholic noble Gerald Fitzgerald, 15th Earl of Desmond. Herbert wrote a defense of colonization in Ireland, Croftus Sive de Hibernia Liber. He warned that colonists should not mix with the indigenous population, and urged the former to compel the latter to assimilate to the colonizers' culture.

1588

• Spanish Armada fails to conquer England.

Title page of Harriot's True Report

• Thomas Harriot published A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia, an account of his voyage to Roanoke; contains an early account of the Native American population encountered by the expedition; it proved very influential upon later English explorers and colonists.

1594-1603

• Nine Years' War was a conflict in Ireland between a confederacy of Irish lords (with Spanish support) and the English-led government. The war was primarily a response to the ongoing Tudor conquest of Ireland. The war was the largest conflict fought by England in the Elizabethan era and one of its costliest. At the height of the conflict (1600–1601) more than 18,000 soldiers were fighting in the English army in Ireland.

1603

• Elizabeth I, "the Virgin Queen", last Tudor monarch dies (March 24)

1603–1649, Stuart Dynasty

House of Stuart rules England, Scotland, and Ireland; successful overseas colonies established; settlement of Protestants in majority Catholic Ireland, England's first colony; successful overseas English settlements established in North America and the Caribbean.

1603-1625, James I of England

James VI of Scotland, I of England

• James VI of Scotland succeeds to the throne of England as James I, ruling each separately in a composite monarchy. James previously The True Law of Free Monarchies, asserting the idea of absolutism and the divine right of kings. As a king of Scotland with separate laws, he had not had the limits of the English Magna Carta on his power as king. English overseas possessions remained in English hands and Scots subjects were barred from participating in settling in the colonies or profiting from trade with them.

1605

• Gunpowder Plot unsuccessful Catholic plot to kill James VI/I by blowing up the English House of Parliament (November 5)

1606

Coat of Arms of the Virginia Company

• Virginia Company established as a corporation to colonize the east coast of North America.

1607

Jamestown's founding commemorated 1907

• Jamestown, founded May 14 by the Virginia Company as a charter company, named for James I; the first permanent English settlement in North America

1607-1610

• English voyages of exploration by Henry Hudson

1608

• Samuel Champlain founds Quebec on the St Lawrence River in New France

1609

• Bermuda settled by the English.

1610

• First printed version of the 1215 Magna Carta

1612

• Bermuda officially becomes part of Virginia.
• John Rolfe, Virginia settler who married Native American Pocahontas, successfully cultivates a strain of tobacco that appeals to English tastes; it became the cash crop central to the Virginia economy throughout the whole colonial era.

1619

Depiction (1921) of the first meeting of the Virginia assembly

• House of Burgesses established, the first representative legislature in the Americas, meeting in Jamestown, Virginia, (July 19) The (Thirteen Colonies) were part of the emerging English empire and all had elected assemblies with a broad suffrage for free, white, male colonists.

Tobacco, enslaved African workers, English colonist (ca. 1750)

• First enslaved Africans arrive in Virginia, August. Slavery came to exist in all Thirteen Colonies and continued after the establishment of the United States. In Virginia, tobacco as a cash crop and the use of enslaved Africans made the Virginia colony flourish economically.

1620

Signing The Mayflower Compact

• Mayflower Compact Nov. 21, 1620, founding document of the Plymouth Colony of Pilgrims, signed aboard the ship Mayflower
• Plymouth Colony established as a self-governing settlement of religious refugees; Pilgrims elect William Bradford governor
• James I asserts sovereignty over the Caribbean island of Nevis.

1623

• St. Kitts colonized by the English.

1624

• Virginia becomes a royal colony

1625

• Barbados claimed for James I of England.

Charles I, 1625-1649

Charles I

1628

• Caribbean island of Nevis settled by the English.
• Petition of Right (7 June 1628), is an English constitutional document setting out specific individual protections against the state. It was part of a wider conflict between Parliament and the Charles I. The king had imposed "forced loans", and imprisoned those who refused to pay, without trial. He used of martial law to force private citizens to feed, clothe and accommodate soldiers and sailors, implying that the king could deprive any individual of property, or freedom, without justification. The House of Commons and the House of Lords united to stop the king's abuse of power.

1629

• The Cambridge Agreement (August 26, 1629)

1629-1640

• Personal rule by Charles I, ruling without Parliament; also known as "The Eleven Years' Tyrrany".

1630

• John Winthrop leads Puritan settlers to Massachusetts Bay. "Great Migration" of Puritans begins, with some 21,000 English men and women migrating by 1642. They come in family groups for religious reasons.

1632

Coat of Arms of Lord Baltimore

• Maryland founded as a proprietary colony with a charter from Charles I to Lord Baltimore as a refuge for English Catholics.
• Island of Antigua settled by colonists from St. Kitts.

1634

• St. Mary's City founded, serves as the capital of Maryland.

1635

• Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts, founds Rhode Island colony
• Hartford, Connecticut founded.

1636

• Harvard College, Cambridge, Massachusetts founded; oldest institution of higher education in America; its founding is important for the idea that the colonial settlement could create its own centers of learning, independent of Europe; Founding Fathers alumni John Adams (1755) and his older cousin Samuel Adams(1740) are most well-known; other alumni signers of the Declaration of Independence are John Hancock (1754), Elbridge Gerry (1765), Robert Treat Paine (1749), William Ellery (1747), William Williams (1751), William Hooper (1760)
• Providence, Rhode Island founded, named for "divine Providence."
• Thomas Hooker departs Massachusetts and helps found the Connecticut colony

1639-1653

• Wars of the Three Kingdoms were a series of conflicts fought between 1639 and 1653 in the kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, then separate entities in a personal union under Charles I. They include the 1639 to 1640 Bishops' Wars, the First and Second English Civil Wars, the Irish Confederate Wars, the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland and the Anglo-Scottish War of 1650–1652. They resulted in the execution of Charles I, the abolition of monarchy, and founding of the Commonwealth of England, a unitary state which controlled the British Isles until the Stuart Restoration in 1660.

1641

• Grand Remonstrance, list of grievances presented to King Charles I of England by the English Long Parliament on 1 December 1641, a key event, precipitating the English Civil War 1642–49.

1642-1651

• English Civil War breaks out, bloody conflict between Royalists supporting Charles I of England and Roundheads supporting Parliament. Establishment in 1645 by Parliament of the New Model Army, a standing army whose recruits were liable for military service anywhere they are ordered rather than just locally.
  • Putney Debates, discussion by senior officers of the New Model Army over the political settlement to follow Parliament's victory over Charles I in the First English Civil War. Most, including Oliver Cromwell favored retaining Charles within the framework of a constitutional monarchy, and radicals such as the Levellers who sought more sweeping changes, including one man, one vote and freedom of conscience, particularly in religion. (28 Oct-8 Nov)

1643

• New England Confederation of colonies established during the English Civil War; primary purpose was to unite the Puritan colonies in support of the Congregational church, and for mutual defense against the Native Americans and the Dutch colony of New Netherland; first cooperative effort of English colonies.

1649–1660, Commonwealth of England, the "Interregnum"

Trial of Charles I

Flag of the Commonwealth

Oliver Cromwell, Lord Protector, 1653–58

Coat of Arms of the Protectorate, 1653–59

• Trial of Charles I for treason by an ad hoc High Court, found guilty, and publicly executed by beheading. Oliver Cromwell is among those signing the death warrant. 30 January. Charles claimed the court had no jurisdiction to try him, asserting he ruled by divine right. The trial and execution of Charles I remain pivotal events that challenged the traditional ideas of monarchy. Patrick Henry references Charles I's fate in his "Give me liberty or give me death" speech.
• Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland, republic established 19 May 1649 by Parliament, lasting until 1660, when the monarchy is restored. It was England's first and only republic.
• Maryland Toleration Act 1649, established religious toleration for all Christians, including Catholics. The colony was founded as a refuge for Catholics and protections continued during the Commonwealth.
• Board of Trade established 1650
• Act prohibiting trade with Barbados, Virginia, Bermuda, and Antigua for recognizing Charles II as ruler rather than Parliament. (October 30)
• Navigation Act of 1651, 1652
• Cromwell reforms the navy, increasing the number of ships, promoting officers on merit rather than family connections, and cracking down on embezzlement by suppliers and dockyard staff, thereby positioning England to mount a global challenge to Dutch mercantile dominance.
• First Anglo-Dutch War 1652–53. The Commonwealth challenges the Dutch Republic, seeking to weaken it as a commercial power and carrier of goods.
• Instrument of Government, first written constitution for England, Scotland, Ireland and overseas possessions adopted 15 December 1653. Power was formally split.
  • Executive power was held by the Lord Protector. The post was elective, not hereditary, but appointment was to be held for life.
  • Legislation was raised in Parliament. These had to be called triennially, with each sitting for at least five months.
  • Provision for a standing army was made "of 10,000 horse and dragoons, and 20,000 foot, in England, Scotland and Ireland, for the defense and security thereof" and "a convenient number of ships for guarding of the seas" (XXVII).
  • Permanent intolerance of Roman Catholicism.
• First Families of Virginia arrive 1647–60. Major migration of royalists fleeing the Commonwealth of England. Virginia comes to be known as the "Old Dominion" for its loyalty to the crown.
• Battle of the Severn, Maryland, a Puritan force fighting under a Commonwealth flag defeated a Royalist force fighting for Lord Baltimore 25 March 1655
• Jews allowed to resettle in England 1655; banned since 1290.
• The Western Design was Cromwell's policy to seize Spanish possessions in the Caribbean and establish Protestant colonies, sending a major fleet of warships and significant manpower. Capture of Jamaica from Spain after England's failure to take Hispaniola. May 1655. Jamaica becomes Britain's richest possession, producing sugar with black slave labor.
• Jews allowed to settle in Newport, Rhode Island, a major center of colonial trade. 1658.
• Death of Oliver Cromwell 1658, succession of his ill-prepared son Richard Cromwell as Lord Protector
• Resignation of Richard Cromwell 1659.

1660–1688, Stuart Dynasty Restoration

1660

Charles II r. 1660–1685

• Restoration of the Stuart monarchy, Charles II returns from European exile
  • Declaration of Breda (4 April 1660) Charles promises a general pardon for crimes committed during the English Civil War and the Interregnum for all those who recognized Charles as the lawful king; religious toleration; and the payment of arrears to members of the army, and that the army would be recommissioned into service under the crown.
• Royal authority returns to the colonies

1663

• Carolina proprietors receive a royal charter for Carolina colony

1664

• English seize Dutch colony of New Netherland, renaming it New York
• Charles II grants New York to his brother James, Duke of York as proprietor. He subdivides it and creates New Jersey.
• Delaware colony founded.

1670

• Charles Town, South Carolina founded

1675-1678

King Philip's War attack

• King Philip's War was an armed conflict in 1675–1678 in New England between a group of indigenous peoples of the Northeastern Woodlands against the English New England Colonies and their indigenous allies. The colonies assembled the largest army that New England had yet mustered, consisting of 1,000 militia and 150 Native allies. The war caused enormous loss of life and tremendous damage economically. The war was the last-ditch effort by Native tribes to expel the colonists from New England, which instead helped create an independent American identity. The New England colonists fought the war themselves without support from any European government or military, giving them a group identity separate and distinct from England.

1676–77

• Bacon's Rebellion, an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers against Governor William Berkeley for his failure to drive Native Americans from the colony's frontiers; rebels torch the capital of Jamestown.

1679

• Habeas Corpus Act 1679 was passed by Parliament to define and strengthen the ancient prerogative writ of habeas corpus, which required a court to examine the lawfulness of a prisoner's detention and thus prevent unlawful or arbitrary imprisonment.
• Province of New Hampshire, a land grant colony given a royal charter.

1679-1681

• Exclusion Crisis during the reign of King Charles II of England bills in Parliament sought to exclude the King's brother and heir presumptive, James, Duke of York, from succession the throne because he was a Roman Catholic. Although none of the bills became law, two new parties formed. The Tories were opposed to this exclusion, were generally conservative. The other party, while the Whigs, supported it. Whigs later became important supporters of the American colonists' position in opposition to actions of the monarch.

1682

• Philadelphia founded by Quaker William Penn, proprietor of the Pennsylvania colony.

1683

• The Lords of Trade issue quo warranto writs for the charters of several North American colonies, including Massachusetts (June 3)

1684

• Revocation of the Massachusetts Charter by Charles II (June 18)

1685

James II, r. 1685–88

• Charles II dies with no legitimate offspring; succeeded by his younger brother, James II.

1686

• Disestablishment of the New England Confederation
• Royal Charter arrives in Boston establishing the Dominion of New England in America (May 14), centralizing the administration of formerly separate crown colonies in New England and the Middle colonies during the reign of James II of England

1688–1700

1688

Expeditionary banner of William III Dutch stadholder during his successful invasion

• Glorious Revolution or the Revolution of 1688, the ouster of Catholic James II of England as monarch by Protestant royals William III, James II's nephew, and Mary II, James II's daughter, becoming joint monarchs, but with power held by Parliament.

1689

Allegory of the English Bill of Rights, with Wm. III and Mary II signing the document

• English Bill of Rights, the Act of Parliament, enumerating basic civil rights and changed the succession to the English Crown, requiring Protestant succession. It remains a crucial statute in English constitutional law. It sets out a constitutional requirement for the Crown to seek the consent of the people as represented in Parliament; sets limits on the powers of the monarch; it established the supremacy of Parliament, including regular parliaments, free elections, and parliamentary privilege. It also listed individual rights, including the prohibition of cruel and unusual punishment and the right not to pay taxes levied without the approval of Parliament. The Bill of Rights received royal assent on 16 December 1689.
• 1689 Boston revolt, Leaders of the former Massachusetts Bay Colony reclaim control of the government. In other colonies, members of governments displaced return to power (April 18)
• Leisler's Rebellion in New York, breaking territory away from the Dominion of New England, ending in 1691.
• Protestant Revolution (Maryland), also known as Coode's rebellion, overthrew the Catholic proprietary government.

Locke's Two Treatises

• John Locke anonymously publishes Two Treatises of Government. The Second Treatise outlines Locke's ideas for a more civilized society based on natural rights and contract theory. The book is a key foundational and influential text in the theory of liberalism.

1690

• Massachusetts Bay Colony the first to issue paper money, with other colonies following.

1691

• Royal charter formally establishing the Province of Massachusetts Bay (Oct 7). Major change in voter eligibility requirements from religious qualifications to land ownership, greatly enlarging the number of men eligible to vote. The charter guarantees freedom of worship for all Protestants, but not Catholics. Major change from election of senior government officials to crown appointment, including governor, lieutenant governor, and judges. The legislative assembly continued to be elected and was responsible for choosing members of the Governor's Council. The governor had veto power over laws passed by the assembly and appointments to the council. These rules differed in important ways from the royal charters enjoyed by the other New England colonies. The most important were that the assembly now possessed the power of appropriation, and that the council was locally chosen and not appointed by either the governor or the Crown, significantly weakening the governor's power.

1693

• College of William & Mary founded in Williamsburg, Virginia. Second institution of higher education in the colonies. Founding Fathers Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe attended.

1699

Governor's Palace, Williamsburg

• Williamsburg becomes the capital of Virginia, named after William III.

1698-1700

Flag of the Company of Scotland

• Darien scheme in Panama, a disastrous Scots colonization project. Barred by the English from participating in their colonies or trading with them, Scots embarked on colonization via the Company of Scotland Trading to Africa and the Indies, with large and small investors. When the colony failed, the financial impact in Scotland was horrendous. The failure made Scotland agree to the Act of Union (1707) that dissolved Scotland's parliament and join with England, forming Great Britain.

1700–1763

1700

• English settlers in North America reach 200,000; French settlement in New France is no more than 12,000. The rest of North America is claimed by a waning Spanish Empire.

1701

• Act of Settlement mandated that succession to the English and Irish crowns to Protestants only, specifically also disqualifying anyone who became a Roman Catholic, or who married one. It had the effect of deposing the remaining descendants of Charles I, other than his Protestant granddaughter Anne, as the next Protestant in line to inherit to inherit the throne.
• Yale College, New Haven, Connecticut founded. American Revolutionary War hero alumnus Nathan Hale.

Anne, Queen of Great Britain and Ireland

1702-1714, Queen Anne

• Anne, Queen of Great Britain was daughter of James II of England. Raised a Protestant, she the last of the House of Stuart to rule England, Scotland, and Ireland. Despite 17 pregnancies, she did not birth a living heir. Her death triggered a succession crisis.

1702

• Queen Anne's War/War of the Spanish Succession prompts German migration to American colonies.

1706

• Benjamin Franklin born in Boston (January 17), oldest of the Founding Fathers

1707

• Acts of Union 1707, two acts of Parliament, one by the Parliament of Scotland in March 1707, followed shortly thereafter by an equivalent act of the Parliament of England, followed by a treaty, which politically joined the Kingdom of England and Kingdom of Scotland into a single "political state" named Great Britain, with Queen Anne as its sovereign. The English and Scottish acts of ratification took effect on 1 May 1707, creating the new kingdom, with its parliament based in the Palace of Westminster.

1710

• British conquest of French Acadia by British regulars and provincial forces

1713

• French settlement on Isle Saint Jean, a strategic location where the Fortress of Louisbourg is constructed, the naval base for the French fleet, close to the Gulf of St Lawrence and the fishing grounds of Newfoundland.

1714-1727, George I

George I

• George I of Great Britain of the German state of Hanover is chosen monarch for Great Britain. Despite his being a German-speaking, fifty-year old ruler of a small Central Europe state, but is Protestant, a Lutheran, and considered a better alternative to the Catholic Stuart pretender to the throne, resident in France. George I came with a living male heir, allaying fears of yet another dynastic crisis.

1721

• Boston smallpox inoculation debate; for inoculation was Cotton Mather

1722

• Samuel Adams born in Massachusetts (September 27)

1727-1760, George II

George II

• George II of Great Britain succeeds to the throne.

1732

George Washington

• Georgia Colony royal charter granted to James Oglethorpe by George II of Great Britain, to be a buffer zone between the Carolinas as Spanish Florida
• Founding Father George Washington born in Virginia (February 22)

1733

• Savannah, Georgia founded by James Oglethorpe
• Molasses Act passed by Parliament, affecting the colonial molasses trade

1735

John Adams

• Founding Father John Adams born in Massachusetts (October 30)

1739

• Stono Rebellion, South Carolina slave insurrection, largest in the colonial era.

1739-1748

• War of Jenkins' Ear was a conflict between Great Britain and Spain. Most of the fighting took place in New Granada and the Caribbean Sea, with major operations largely ended by 1742. The conflict is considered to be related to the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748).

1740

• Negro Act of 1740 passed by the South Carolina Assembly in the wake of the Stono Rebellion
• Plantation Act 1740 by Parliament defined the conditions under which Christian aliens could become naturalized subjects of the British crown.

1742

• Invasion of Georgia, Spanish forces based in Florida attempt to seize and occupy disputed territory held by the British colony of Georgia. Local British forces under the command of the Governor James Oglethorpe rallied and defeated the Spaniards at the Battle of Bloody Marsh and the Battle of Gully Hole Creek, forcing them to withdraw. Britain's ownership of Georgia was formally recognized by Spain in the subsequent Treaty of Madrid.

1743

Thomas Jefferson

• Founding Father Thomas Jefferson born in Virginia, (April 13)

1744-1748

British and British American military besiege the French at Louisbourg, 1745

• King George's War in North America formed part of the War of the Austrian Succession (1740–1748). It was the third of the four French and Indian Wars, taking place primarily in the British provinces of New York, Massachusetts Bay, including Maine, New Hampshire (which included Vermont at the time), and Nova Scotia. Its most significant action was an expedition organized by Massachusetts Governor William Shirley that besieged and ultimately captured the French fortress of Louisbourg, on Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia.

1746

• College of New Jersey, (now Princeton University). Founding Fathers alumni James Madison, Aaron Burr, Benjamin Rush

1747

• Ohio Company of Virginia formed, land speculation company

1748

Lord Halifax

• Lord Halifax appointed head of the British Board of Trade, the only royal office dealing solely with the American colonies; attempts to end previous de facto policy of salutary neglect of colonial affairs, allowing much local autonomy and loose oversight of royal officials. Implementation of a new, unitary and restrictive approach to royal control largely a failure, but renewed in 1763, after the Seven Years' War, called in colonial America the French and Indian War
• Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends the War of the Austrian Succession; territory settlement returns Fortress of Louisbourg to France, captured in 1745 by British regular troops and troops from Massachusetts.

1749

• Parliament passes the Currency Bill; includes a clause declaring that "any colonial legislative enactments contrary to [government] instructions null and void"; pushback from colonial agents and government reserved this for "future consideration."
• Halifax is founded in a deepwater Atlantic inlet at the mandate of the British Board of Trade, becomes the capital of Nova Scotia from Annapolis Royal, soon becomes the base for the Royal Navy in North America (June 21).

1751

James Madison

• James Madison born in Virginia (March 16).

1754-1763

North America circa 1750

Join, or Die woodcut by Benjamin Franklin, 1754

• French and Indian War (1754–1763), a nine-year conflict, the North American portion of the Seven Years' War, a global conflict fought between European powers, that began on the fringes of the British and French empires in North America. Colonial militias play a role; Virginia planter, Col. George Washington makes a name for himself as a military leader

1754

• Albany Congress, the first time in the 18th century that American colonial representatives meet to discuss some manner of formal union; attempts to gain Iroquois support (June 18 – July 11)
• King's College founded New York City, now Columbia University; Founding Fathers alumni Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Robert R. Livingston, Gouverneur Morris, Hercules Mulligan

1755

British expulsion of the Acadians

• British expulsion of French Catholic Acadians from Nova Scotia, a hardening of British colonial policy; thousands who had not taken the loyalty oath to the British crown after the British conquest were summarily uprooted, removing a military vulnerability for the British and making lands available for English and Scots settlers.

Mitchell Map of North America

• The Mitchell Map, Map of the British and French Dominions in North America is published by cartographer John Mitchell, showing the western boundaries of English colonies extending beyond far past Mississippi River; political assertion by Britain of territory it disputed with France; used in the treaty negotiations ending the Revolutionary War in 1783.
• College of Philadelphia later named University of Pennsylvania founded by Benjamin Franklin, who remained a trustee until his death.

1757

Alexander Hamilton

• Prime Minister William Pitt commits to all-out effort in the Seven Years' War, incurring massive debt for the royal treasury
• Alexander Hamilton born British Caribbean island of Nevis (January 11)

1759–60

After a campaign of three months British forces captured Quebec City after the Battle of the Plains of Abraham.

• British Army defeats French Army in New France
  • Quebec, capital of New France falls to the British
  • Montreal falls to the British
  • Pierre de Rigaud, Governor of New France, capitulates to Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst. This ends most fighting in North America between France and Great Britain in the French and Indian War. Amherst becomes the first British Governor-General of territories that would later become Canada plus lands (Ohio Country and Illinois Country) west of the American Colonies (September 8)

George III

1760

• King George II of Great Britain dies, age 77.

1760s

• New England Planters were settlers in Nova Scotia, migrated at the in invitation of the governor and took over lands of the French Catholic Acadians following their forced expulsion; the Planters were Protestants, the first major group of English-speaking immigrants in Canada who did not come directly from Great Britain.

1760-1820, George III

• George III, George II's grandson, age 22, succeeds to the throne. (October 25) He is the first of the Hanoverian monarchs to be born in Britain and speak English as his native tongue. His reign began during the Seven Years' War and continued through the entirety of the American War of Independence, the Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.

1760

• George III on the first day of his reign declares he wants an end to the war, since he saw it benefiting Hanover's interests in Europe, while Britain was being ruined financially by the expense of the war, vastly increasing the national debt.

Gathering Storm, 1763-1775

1763

New map of North America drawn following the Treaty of Paris (1763)

• The Treaty of Paris (February 10) ends the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), called in North America the French and Indian War (1754–1763). France cedes most of its territories in North America to Great Britain, but Louisiana west of the Mississippi River is ceded to Spain. France also recognized the sovereignty of Britain over the islands of Dominica, Grenada, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Tobago. George III is dissatisfied with the terms of the treaty, which he deems favorable to the losing powers France and Spain rather than the winner, Great Britain.

Geo. Grenville

• George Grenville becomes Prime Minister (April 16) – a hardliner, who implemented policies to make the colonies contribute to paying off the massive debt from the Seven Years' War and assert Parliament's authority over the colonies.

Pontiac and war council

Eastern North America in 1775, including the British Province of Quebec (pink), Indian Reserve (pink), and areas open to European-American settlement in the 13 Colonies along the Atlantic coast (red), plus the westward border established by the Royal Proclamation of 1763 and present–day state borders

• Pontiac's War is launched by a Native American confederation in the Great Lakes region under the overall command of the eponymous Ottawa chief. Previously allied with France, they were dissatisfied by the policies of the British under Amherst (April 25, 1763 – July 25, 1766)
• Royal Proclamation of 1763 establishes royal control in territories newly ceded by France, land to which some English colonies claim. To prevent further violence between White settlers and Native Americans, the Proclamation sets a western boundary on the American colonies (October 7). American colonies view this as a limitation on their previous rights to continue expansion westward that encroached on Native American territory.
• Navigation Acts re-enforced by George Grenville as a part of his attempt to reassert unified economic control over the British Empire following the Seven Years' War

1764

• Sugar Act also known as the American Duties Act (April 5), intended to raise revenues, and the Currency Act (September 1), prohibiting the colonies from issuing paper money, are passed by Parliament. These Acts, coming during the economic slump that followed the French and Indian War, required that colonists contribute to paying off the war debt and led to colonial protests.

1765

Official one-penny stamp

• Bankruptcy of Boston private banker and military contractor Nathaniel Wheelwright, who fled to Guadaloupe, leaving £170,000 in unpaid debts resulting in financial disaster for Boston's economy.

Col. Isaac Barré, MP

Anti-Stamp Act propaganda

• Col. Isaac Barré Irish MP defends American colonists in a fiery speech in Parliament during the debate on the Stamp Act.
• Stamp Act enacted by Parliament (March 22) to impose control and help defray the cost of keeping troops in America to control the colonists, imposing a tax on many types of printed materials used in the colonies. Seen as a violation of rights, the Act sparks violent demonstrations in several Colonies. In May, Virginia's House of Burgesses Patrick Henry sponsors the Virginia Resolves claiming that, under British law, Virginians could be taxed only by an assembly to which they had elected representatives
• Quartering Act (March 24), act of Parliament requiring the Colonies to provide housing, food, and other provisions to British troops. The act is resisted or circumvented in most of the colonies. In 1767 and again in 1769, Parliament suspended the governor and legislature of New York for failure to comply

Patrick Henry

• Virginia Resolves (May 29) passed by the House of Burgesses, mainly authored by Patrick Henry, defends colonial rights against Parliament's action; widely disseminated in the colonies.
• Sons of Liberty created in Boston, name taken from a speech by Isaac Barré, MP; with Samuel Adams prominent
• Stamp Act Congress, gathering of delegates from 9 colonies which adopts (October 19) a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and petitions Parliament and the king to repeal the Act
• Rockingham becomes Prime Minister (July 17, 1765-July 1766)

1766

Liberty pole, New York City

• William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham becomes Prime Minister (July 31), serving until 1768.
• Stamp Act repealed by Parliament; Declaratory Act simultaneously issued asserting Parliament's "full power and authority to make laws and statutes ... to bind the colonies and people of America ... in all cases whatsoever"; designed to overrule actions by the legislative assemblies of each colony, which had traditionally held authority (March 18)
• Liberty pole erected in New York City commons in celebration of the Stamp Act repeal (May 21). An intermittent skirmish with the British garrison over the removal of this and other poles, and their replacement by the Sons of Liberty, rages until the Province of New York is under the control of the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress in 1775

1767

Charles Townshend

• Townshend Acts – renewed Parliament assertion of its right to tax the American colonies after the repeal of the Stamp Act, placing duties on many items imported into America, including tea (June 29). The American colonists, who were denied any representation in Parliament, strongly condemned the Acts as an egregious abuse of power.
  • The Revenue Act 1767 (29 June 1767) placed taxes on glass, lead, "painters' colors" (paint), paper, and tea. It also gave the supreme court of each colony the power to issue writs of assistance,general warrants that could be issued to customs officers and used to search private property for smuggled goods.
  • The Commissioners of Customs Act 1767 created a new Customs Board for the North American colonies, to be headquartered in Boston with five customs commissioners to enforce shipping regulations and increase tax revenue for the Crown. Previously, customs enforcement was handled by the Customs Board in London. Due to the distance, enforcement was poor, taxes were avoided and smuggling was rampant. (29 June 1767).
  • The Indemnity Act 1767 (passed on 2 July 1767).
  • The New York Restraining Act 1767 forbade the New York Assembly and the governor of New York from passing any new bills until they complied with the Quartering Act 1765, which required New York to provide housing, food and supplies for the British troops now stationed permanently, despite the end of the French and Indian War. The New York Assembly resisted the Quartering Act on the grounds it did not limit the number of troops to be quartered and that Parliament could not constitutionally tax the colony without its consent. (Passed 2 July 1767).
  • The Vice Admiralty Court Act 1768 passed on 8 March 1768.

John Dickinson

• Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania by John Dickinson are twelve letters widely read and reprinted throughout the Thirteen Colonies, and were important in uniting the colonists against the Townshend Acts.

1768

Boston Harbor 1768, engraving by Paul Revere showing British warships

• Massachusetts Circular Letter (February) by Samuel Adams asserts the Townshend Acts are unconstitutional. British Secretary of State for the Colonies orders colonial governors to stop their own assemblies from endorsing the letter; he also orders the governor of Massachusetts to dissolve the General Court if the colonial assembly does not revoke the letter. By month's end, the assemblies of New Hampshire, Connecticut and New Jersey have endorsed the letter.

John Hancock, owner of the Liberty

• Liberty Riot (June 10) Mob violence in Boston attacking customs officials seizing the ship Liberty of John Hancock for smuggling. British send a warship armed with 50 cannons to occupy Boston harbor to impose order.

Johann de Kalb

• Royal governor of Massachusetts dissolves the assembly (July) after the legislature defies his order to revoke Samuel Adams's circular letter. In August, in Boston and New York, merchants agree to boycott most British goods until the Townshend Acts are repealed. In September, at a town meeting in Boston, residents are urged to arm themselves. Later in September, more British warships sail into Boston Harbor; two regiments of British regular infantry land in Boston and set up permanent military occupation.
• France sends military officer Johann de Kalb on a covert mission to assess American resistance to the British; he later becomes a general in the Continental Army, dies in combat

1769

• To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York broadside published anonymously by local Son of Liberty Alexander McDougall (December 16)
• Hancock's confiscated ship was refitted in Rhode Island to serve as a Royal Navy ship, renamed HMS Liberty, and then used to patrol off Rhode Island for customs violations. On 19 July 1769, the crew of Liberty under Captain William Reid accosted Joseph Packwood, a New London captain, and seized and towed two Connecticut ships into Newport. In retribution, Packwood and a mob of Rhode Islanders confronted Reid, then boarded, scuttled, and later burned the ship on the north end of Goat Island in Newport harbor as one of the first overt American acts of defiance against the British Crown.

1770

The Boston Massacre, an engraving by Patriot Paul Revere. The image frames the incident as British soldiers deliberately firing on a crowd.

• Golden Hill incident in New York involving the Sons of Liberty; British troops wound civilians, including one death (January 19)
• Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain (January 28), serving until 1782, essentially the entire span of the war
• Shooting of Christopher Seider (February 22)
• Boston Massacre (March 5), a small number of British soldiers, harassed by an unruly crowd of 300–400 and pelted with snowballs and oyster shells, fired upon the civilians, killing 5. The soldiers were arrested and tried. Patriot John Adams defended them in court.

1771

• Battle of Alamance in North Carolina (May 16)

1772

• Letters of Junius, a collection of anonymous political pieces written between 1769 and 1772, is published in London. One letter warns the king, "Remember that a throne acquired by one revolution may be lost by another."

Samuel Adams

• Samuel Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence
• Pine Tree Riot (April 13–14), New Hampshire colonists' resistance to royal regulations on the cutting of pine trees
• The Watauga Association in what would become Tennessee declares itself independent (May)
• Gaspee Affair (June 9)

1773

Boston Tea Party

• James Rivington's New-York Gazetteer begins publication (April 22)
• Tea Act passed by Parliament, requiring the colonies to buy tea solely from the East India Company rather than a variety of sources now deemed illegal (May 10)
• Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York published by local Sons of Liberty (December 15)
• Colonists in all major ports refuse to allow tea to be landed
• Boston Tea Party (December 16)

1774

• Benjamin Franklin, Massachusetts' agent in London, is ridiculed before Parliament (January 29)
• Edmund Burke's speech to Parliament On American Taxation, advocating the full repeal of the Townshend Acts April 19
• Lord Dunmore's War (May–October)
• General Thomas Gage appointed military governor of Massachusetts (May 13), replacing civilian governor Thomas Hutchinson
• British Parliament passes a series of bills, called in the colonies the Intolerable Acts, to punish Boston for the Boston Tea Party including:

"Bostonians in Distress" after the closing of the port

• • Boston Port Act (March 31) – closing the port
  • Administration of Justice Act (May 20)
  • Massachusetts Government Act (May 20)
  • A second Quartering Act (June 2)
  • Quebec Act (June 22) set the terms for the governance of territory won from France in the French and Indian War; continuation of French civil law and governmental, and toleration of Catholicism; the territorial boundaries extended through the Ohio Valley, which the colonies of Virginia, Pennsylvania, and Connecticut colonies claimed by their charters and expected to profit from by land sales to white settlers, ignoring the claims of Native Americans.

Edmund Burke

• Anglo-Irish MP Edmund Burke delivers the speech On American Taxation in Parliament, calling for a repeal of the Townshend acts, warning that the draconian and punitive policies against the Americans were wrong and would be counterproductive. He had the speech printed and it was widely distributed.

Carpenters' Hall where the First Continental Congress met

• Powder Alarm, General Gage's secret raid on the Cambridge powder magazine (September 1)
• First Continental Congress, (September 5 – October 26); 12 colonies send delegates; major actions:
  • Joseph Galloway's Plan of Union debated September 1774, calling for the creation of a Grand Council for the American colonies, with each having representation and hold and exercise power within the British Empire; rejected by the Continental Congress.
  • Declaration and Resolves of the First Continental Congress, also known as Declaration of Rights (October 14)
  • Continental Association created (October 20)
  • Petition to the King (October 26) to repeal the Intolerable Acts; addressed to George III, but since 1688 the monarch could not act independently of Parliament, which had passed the acts
• Suffolk Resolves, Suffolk County, Massachusetts The declaration rejected the Massachusetts Government Act and resulted in a boycott of imported goods from Britain unless the Intolerable Acts were repealed. The Resolves were recognized by British statesman Edmund Burke as a major development in colonial animosity leading and he urged British conciliation with the American colonies, to little effect.(September 9)
• Burning of the Peggy Stewart (October 19) in Annapolis, Maryland for contravening calls to boycott British tea landings, "the Annapolis teaparty"
• Capture of Fort William and Mary (December 14)
• Greenwich Tea Party (December 22)

American Revolutionary War, 1775-1783

1775

• Merchants of Bristol and London complain to Parliament about the declining trade to America and the threats to manufacturing in Britain. (January)
• Salem Gunpowder Raid (February 26)
• Conciliatory Resolution (February 27) in Parliament

Edmund Burke

• Edmund Burke delivers a major speech to Parliament "On Conciliation with America", appealing for peace as preferable to civil war and reminding the House of Commons of America's growing population, its industry and its wealth. He warned against the notion that the Americans would back down in the face of force since most Americans were of British descent. (March 22, published in May)
• Restraining Acts 1775 (March 30) designed to divide the colonies, restricted New England colonies from trading with any but Britain and Ireland; restricted New Englanders' access to fishing
• Paul Revere's Midnight Ride (April 18)

Battle of Lexington

• Battles of Lexington and Concord, (April 19) skirmishes between British regular troops and Massachusetts citizen militias, outbreak of armed conflict of the American Revolutionary War
• Siege of Boston (19 April 1775 – 17 March 1776), American blockade of British forces in the port of Boston, garnering other colonies' support, ending with British withdrawal.
• Gunpowder Incident, Virginia (April 21)
• New York Armory Raid (April 23)
• Skenesboro, New York (now Whitehall, New York) captured by Lieutenant Samuel Herrick (May 9)

Fort Ticonderoga, NY

• Fort Ticonderoga captured in upstate New York by Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold, and the Green Mountain Boys (May 10), American victory, major boost psychologically, but importantly the cannons they capture there are moved to Boston and are crucial to forcing the British to evacuate Boston and redeploy to New York City.

Independence Hall in Philadelphia, where the Second Continental Congress met

• Second Continental Congress begins meeting as scheduled (May 10) it functioned as the de facto federation government at the outset of the Revolutionary War by raising militias, directing strategy, appointing diplomats, and writing petitions such as the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and the Olive Branch Petition. All 13 colonies were represented when the Congress unanimously adopted the following year later the Declaration of Independence.
• Battle of Chelsea Creek, Massachusetts (May 27–28). American victory, first capture of a British naval vessel by Colonial forces.
• Battle of Machias (June 11–12)
• Continental Army created by Congress with George Washington of Virginia as commanding general (June 14)

Battle of Bunker Hill, Boston

• Battle of Bunker Hill, Boston (June 17), pyrrhic British victory with large casualties.

George Washington

• Washington arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts to take command of the Continental Army (July 2)
• Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms issued (July 6)
• Olive Branch Petition adopted by the Second Continental Congress and sent to King George III (July 8), last ditch effort for peace.
• King George III issues the Proclamation of Rebellion (August 23), de facto royal response to the Olive Branch Petition
• Continental Navy established by the Second Continental Congress (October 13)
• Snow Campaign (November–December)
• Dunmore's Proclamation issued by Virginia royal governor Lord Dunmore, offering freedom to enslaved men held by rebel masters if they fight for the British (November 7)
• Continental Marines established by Continental Congress. They would become the modern day United States Marine Corps (November 10)
• Battle of Kemp's Landing (November 15)
• Siege of Savage's Old Fields (November 19–21)

Cannons from Ft Ticonderoga

• Henry Knox transported fifty-nine captured cannons (taken from Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point) from upstate New York to Boston, Massachusetts; took 56 days to complete (December 5, 1775 – January 24, 1776)
• Battle of Great Bridge (December 9)

Gadsden Flag, "Don't Tread on Me"

• Gadsden Flag created by South Carolinian Christopher Gadsden first officially displayed. (Dec. 20)
• Battle of Quebec (December 31, 1775) major British victory; American Gen. Richard Montgomery killed, Gen. Benedict Arnold (then fighting for the Americans) wounded. French Canadians do not support the American invasion.

1776

See also: List of American Revolutionary War battles

Common Sense

• Burning of Norfolk, Virginia (January 1)
• New Hampshire ratifies the first state constitution (January 5)
• Publication of Common Sense by Thomas Paine (January 10). It becomes a runaway bestseller, selling 500,000 copies, convincing many colonists that independence was the only course

Richard Price

• Publication of English philosopher Richard Price's Observations on the Nature of Civil Liberty, the Principles of Government, and the Justice and Policy of the War with America, justifying the American cause and refuting arguments for those policies. It goes through 13 printings after its first publication. (February)
• David Mathews appointed Mayor of New York, the highest ranking civilian officer for English North America for the duration of the Revolution
• Battles: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, North Carolina (February 27) North Carolina militia victory; Battle of the Rice Boats, Georgia (March 2–3); Battle of Nassau (March 3–4)

British navy evacuates Boston

• Fortification of Dorchester Heights results in British forces evacuating Boston (March 4–5)
• British evacuate Boston (March 17), end of the successful American yearlong Siege of Boston

Beaumarchais funnels covert aid from France to the Americans

• Silas Deane sent to France by the Continental Congress as a purchasing agent for the Continental Army (March). Beginning of covert French financial aid to the Americans.
• Roderigue Hortalez and Company founded in May in Paris to coordinate clandestine financial and military aid from France and Spain to the American rebels to weaken their rival, Britain.
• The Continental Army departs its first winter encampment at Cambridge, Massachusetts (April 4)
• Congress opens American ports to trade with all other nations except Britain (April 6)
• Oliver Cromwell, a 20-gun corvette, launched in Connecticut (June 13). Named after the Puritan military and political leader, signatory of the death warrant of Charles I in 1649, Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England until his death in office.
• Pennsylvania Provincial Conference (June 18–25) declares Pennsylvania's independence; mobilizes the Pennsylvania militia; organized elections for delegates to a constitutional convention that framed the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776

Board of War

• Second Continental Congress establishes the a standing administrative body, the Board of War and Ordnance, to oversee the Continental Army. (June 12)
• Battle of Sullivan's Island (June 28)
• Thomas Hickey hanged for role in plot to assassinate George Washington (June 28). British Colonial Loyalist New York Mayor David Mathews previously arrested in Flatbush, Brooklyn for his role in the plot (June 22)
• Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet (June 29), American naval victory

Declaration of Independence, 1819 painting by John Trumbull

• Declaration of Independence – Second Continental Congress enacts (July 2) a resolution declaring independence from the British Empire (July 2)
• Largest assembly of British naval fleet in history commences off the coasts of Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey (July 3)
• Proclamation of the Declaration of Independence by the Second Continental Congress (July 4)

Statue of George III pulled down, New York City

• Sons of Liberty topple the statue of King George III in Bowling Green; the lead in the statue was melted down and made into bullets (July 9)
• Battle of Long Island, a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn (August 27) – British victory; British occupation of New York for the duration of the war; Washington's largely intact forces escape capture, a repeated strategy in the war
• British prison ships begin in Wallabout Bay, New York

Staten Island Peace Conference

• Staten Island Peace Conference (September 11) unsuccessful meeting between British authorities and members of the Continental Congress (Ben Franklin, John Adams) to end armed hostilities
• Battles: Landing at Kip's Bay (September 15); Battle of Harlem Heights (September 16)
• Great Fire of New York (September 21–22)
• Nathan Hale captured and executed for espionage (September 22)
• Battles: Battle of Valcour Island (October 11) British victory; Battle of Pell's Point, New York (October 18);Battle of White Plains, New York (October 29) British victory; Battle of Fort Cumberland (November 10–29)Battle of Fort Washington (November 16); Battle of Fort Lee (November 20); Battle of Iron Works Hill (December 23–26)

Washington Crossing the Delaware, painting 1851 by Emanuel Leutze

• Battle of Trenton (December 26) Washington's surprise attack on Hessian mercenaries and victory. The crossing of the Delaware River the night before is an iconic image.
• Thomas Paine publishes The American Crisis, inspiring Americans to continue in their struggle. (1776–1777)

1777

See also: List of American Revolutionary War battles

Early revolutionary flag with the Stars and Stripes, whose design was attributed to Betsy Ross, first used 1777

• Battles: Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton (January 2); Battle of Princeton, New Jersey (January 3).
• Continental Army enters second winter encampment of the war at Morristown (January 6)
• Washington controversially orders smallpox inoculation for troops, which successfully prevented its spread. (February)
• Battles: Forage War (January–March), New Jersey; Battle of Bound Brook (April 13);British burn and loot Danbury, Connecticut (April 26); Battle of Ridgefield (April 27); Battle of Thomas Creek (May 17); Meigs Raid (May 23); First Middlebrook encampment (May 28 – July 2)
• Flag Act of 1777 passed by the Continental Congress specifying the stars and stripes. (June 14) Flag Day is celebrated on the anniversary, but it is not a federal holiday.
• Battles: Battle of Short Hills (June 26); Fort Ticonderoga abandoned by the Americans due to advancing British troops placing cannon on Mount Defiance (July 5);British retake Fort Ticonderoga, New York (July 6); Battle of Hubbardton (July 7)
• Delegates in Vermont, which was not one of the Thirteen Colonies, establish a republic and adopt a constitution, the first in what is now the territory of the United States to prohibit slavery (July 8)
• Battles: Battle of Fort Anne (July 8); Siege of Fort Stanwix (Augus 2–23); Battle of Oriskany (August 6); Battle of Machias (1777) (August 13–14); Battle of Bennington, Vermont (August 16); Battle of Staten Island, New York (August 22); Siege of Fort Henry (September 1); Battle of Cooch's Bridge (September 3)

Washington and Lafayette at the Battle of Brandywine

• Battle of Brandywine (September 11), major British victory in Pennsylvania over George Washington's army in a set-piece battle of nearly equal forces.
• Battles: Battle of the Clouds (September 16); Battle of Paoli (Paoli Massacre) (September 20)
• British occupation of Philadelphia, the American capital (September 26)
• Battle of Germantown (October 4)

Surrender of General Burgoyne, 1821 painting by John Trumbull

• Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery (October 6)
• Battle of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7); surrender of the British army under General Burgoyne. Major American victory, demonstrating to France that the Americans could win in battle, helping lead to the French formally allying with the Americans in 1778.
• Battle of Red Bank (October 22)

Bicentennial Commemorative stamp

• Articles of Confederation, formal legal framework for governance of the U.S. until 1787, adopted by the Second Continental Congress (November 15)
• Battles: Capture of Fort Mifflin, (November 16) and Fort Mercer, (November 18);Battle of Gloucester (1777) (November 25) Battle of White Marsh (December 5 – December 8); Battle of Matson's Ford (December 11)

Baron von Steuben drills Continental soldiers at Valley Forge

• Continental Army in third winter quarters at Valley Forge (December 19, 1777 – June 19, 1778)

1778

See also: List of American Revolutionary War battles

• Charles James Fox opposition Whig MP, who dressed for Parliament in blue and buff, the colors of George Washington, introduces a bill to prohibit the government from sending more regular troops to fight in America, arguing that Britain needed the troops for its own security, since France was preparing for war. (February 2)

Coat of Arms of France

• American treaties of alliance with France with Treaty of Amity and Commerce and Treaty of Alliance (February 6). The full weight of the France, Britain's longstanding rival, provides crucial support (money, army and naval forces, war materiel) to the Americans. France is the first foreign country to recognise the flag of the United States, on the ship of John Paul Jones (February 14)
• France declares war on Great Britain, starting the Anglo-French War (1778–1783) and formally allying with the United States (March 17) The war is transformed from an insurgency within the British Empire and one of its component parts into a global conflict between Britain and France, which seeks to undermine British dominance. Britain must rethink its war strategy since its lucrative Caribbean colonies of Jamaica and Barbados and others and India are now vulnerable to the French and Britain itself could be invaded. British decrease its army in North America, believing it can rely on Loyalists. The British over-estimate the number of Loyalists and their willingness to take up arms.
• Battle of Quinton's Bridge (March 18)

John Paul Jones

• John Paul Jones, Scottish-born commander of the American ship Ranger, attacks Whitehaven in England, America's first naval engagement outside North America (April 20)
• The Great Chain across the Hudson River is completed, blocking navigation (April 30)
• Battles: Battle of Crooked Billet (May 1)Battle of Barren Hill (May 20); Battle of Cobleskill (May 30)
• British troops evacuate from Philadelphia, redeploy to New York City (June 18)
• Whaleboat attack on Flatbush, Brooklyn to kidnap New York Mayor David Mathews and other British and Loyalist figures partially succeeds in securing Captain James Moncrief and Theophylact Bache, President of the New York Chamber of Commerce, for future prisoner exchange (June)
• Battles: Battle of Monmouth (June 28); Battle of Wyoming (July 3);Battle of Ushant (July 27); Battle of Rhode Island (August 29); Baylor Massacre (September 27)
• Culper Spy Ring is begun (October)
• Battles; Battle of Chestnut Neck (October 6); Affair at Little Egg Harbor (October 15); Cherry Valley massacre (November 11)
• Battle of St. Lucia (December 15) (In the West Indies Between the French and the British)
• Capture of Savannah, British victory, launching their southern strategy (December 29)
• Majority of Continental Army in fourth winter quarters at Middlebrook Cantonment (November 30, 1778 – June 3, 1779)
• Major General Israel Putnam chooses Redding, Connecticut as his winter encampment to guard the storehouses in Danbury, Connecticut (1778–1779)

1779

See also: List of American Revolutionary War battles

• USS Bonhomme Richard given by France to the Continental Navy. (February)
• Battles; Battle of Beaufort (February 3, 1779); Battle of Kettle Creek, Georgia (February 14) American victory over Loyalist forces; Siege of Fort Vincennes (February 23–25); Chesapeake raid (May 10–24);Battle of Stono Ferry (June 20)

Flag of Spain, ally of France

• Spain declares war on Great Britain in alliance with France but not in alliance with the U.S. to recover Gibraltar and Minorca; gives material and logistical support to the American Revolution (June 21)
• Battle of Grenada (July 6) (In the West Indies Between the French and the British)
• Battles: Tryon's raid (July 3–14); Battle of Norwalk (July 11);Battle of Stony Point (July 16); Battle of Minisink (July 22); Penobscot Expedition (July 24 – August 14); Battle of Paulus Hook (August 19); Sullivan Expedition (June 18 – October 3); Battle of Newtown (August 29); Capture of Fort Bute (September 7);Siege of Savannah (September 16 – October 18); Battle of Baton Rouge (September 21); Battle of Flamborough Head (September 23)
• Continental Army in fifth winter quarters at Morristown (December 1779 – May 1780)

1780

See also: List of American Revolutionary War battles

• Congress establishes the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture to provide for final adjudication of appeals from state court prize cases involving disposition of ships and cargo allegedly seized from the British (January 15)
• Massachusetts Constitution formally recognizes Harvard College as an educational institution tasked with promoting “virtue and knowledge” to sustain free government.
• Battle of Cape St. Vincent Naval battle off the coast of Portugal; first major naval victory for the British over their European enemies in the war (January 16)
• A stockade known as Fort Nashborough is founded on the banks of the Cumberland River (January 28). Two years later, the site is renamed Nashville
• Some 8,000 British forces under General Henry Clinton arrive in Charleston, South Carolina, from New York (February 1)
• New York cedes to Congress its western claims, including territory west of Lake Ontario (February 1). In 1792, New York will sell the Erie Triangle to Pennsylvania
• Battles: Battle of Young's House (February 3);Battle of Fort Charlotte (March 2–14)

Viceroy Bernardo de Gálvez

• Spanish success against the British – Bombardment of Fort Charlotte, after a two-week siege, Spanish general, colonial governor of Louisiana, and Viceroy of New Spain Bernardo de Gálvez captures Fort Charlotte, taking the port of Mobile (in present-day Alabama) from the British (March 14). Fort Charlotte was the last remaining British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana. Its fall drove the British from the western reaches of West Florida and reduced the British military presence in West Florida to its capital, Pensacola.
• Siege of Charleston (March 29 – May 12). Successful British siege of the major southern colonial port. British Army troops under General Henry Clinton and naval forces under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot besiege Charleston, South Carolina. British ships sail past Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island to occupy Charleston Harbor (April 8); Battle of Monck's Corner (April 14); Battle of Lenud's Ferry (May 6); Fort Moultrie falls to the British (May 7); American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston to the British. The British lose 255 men while capturing a large American garrison (May 12)
• Battle of Martinique (1780) (April 17) (In the West Indies)
• Bird's invasion of Kentucky (May 25 – August 4) (In the west)
• Battle of Waxhaws; a clash between Continental Army forces under Abraham Buford and a mainly Loyalist force led by Banastre Tarleton occurs near Lancaster, South Carolina in the Waxhaws area (close to present-day Buford). The British destroyed the American forces (May 29)
• Battles: Battle of Connecticut Farms (June 7); Battle of Mobley's Meeting House (June 10); Battle of Ramsour's Mill (June 20); Battle of Springfield; with the attempted British invasion of New Jersey stopped at Connecticut Farms and Springfield, major fighting in the North ends (June 23)
• Robert Morris is appointed Superintendent of Finance, a post akin to Prime Minister, by Congress (June 27)
• First French troops arrive in Rhode Island under Rochambeau (July 11).
• Battles: Battle of Williamson's Plantation (AKA Huck's Defeat) (July 12)Battle of Bull's Ferry (July 20–21); Battle of Colson's Mill (July 21); Battle of Rocky Mount (August 1); Battle of Hanging Rock (August 6); Battle of Piqua (August 8)
• John Adams arrives in the Dutch Republic to secure loans and bring the Dutch into the war, lessening the American dependence on France (August 10)

Battle of Camden, British victory, death of de Kalb in battle

• Battle of Camden, major British victory over the Americans in South Carolina. General Cornwallis defeats Gates (August 16)
• Battles: Battle of Fishing Creek (August 18); Battle of Musgrove Mill (August 18);Battle of Black Mingo (August 28); Battle of Wahab's Plantation (September 21)

Benedict Arnold

• Treason of Gen. Benedict Arnold exposed; Major John André captured and executed as spy. (September 23) Arnold becomes a British general and recruits Loyalists
• Battles: Battle of Charlotte (September 26); Battle of Kings Mountain (October 7); Royalton Raid (October 16); Battle of Klock's Field (October 19); Battle of Fishdam Ford (November 9);Battle of Blackstock's Farm (November 20)
• Continental Army enters sixth winter with encampments in New York's Hudson Highlands, Pompton, and Morristown, New Jersey (December)

1781

See also: List of American Revolutionary War battles

• The future King William IV, the only active member of the British Royal Family to visit the former 13 colonies, takes up residence in the Rose and Crown Tavern on Staten Island.
• Pennsylvania Line Mutiny (January 1–29)
• Raid on Richmond (January 1–19)

Battle of Cowpens, S.C.

• Battle of Cowpens (January 17)
• Pompton Mutiny (January 20)
• Battle of Cowan's Ford (February 1)
• Capture of Sint Eustatius (February 3)
• Pyle's Massacre (February 24)
• Articles of Confederation ratified (March 1)
• Siege of Pensacola culminates Spain's conquest of West Florida (March 9 – May 10)
• Battle of Guilford Court House (March 15)
• Battle of Cape Henry (March 16)
• Siege of Fort Watson (April 15 – April 23)
• Battle of Blandford (April 25)
• Battle of Hobkirk's Hill (April 25)
• Action at Osborne's (April 27)
• Siege of Fort Motte (May 8–12)
• Siege of Pensacola (March 9 to May 10)
• Siege of Augusta, Georgia by British (May 22 – June 6)
• Siege of Ninety-Six (May 22 – June 19)
• Invasion of Tobago (May 24 – June 2) (In the West Indies Between the French and the British)
• Raid of Point of Fork (June 5)
• Washington–Rochambeau Revolutionary march. Joint French-American military campaign (June 10 – September 22)
• Battle of Green Spring, Virginia. British victory over the Franco-American forces; last major land battle before Yorktown (July 6)

Battle of the Chesapeake

• Francisco's Fight (July 9–24)
• Battle of the Chesapeake, huge French naval victory over the British navy; France can now prevent the relief of Cornwallis in Yorktown and he is forced to surrender his army to the joint American-French army (September 5)
• Battle of Groton Heights (September 6)

Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia

• Battle of Eutaw Springs (September 8)
• The British surrender at Yorktown, effective end of the land war in North America. (Oct. 19) Joint French-American armies of Washington and Rochambeau and the French navy trap Cornwallis and force the surrender of his entire army. War continues on other fronts until the Peace Treaty of 1783.
• Continental Army returns to Hudson Highlands and Morristown New Jersey for its seventh winter encampment (December)
• Bank of North America chartered (December 31)

1782

• The British House of Commons votes against further war, informally recognizing American independence (February 27)
• Gnadenhutten massacre (March 8)
• Battle of Little Mountain (March 22)
• Newburgh letter sent to George Washington by Lewis Nicola (May 22)
• Crawford expedition (May 25 – June 12)
• Siege of Bryan Station (August 15–17)
• Battle of Blue Licks (August 19)
• Battle of the Combahee River (August 27)
• Siege of Fort Henry (1782) (September 11–13)
• Continental Army moves into its eighth and final winter quarters, at the New Windsor Cantonment and in the Hudson Highlands (November)
• Preliminary Articles of Peace are signed by British negotiator Richard Oswald and representatives of the United States of America (November 30)
• British evacuate Charleston, South Carolina (December 14)
• Last skirmish of the conflict takes place near Cedar Bridge Tavern in Barnegat Township, New Jersey (December 27)

1782–1783

• House of Commons votes to suspend the war in America (27 February 1782); Lord North resigns
• Rockingham becomes Prime Minister, pursues peace (March 27-July 1)
• Preliminary terms for peace between Britain and Americans: British recognition of U.S. independence; British pledge withdrawal of troops; U.S. ceded land in the Great Lakes and Ohio; U.S. granted fishing rights off of Newfoundland (30 November 1782)
• George Washington, citing a clause in the preliminary treaty, insisted on the return of any present or former slaves. As part of documenting and evacuation of former slaves to British North America, the Book of Negroes was compiled in New York City.
• Enslaved Africans in America who escaped to the British during the American Revolutionary War became the first settlement of Black Nova Scotians and Black Canadians.

1783

Signing of the Treaty of Paris showing only the American representatives; the British refused to sit for painting

George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army

Allegorical painting of the British Empire taking in American Loyalists, 1783

• Newburgh Conspiracy (March 10–15)
• Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783 (June 20–24)
• The Treaty of Paris (1783) (September 3) signed between the representatives of the United States and Great Britain, ending the American Revolutionary War; ratification in early 1784
• The British evacuate New York, marking the end of British rule.
• British loyalist refugees retreat to Quebec and Nova Scotia. General George Washington triumphantly returns with the Continental Army (November 25).
• George Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and returns to civilian life at Mount Vernon. (December 23)
• Exodus of Loyalists to Britain, Nova Scotia, and elsewhere, but many remain in their home communities.

1784–1787

1784

• The Treaty of Paris is ratified by the Congress (January 14)
  • Jay–Gardoqui Treaty with Spain fails to be ratified. Negotiations continued until 1786
• The Treaty of Paris is ratified by the British (April 9)
• Ratified treaties are exchanged in Paris between the two nations (May 12)
• "The State of Frankland," later known as Franklin, secedes from North Carolina (August 23)
• Robert Morris resigns as Superintendent of Finance and is not replaced (November 1)

1785

• Congress refuses admission of the State of Franklin to the Union (May 16)
• Treaty of Hopewell (November 28)

1786

• Shays's Rebellion (August 29 – June 1787)
• Annapolis Convention fails (September 11–14)

1787

• Northwest Ordinance enacted (July 13)

Scene at the Signing of the Constitution of the United States, by Howard Chandler Christy (1940)

The Federalist Papers

• Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia (May 25 – September 17)
• The Federalist Papers, essays written anonymously by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay under the pen-name "Publius", give reasons for ratifying the Constitution (October 1787 – May 1788)
• Delaware (December 7), Pennsylvania (December 12), and New Jersey (December 18) ratify the Constitution

1788–1797

1788

• North Carolina reasserted it claim to its Overmountain region, at which time Franklin ceases to exist
• Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York ratify the Constitution
• United States Constitution ratified (June 21)
• Cyrus Griffin resigns as "President of the United States in Congress Assembled" (November 2), and with the exceptions of John Jay and John Knox remaining as Secretaries of Foreign Affairs and War respectively; and Michael Hillegas remaining as Treasurer, the United States of America temporarily ceases to exist.
• The first federal elections for the House of Representatives begin
• 1788–89 United States presidential election (December 15, 1788 – January 10, 1789). George Washington is elected president, and John Adams is elected vice president.

1789

• Philip Pell, only member in attendance, adjourns the Congress of the Confederation sine die (March 2)
• Members of the 1st United States Congress begin to take their seats at Federal Hall, New York (March 4)
• House of Representatives first achieves a quorum and elects its officers (April 1)
• Senate first achieves a quorum and elects its officers (April 6)
• Joint session of Congress counts the Electoral College ballots, certifies that George Washington has been unanimously elected President of the United States (April 6)
• Adams becomes the first vice president (April 21)
• Washington becomes the first president, at Federal Hall in New York City (April 30)
• The Tariff Act of 1789 is signed into law (July 4)
• Charles Thomson resigns as secretary of Congress and hands over the Great Seal, bringing an end to the Confederation Congress (July)
• French Revolution begins (July)
• Judiciary Act of 1789 (September 24)
• Congress approves twelve articles of amendment to the Constitution, the Bill of Rights (September 25)
• North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the Constitution, with a vote of 194–77 (November 21)

1790

• (May 29) Rhode Island becomes the 13th state to ratify the Constitution, with a vote of 34 to 32
• Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton's plans for funding the Federal government and assuming states' debts approved.
• Federal government moves from New York City to Philadelphia.

1791

James Madison, chief author and advocate for the Bill of Rights

• Bill of Rights ratified (December 15).
• Bank of the United States chartered by Congress.
• Congress passes whiskey tax to pay off war debt; citizen resistance.
• Haitian Revolution begins.

1792

• 1792 United States presidential election: George Washington reelected president, John Adams reelected vice president.

1793

• President Washington and Vice President Adams begin their second terms (March 4).
• Napoleonic Wars break out between France and Britain.
• Neutrality Proclamation issued by Washington, leaving its alliance with France (April 22).

1794

• Jay Treaty, the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between His Britannic Majesty and the United States of America, between Great Britain and the U.S. averted war, resolved issues remaining since the 1783 Treaty of Paris and facilitated ten years of peaceful trade between Americans and the British in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars, which had begun in 1792. The treaty angered the French who had been the Americans' ally in the War of American Independence.
• Whiskey Rebellion, a violent tax protest in western Pennsylvania, suppressed by the Federal government.

1795

• Jay's Treaty ratified in June toward resolving post Revolution tensions between the United States and Great Britain. First use of arbitration in modern diplomatic history for Canada–United States border disputes.

1796

• Six Northwest Territory forts and two Upstate New York forts that remained under British control are ceded to the United States.
• 1796 United States presidential election: John Adams is elected president, Thomas Jefferson elected vice president.

1797

• Adams becomes the second president, Jefferson becomes the second vice president (March 4).

1798

• Irish Rebellion of 1798 (May 24 – October 12). Uprising by Irish nationalists against the British government.

1800s

1800

• Thomas Jefferson elected third President.

1804

• Aaron Burr, Vice President of the U.S. kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel.(July 11)

1825

• John Quincy Adams son of John Adams becomes sixth president.

See also

• List of American Revolutionary War battles
• List of George Washington articles
• Territorial evolution of the British Empire
• Timeline of Colonial America
• Timeline of Canadian history

Further reading

Main article: Bibliography of the American Revolutionary War

• Cullen, Joseph P. (1972). The Concise Illustrated History of the American Revolution. For secondary schools, 136pp
• Fremont-Barnes, Gregory, and Richard Alan Ryerson, eds. (2006). The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 vol.)
• George, Lynn (2002). A Timeline of the American Revolution. 24pp; for middle schools
• Morris, Richard B. (7th ed., 1996). Encyclopedia of American History, detailed timeline

External links

• Theamericanrevolution.org: Timeline of the American Revolution
• Timeline of the American Revolution – National Park Service
• Timeline of the American Revolution – Britannica