MAY: French and Indian War begins on the North American Continent. On the Precipice | American Battlefield Trust

JULY: Benjamin Franklin proposes a single government for the Colonies. It is known as the Albany Plan of Union, the Albany Convention of 1754, or the Albany Congress. Albany Plan of Union 1754 | American Battlefield Trust 

FEBRUARY: The Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years War in Europe and the French and Indian War in North America. The national debt of England soars. The French and Indian War (1754-1763): Its Consequences | American Battlefield Trust

OCTOBER: King George III of England issues the Proclamation of 1763, which bans all colonists from settling beyond the Appalachian Mountains. It reserved that land for the Native Americans. Royal Proclamation of 1763 | American Battlefield Trust

Twelve letters penned by John Dickinson opposing Parliamentary actions are published in the years 1767 and 1768. Letters From a Farmer in Pennsylvania – Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs – State of Delaware

JUNE/JULY: The Townshend Acts. These were a series of Acts passed by Parliament which concerned the taxing of goods imported from Great Britain. This included tea, glass, paper, and dyestuffs. The purposes of the acts were to raise revenue, enforce compliance with trade regulations and to punish New York for refusing to comply with the 1765 Quartering Act, and establish the precedent that the British Parliament had the right to tax the colonies.

PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY: New York stood up against the English Parliament by refusing to comply with the Quartering Act. They established a two-fold principle. First, supporting an unjust law gives precedence that you accept that law. Second, if you are non-compliant then you are establishing the fact that it is unjust. We call this Civil Disobedience.

The Virginia House of Burgess (Assembly) was dissolved following a protest against colonial treason trials held in Westminster.

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JUNE: The Boston Assembly demands the rights of colonies and threatens succession.

A British ship called the Gaspee runs aground in Rhode Island while patrolling for smugglers. A local mob burns it and participants are later accused of treason. (see timeline on the right).

Samuel Adams forms Committees of Correspondence in Massachusetts, organized to take action against Great Britain.

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MAY: The Tea Act was an attempt by Parliament to undercut smugglers by reducing the price of tea to the colonies.

DECEMBER: Boston Sons of Liberty dump 342 chests of tea (from three ships) into the Boston Harbor; and the Virginia House of Burgesses appoints Provincial Committee of Correspondence.

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JANUARY: New York and New Jersey establish Committees of Correspondence. Colonists publicly tar and feather customs officer John Malcolm. Benjamin Franklin is accused of “leaking” private letters from Governor Thomas Hutchison who was reporting on the Boston Tea Party. Massachusetts Assembly demands removal of Governor Thomas Hutchinson; these demands are ignored.

FEBRUARY: The Coercive Acts or Intolerable Acts were a series of laws in response to Boston Tea Party. These are the Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Government Act, Administration of Justice Act, Quartering Act, and Quebec Act.

MARCH: Governor Thomas Hutchinson dissolves the Massachusetts Assembly.

APRIL: The Sons of Liberty dump East India Company tea from the ship London into the New York Harbor.
In the Logan’s Creek, Virginia Raid, frontiersmen killed a group of Indians; retaliation leads to Lord Dunmore’s War.

MAY: Mob burns effigies of Governor Thomas Hutchinson and Solicitor General Alexander Wedderburn for their handling of the Hutchinson Letters Affair. Boston Committee of Commerce calls for non-importation of British goods until Tea Act and Boston Port Act are repealed. General Thomas Gage (and four infantry regiments) arrive in Boston; Gage is Commander-in-Chief of British forces and replaces Hutchinson as Royal Governor of Massachusetts. Rhode Island requests the organization of an intercolonial body to challenge the Intolerable Acts; this request leads to the First Continental Congress.

Massachusetts Government Act and Administration of Justice Act annulled the Massachusetts Charter gives more authority to Royal Governor (now General Thomas Gage); replaces the elected Governor’s Council with governor-appointed Mandamus Councilors; authorizes the governor to move trials of British officials accused of committing capital crimes (while performing their duties) to another colony or to Britain if he believed a fair trial would not occur; also, town meetings were not permitted without consent of Royal Governor.

Virginia Governor John Murray, Lord Dunmore dissolves the Virginia Assembly. It was the first representative government in the North America colonies, having been established in 1619.

The just dissolved Virginia Assembly meets at Raleigh Tavern in Williamsport to call for an intercolonial congress, express support for Massachusetts, and advocate for economic retaliation; they agree to reconvene on August 1, 1774, for what is now known as the Virginia Convention.

JUNE: The Quartering Act is amended and expanded to all colonies; requiring them to provide provisions and housing for British soldiers; allowing a governor to seize unused buildings as necessary.

Solemn League and Covenant leader Joseph Warren publishes an agreement calling for towns and merchants to stop all trade with Great Britian; this is a precursor to the Continental Association.

Massachusetts Assembly meeting in Salem and approves a resolution calling for an intercolonial congress and choose delegates.

Lord Dunmore (Governor of Virgina) calls out militia in response to Shawnee uprising on frontier. In response, Governor (General) Gage suspends the Assembly. Samuel Adams convenes a Boston Town Meeting to discuss paying for tea destroyed in Boston Tea Party the colonists vote against paying for the tea.

Rhode Island selects delegates to the First Continental Congress.

King George gives assent to Quebec Act, which formed a formal government in Canada and guaranteed religious freedom in Canada, ensuring that the Roman Catholic Church would continue. Colonists were particularly angry that the act enlarged Quebec Province to the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, eliminating territories claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Virginia.

JULY: Maryland, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey select delegates to the First Continental Congress.

AUGUST: Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina, Connecticut, and North Carolina select delegates to First Continental Congress. The Virginia Association establishes a non-importation agreement that prohibits Virginia merchants from importing goods from British. Georgia declines to send representatives to First Continental Congress; instead, they adopt a Declaration of Rights.

Considerations on the Nature and Extent of the Legislative Authority of the British Parliament published; written by James Wilson, a Philadelphia lawyer, this document asserted the American colonies were separate political entities under the British Crown and, thus, were not subject to direct Parliamentary control.

SEPTEMBER: The Massachusetts Powder Alarm. General (Governor) Gage sends 260 Redcoats to seize 250 barrels of gunpowder in Somerville (six miles from Boston); the gunpowder is taken to Boston and rumors spread that British had attacked Boston and were burning the city. In response, thousands of Massachusetts militia gather at Cambridge; before dispersing, they force some of the appointed Mandamus Councilors to either refuse their positions or resign.

FIRST CONTINENTAL CONGRESS: 5 Sept 1774 and opens with a prayer by Reverend Jacob Duche. (see timeline on the right)

General Gage orders his troops to build defensive fortifications at Boston Neck to secure the city and protect it against another mass gathering of Massachusetts militia forces. First Continental Congress adopts Suffolk Resolves as its first official action; and orders the document to be printed in colonial newspapers. They reject the Galloway Plan of Union.

OCTOBER: British attacks and burn the coastal towns of Falmouth, Massachusetts and Norfolk, Virginia; and the Virigina militia defeats native forces at Point Pleasant, in what is now West Virginia, ending Lord Dunmore’s War; and The tea ship “Peggy Stewart” is burned at Annapolis, Maryland in the Annapolis Tea Party event.

PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY: The First Continental Congress “Continental Association” prohibited the colonies from participating in the slave trade. (see timeline to the right)

The First Continental Congress adopts the “Declaration of Rights and Grievances” and approves the formal “Humble Petition to the King”; and a “Letter to the Inhabitants of the Province of Quebec,” calling on Quebec to join the colonial cause. It adjourns on 26th of October.

Philadelphia Troop of Light Horse organized, one of the first colonial military units and was comprised of twenty-six men and horses; and colonists seize a cache of British weapons at Newport, Rhode Island and take them to Providence.

Capture of Fort William and Mary in Portsmouth: New Hampshire when the colonists learn that the British were planning to raid another colonial supply deport. They take the initiative and storm the Fort, seizing gunpowder and canons. The supplies are used to arm the New Hampshire militia as well as used in the Battle of Bunker Hill. During the battle, the British colors were lowered, marking the first time Americans had lowered the British flag at a fort.

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MARCH:

PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY: Liberty is Worth Dying. For Patrick Henry gives his famous speech in St. John’s Church, in which he said, “I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death! (see timeline to the right)

APRIL: The Midnight Rides of Paul Revere and William Dawes.

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first attempts to disarm Americans on their home territory.

MAY: Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys seize Fort Ticonderoga in New York. Canons are taken to Boston, and the Second Continental Congress convenes.

JUNE: Continental Army is established on June 14th. George Washington is appointed Commander-in-Chief in Philadelphia.

The Battle of Bunker Hill in Boston.

JULY: George Washington arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and assumes command of the Continental Army.

PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY: Congress approves the Olive Branch Petition, a final attempt to avoid war with Britain. (see timeline on the right).

“Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms“, was passed by Congress. It is a resolution written by Thomas Jefferson, which explained why the colonies had gone to war.

SEPTEMBER: Colonel Bendict Arnold begins the invasion of Canada through Maine.

OCTOBER: Continental Navy is established on the 13th.

NOVEMBER: Continental Marine Corps established on the 10th. The Americans capture Montreal in Canada under the command of General Richard Montgomery and General Benedict Arnold, and the First Siege of Ninety Six in South Carolina under the command of Major General Nathaniel Greene.

DECEMBER: In the Battle of Great Bridge, Americans seized Norfolk, Virginia and took control from Lord Dunmore, under the command of Colonel William Woodford.

At the Battle of Great Cane Brake, South Carolina, the Patriots, led by Colonel Richard Richardson, and Major William “Danger” Thomson waged a successful campaign against Loyalists in the colony.

The “Snow Campaign was a 30-hour march through heavy snow, sleet, and rain for Colonel Richardson’s forces as they returned to the coast of South Carolina.

Americans lose the Battle for Quebec at a great loss, including the death of General Richard Montgomery and Great Britain hires 29,000 Hessian soldiers sent to support Britain by their German rulers.

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JANUARY: Benjamin Franklin drafts a plan of union basing representation in congress and contribution to the common treasury on based the male population called “Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union”, and Thomas Paine publishes his pamphlet, “Common Sense”.

FEBRUARY: The first significant victory for the Patriots. Loyalist forces charged across a partially dismantled Moores Creek Bridge in North Carolina. Nearly 1,000 Americans waited quietly with cannons and muskets poised to fire. This battle marked the last broadsword charge by the famous Scottish Highlanders.

MARCH: The Battle of Nassau, Bahamas, tested the new Continental Navy and Marine forces. A victory that saw the first Marine Corps amphibious assault and the first an American flag was raised over a foreign stronghold, and the British forces evacuate Boston, Massachusetts.

APRIL: North Carolina becomes the first colony to authorize its delegates to vote for independence when it passes the Halifax Resolves.

MAY: Congress passed a resolution urging each state to give its delegates authority to vote for independence

JUNE: Virgina Delegate Richard Henry Lee proposes independence to the Second Continental Congress, known as the “Lee Resolution” .

The Second Continental Congress appoints the “Committee of Five” to draft a declaration of independence; the committee includes Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston.  Seventeen days later they present a draft resolution.

Battle of Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina became the first decisive defeat of the British Navy by the Americans. Sullivan’s Island Battle Facts and Summary | American Battlefield Trust

Cherokee Nation begin their attacks on the southern frontier.

PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY: Does Liberty truly apply to all peoples living in what will become the United States of America? The answer will take generations and more wars to resolve. (see timeline to the right)

The Second Constitutional Congress passes the Lee Resolution after two attempts, which opens the door to an official declaration of independence.

THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENCENCE: July 1 – August 2, 1776 (see timeline to the right)

JULY 1: Debates on the content of the Declaration of Independence begin.

JULY 2: The Second Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence. and prints about 200 copies. Less than 30 survive today.

JULY 5: Copies of Declaration of Independence are sent to various committees, assemblies, and to commanders of the Continental troops.

JULY 6: Declaration of Independence is printed in a newspaper for the first – Pennsylvania Evening Post.

JULY 8: Colonel John Nixon gives the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence to a crowd on State House Yard (now Independence Square).

JULY 19: The Second Continental Congress orders the Declaration engrossed for signatures. They change the title from “A Declaration by the Representatives of the United States of America in General Congress Assembled” to “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America”.

AUGUST 2: The final Declaration is signed by 50 of the 56 signers; five more will sign later in 1776. Thomas McKean, signs sometime after that. Only one handwritten, signed Declaration of Independence remains today, which is on display in the National Archives located in Washington, District of Columbia.

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