WAR FOR AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE

1763

Orders in Council

Places British naval vessels in American waters during peacetime to run down smugglers, thereby threatening highly profitable illegal trading activities.

Proclamation of 1763

Denies colonists access to western lands with the purpose of avoiding frontier warfare with Native Americans; infuriates land-hungry settlers searching for tillable farmland.

1764

Sugar Act

Designed to collect trade duty on foreign molasses and toughen other trading regulations.

Currency Act

Requires colonial governments to stop issuing paper currencies heretofore used to conduct local business transactions and pay private debts.

1765

Stamp Act

Unprecedented legislation to tax colonists directly; heavily resisted through crowd actions and the boycotting of British trade goods.

Quartering Act

Shifts onto the colonists the financial burden of paying for the housing of imperial troops stationed in America.

1767

Townshend Duties

Another plan to tax the colonists, this time indirectly through a series of trade duties; provokes further resistance.

1770

Boston Massacre

Local crowd action against hated redcoats results in the death of five persons who are transformed into martyrs in the defense of American liberties.

1772

Gaspée Affair

Rhode Islanders destroy British naval vessel charged with seizing smugglers, thereby incensing the Crown.

Committee organization

Colonial assemblies organize committees of correspondence to communicate about imperial policies; Massachusetts establishes local committees to be vigilant in relation to possible acts of tyranny.

1773

Tea Act

Colonists defy this plan to market cheaper tea with the Townshend duty attached; Boston Tea Party sets the tone of resistance.

1774

Coercive Acts

Crown closes port of Boston and makes various modifications in the Massachusetts government, actions that many colonists consider tyrannical.

First Continental Congress

Turning down the Galloway Plan of Union and adopting the Suffolk Resolves, Congress offers something less than an olive branch in calling for a complete economic boycott of British trade goods and advising colonists to prepare for possible war.

1775

Lexington and Concord

Warfare breaks out when British regulars attempt to seize powder and arms at Concord.

Lord Dunmore's Proclamation

Offers freedom to slaves and indentured servants in Virginia who who will fight for the Crown.

Invasion of Canada

Patriot attempt to conquer Quebec Province as the fourteenth colony in rebellion does not succeed.

1776

Common Sense

Thomas Paine demands independence and denounces colonists too faint-hearted to break free of perceived British tyranny.

Massive British buildup

Crown musters huge martial force, including Hessians, to put down the American rebellion.

Declaration of Independence

Second Continental Congress proclaims American desire to become a separate nation.