Timeline of the American Revolution

Timeline of the American Revolutiontimeline of the political upheaval culminating in the 18th century in which Thirteen Colonies in North America joined together 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 with the passage of 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.

1600s

1629

1681

1684

  • Revocation of the Charter by Charles II (June 18). The Massachusetts writ is never served for technical reasons, and the agreement is formally vacated when the chancery court issues a scire facias writ formally annulling the charter. The proceedings are arranged so that the time for the colonial authorities to defend the charter expires before they even learn of the event.

1686

1689

1691

1750s

1754

  • Albany Congress (June 18–July 11) The first time in the 18th century that American colonial representatives meet to discuss some manner of formal union.

1760s

1760

1761

  • New England Planters immigrate to Nova Scotia, Canada (1759–1768) to take up lands left vacant after the Expulsion of the Acadians.

1763

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 lines.

1764

  • The Sugar 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, are resented by the colonists and lead to protests.

1765

  • To help defray the cost of keeping troops in America, Parliament enacts (March 22) the Stamp Act, 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. Virginia's House of Burgesses adopts (May 29) the Virginia Resolves claiming that, under British law, Virginians could be taxed only by an assembly to which they had elected representatives.
  • Delegates from nine colonies attend the Stamp Act Congress which adopts (October 19) a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and petitions Parliament and the king to repeal the Act.
  • Parliament enacts (March 24) the Quartering Act, 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.

1766

  • The British Parliament repeals (March 18) the unpopular Stamp Act of the previous year, but, in the simultaneous Declaratory Act, asserts its "full power and authority to make laws and statutes ... to bind the colonies and people of America ... in all cases whatsoever".
  • 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

1768

  • In April, Britain's Secretary of State for the Colonies, Lord Hillsborough, orders colonial governors to stop their own assemblies from endorsing Adams' circular letter. Hillsborough also orders the governor of Massachusetts to dissolve the general court if the Massachusetts assembly does not revoke the letter. By month's end, the assemblies of New Hampshire, Connecticut and New Jersey have endorsed the letter.
  • In May, a British warship, HMS Romney, armed with 50 cannon sails into Boston harbor after a call for help from custom commissioners who are constantly being harassed by Boston agitators. In June, a customs official is locked up in the cabin of Liberty, a sloop owned by John Hancock. Imported wine is then unloaded illegally into Boston without payment of duties. Following this incident, customs officials seize Hancock's sloop. After threats of violence from Bostonians, the customs officials escape to an island off Boston, then request the intervention of British troops.
  • In July, the governor of Massachusetts dissolves the general court after the legislature defies his order to revoke Adams' 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, British warships sail into Boston Harbor, then two regiments of British infantry land in Boston and set up permanent residence to keep order.

1769

  • To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York broadside published by the local Sons of Liberty (c. December).

1770s

1770

  • Golden Hill incident in which British troops wound civilians, including one death (January 19)
  • Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain (January 28)
The Boston Massacre, an engraving by patriot Paul Revere.

1771

1772

1773

1774

1775

1776

1777

1778

1779

1780s

1780

Surrender of Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, 1820 painting by John Trumbull

1781

1782

1783

Washington's Entry into New York by Currier & Ives (1857)

1784

1785

1786

1787

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)
  • November 2 – Cyrus Griffin resigns as "President of the United States in Congress Assembled", 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.
  • United States presidential election (December 15, 1788-January 10, 1789)

1789

1790s

1791

1795

  • Jay 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
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See also

References

  1. Mary Beth Norton 1774: The Long Year of Revolution (2020) online review by Gordon S. Wood

Further reading

  • Fremont-Barnes, Gregory, and Richard Alan Ryerson, eds. The Encyclopedia of the American Revolutionary War: A Political, Social, and Military History (5 vol. 2006)
  • Morris, Richard B. Encyclopedia of American History (7th ed. 1996)
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