Road to Revolution Timeline

  • Navigation Acts

    A series of laws passed by the British Parliament that imposed restrictions on colonial trade.
  • End of Salutary Neglect

    when the British started placing and reinforcing restrictions and tax policies on the colonies following the French and Indian War.
  • Proclamation of 1763

    prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War.
  • Sugar Act

    cut the duty on foreign molasses from 6 to 3 pence per gallon, retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar, and prohibited the importation of all foreign rum.
  • sons of liberty

    Established to undermine British rule in colonial America and was influential in organizing and carrying out the Boston Tea Party.
  • Stamp Act

    required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards.
  • Townshend Acts

    To help pay the expenses involved in governing the American colonies, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.
  • Boston Massacre

    British soldiers shot into a crowd of rowdy colonists in front of the Custom House on King Street, killing five and wounding six. The Boston Massacre marked the moment when political tensions between British soldiers and American colonists turned deadly.
  • Committees of Correspondence

    Promoted manufacturing in the Thirteen Colonies and advised colonists not to buy goods imported from Britain
  • Boston Tea Party

    A protest by colonists who objected to British taxation without representation, and demonstrated by dumping British tea taken from docked ships into the harbor.
  • First Continental Congress

    A meeting of representatives from twelve of the thirteen colonies in Philadelphia, called to respond to the Intolerable Acts.
  • Intolerable Acts

    A series of four laws passed by the British Parliament to punish the colony of Massachusetts Bay for the Boston Tea Party.
  • Patrick Henry “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech

    Argued that war with Britain was inevitable and a militia should be raised to defend American liberties.
  • Lexington and Concord

    Marked the start of the American War of Independence.
  • Second Continental Congress

    Meetings of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that united in support of the American Revolution and the Revolutionary War
  • Olive Branch Petition

    a petition sent by the citizens of British colonies in America to the British government and King George III.
  • Thomas Paine “Common Sense”

    Advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies.
  • Declaration of Independence

    States the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based.