istoryworld
Events relating to north america
As a retaliation for the Boston Tea Party, the British parliament closes Boston's port with the first of its Coercive Acts
Britain's new Coercive (or Intolerable) Acts include the requirement that Massachusetts citizens give board and lodging to British troops
Encouraged by Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine emigrates to America and settles in Philadelphia
Illiterate visionary Ann Lee, leader of an English sect, the 'Shaking Quakers', crosses the Atlantic to spread the word
Delegates from twelve American colonies meet in Philadelphia and agree not to import any goods from Britain
Pioneer Daniel Boone and other backwoodsmen cut the road west that will bring settlers to Kentucky
Patrick Henry makes a stirring declaration – 'Give me liberty or give me death' – to the Virginia Assembly
John Singleton Copley, already established as America's greatest portrait painter, moves to London
General Gage sends a detachment of British troops to seize weapons held by American Patriots at Concord
Paul Revere is one of the US riders taking an urgent warning to Concord, but he is captured on the journey
The first shot of the American Revolution is fired in a skirmish between redcoats and militiamen at Lexington, on the road to Concord
Delegates from the states reassemble in Philadelphia, with hostilities against the British already under way in Massachusetts
Delegates in Philadelphia select George Washington as commander-in-chief of the colonial army
At Bunker Hill, overlooking Boston from the north, the American militiamen prove their worth against British professional soldiers
Delegates to the Continental Congress make a final bid for peace, sending the Olive Branch Petition to George III
Britain declares the colonies to be in a state of rebellion, and sets up a naval blockade of the American coastline
Yankee Doodle is the most popular song with the patriot troops in the American Revolution
George Washington raises on Prospect Hill a new American flag, the British red ensign on a ground of thirteen stripes – one for each colony
In Common Sense, an anonymous pamphlet, English immigrant Thomas Paine is the first to argue that the American colonies should be independent
George Washington drives the British garrison from Boston, and moves south to protect New York
The revolutionary convention of Virginia votes for independence from Britain, and instructs its delegates in Philadelphia to propose this motion
Virginia's motion for independence from Britain is passed at the Continental Congress of the colonies with no opposing vote
Thomas Jefferson's text for the Declaration of Independence is accepted by the Congress in Philadelphia
John Hancock is the first delegate to sign the Declaration of Independence, formally written out on a large sheet of parchment
George Washington, driven from New York by the British, retreats towards Philadelphia
