Events of the American Revolution

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Events of the American Revolution

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• The Boston Tea Party was one of the most
  effective pieces of political theater ever
  staged. John Adams, no fan of mob action, wrote
  of the dumping of the tea "There is a dignity, a
  majesty, a sublimity, in this last effort of the
  patriots that I greatly admire."
• http//www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/perspectives/daily
  life.html

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• About 50 members of the political organization,
  The Sons of Liberty, boarded 3 ships in Boston
  Harbor. Some were dressed, not very convincingly,
  as Mohawk Indians. In a very orderly and quiet
  fashion, they plunked sterling9,659 worth of
  Darjeeling into the sea.

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• The Boston Tea Party was a protest of British tax
  policies. It came in the midst of a boycott of
  English tea during which the East India Company,
  which owned the tea, had seen its profits plummet
  in the wake of a boycott of tea in the colonies.
  

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• The tea was shipped by an exporter in London,
  which is still in existence and sells a tea
  called "Boston Harbour."
  

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• 1760 - King George III ascends to the throne of
  England.
  
• 1763 - Treaty signed between England and France
  ending the French and Indian War. Canada and the
  continent east of the Mississippi River added to
  Great Britain's growing empire.
• 1765 - Parliament passes The Stamp Act as a means
  to pay for British troops on the American
  frontier. Colonists violently protest the
  measure.
• 1766 - March 18. Stamp Act repealed, but on the
  same day parliament passes the Declaratory Act
  asserting its right to make laws binding on the
  colonies.
• 1768 - October. British troops arrive in Boston
  to enforce
  
• customs laws.
• 1770 - March. Four workers shot by British troops
  stationed
  
• in Boston. Patriots label the killings "The
  Boston Massacre."
  

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• 1773 - December. Massachusetts patriots dressed
  as Mohawk Indians protest the British Tea Act by
  dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.
  

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• 1774 - January. The Privy Council reprimands
  Benjamin Franklin in London for leaking letters
  damaging to the Royal Governor of Massachusetts.
  September. First Continental Congress convenes in
  Philadelphia.

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• 1775 - April. Shots fired at Lexington and
  Concord. "Minute Men" force British troops back
  to Boston.
  
• George Washington takes command of the
  Continental Army.

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• 1776 - January. Thomas Paine's Common Sense
  published. Becomes an instant best seller and
  pushes the colonies closer to independence.
  

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• 1776 - July 4. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of
  Independence ratified by the Congress.

You might have thought that George Washington was
in Philadelphia with Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin
Franklin, John Adams and the other delegates of
the Continental Congress as they wrote the
Declaration of Independence, but he wasn't. In
July 1776, Washington was in New York with his
troops. On July 9, he received his copy of the
Declaration with a note from John Hancock telling
Washington to share the news with the troops.
http//www.loc.gov/exhibits/declara/declara2.html

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• 1776 - July. A huge British force arrives in New
  York harbor bent on crushing the rebellion.
  
• 1776 - August. Continental Army routed at Long
  Island, New York.
  
• 1776 - December 26. Washington crosses the
  Delaware River and captures a Hessian force at
  Trenton, New Jersey.

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• December. In desperate need of financing and
  arms, Congress sends Benjamin Franklin to France
  to urge the French to ally with America.
  

http//www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/perspectives/globa
lvillage.html

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• 1777 - July. A British force led by John Burgoyne
  takes Fort Ticonderoga in a devastating loss to
  the Americans. The Marquis de Lafayette arrives
  in America.
• Washington defeated at Brandywine (September 11)
  and Germantown (October 4). Philadelphia is lost
  to the British.
  
• October 17. Americans capture Burgoyne and his
  army at Saratoga.
  

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• 1778 -February. France signs a treaty of alliance
  with the United States and the American
  Revolution becomes a world war.
  

http//www.pbs.org/ktca/liberty/perspectives/milit
ary.html

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• 1780-'81 - Americans "lose" series of engagements
  in the south, but exact a heavy toll on the
  British army.
  
• October 19. A miraculous convergence of American
  and French forces traps Lord Cornwallis at
  Yorktown, Virginia. He surrenders his British
  army.
• September. A peace treaty is signed between Great
  Britain and the United States.

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• December. George Washington gives up command of
  the Continental Army and, to the astonishment of
  foreign observers, returns to private life. He
  would later become President.

Here, George Washington is seen in the black
velvet suit that he wore on official occasions
during his presidency (17891797). The portraits
symbolism clearly indicates that the head of the
new republic was a citizen himself, a concept of
great importance in the late eighteenth century,
the age of revolution.
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• 1783-'87 - Noah Webster creates and publishes a
  speller which helps standardize American
  English.
  
• 1785-'86 - Treaty talks with Spain for rights to
  navigate the Mississippi fail because of regional
  conflicts between northern and southern states.
  
• 1786-'87 - Shay's Rebellion, an armed
  insurrection of debt-ridden farmers in
  Massachusetts, quashed by the state militia.
  
• Northwest Ordinance adopted by Confederation
  Congress. Prohibits slavery in territories and
  provides a means for new states to enter the
  union.

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• 1787 - In May, delegates from all 13 states
  arrive in Philadelphia to rewrite the Articles of
  Confederation. http//www.eff.org//Legislation/Fre
  edom_Shrine/articles_of.confederation
• 1787 - September 18. The Constitutional
  Convention adjourns having passed a National
  Constitution that needs ratification from 3/4 of
  the states.
• 1788 - The crucial states of Virginia (June 25)
  and New York (July 26) become the 10th and 11th
  states to pass the Constitution.
  
• 1791 - December. A Bill of Rights
• passed by the 1st Congress of the
• United States.

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http//americanhistory.com/history/
21
Declaring Freedom!
http//www.historyplace.com/sounds/ushistory/thp-d
ec-indep.ram
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• The Statue of Liberty was given to the United
  States by France in recognition of the friendship
  established between the 2 nations during the
  American Revolution.
• It was originally intended as a gift to celebrate
  the 100th anniversary of America's independence
  in 1876. Raising funds to design, ship and
  construct the massive structure took longer than
  anticipated, however, and the statue didn't find
  its home in New York harbor until 1886.
• Once there, it quickly became the world's most
• widely recognized symbol of liberty. Immigrants
• streaming into the United States by way of
  nearby
  
• Ellis Island were guided to America's shores, in
  a
  
• literal and a symbolic sense, by Liberty's
  torch.