TIMELINE
1763
The British end their war with France and Spain, gaining new lands in North America
1764
Parliament passes the Sugar Act
1765
Americans protest the Stamp Act
1766
Parliament repeals the Stamp Act
1767
The Townshend Acts place new taxes on the colonies
1768
British officials seize the ship of Boston merchant John Hancock, leading to violence; the British government sends troops to the city
1770
British troops clash with Boston residents, killing five in what the Americans call the Boston Massacre and the British call the Boston Riot
1773
Boston residents throw crates of tea into the harbor to protest the Tea Act
1774
To punish Massachusetts for the tea protest, Parliament passes a series of laws called the Intolerable Acts in the colonies and the Coercive Acts in Britain; the First Continental Congress meets
1775
April 19: The Battles of Lexington and Concord begin the Revolutionary War
June: George Washington is named commander of the Continental Army; the British suffer heavy losses during their victory at the Battle of Bunker Hill
1776
July 4: The colonies declare their independence from Britain
August 27: The British win the Battle of Long Island
December 26: Washington launches a surprise attack on British forces in Trenton
1777
January 3: The Americans defeat the
British at Princeton, New Jersey
July: A British army marching south from Canada takes Fort Ticonderoga, New York
September: The British win at Brandywine, Pennsylvania, and then take the American capital of Philadelphia; the British suffer heavy losses at the first battle of Saratoga
October: The Americans surprise British forces at Germantown but are driven back; the American victory at the second battle of Saratoga forces the British to turn over 6,000 prisoners and leads to France’s joining the war against the British
1778
June: The British leave Philadelphia for New York and clash with the Americans at Monmouth Courthouse, New Jersey
December: The British invade Georgia
1779
June: Spain declares war on Britain
October: American and French soldiers stage a failed attack on British-held Savannah, Georgia
1780
May: The British take Charleston, South Carolina
August 16: The Americans lose badly at Camden, South Carolina
October 7: The British suffer heavy losses at Kings Mountain, South Carolina
1781
January 17: Americans win the Battle of the Cowpens in South Carolina
March 15: At Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, the British drive off the Americans but suffer heavy casualties
September: A combined U.S.-French force reaches Virginia and begins a siege of General Cornwallis’ forces at Yorktown
October 19: Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
1782
Parliament votes to end the war against America
1783
The British and Americans sign the Treaty of Paris on September 3, which officially gives the United States its independence