Timeline of the American Revolution

1600s

1629

• The Cambridge Agreement stipulates that the Massachusetts Bay Colony will be under local control in New England.

  1681

• The Lords of Trade issues quo warranto writs for the charters of several North American colonies, including Massachusetts.

  1684

• Revocation of the Charter by Charles II. 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

• Charter arrives in Boston establishing the Dominion of New England in America.

  1689

• 1689 Boston revolt Leaders of the former Massachusetts Bay Colony reclaim control of the government. In other colonies, members of governments displaced return to power.

  1691

• William III and Mary II approve the charter formally establishing the Province of Massachusetts Bay.

  1750s

1754

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

  1760s

1760

• Pierre de Rigaud, Governor of New France, capitulates to Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst. This ends most fighting in North America between France and Great Britain in the French and Indian War. Amherst becomes the First British Governor-General of territories that would later become Canada plus lands west of the American Colonies.
• King George II of Great Britain dies and is succeeded by his grandson George III.

  1761

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

  1763

• The Treaty of Paris formally ends the French and Indian War. France cedes most of its territories in North America to Great Britain, but Louisiana west of the Mississippi River is ceded to Spain.
• Previously allied with France, Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region resist the policies of the British under Amherst. Pontiac's Rebellion begins, lasting until 1766.
• King George's Royal Proclamation of 1763 establishes administration in territories newly ceded by France. To prevent further violence between settlers and Native Americans, the Proclamation sets a western boundary on the American colonies.
• The Navigation Acts are re-enforced by George Grenville as a part of his attempt to reassert unified economic control over the British Empire following the Seven Years' War.

  1764

• The Sugar Act, intended to raise revenues, and the Currency Act, 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 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 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 a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and petitions Parliament and the king to repeal the Act.
• Parliament enacts 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 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. 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

• The Townshend Acts, named for Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, are passed by Parliament, placing duties on many items imported into America.

  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,, 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.

  1770s

1770

• Golden Hill incident in which British troops wound civilians, including one death
• Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain
• Boston Massacre

  1771

• Battle of Alamance in North Carolina

  1772

• Samuel Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence
• Pine Tree Riot
• Gaspee Affair
• Somerset v Stewart A British court rules there is nothing in English law that supports slavery in England itself.
• The Watauga Association in what would become Tennessee declares itself independent.

  1773

• James Rivington's New-York Gazeteer begins publication
• Parliament passes the Tea Act
• Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York published by local Sons of Liberty
• Boston Tea Party

  1774

• A decisive year.
• Benjamin Franklin, Massachusetts' agent in London, is questioned before Parliament
• Lord Dunmore's War
• British pass Intolerable Acts, including:
• * Boston Port Act
• * Administration of Justice Act,
• * Massachusetts Government Act,
• * A second Quartering Act, and
• * Quebec Act
• The Powder Alarm, General Gage's secret raid on the Cambridge powder magazine
• The First Continental Congress meets; twelve colonies send delegates
• The Suffolk Resolves
• The burning of
• Petition to the King
• Greenwich Tea Party

  1775

• Battles of Lexington and Concord, followed by the Siege of Boston
• Gunpowder Incident
• Skenesboro, New York captured by Lieutenant Samuel Herrick.
• Fort Ticonderoga captured by Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys.
• Second Continental Congress meets
• Congress votes to create Continental Army out of the militia units around Boston and appointed George Washington of Virginia as commanding general. This would later become the modern United States Army
• Battle of Bunker Hill
• Washington arrives in Cambridge, Massachusetts to take command of the Continental Army
• Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms issued
• Olive Branch Petition sent to King George III
• Snow Campaign
• Dunmore's Proclamation issued by Lord Dunmore, colonial governor of Virginia, offering freedom to slaves that abandon their Patriot masters and fight for the British.
• Continental Marines established by Continental Congress. They would become the modern day United States Marine Corps
• Battle of Kemp's Landing
• Siege of Savage's Old Fields
• Henry Knox transported fifty-nine captured cannons from upstate New York to Boston, Massachusetts. Trip took 56 days to complete.
• Battle of Great Bridge
• British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at the Battle of Quebec.

  1776

• New Hampshire ratifies the first state constitution
• Burning of Norfolk
• Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense
• Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge
• Battle of the Rice Boats
• Battle of Nassau
• Fortification of Dorchester Heights results in British forces evacuating Boston
• British evacuate Boston
• Pennsylvania Provincial Conference
• Battle of Sullivan's Island
• Thomas Hickey hung for role in plot to assassinate George Washington. Loyalist New York Mayor David Mathews previously arrested in Flatbush, Brooklyn for his role in the plot.
• The Newly formed Continental Army departs its first winter encampment at Cambridge, Massachusetts
• Battle of Turtle Gut Inlet
• Largest assembly of British naval fleet in history commences off the coasts of Staten Island, Brooklyn and New Jersey.
• Second Continental Congress enacts a resolution declaring independence from the British Empire, and then approves the written Declaration of Independence.
• Sons of Liberty order African slaves to topple statue of King George III in Bowling Green
• Battle of Long Island, a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn
• British prison ships begin in Wallabout Bay, New York
• Staten Island Peace Conference
• Landing at Kip's Bay
• Battle of Harlem Heights
• Great Fire of New York
• Nathan Hale captured and executed for espionage
• Battle of Valcour Island
• Battle of White Plains
• Battle of Fort Cumberland
• Battle of Fort Washington
• Battle of Fort Lee
• Ambush of Geary
• Battle of Iron Works Hill
• Battle of Trenton

  1777

• Battle of the Assunpink Creek, also known as the Second Battle of Trenton,
• Battle of Princeton
• Continental Army enters second winter encampment of the war at Morristown
• Forage War :
• *Battle of Millstone
• *Battle of Drake's Farm
• *Battle of Quibbletown
• *Battle of Spanktown
• Battle of Bound Brook
• Sybil Ludington, 16-year-old daughter of American Colonel Henry Ludington, makes a ride in the early hours of the night
• British regulars, under Major General William Tryon, burn and loot Danbury, Connecticut
• Battle of Ridgefield
• Battle of Thomas Creek
• Meigs Raid
• First Middlebrook encampment
• Battle of Short Hills
• Fort Ticonderoga abandoned by the Americans due to advancing British troops placing cannon on Mount Defiance.
• British retake Fort Ticonderoga.
• Battle of Hubbardton
• Delegates in Vermont, which was not one of the Thirteen Colonies, establish a republic and adopt a constitution—the first in what is now the territory of the United States to prohibit slavery.
• Battle of Fort Anne
• Siege of Fort Stanwix
• Battle of Oriskany
• Battle of Machias
• Battle of Bennington
• Battle of Staten Island
• Siege of Fort Henry
• Battle of Cooch's Bridge
• Battle of Brandywine
• Battle of the Clouds
• Battle of Paoli
• British occupation of Philadelphia
• Battle of Germantown

• Battle of Red Bank
• Battle of Forts Clinton and Montgomery
• Two Battles of Saratoga conclude with the surrender of the British army under General Burgoyne.
• Battle of Red Bank
• Articles of Confederation adopted by the Second Continental Congress
• Capture of Fort Mifflin, and Fort Mercer,
• Battle of Gloucester
• Battle of White Marsh
• Battle of Matson's Ford
• Rivington's Gazetter renamed Royal Gazette
• 1777–1778 – Continental Army in third winter quarters at Valley Forge

  1778

• Treaty of Amity and Commerce and Treaty of Alliance with France
• Battle of Quinton's Bridge
• John Paul Jones, in command of the Ranger, attacks Whitehaven in England, America's first naval engagement outside North America
• The Great Chain across the Hudson is completed
• Battle of Crooked Billet
• Battle of Barren Hill
• Battle of Cobleskill
• British occupation of Philadelphia ends
• Battle of Monmouth
• Battle of Wyoming
• Battle of Ushant
• Battle of Rhode Island
• Baylor Massacre
• Battle of Chestnut Neck
• Affair at Little Egg Harbor
• Cherry Valley massacre
• Capture of Savannah British successfully launch their southern strategy
• 1778–1779 – Majority of Continental Army in fourth winter quarters at Middlebrook Cantonment
• 1778–1779 – Major General Israel Putnam chooses Redding, Connecticut as his winter encampment to keep an eye on the storehouses in Danbury, Connecticut.

  1779

• Battle of Kettle Creek
• Siege of Fort Vincennes
• Chesapeake raid
• Tryon's raid
• *Tryon's division lands in East Haven, Connecticut,met with spirited resistance from a band of local militia, take Black Rock Fort
• *Battle of Fairfield Destroy 54 barns, 47 storehouses, burned 83 homes, two churches, and municipal buildings including a schoolhouse, the courthouse and the local jail
• *Battle of Norwalk weakly opposed by about 50 local militia, easily dispersed. The destruction of the village and its commercial infrastructure destroyed
• Battle of Stony Point
• Battle of Minisink
• Penobscot Expedition
• Battle of Paulus Hook
• Battle of Baton Rouge
• Siege of Savannah
• Battle of Flamborough Head
• 1779–1780 Continental Army in fifth winter quarters at Morristown

  1780s

1780

• January 15 – Congress establishes the Court of Appeals in Cases of Capture to provide for final adjudication of appeals from state court prize cases involving disposition of ships and cargo allegedly seized from the British.
• January 16 - Battle of Cape St. Vincent
• January 28 – A stockade known as Fort Nashborough is founded on the banks of the Cumberland River. Two years later the site is renamed Nashville.
• February 1 – Some 8,000 British forces under General Henry Clinton arrive in Charleston, South Carolina, from New York.
• February 1 – New York cedes to Congress its western claims, including territory west of Lake Ontario. In 1792 New York will sell the Erie Triangle to Pennsylvania
• February 3 - Battle of Young's House
• March 14 – Bombardment of Fort Charlotte: After a two-week siege, Spanish general, colonial governor of Louisiana, and Viceroy of New Spain Bernardo de Gálvez captures Fort Charlotte, taking the port of Mobile from the British. Fort Charlotte was the last remaining British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana. Its fall drove the British from the western reaches of West Florida and reduced the British military presence in West Florida to its capital, Pensacola.
• March 29-May 12 - Siege of Charleston
• April 8 – Siege of Charleston: British Army troops under General Henry Clinton and naval forces under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot besiege Charleston, South Carolina. British ships sail past Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island to occupy Charleston Harbor. Washington will order reinforcements to Charleston, but the city falls on May 12 in what is arguably the worst American defeat of the war.
• May 6 – Siege of Charleston: Fort Moultrie falls to the British.
• April 2 – Siege of Charleston: American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston to the British. The British lose 255 men while capturing a large American garrison.
• April 14 - Battle of Monck's Corner
• May 6 - Battle of Lenud's Ferry
• May 25-August 4 - Bird's invasion of Kentucky
• May 29 – Battle of Waxhaws: A clash between Continental Army forces under Abraham Buford and a mainly Loyalist force led by Banastre Tarleton occurs near Lancaster, South Carolina in the Waxhaws area. The British destroyed the American forces.
• June 7 – Battle of Connecticut Farms
• June 10 - Battle of Mobley's Meeting House
• June 20 - Battle of Ramsour's Mill
• June 23 – Battle of Springfield. With the attempted British invasion of New Jersey stopped at Connecticut Farms and Springfield, major fighting in the North ends.
• June 27 – Robert Morris is appointed Superintendent of Finance, a post akin to Prime Minister, by Congress.
• July 11 - Expédition Particulière
• July 12 - Battle of Williamson's Plantation
• July 20-21 - Battle of Bull's Ferry
• July 21 - Battle of Colson's Mill
• August 1 - Battle of Rocky Mount
• August 6 - Battle of Hanging Rock
• August 8 - Battle of Piqua
• August 16 – Battle of Camden. British General Cornwallis gains a humiliating victory over Gates in South Carolina.
• August 18 - Battle of Fishing Creek
• August 18 - Battle of Musgrove Mill
• August 28 - Battle of Black Mingo
• September 21 - Battle of Wahab's Plantation
• September 23 – John André captured and the treason of Benedict Arnold is exposed
• September 26 – Battle of Charlotte
• October 7 – Battle of Kings Mountain
• October 16 - Royalton Raid
• October 19 - Battle of Klock's Field
• November 9 - Battle of Fishdam Ford
• November 20 - Battle of Blackstock's Farm
• December – Continental Army enters sixth winter with encampments in New York’s Hudson Highlands and Pompton and Morristown, New Jersey

  1781

• The Future King William IV, the only active member of the British Royal Family to visit the former 13 colonies, takes up residence in the Rose and Crown Tavern on Staten Island.
• Pennsylvania Line Mutiny
• Raid on Richmond
• January 17 – Battle of Cowpens
• Pompton Mutiny
• February 2 - Pyle's Massacre
• March 1 – Articles of Confederation ratified
• March 8 - Skirmish at Waters Creek
• March 15 – Battle of Guilford Court House
• March 16 - Battle of Cape Henry
• April 25 - Battle of Blandford
• April 25 - Battle of Hobkirk's Hill
• April 27 - Action at Osborne's
• May 22-June 6 - Siege of Augusta
• May 22-June 19 - Siege of Ninety-Six
• June 26 - Battle of Spencer's Ordinary
• July 6 - Battle of Green Spring
• July 9-24 - Francisco's Fight
• September 5 – Battle of the Chesapeake
• September 6 – Battle of Groton Heights
• September 8 – Battle of Eutaw Springs
• October 19 – The British surrender at Yorktown
• December 31 – Bank of North America chartered
• December – Continental Army returns to Hudson Highlands and Morristown New Jersey for its seventh winter encampment.

  1782

• February 27 – The British House of Commons votes against further war, informally recognizing American independence.
• March 8 - Gnadenhutten massacre
• March 22 - Battle of Little Mountain
• May 25-June 12 - Crawford expedition
• August 15-17 - Siege of Bryan Station
• August 19 - Battle of Blue Licks
• August 27 – Battle of the Combahee River
• September 11–13 – Siege of Fort Henry
• November – Continental Army moves into its eighth and final winter quarters, at the New Windsor Cantonment and in the Hudson Highlands
• November 30 – preliminary Articles of Peace are signed by British negotiator Richard Oswald and representatives of the United States of America.
• December 14 – British evacuate Charleston, South Carolina
• December 27 – Last skirmish of the conflict takes place near Cedar Bridge Tavern in Barnegat Township, New Jersey.

  1783

• Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783
• September 3 – The Treaty of Paris ends the American Revolutionary War
• November 25 – The British evacuate New York, marking the end of British rule, and General George Washington triumphantly returns with the Continental Army.
• December 23 – George Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army

  1784

• January 14 – The Treaty of Paris is ratified by the Congress.
• *Jay–Gardoqui Treaty
• April 9 – The Treaty of Paris is ratified by the British
• May 12 – Ratified treaties are exchanged in Paris between the two nations.
• August – "The state of Frankland," later known as Franklin, secedes from North Carolina
• November 1 – Robert Morris resigns as Superintendent of Finance and is not replaced.

  1785

• Treaty of Hopewell
• Congress refuses admission of Franklin to the Union

  1786

• Shays' Rebellion
• Annapolis Convention fails

  1787

• Northwest Ordinance

• Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
• Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey ratify the Constitution

  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
• 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

  1789

• Charles Thomson resigns as secretary of Congress in July 1789 and hands over the Great Seal, bringing an end to the Confederation Congress
• Philip Pell, only member in attendance, adjourns the Congress of the Confederation sine die.
• Members of the 1st United States Congress begin to take their seats, Federal Hall New York.
• House of Representatives first achieves a quorum; elects its officers.
• Senate first achieves a quorum and elects its officers.
• Joint session of Congress count the Electoral College ballots, certify George Washington has been unanimously elected President of the United States.
• John Adams receives 34 of 69 votes, is elected as Vice president.
• George Washington is inaugurated as the nation's first president at Federal Hall in New York City.
• Hamilton tariff
• Judiciary Act of 1789
• Congress approves twelve articles of amendment to the Constitution
• North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the Constitution, with a vote of 194–77

  1790s

1791

• Bill of Rights ratified

  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