| 1770 |
 |
Crispus Attucks, an African
American, is the first to die when British soldiers fire upon American
colonists at the Boston Massacre. |
|
|
King George III insists on keeping the tax on tea as a
symbol of Britain's right to tax its colonies, while repealing the other
Townshend duties. |
| 1771 |
|
Phyllis Wheatly is the first
African American woman to have her poems published. |
| 1772 |
|
Rhode Island merchants attack and burn the
British customs ship Gaspee. |
| 1773 |
 |
Patriotic Americans pitch 342 cases of
tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act. This law gave British East
India Company merchants an unfair business advantage, almost destroying
the businesses of American tea merchants. |
| 1774 |
|
British Parliament passes the "Intolerable Acts,"
closing the port of Boston, forbidding the colonists to hold public
meetings without the governor's approval, and requiring Massachusetts
residents to house and feed British troops. |
|
|
The First Continental Congress meets in
Philadelphia, with delegates from every colony except Georgia. Congress
threatens another boycott of British goods if Parliament continues to
restrict the colonies' political authority. |
| 1775 |
 |
The American Revolution begins on April 19 when shots
are fired between colonial militiamen and British soldiers at Lexington
and Concord, Massachusetts. 273 British soldiers and 93 Americans are
killed. |
|
|
Anthony Benezet of
Philiadelphia organizes the world's first abolitionist society, a group
opposed to the enslavement of African Americans. |
| 1776 |
|
The Continental Congress approves the
Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, on July
4th. |
|
|
The British army under General Howe
occupies New York City. |
|
 |
George Washington, commander of the American army, takes
a thousand British and Hessian soldiers prisoner the day after Christmas
in a surprise attack at Trenton, New Jersey. |
| 1777 |
|
United States Congress adopts the
American flag of thirteen alternating red and white stripes and thirteen
white stars on a blue background. |
|
 |
Green Mountain Boys of Vermont and
Massachusetts militiamen defeat the British at the Battle of
Bennington. |
|
|
The Continental Congress adopts the
Articles of Confederation, which provide a loose system of government for
the new nation but little authority to carry out
responsibilities. |
| 1778 |
 |
Captain James Cook charts the Alaskan coast and is the
first European to explore Hawaii. |
|
|
George Washington and his Continental
Army, without adequate supplies and shelter, spend the winter at Valley
Forge, Pennsylvania. |
| 1779 |
|
American naval captain John Paul Jones and his sailors
defeat and capture a British warship in a fierce battle at sea.
|
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