U.S history timeline

King George lll ascends to the throne of England

Treaty signed between England and France ending the French and Indian War

Parliament passes the Stamp Act as means to pay for British troops on the American Frontier. Colonists violently protest this tax.

The Stamp Act is repealed but parliament passes the Declaratory Act giving it the right to make binding laws on the colonists.

The Boston Massacre happens killing 5 colonists.

Boston Tea Party

Shots fired at Lexington and Concord. "Minute Men force British troops back to Boston.

Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published, pushing the colonists closer to independence.

Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence ratified by congress.

Battle of Long Island

Washington crosses the Delaware River and captures a Hessian force at Trenton, New Jersey.

Congress sends Benjamin Franklin to France to urge the French to ally with America.

The Marquis de Lafeyette arrives in America.

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

A miraculous convergence of American and French forces traps Lord Cornwallis at Yorktown, Virginia, he surrenders his British army.

A peace treaty is signed between Great Britain and the United States.

George Washington gives up command of the Continental Army and, to the astonishment of foreign observers, returns to private life.