AP US History – Units 2 and 3
A Chronology of the American Revolution
1754-1763: French & Indian War
1763: Pontiac's rebellion and Proclamation of 1763
1764: Sugar Act puts a tariff sugar, coffee, wine and more
1765: Stamp Act places an excise tax on all printed materials
1765: Stamp Act Congress convenes
1765: Quartering Act requires colonies to provide room/board for British troops
1766: Stamp Act repealed by Parliament; Declaratory Act passed
1767: Townshend Acts put a tariff on imports (glass, lead, paint, etc.)
1768: Sam Adams and Sons of Liberty organize boycott of British goods.
British troops occupy Boston
March 5, 1770: Boston Massacre
1772: Committees of Correspondence organized
1773: Gaspee affair
1773: Tea Act gives East India Company monopoly on selling of tea in American colonies
December 16, 1773: Boston Tea Party
January, 1774: Intolerable Acts (Justice Act, Boston Port Act, Massachusetts Regulating Act)
June, 1774: Quebec Act
September 1774: First Continental Congress meets
April 18-19, 1775: First Shots of the Revolution fired at Concord & Lexington, Mass.
May 1775: Second Continental Congress meets, forms Continental Army
May 10, 1775: Americans capture Fort Ticonderoga
June 15, 1775: Continental Congress appoints George Washington as Commander-In-Chief
June 17, 1775: Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed’s Hill)
August 22, 1775: King George rejects “Olive Branch Petition”
December 1775: Prohibitory Act
January 1776: Thomas Paine publishes “Common Sense”
March 1776: British withdraw from Boston
June 11, 1776: Continental Congress appoints a committee to compose a declaration of
independence
July 2, 1776: Continental Congress votes for a resolution for independence
July 4, 1776: Continental Congress votes for The Declaration of Independence, explaining the
reasons behind the resolution for independence.
August 27, 1776: Washington’s army nearly destroyed at the Battle of Brooklyn Heights
December 25, 1776: Washington wins Battle of Trenton
AP US History – Units 2 and 3
January 1, 1777: Washington wins Battle of Princeton
September 9-11, 1777: Howe defeats Washington at Brandywine Creek, PA
September 26, 1777: Howe occupies Philadelphia
October 17, 1777: British defeated at Saratoga, encouraging France to recognize America and
become an ally
November, 1777: Articles of Confederation (not yet approved) create the first American
government
December 1777 - February 1778: Continental Army winters at Valley Forge
February 6, 1778: France formally enters the war on the side of the American colonists
December 1778: British capture Savannah, Georgia
June 16, 1779: Spain declares war on Britain but makes no American alliances
October 17, 1779: Continental Army goes into winter quarters at Morristown, NJ, where it suffers
worse than it did at Valley Forge
Spring 1780: The British Southern campaign begins
October 19, 1781: Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, effectively ending British hopes of victory in
America.
November 30, 1782: A preliminary peace treaty is signed in Paris.
September 3, 1783: The Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the war. Treaty is ratified by
Congress in January 1784.
1786: Shay's Rebellion
Spring & Summer 1787: Constitutional Convention meets.
July 1787: Rough Draft of Constitution in done
September 17, 1787: Members of the Constitutional Convention sign the Constitution
December 7, 1787 Delaware is the first state to ratify the Constitution
1788: The Federalist Papers are published throughout the year.
February 1789: Washington unanimously elected President by Electoral College
September 1789 James Madison submits a draft of the Bill of Rights to Congress
May 1790: Rhode Island is the last state to ratify the Constitution
December 15, 1791: Bill of Rights finally ratified