This is a detailed timeline of the events leading up to the American Revolution starting with the Albany Congress and ending with an overview of the battles at Lexington and Concord. The first slide contains the timeline, while the following slides have the evens and detailed descriptions of them. I hope that you find this helpful. Please feel free to leave me feedback.

1. 1754 1763 1764 1765 1766 1767 1768 1770 1773 1774 1775
The
Albany
Congress
Proclamation
of 1763
The Sugar
Act
The
Currency
Act The
Stamp Act
The
Quartering
Act of 1765
The Virginia
Stamp Act
Resolutions
The
Townshend
Revenue Act
Boston Non-
Importation
Agreement
The
Declaratory
Act
The Boston
Massacre
The Tea
Act
The
Boston
Tea
Party
The
Intolerable
Acts
Articles of
Association
First
Continental
Congress
Give Me
Liberty Or
Give Me Death
Paul
Revere’s
Ride
Lexington
and
Concord
Created by Katie Jones ©2014

2. • Representatives from seven
colonies met with 150
Iroquois Chiefs in Albany,
New York.
• The purposes was twofold;
to try to secure the support
and cooperation of the
Iroquois in fighting the
French, and to form a
colonial alliance based on a
design by Benjamin
Franklin.
• When the delegates
returned to their colonies
with the plan, not a single
provincial legislature would
ratify it.
The Albany Congress Proclamation
of 1763
• The proclamation, in
effect, closed off the
frontier to colonial
expansion.
• The proclamation was
a measure to calm the
fears of the Indians,
who felt that the
colonists would drive
them from their lands
as they expanded
westward.
• Asserted that all of the
Indian peoples were
thereafter under the
protection of the King.
• Required that all lands
within the "Indian
territory" occupied by
Englishmen were to be
abandoned.
• Parliament was under
no illusions about
relations between the
Indians and the
colonists. They
understood that the
colonists would not
respect the boundary
without some
enforcement
mechanism.
Boundary
Lines
The Sugar Act
April 5, 1764
• On April 5, 1764,
Parliament passed a
modified version of
the Sugar and
Molasses Act (1733)
• The First Lord of the
Treasury, and
Chancellor of the
Exchequer Lord
Grenville was trying
to bring the colonies
in line with regard to
payment of taxes.
• The act listed more
foreign goods to be
taxed including
sugar, certain wines,
coffee, pimiento,
cambric and printed
calico, and further,
regulated the export
of lumber and iron.
• Disrupted the
colonial economy by
reducing the markets
to which the colonies
could sell, and the
amount of currency
available to them for
the purchase of
British manufactured
goods.
The Currency Act
September 1, 1764
• No gold or silver mines;
currency could only be
obtained through trade as
regulated by Great Britain.
• Many of the colonies felt
no alternative to printing
their own paper money in
the form of Bills of Credit.
• There was no standard
value common to all of the
colonies.
• British merchant-creditors
were very uncomfortable
with this system because
of the rapid depreciation
of the notes due to regular
fluctuations in the colonial
economy.
• The act prohibited the
issue of any new bills and
the reissue of existing
currency.
• Parliament favored a "hard
currency" system based on
the pound sterling, but
was not inclined to
regulate the colonial bills.
• Colonies suffered a trade
deficit with Great Britain.
June of 1754

3. The Stamp Act
February 6th, 1765
• Motions were offered in
Parliament to read petitions
from the Virginia colony and
others. These motions were
denied.
• The Stamp Act was
Parliament's first serious
attempt to assert
governmental authority over
the colonies.
• English citizens in Britain
were taxed at a rate that
created a serious threat of
revolt.
The Quartering Act of 1765
March 24, 1765
• Designed to force local
colonial governments to
provide provisions and
housing to British soldiers
stationed in the 13 Colonies
of America.
• The Quartering Act of 1765
also required colonial
governments to absorb the
costs associated with
quartering British troops
which included food,
shelter, bedding, cooking
utensils, firewood, salt,
vinegar, beer or cider and
candles.
The following five resolves were passed by
the House of Burgesses
• Resolved, that the first adventurers and settlers of His
Majesty's colony and dominion of Virginia brought with
them and transmitted to their posterity, and all other His
Majesty's subjects since inhabiting in this His Majesty's
said colony, all the liberties, privileges, franchises, and
immunities that have at any time been held, enjoyed, and
possessed by the people of Great Britain.
• Resolved, that by two royal charters, granted by King
James I, the colonists aforesaid are declared entitled to all
liberties, privileges, and immunities of denizens and
natural subjects to all intents and purposes as if they had
been abiding and born within the Realm of England.
• Resolved, that the taxation of the people by themselves,
or by persons chosen by themselves to represent them,
who can only know what taxes the people are able to
bear, or the easiest method of raising them, and must
themselves be affected by every tax laid on the people, is
the only security against a burdensome taxation, and the
distinguishing characteristic of British freedom, without
which the ancient constitution cannot exist.
• Resolved, that His Majesty's liege people of this his most
ancient and loyal colony have without interruption
enjoyed the inestimable right of being governed by such
laws, respecting their internal policy and taxation, as are
derived from their own consent, with the approbation of
their sovereign, or his substitute; and that the same has
never been forfeited or yielded up, but has been
constantly recognized by the kings and people of Great
Britain.
• Resolved, therefor that the General Assembly of this
Colony have the only and exclusive Right and Power to
lay Taxes and Impositions upon the inhabitants of this
Colony and that every Attempt to vest such Power in any
person or persons whatsoever other than the General
Assembly aforesaid has a manifest Tendency to destroy
British as well as American Freedom.
The Virginia Stamp Act
Resolutions
May 30, 1765

4. Several of the houses of representatives
in his Majesty's colonies and plantations
in America, have of late, against law,
claimed to themselves, or to the general
assemblies of the same, the sole and
exclusive right of imposing duties and
taxes upon his Majesty's subjects in the
said colonies and plantations; and have,
in pursuance of such claim, passed
certain votes, resolutions, and orders,
derogatory to the legislative authority of
parliament, and inconsistent with the
dependency of the said colonies and
plantations upon the crown of Great
Britain: ... be it declared ...,
That the said colonies and plantations
in America have been, are, and of right
ought to be. subordinate unto, and
dependent upon the imperial crown and
parliament of Great Britain; and that the
King's majesty, by and with the advice
and consent of the lords spiritual and
temporal, and commons of Great Britain,
in parliament assembled, had, hash, and
of right ought to have, full power and
authority to make laws and statutes of
sufficient force and validity to bind the
colonies and people of America, subjects
of the crown of Great Britain, in all cases
whatsoever.
The Declaratory Act
March 18, 1766
The Townshend
Revenue Act
June 29, 1767
• Taxes on glass, paint, oil,
lead, paper, and tea were
applied with the design of
raising £40,000 a year for the
administration of the
colonies. The result was the
resurrection of colonial
hostilities created by the
Stamp Act.
Boston
Non-Importation
Agreement
August 1, 1768

5. The Boston Massacre
March 5, 1770
• The Boston Massacre was a
street fight that occurred
between a "patriot" mob,
throwing snowballs, stones, and
sticks, and a squad of British
soldiers.
• Several colonists were killed and
this led to a campaign by
speech-writers to rouse the ire of
the citizenry.
The Tea Act
May 10, 1773
• The Tea Act, passed by Parliament
would launch the final spark to the
revolutionary movement in Boston.
• It was designed to prop up the East
India Company which was
floundering financially and burdened
with eighteen million pounds of
unsold tea.
• The direct sale of tea, via British
agents, would have undercut the
business of local merchants.
I dressed myself in the costume
of an Indian, equipped with a
small hatchet, which I and my
associates denominated the
tomahawk, with which, and a
club, after having painted my
face and hands with coal dust in
the shopof a blacksmith, I
repaired to Griffin's wharf, where
the ships lay that contained the
tea...
We then were ordered by our
commander to open the hatches
and take out all the chests of tea
and throw them overboard, and
we immediately proceeded to
execute his orders, first cutting
and splitting the chests with our
tomahawks, so as thoroughly to
expose them to the effects of the
water. In about three hours from
the time we went on board, we
had thus broken and thrown
overboard every tea chest to be
found in the ship, while those in
the other ships were disposing of
the tea in the same way, at the
same time. We were surrounded
by British armed ships, but no
attempt was made to resist us.
– Anonymous, "Account of the
Boston Tea Party by a
Participant," (1773)
The Boston Tea Party
December 16, 1773
The Intolerable Acts
March 30-June 22, 1774
• Boston Port Act
• An act to discontinue, in such
manner, and for or such time as
are therein mentioned, the landing
and discharging, lading or
shipping, of goods, wares, and
merchandise, at the town, and
within the harbour, of Boston, in
the province of Massachusetts Bay,
in North America
• Massachusetts Government Act
• An Act for the better regulating
the government of the province of
the Massachusetts Bay in New
England.
• Administration of Justice Act
• An act for the impartial
administration of justice in the
case of persons questioned for any
acts done by them in the execution
of the law, or for the suppression
of riots and tumults, in the
province of the Massachusetts Bay,
in New England.
• Quebec Act
• a law that recognized the Roman
Catholic Church as the established
church in Quebec. An appointed
council, rather than an elected
body, would make the major
decisions for the colony. The
boundary of Quebec was extended
into the Ohio Valley.

6. First Continental Congress
September 5-October 26, 1774
• The first Continental Congress met in
Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia
• All of the colonies except Georgia sent
delegates.
• The colonies presented there were united in a
determination to show a combined authority
to Great Britain.
• The objectives of the body were not entirely
clear.
• It was agreeable to all that the King and
Parliament must be made to understand the
grievances of the colonies and that the body
must do everything possible to communicate
the same to the population of America, and
to the rest of the world.
• On October 14, the Declaration and Resolves
established the course of the congress, as a
statement of principles common to all of the
colonies.
• Congress voted to meet again the following
year if these grievances were not attended to
by England.
Articles of Association,
1774
October 20, 1774
The Association was a
universal prohibition of
trade with Great Britain.
Though it made a handful
of exceptions, it
prohibited import,
consumption, and export
of goods with England.
Unlike most of the
individual associations, it
established citizen
committees to enforce the
act throughout the
colonies.
Give Me Liberty Or
Give Me Death
Patrick Henry,
March 23, 1775
• The Give me Liberty
Speech was made by the
great American orator
and patriot, Patrick
Henry.
• The Give me Liberty
Speech was delivered in
Richmond, Virginia at
old St. John’s Church on
March 23, 1775.
• The most famous words
of the Patrick Henry
speech includes the
following:
• "...Is life so dear, or
peace so sweet, as to be
purchased at the price
of chains and slavery?
Forbid it, Almighty
God! I know not what
course others may
take; but as for me,
give me liberty, or give
me death!”

7. The Rides of
William Dawes
and Paul Revere
April 18, 1775
• William Dawes is the usually
forgotten shoe maker who rode with
Paul Revere to warn Samuel Adams
and John Hancock that the British
Regulars were coming to arrest them.
• Dawes took the longer land route to
Lexington arriving to destination half
an hour later than Paul Revere.
• 5 riders rode that night.
• Sybil Ludington
• Israel Bissell
• Samuel Prescott
• William Dawes
• Paul Revere
Lexington
and
Concord
April 19, 1775
• Britain's General Gage had a secret plan.
• Send out regiments of British soldiers quartered in Boston.
• LEXINGTON, where they would capture Colonial leaders Sam Adams and John Hancock
• CONCORD, where they would seize gunpowder.
• Spies and friends of the Americans leaked word of Gage's plan.
• Word spread from town to town, and militias prepared to confront the British and help their neighbors in Lexington and Concord.
• When the advance guard of nearly 240 British soldiers arrived in Lexington, they found about 70 minutemen formed on the
LEXINGTON GREEN awaiting them.
• "the shot heard round the world.“
• As the British retreated toward Boston, new waves of Colonial militia intercepted them. Shooting from behind fences and trees, the
militias inflicted over 125 casualties, including several officers. The ferocity of the encounter surprised both sides.
The first
bloodshed at
Lexington and
Concord,
marked the
crossing of a
threshold that
would push the
two sides farther
apart.