The document provides a timeline of key events leading up to and during the American Revolution. It describes the Boston Tea Party upsetting King George and Parliament punishing the colonists. The First Continental Congress met in 1774 with delegates arguing the colonists had the right to determine their own taxes. Battles erupted at Lexington and Concord after British troops marched to take colonial guns. The Second Continental Congress debated independence from Britain. Thomas Paine's pamphlet "Common Sense" advocated for independence. The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson. The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point that stopped British plans to quickly end the war. After several years of fighting, Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington in 1781,