The document discusses key events in the process of American independence from British colonial rule. It describes Britain's increasingly restrictive colonial policies in the 1700s that angered colonists and led them to organize. The First Continental Congress approved plans to arm militias in response to the Coercive Acts. The Second Continental Congress selected George Washington to lead the new Continental Army and sent the Olive Branch Petition to the king, which he ignored. On July 4, 1776, the Second Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence, formally separating the colonies from Britain.