By attacking slavery more fiercely than ever before, Revolutionary Americans freed tens of thousands of slaves. But the Revolution’s libertarian and egalitarian message had perverse consequences. It forced those Southerners who chose to retain slavery to fall back on the alleged racial deficiencies of blacks as a justification for an institution that hitherto they had taken for granted and had never before needed to justify. The anti-slavery movement that arose out of the Revolution inadvertently produced racism in America.
Timeline of the Revolution
10-Feb | The Peace of Paris ends the French and Indian War; Britain gains an empire. |
05-Apr | Parliament passes the The Sugar Act, which is an indirect tax on the colonists, in order to raise revenue. |
01-Sep | Parliament passes the Currency Act, which has the effect of tightening the money supply in the North American colonies. |
22-Mar | Parliament passes the Stamp Act, which includes taxes on most forms of paper, including playing cards. It is the first direct tax on the colonists. |
24-Mar | Parliament passes the first Quartering Act, which orders local colonial governments to provide housing and provisions for British soldiers. |
29-May | In the Virginia House of Burgesses, Patrick Henry, during his speech against the Stamp Act, reputedly answers a cry of |
30-May | The Virginia Resolves on the Stamp Act ( |
19-Oct | The Stamp Act Congress, meeting in New York with representatives from nine colonies, adopt the Declaration of Rights & Grievances. |
01-Nov | The Stamp Act goes into effect in the British colonies and is met with fierce resistance. |
17-Mar | King George III reluctantly agrees with Parliament and gives his assent to repeal the Stamp Act. |
18-Mar | Parliament passes the Declaratory Act, which asserts its authority to pass laws binding on the American colonies. |
29-Jun | Parliament passes the Revenue Act, the first of the Townsend Acts, levying taxes on the American colonies. |
01-Aug | The Boston Non-Importation Agreement calls for a boycott certain types of British goods. |
01-Oct | British Regulars, under General Thomas Gage, arrive in Boston to maintain order. |
05-Mar | British troops, taunted by a crowd, kill five colonists — the event is dubbed the Boston Massacre. Crispus Attucks, a slave, is the first one shot. |
12-Apr | Following widespread boycotts in the colonies, most of the Townshend Revenue Act is repealed. |
27-Apr | British Parliament passes the Tea Act; King George III gives his royal assent on 10 May. |
16-Dec | Bostonians dressed as Mohawks dump 342 chests of tea into the harbor. |
31-Mar | Parliament passes the Boston Port Act — the first of the Intolerable Acts — which closes the ports of Boston to all commerce. |
20-May | Two more Intolerable Acts become law: the Administration of Justice Act and the Massachusetts Government Act. |
02-Jun | Parliament passes a second Quartering Act, one of the Intolerable Acts, which mandates that colonists must board English troops in their homes. |
22-Jun | The Quebec Act, the last of the Intolerable Acts, becomes law. |
05-Sep | In response to the Intolerable Acts, representatives from twelve colonies assemble in Philadelphia for the First Continental Congress. |
14-Oct | First Continental Congress passes a declaration of colonial rights. |
26-Oct | First Continental Congress adjourns but agrees to meet again 10 May 1775. |
26-Oct | Congress of Massachusetts reorganizes their defenses so that one-third of their militia are |
09-Feb | Parliament declares that Massachusetts colony is in rebellion. |
23-Mar | During an illegal meeting of Virginia colony representatives in St. John’s Church in Richmond, Patrick Henry declaims: |
18-Apr | Paul Revere and William Dawes ride on separate routes from Boston to Lexington to warn that the British Regulars are coming. |
19-Apr | The Battle of Lexington / Concord. The American Revolution begins after a shot is fired in Lexington Common. |
10-May | The Second Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia. |
10-May | The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, along with troops under Benedict Arnold, capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York. |
15-Jun | The Second Continental Congress elects George Washington, a delegate to Congress from Virginia, as Commander of the Continental Army. He leaves for Boston the next day. |
17-Jun | The Battle of Bunker Hill gives the British a victory with so many troops killed or wounded, that it almost seems a defeat. |
03-Jul | General George Washington takes command of the Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts. |
06-Jul | Second Congress issues |
22-Aug | King George III proclaims the North American colonies to be in open rebellion. |
13-Nov | Brigadier General Richard Montgomery leads Continental Army soldiers to take Montreal without opposition. |
22-Dec | Continental Congress creates a Navy, naming Esek Hopkins, Esq., as commander in chief of the fleet. Four captains are also named, as well as five first lieutenants, including John Paul Jones. |
31-Dec | General Montgomery dies while fighting the British unsuccessfully in the Battle of Quebec. |
10-Jan | Common Sense, by Thomas Paine, is published. |
16-Jan | Reversing itself from 23-Oct-1775, the Continental Congress approves enlistment of free blacks. |
04-Mar | Fortification of Dorchester Heights with cannon (taken from Fort Ticonderoga by a team led by Henry Knox). |
17-Mar | British forces evacuate Boston, accompanied by Loyalists, to winter in Nova Scotia. |
12-Apr | North Carolina adopts Halifax Resolves to declare independence. |
04-May | Rhode Island declares independence from Britain. |
07-Jun | Richard Henry Lee of Virginia moves for the Continental Congress to declare independence from Britain. |
11-Jun | Congress appoints a |
12-Jun | Virginia adopts a Declaration of Rights, largely written by George Mason. |
23-Jun | The final draft of the Declaration of Independence is submitted to Continental Congress. |
29-Jun | The Virginia state constitution is adopted. Patrick Henry becomes Governor. |
02-Jul | Continental Congress resolves |
04-Jul | The Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Continental Congress and sent to the printer. |
08-Jul | Colonel John Nixon gives the first public reading in Philadelphia of the Declaration of Independence. |
09-Jul | The Declaration of Independence is read to George Washington’s troops in New York. |
27-Aug | The British, under command of William Howe, overwhelm the Continental Army in Battle of Long Island. |
30-Aug | Under cover of night and early morning fog, Continental troops avoid defeat on Long Island by escaping across the river to Manhattan. |
09-Sep | Congress renames United Colonies the United States. |
15-Sep | British forces capture Kip’s Bay, Manhattan. |
21-Sep | A fire starts in lower Manhattan, burning much of it, as the Continental Army, pursued by the British, withdraws to the north. |
28-Oct | Battle of White Plains. Washington crosses the Hudson and retreats to New Jersey. |
16-Nov | Battle of Fort Washington. British troops capture Fort Washington in upper Manhattan. |
20-Nov | Nathaniel Greene evacuates his troops from Fort Lee (across the Hudson River from Fort Washington) just ahead of its unopposed capture by Lord Cornwallis. |
26-Dec | Battle of Trenton. General Washington and his soldiers complete their crossing of the Delaware River to surprise and defeat 1,400 Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey. |
03-Jan | Battle of Princeton. Washington follows his victory at Trenton by overcoming the British in Princeton, New Jersey. |
13-Jun | Marquis de Lafayette, age 19, arrives from France to fight along side the Americans. Congress commissions him a Major General six weeks later on 31 July. |
14-Jun | Continental Congress adopts the |
05-Jul | Major General Arthur St. Clair abandons Fort Ticonderoga, allowing British General John Burgoyne’s much larger force to take it without firing a shot. |
16-Aug | Battle of Bennington. New England’s Green Mountain Boys rout the British in Vermont. |
11-Sep | Battle of Brandywine. Continental forces are defeated by the British, who then move towards undefended Philadelphia. |
25-Sep | First Battle of Saratoga. General John Burgoyne holds the fields but suffers serious losses by the Americans under General Horatio Gates at Freeman's Farm, New York. |
26-Sep | General Howe and the British Regulars take Philadelphia, which will serve as their winter quarters. |
30-Sep | Continental Congress opens session in York, Pennsylvania, after fleeing from Philadelphia, which is occupied by the British. |
04-Oct | Battle of Germantown. General Washington's troops attack British at Germantown, Pennsylvania, but suffer a defeat with heavy casualties. |
06-Oct | Battle of Fort Montgomery and Fort Clinton. British seize the Forts near West Point as a diversion to draw troops from General Gates. |
07-Oct | Second Battle of Saratoga. American troops under General Gates defeat the British at Bemis Heights in New York. Burgoyne surrenders on 17-Oct. |
22-Oct | Battle of Red Bank. Hessian attack on Fort Mercer, on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, is repulsed by militia. |
15-Nov | The Articles of Confederation is adopted by the Continental Congress and submitted to the 13 states for ratification two days later. |
16-Nov | Siege of Fort Mifflin. British capture the Fort, just below Philadelphia, on the Delaware River. |
17-Dec | France recognizes the independence of North American colonies, just days after King Louis XVI hears of British defeat at Saratoga. |
19-Dec | General Washington settles his troops for the winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. |
06-Feb | The French-American Treaty of Alliance is signed in Paris, the first U.S. treaty, providing aid and support to the American cause. |
06-Feb | Britain declares war on France. |
23-Feb | Baron von Steuben joins the Continental Army at Valley Forge. |
07-Mar | British General William Howe is called back to London, replaced by his second-in-command Henry Clinton. |
18-Jun | Following a winter and spring in Philadelphia, the British evacuate the city. |
19-Jun | Washington’s army leaves Valley Forge more disciplined as a result of enforced drilling by Baron von Steuben. |
28-Jun | Battle of Monmouth. Washington holds the field against General Clinton in New Jersey. |
08-Aug | Battle of Rhode Island. Combined American and French and American forces unsuccessfully besiege Newport. |
04-Sep | Amsterdam signs trade agreement with the U.S. |
11-Nov | The Cherry Valley massacre, an attack by British and Seneca Indian forces in eastern New York, is one of the most horrific frontier massacres of the Revolution. |
29-Dec | Battle of Savannah. British begin their |
18-Jun | Following Washington’s orders for |
21-Jun | Spain, an ally of France, declares war on Great Britain. |
16-Jul | Battle of Stony Point. American General |
23-Sep | John Paul Jones’s ship, Bon Homme Richard, defeats the British H.M.S. Serepis near English coast. |
27-Sep | Congress names John Adams to negotiate terms of peace with England. |
23-Dec | Benedict Arnold is court-martialed for improper conduct. By the end of January he will be cleared of all but two minor charges. |
01-Mar | Pennsylvania becomes the first U.S. state to abolish slavery — though for new-borns only. |
12-May | Battle of Charleston. British capture Charleston, South Carolina. |
11-Jul | French troops arrive at Newport, Rhode Island, to aid the American cause. |
16-Aug | Battle of Camden. Lord Cornwallis decisively defeats General Gates’s American forces in South Carolina. |
23-Sep | British Major John André is arrested leading to the exposure of Benedict Arnold's plans to cede West Point to the British. |
07-Oct | Battle of King’s Mountain. American militia led by Isaac Shelby and John Sevier defeat Major Patrick Ferguson and one-third of Lord Cornwallis’s army in a battle that lasts 65 minutes. |
14-Oct | Following Horatio Gates ignoble defeat in Charleston, Washington names General Nathanael Greene commander of the Southern Army. Without winning a single battle, Greene will wear the British down. |
05-Jan | A British naval expedition led by Benedict Arnold burns Richmond, Virginia. |
17-Jan | Battle of Cowpens. Militia General Daniel Morgan overwhelmingly defeats British Colonel Banastre Tarleton in South Carolina. |
01-Mar | The Articles of Confederation is officially in effect when it is ratified by the 13th state, Maryland. |
15-Mar | Battle of Guilford Courthouse. Lord Cornwallis wins a costly victory against Major General Nathanael Greene’s troops in North Carolina. |
01-Aug | British troops, under General Charles Cornwallis, arrive in Yorktown, Virginia. |
21-Aug | Washington and French General Rochambeau begin to move their troops south to fight Cornwallis in Yorktown. |
05-Sep | Battle of the Chesapeake Capes. The French fleet commanded by Admiral d’Estaing drives British naval force from Chesapeake Bay. Cornwallis’s troops are trapped in Yorktown. |
08-Sep | Battle of Eutaw Springs. Nathanael Greene is narrowly defeated by British in in the last major engagement of the Carolinas. |
15-Sep | French fleet drives British naval force from Chesapeake Bay, leaving Cornwallis and the Regulars without an exit from Yorktown. |
28-Sep | Battle of Yorktown. 9,000 American forces and 7,000 French forces begin siege of Yorktown, Virginia. |
19-Oct | British General Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia. Though no one knows it yet, the Revolutionary War is effectively over. |
20-Mar | Lord North resigns as British prime minister. |
20-Jun | Congress approves the Great Seal of the U.S. with the eagle as its symbol. |
11-Jul | British evacuate Savannah, Georgia. |
30-Nov | British and Americans sign preliminary Articles of Peace which recognizes U.S. independence. |
14-Dec | British evacuate Charleston, South Carolina. |
03-Feb | Spain recognizes U.S. independence. |
03-Sep | The Treaty of Paris, the formal agreement ending hostilities between America and Britain, is signed in Paris. |
02-Nov | The Continental Army is disbanded; General Washington bids farewell to his soldiers at Fraunces Tavern in Manhattan. |
23-Nov | Annapolis, Maryland, becomes the temporary U.S. Capitol (until June 1784). |
25-Nov | British troops evacuate New York, their last military position in the U.S. |
23-Dec | Washington resigns as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. He tells congress in Annapolis: |
31-Dec | The import of African slaves is banned by all of the Northern states. |
14-Jan | Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris, which formally concludes the Revolutionary War. |
29-Aug | Shays’ Rebellion. Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Revolution, leads debt-ridden farmers in Massachusetts in a rebellion — ironically it is a rebellion against taxes. |
11-Sep | Delegates from five states convene in Annapolis, Maryland, to discuss interstate commerce. They call for a Constitutional Convention. |
04-Feb | Shays’ main forces are scattered by a surprise attack by militia. Though there is scattered resistance for several months to come, the Rebellion ultimately fails. |
25-May | The Constitutional Convention convenes in Philadelphia with the prestige of George Washington presiding. |
17-Sep | All but three of the delegates — George Mason, Elbridge Gerry, and Edmund Randolph — adopt the Constitution in Philadelphia. |
27-Sep | The new Constitution is submitted to the states for ratification. |
27-Oct | The first |
07-Dec | Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the Constitution. |
12-Dec | Pennsylvania becomes the second state to ratify the Constitution. |
18-Dec | New Jersey becomes the third state to ratify the Constitution. |
02-Jan | Georgia is the fourth state to ratify the Constitution. |
09-Jan | Connecticut is the fifth state to ratify the Constitution. |
06-Feb | Massachusetts is the sixth state to ratify the Constitution. |
28-Apr | Maryland is the seventh state to ratify the Constitution. |
23-May | South Carolina becomes the eighth state to ratify the Constitution. |
21-Jun | The Constitution is adopted when New Hampshire is the ninth state to ratify it. |
26-Jun | Virginia is the tenth state to ratify the Constitution. |
26-Jul | New York becomes the 11th state to ratify the Constitution. |
13-Sep | Continental Congress votes for New York City to become the first capitol of United States. |
13-Sep | Continental Congress votes to begin a new government on 4 March 1789. |
04-Feb | The first Electoral College chooses Washington as president and John Adams as vice president of the new government. |
04-Mar | The First Congress of the United States, comprising nine senators and 13 representatives, convenes and declares the Constitution to be in effect. |
21-Apr | John Adams is sworn in as the first U.S. Vice President. |
30-Apr | George Washington is inaugurated and becomes the first President of the United States. |
25-Sep | Congress passes 12 constitutional amendments guaranteeing personal rights and proposes them to the states for ratification. |
29-Sep | The First Congress adjourns its first session. |
21-Nov | North Carolina is the 12th state to ratify the Constitution. |
13-May | Rhode Island is the 13th and last state to ratify the Constitution. |
15-Dec | Three-fourths of the states ratify 10 of twelve amendments to the Constitution. The Bill of Rights becomes law. |