Revolutionary Perspectives (1760-1792)

Phillis Wheatley purchased by John and Susannah Wheatley in Boston

William Franklin becomes royal
governor of New Jersey

Series of restrictive acts by Great Britain culminate with Stamp Act, requiring stamp fee on printed documents

Women take political role, as increasing numbers boycott British household goods and return to "homespun" over manufactured cloth

William and Benjamin Franklin experience falling-out over Stamp Act. -

British Troops occupy Boston, kill eight and wound four American civilians in Boston Massacre

Boston Tea Party dumps £10,000 of tea into Boston harbor in response to Tea Act

Wheatley publishes Poems on Various Subjects Religious and Moral, becoming first published African American writer

First Continental Congress meets in response to Coercive or Intolerable Acts imposed upon the colonies, helping make unified resistance possible

Dragging Canoe opposes signing of Treaty of Sycamore Shoals by Cherokee elders

Military action taken by British General Thomas Gage at Battles of Lexington and Concord begin Revolutionary War

Virginia governor, Lord Dunmore, offers freedom to slaves and servants willing to join British ranks

Second Continental Congress, convened after start of war, acts as provisional congress until ratification of federal constitution

Thomas Paine’s Common Sense, published in January, sells 100,000 copies; the radical pamphlet urges Americans to declare independence

Declaration of Independence proclaimed independence of the 13 colonies from Great Britain on July 4th

Eight states draft constitutions, including New Jersey, whose state constitution opens suffrage franchise to women

Vermont's constitution provides unrestricted manhood suffrage and declares all adult slaves free.

U.S. forges an alliance with France (French Treaty of Alliance and Commerce)

With war in North bogged down by costly stalemate, British shift theater of operations to South

As many as one of every seven Americans in Washington’s army is black

More Americans are fighting on side of the British than in George Washington's army

Massachusetts becomes last of original thirteen states to ratify its constitution

Articles of Confederation are ratified by states under Second Continental Congress

French Naval fleets turn tide of war at Yorktown, where British General Cornwallis surrenders

Treaty of Paris, signed in September, officially ends war; British recognize American independence and set boundary of United States at Mississippi River

Loyalists, including blacks, evacuate from colonies to sites that include Nova Scotia, Great Britain, and the Caribbean

In response to conservative resurgence, veteran Daniel Shays leads rebellion of farmers, echoing sentiment of Revolutionary rhetoric

Dragging Canoe dies, reportedly from too vigorous celebration of military success, near Nashville