Provoked by insults and flying debris, British soldiers fire on American colonists in Boston, killing five.  The soliders were tried for murder, but be exhonorated, thanks is no small part to able defense counsel provided by John Adams.

Parliament had removed all taxes on tea shipped by the East India Company and all duties in the American Colonies--except for the small tax on tea.  Revolutionary leaders see this small tax as a trick to get Americans to concede     England's right to tax the colonies even though they have no representation in Parliament.  To prevent Americans from purchasing the tea, more than 200 Bostonians board the Dartmouth, the Elanor, and the Beaver, dumping 45 tons of tea into the harbor.

Parliament passes a tax on all printed documents in America, including legal forms, playing cards, and news papers.  The purposed of the tax is to raise money to pay off debt incurred during the French and Indian War.  Americans reject England's right to levy internal taxes because they are not represented in Parliament.

For the first time in North America, British colonies work together to achieve a common goal.  Without representation in Parliament, the colonies have not voice to express their concerns with the Stamp Act. The congress determines to enter a non-importation-non-exportation agreement to encourage British merchants to use their influence in Parliament to repeal the act.

Patrick Henry delivers his most famous oration at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia.  It includes, "There is no retreat but in submission and slavery!  Our chains are forged! Their clanking may be heard on the plains of Boston! The war is inevitable-and let it come.... I know not what course others may take; but as for me, give me liberty or give me death!"

The Coercive Acts comprise four acts aimed at punishing the citizens of Boston (and Massachusetts) for the destruction of the East India Company's Tea in the Boston Tea Party.  The acts would be lifted once Massachusetts had paid for the tea.

Twelve Colonies send representatives to Carpenter Hall in Philadelphia to discuss possible solutions to the Coercive Acts.  They will agree on a non-importation, non-exportation  agreement.

Having build defensive works atop Breed's Hill, the Massachusetts militia controls the high ground overlooking the warships in Boston Harbor.  More than 2,500 British soldiers attack the position.  Two attempts are repelled but the third succeeds in overtaking the hill.  The British suffer casualties of 280 dead and 800 wounded.  Patriot casualties are less than half as many.  This battle showed that the American militiaman could stand his ground against a well-organized British attack.

With no resolution to the crisis in Massachusetts over the Coercive Acts, thirteen colonies send delegates to the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia to further discuss possible remedies.