The Stamp Act, in 1765, required stamps to be affixed to all public documents, newspapers, almanacs and other printed matter.  All of the colonies were taxed at the same time by this scheme, which was contrary to their belief that they should be taxed only by their legislatures; although the proceeds of the taxes were to have been devoted to the defence of the colonies.  Delegates, protesting against the Act, were sent to England by nine colonies.  The Stamp Act Congress, October 7, 1765, passed measures of protest.  The people never used the stamps, and the Act was repealed the next year.  As a substitute, the English government established, in 1767, duties on paper, paint, glass and tea.  The colonies replied by renewing the agreement which they made in 1765, not to import any English goods.  The sending of troops to Boston aggravated the trouble.  All the duties but that on tea were then withdrawn.  Cargoes of tea were destroyed at Boston and Charleston, and a bond of common sympathy was slowly forged between the colonies.

In 1774, the harbour of Boston was closed, and the Massachusetts charter was revoked.  Arbitrary power was placed in the hands of the governor.  The colonies mourned in sympathy.  The assembly of Virginia was dismissed by its governor, but merely reunited, and proceeded to call a continental congress.

The first continental congress was held at Capitol Hall, Philadelphia, September 5, 1774.  All the colonies but Georgia were represented.  The congress appealed to George III. for redress.  They drafted the Declaration of Rights, and pledged the colonies not to use British importations and to export no American goods to Great Britain or to its colonies.

The battles of Lexington and Concord were precipitated by the attempt of the British to seize the colonists’ munitions of war.  The immediate result was the assembling of a second continental congress at Philadelphia, May 10, 1775.  The second congress was in a short time organising armies and assuming all the powers of government.

On November 1, 1775, it was learned that King George would not receive the petition asking for redress, and the idea of the Declaration of Independence was conceived.  On May 15, 1776, the congress voted that all British authority ought to be suppressed.  Thomas Jefferson, in December, drafted the Constitution, and it was adopted on July 4, 1776.

The leading events of the Revolution were the battles of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775; capture of Ticonderoga, May 10; Bunker Hill, June 17; unsuccessful attack on Canada, 1775-1776; surrender of Boston, March 17, 1776; battle of Long Island, August 27; White Plains, October 28; retreat through New Jersey, at the end of 1776; battle of Trenton, December 26; battle of Princeton, January 3, 1777; Bennington, August 16; Brandywine, September 11; Germantown, October 4; Saratoga, October 7; Burgoyne’s surrender, October 17; battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778; storming of Stony Point, July 15, 1779; battle of Camden, August 16, 1780; battle of Cowpens, January 17, 1781; surrender of Cornwallis, October 19, 1781.