12/16 [Boston]

The Boston Tea Party occurred when a group organized by Samuel Adams boarded tea ships in Boston harbor and threw overboard 342 tea chests valued at $90,000. This action led to the British Coercive Acts of 1774, termed by Americans the Intolerable Acts.

3/28 [London]

His Majesty was pleased to appoint Vice-Admiral of the Blue Samuel Graves, to the command of his ships employed or to be employed in North America.

3/31 [London]

Parliament passed the Boston Port Bill, the first of the Coercive Acts, which ordered the closing of the port of Boston on 1 June 1774 until tea destroyed in the “Tea Party” was paid for. Under the terms of the act Boston harbor was closed to all shipping except for coasters carrying necessary fuel and supplies, until (1) the East India Company had been compensated for its losses; (2) the injured customs officers had been compensated for their injuries; (3) George III deemed that peace was sufficiently restored that trade could be resumed. All coastal shipping had to call at Marblehead and Salem first, where the customs office was moved.

4/2 [London]

George III appoints the Honourable Thomas Gage, Lieutenant-General of his forces, to be Governor and Vice-Admiral of the province of Massachusetts Bay, replacing Thomas Hutchison, who had "retired."

5/6 [England]

Approximate date that Admiral Graves (in HMS Preston sailed for America.

5/17 [Boston]

General Thomas Gage landed in Boston to assume his duties as Governor of Massachusetts in addition to those of Commander-in-Chief of the British military forces in North America.

5/20 [London]

Parliament passes the Massachusetts Government Act, which annuls the colonial charter and puts control of town meetings in the Governor’s hands. This was regarded as the second of the Coercive Acts. The official title was the Massachusetts Bay Regulating Act. It provided for (1) the replacement of the elected Assembly by a mandamus council, nominated by the Governor (General Gage), to sit at Marblehead; (2) the Governor was given the power to appoint/dismiss all law officers; (3) there were to be no Town Meetings without royal assent; (4) there was to be no election of juries by the freeholders.

5/20 [London]

On the same day Parliament passed the Administration of Justice Act. This empowered the Governor of Massachusetts to remove trials to another colony or to Britain if he felt that the juries in Massachusetts would be partial. The Act applied largely to Crown officials and troops carrying out their orders. The Americans called this the "Murder Act". There was little chance of offenders being given a fair trial in America but there was little chance of justice being meted out in Britain either. This was regarded as the third of the Coercive Acts.

6/1 [Boston]

The Boston Port Act goes into effect: the port of Boston closed to trade.

6/2 [London]

Parliament passed the Quartering Act at the request of Gage. It provided for requiring the colonists to furnish barracks and supplies to British troops when needed. This was regarded in America as the fourth of the Coercive Acts. This act was an amendment to the 1765 Quartering and Mutiny Act which broadened the law. There were four regiments of troops at Castle William with inadequate quarters. The Act allowed for the quartering of these men in empty houses, inns and barns but also in private houses if necessary. Under the 1765 Act, the colonists were required to provide accommodation for British troops. The soldiers were also to be supplied with fire, candles, vinegar, salt, bedding, cooking utensils, up to five pints of small beer or cider or half a pint of rum mixed with two pints of water per man. The colonists were to meet the expense of this for themselves.

6/16 [London]

Parliament passed the Quebec Act. This provided for (1) revocation of the Proclamation against westward expansion in Canada; (2) vesting of legislative power (except in matters of taxation) in a Canadian bi-racial council nominated by the British government. Legislation was subject to royal approval, but there was no mention of a religious test; (3) freedom of worship to Roman Catholics and allowed priests to collect tithes from their parishioners; maintenance of the supremacy of the Crown; (4) retention of French civil and property laws to be retained; (5) enforcement of British criminal law, although there were some significant modifications (for example, Habeas Corpus was omitted); (6) expansion of the boundaries of Quebec. The border now stretched southwards along the Ohio river behind the Allegheny Mountains. Although not directly connected with the other Coercive Acts, this was regarded in America as one of them.

7/3 [Boston]

Admiral Graves in HMS Preston arrived in Nantasket Roads about 30 June or 1 July. He took command of the North American Station about 3 July. His mission was to enforce the Boston Port Act by blockading Boston Harbor, support the British Army, and enforce the various trade laws.

7/18 [Fairfax]

A convention in Fairfax County, Virginia, presided over by George Washington, adopts the Fairfax Resolves. The resolves summarize the constitutional history of the colonial/imperial split, call for a non-importation agreement and a general congress of the colonies, and the abolition of the importation of slaves. There is only a slight hint of armed resistance in the resolves.

9/1 [Boston]

General Gage seizes Massachusetts owned supply of gunpowder at Charlestown, across the Charles River from Boston.

9/5 [Philadelphia]

First Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia. Georgia does not send delegates to this Congress.The purpose is to respond to the British political moves and recommend colonial responses.

9/9 [Milton]

A meeting of residents of Suffolk County, Massachusetts (Boston) adopts the Suffolk Resolves. These proclaimed the Coercive Acts to be unconstitutional and void; officials charged with the enforcement of these illegal acts were called upon to resign; the convention urged Massachusetts to establish a separate free state until the Coercive Acts were repealed; the delegates suggested that future tax collections be retained by the new Massachusetts government and not passed along to British officials; the convention called for the creation and enforcement of a boycott of British goods and trade with Britain; the convention advised the people of Massachusetts to appoint militia officers and commence arming their local forces; the delegates warned General Thomas Gage that efforts to arrest citizens on political charges would result in the detention of the arresting officers and announced that subjects no longer owe loyalty to a king who violates their rights.

9/14 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress approves the Suffolk Resolutions, drafted by a convention in Suffolk County, Massachusetts, which declared the Coercive Acts (or Intolerable Acts) to be unconstitutional, and urged Massachusetts to set up a government independent of the crown until these acts were repealed, recommended economic sanctions against Great Britain, and advised the people to arm.

9/22 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress “Resolved unanimously, That the Congress request the Merchants and others in the several colonies, not to send to Great Britain, any orders for goods, and to direct the execution of all orders already sent, to be delayed or suspended, until the sense of the Congress, on the means to be taken for the preservation of the liberties of America, is made public. Ordered, That this resolution be made public by handbills, and by publishing it in the newspapers.” Congress did not pass laws, it passed resolutions. Congress expected the colonies and citizens to follow these resolutions, as is shown by the request to have the resolution printed. The majority of the citizens did obey the resolutions, and Congress became the de facto governing body of the North American colonies. This resolution marked the beginning of the debate over the Continental Association.

10/5 [Concord]

The Massachusetts Assembly meets in Concord, Massachusets.

10/8 [Concord]

The Massachusetts Assembly adjourns, and then is re-organized as the Massachusetts Provincial Congress, with John Hancock as President. This was an entirely extra-legal body. It assumed the government of Massachusetts outside Boston, with the willing co-operation of the citizens of Massachusetts. With the formation of the Provincial Congress, Massachusetts had accomplished it's revolution.

10/14 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances summarizing colonial arguments of protest and denying Parliament’s jurisdiction over American colonies except for regulation of colonial commerce and strictly imperial affairs.

10/18 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress adopted the Continental Association forbidding importation of British goods after 1 December 1775, and exportation of goods to Britain after 10 September 1775.

10/19 [London]

A British Order in Council prohibits the exportation of gunpowder from Great Britain and the importation of gunpowder into the North American colonies. The ban is periodically renewed, six months at a time, until the end of the war.

10/19 [Annapolis]

At Annapolis, Maryland, the owner of ship Peggy Stewart, arriving with tea aboard on which tax had been paid, was forced to burn his own vessel to avert a mob burning the vessel.

10/20 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress published the Continental Association. The association becomes the test of the support of the people, and they widely adopt the measure, treating it as a "law." Local committees are formed to enforce the terms, and become de facto local governments. The economic boycott led to a 90 percent decline in British imports by spring 1775.

10/25 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress approves an “Address to the King.”

10/26 [Concord]

The Massachusetts Provincial Congress directed that militia-men of colony be reorganized so that the most able-bodied third would be in separate companies of minute men.

10/26 [Philadelphia]

The Continental Congress adjourns, to meet again on 10 May 1775.

12/1

Non-Importation (under the Continental Association) goes into effect.

12/4 [Boston]

Vice Admiral Graves receives orders to seize gunpowder, arms, or ammunition being imported into the North American colonies, unless the masters of the vessels had special licenses for doing so. Similar orders went to the governors of all the North American colonies, from Lord Dartmouth, dated 19 October 1774, the same day as the order in council prohibiting the exportation of gunpowder from Britain.

12/5 [Boston]

HMS Asia arrives, with a reinforcement of 460 Marines.

12/8 [Providence]

The General Assembly of Rhode Island, having received news of Lord Dartmouth’s orders concerning the importation of munitions, orders that the cannon and powder at Fort George (on Fort Island in Newport Harbor) be removed to Providence, except for three cannon and a small quantity of powder.

12/9 [Boston]

HMS Boyne arrives at Boston.

12/10 [Newport]

On 12/9 and 12/10 all cannon removed from Fort George to Providence, except four.

12/10 [Providence]

Providence, Rhode Island newspaper publishes the Order in Council forbidding exportation of gunpowder and Lord Dartmouth’s orders to the colonial governors to seize powder and arms shipments.

12/13 [London]

Parliament votes 16,000 men (including 4,284 Marines) for the Navy for the year 1775.

12/13 [New London]

Cannon from the fort at New London, Connecticut, are removed into the country.

12/14 [Portsmouth]

Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Several hundred men conduct a raid on William and Mary Castle. Some shots are fired by the garrison. Cannon and powder are removed after the surrender. This action is sometimes claimed to be the first battle of the war.

12/14 [Providence]

The Rhode Island General Assembly orders the purchase of 200 barrels of powder and other materials.

12/14 [New London]

Merchant Nathaniel Shaw of New London suggests that Connecticut import 400-500 barrels of gunpowder. Shaw has a vessel ready to sail and knows where to get the powder.

12/15 [Boston]

Gage reports that he has received many reports of Americans sending to Europe for munitions. He and Admiral Graves have coordinated a plan to prevent smuggling of munitions. These reports were well in advance of the facts: the Americans were just beginning to search for gunpowder.

12/18 [Boston]

HMS Somerset arrives at Boston, She is the third ship-of-the-line to arrive there in December.

Winter [Hofgeismar]

British and Hessian representatives conduct negotiations at the Hessian palace of Hofgeismar for the hiring of large numbers of Hessian soldiers. The negotiations fail because the Hessian price was too high. The negotiations indicate that the British ministry was planning to use massive military force to subdue the colonies.

1/1 [Boston]

Admiral Graves has 24 ships and 3,545 men in his squadron, including one fitting out to join him. His area of responsibilty runs from the St. Lawrence River to the Florida Keys and includes the Bahama Islands. To enforce the Boston Port Bill and the general trade laws, this might have been enough vessels; to patrol for smugglers and gunpowder smugglers, it was woefully inadequate. The British authorities plan to send both military and naval reinforcements to America.

1/27 [London]

Gage authorized to use force to maintain royal authority in Massachusetts.

1/27 [London]

British begin warning European powers that they will seize contraband arms shipments to America.

1/30 [London]

Orders to Vice Admiral William Parry, Commander of the Leeward Islands station, to be attentive to illegal trade between St. Eustatia and America, particularly ammunition. Information of these orders sent to Holland, Denmark, and Sweden.

2/1 [London]

Parliament rejects a plan of reconciliation introduced by William Pitt.

2/9 [London]

Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.

2/9 [London]

Anticipating the failure of local contractors, the Admiralty ordered the victuallers to send out four months’ provisions for 4275 men. A transport ordered to take Generals Howe, Burgoyne, and Clinton’s baggage to America. The three generals were part of the reinforcements being sent to support Gage.

2/10 [London]

First Restaining Act introduced in House of Commons.

2/14 [London]

Parliament votes 2000 more men (including 490 Marines) for the navy for 1775.

2/15 [Bilbao]

First mention of Massachusetts attempting to buy arms abroad (in Spain).

2/26 [Salem]

British troops sent by sea land at Marblehead to destroy ordnance collected by the rebels at Salem. The countryside is alarmed and many militia companies turn out. A tense standoff nearly became overt hostilities.

3/9 [London]

Second Restraining Act introduced in the House of Commons. The same as the first for New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia and South Carolina. Trade to be restricted to Great Britain, Ireland, or the British West Indies.

3/21 [London]

British Parliament passes the First Restraining Act, prohibiting trade to the four New England colonies. The act is also known as the New England Restraining Act. Only trade with Great Britain, Ireland and the British West Indies is allowed to Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire. New England fishing vessels are excluded from the Newfoundland Banks. If these colonies followed the Continental Association, as they were doing, and this law, the effect would be to cease all trade, and throw thousands of sailors and fishermen out of work. All goods in warehouses, and all shipping, was now worthless. The act was to take effect as follows: 7/1/75 no exports except to Britain; 9/1/75 no imports except from Britain (except horses, foodstuffs and Irish linen from Ireland); fishing by New England ships after 20 July forbidden on the banks or any coast of northern America (Nantucket excepted).

3/22 [London]

Edmund Burke's speech to the House of Commons on reconciliation.

3/23 [Williamsburg]

The Virginia Convention resolved that the colony ought to be immediately put in a posture of defense. Patrick Henry’s “liberty or death” speech.

3/30 [London]

The New England Restraining Act signed by King George.