| year | event |
| 1760 | George III becomes King of England |
| 1763 | Treaty of Paris ends the 7 years war; Proclimation of 1763 forbids white settlement west of the Appalachian mountains |
| 1764 | Sugar Act levies new trade duties on coffe, sugar, and wine; Currency Act prohibits colonial governments from issuing paper money and requires all debts to be paid in hard money |
| 1765 | Stamp Act requires stamps be affixed to over fifty items where tax is imposed |
| 1766 | Parliament repeals the stamp act but asserts its authority to tax the colonies in the declaratory act |
| 1767 | Townshind duties act imposes taxes on imported glass, lead, paint, paper and tea to defray the cost of colonial administration |
| 1768 | British troops order to Boston colonists begin to mount a trade boycott to protest the townshind duties |
| 1770 | Boston Massacre leaves 5 dead and others wounded |
| 1772 | Rhode Island colonists attack and burn british naval vessel Gaspee |
| 1773 | Tea Act allows the east indian company to sell tea directly to American retailers; Boston tea party occurs when a band of indians boards 3 British vessels and dumps 342 chests of tea into Boston harbor |
| 1774 | Coercive Acts close the port of Boston; Quebec Act expands the boundaries of Quebec to the Mississippi and Ohio rivers; First continental congress meeting in Philidelphia protest oppresive parliamentary legislation votes to boycott trade with Britian |
