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This timeline features some of the influential events of the age of reason that led to the writing of the Declaration of Independence, as well as some of the notable literary milestones of the period. Click each event on the timeline to learn more about the age of reason.
The Tea Act of 1773 allowed the British East India Trading Company to sell tea directly to the colonies at a cheap price. This action undercut the local colonial merchants and gave the East India Company a monopoly on the tea trade. The Tea Act angered American colonists, who saw it as another example of crude British domination.
On the night of December 16, 1773, patriot Sam Adams led approximately 50 young Boston men who dressed as Mohawk Indians and carried tomahawks. They headed to the dock, where the most recent shipment of British tea was located. The men threw 45 tons of tea into the chilly waters of Boston Harbor. The Boston Tea Party became a symbol of the American colonists' resistance to British control.
In September 1774, 56 delegates from 12 colonies gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, at the First Continental Congress. Georgia did not send delegates but agreed to support any decisions made at the meeting. The delegates believed that the Intolerable Acts and other recent acts imposed by Britain posed a danger to the colonies. They discussed how to seek fair treatment from Britain. In the end, they agreed on two important actions: they would boycott all British commerce, and they would send a letter directly to King George III that requested the repeal of the Intolerable Acts and declared that Britain had no right to pass laws that affected the colonies.
In January 1776, Thomas Paine anonymously published his pamphlet Common Sense, in which he strongly argued in favor of the American colonies seeking independence from Britain. The pamphlet became extremely popular, selling more than 100,000 copies within a few months of its publication. Paine used simple writing in this pamphlet to capture the attention of the general American public. Later that year, Paine also began publishing a series of pamphlets titled The American Crisis. These persuasive pamphlets motivated the colonists and the emerging American army.
On May 10, 1775, delegates from all 13 colonies met in Philadelphia, forming the Second Continental Congress. Although most of the delegates were reluctant to openly declare independence from Britain, the congress voted to create the American Continental army with George Washington as its leader.
Later, as war erupted between the British soldiers and American colonists, five men—including John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and Thomas Jefferson—began creating the Declaration of Independence, which voiced the American colonists' reasons for splitting from Britain's rule. The five-man committee drafted the Declaration of Independence in June, and the Continental Congress accepted the document on July 4, 1776.
George Washington addressed the American people in a farewell letter after completing his second term as president of the United States. The letter discusses his service to the nation and also warns citizens of the young United States about issues that Washington feared posed internal and external dangers, including the formation of political parties and long-term alliances with other nations.