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Birth of the USA · 1765–1783

Boston, Cradle of the Revolution.

Before there was a United States, there was a harbor town that would not be taxed, would not be quartered, and would not back down. The fight for independence began in and around Boston — and the new nation's first promise to the people who fought it was made in 1776.

"The die is now cast; the colonies must either submit or triumph."— King George III to Lord North, September 1774

How it happened

From the Liberty Tree to Yorktown

Eighteen years, told in the moments that turned protest into war, and war into a nation. The red markers are Boston's own.

  1. Boston · the Liberty Tree

    "No taxation without representation"

    Bostonians hang the stamp distributor in effigy from a great elm that becomes the Liberty Tree. Parliament repeals the Stamp Act the following year — but insists on its right to tax the colonies.

  2. Boston

    Redcoats land in Boston

    British regiments arrive to enforce the Townshend duties. A town of about 15,000 now lives with roughly 2,000 soldiers in its streets.

  3. Boston · King Street

    The Boston Massacre

    Soldiers fire into a crowd outside the Custom House. Five men die, among them Crispus Attucks, a sailor of African and Native American descent — often remembered as the first to fall for American liberty.

  4. Boston · Griffin's Wharf

    The Boston Tea Party

    Colonists disguised as Mohawk warriors board three ships and dump 342 chests of East India Company tea into the harbor. Parliament answers with the Coercive Acts — Americans call them the Intolerable Acts.

  5. Boston Harbor

    The Boston Port Act

    Britain closes the harbor until the tea is paid for. Instead of isolating Boston, it unites the colonies behind it.

  6. Philadelphia

    First Continental Congress

    Delegates from twelve colonies meet and agree to boycott British goods.

  7. Boston · Lexington · Concord

    The midnight ride and the shot heard round the world

    Two lanterns hang in the Old North Church; Paul Revere and William Dawes ride to warn the countryside. At dawn, eight militiamen die on Lexington Green. At Concord's North Bridge the militia fire back, and harry the British column all the way to Boston.

  8. Boston

    The Siege of Boston begins

    Thousands of New England militia ring the city, bottling the British army inside for nearly eleven months.

  9. Philadelphia

    The Continental Army is created

    Congress adopts the militia outside Boston as a national army. The next day it names George Washington commander-in-chief.

  10. Charlestown · Breed's Hill

    The Battle of Bunker Hill

    The British take the hill on the third assault, at a cost of more than a thousand casualties. The colonists lose the ground — and prove they can stand against the best army in the world.

  11. Cambridge

    Washington takes command

    Washington arrives at Cambridge and takes charge of the army besieging Boston.

  12. Philadelphia

    The Continental Navy and the Continental Marines

    Congress authorizes the first armed vessels in October. On 10 November it resolves to raise two battalions of Marines — the birthday the United States Marine Corps still celebrates every year.

  13. Boston · Dorchester Heights

    The British leave Boston

    Henry Knox hauls cannon 300 miles from Fort Ticonderoga. Overnight the Americans fortify Dorchester Heights above the harbor. On 17 March the British sail away — still marked in Boston as Evacuation Day.

  14. Philadelphia

    The Declaration of Independence

    Congress adopts the Declaration. On 18 July it is read aloud to the people of Boston from the balcony of the Old State House.

  15. Philadelphia

    The first national pension for disabled soldiers

    Before the war is half fought, Congress promises half pay to soldiers and sailors disabled in its service. More below.

  16. Saratoga, New York

    Victory at Saratoga

    A British army surrenders in New York, and France enters the war on the American side.

  17. Yorktown, Virginia

    Yorktown

    Cornwallis surrenders to Washington and the French, ending major fighting.

  18. Paris

    The Treaty of Paris

    Britain recognizes the independence of the United States.

The cost

What independence cost the people who won it

The figures the Department of Veterans Affairs uses for the American Revolution, 1775–1783. Many more died of disease and in prison ships than in battle — the record is incomplete, and the true toll is higher.

217,000Americans who served
4,435battle deaths
6,188wounded, not fatally

Source: U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, America's Wars fact sheet (Department of Defense data).

Walk it

The Freedom Trail

A red line set in Boston's sidewalks runs about two and a half miles past sixteen sites of the Revolution. You can walk it in an afternoon.

  1. Boston Common — America's oldest public park; British troops camped here.
  2. Massachusetts State House
  3. Park Street Church
  4. Granary Burying Ground — Samuel Adams, John Hancock, Paul Revere and the Massacre victims.
  5. King's Chapel and Burying Ground
  6. Boston Latin School site and Benjamin Franklin statue
  7. Old Corner Bookstore
  8. Old South Meeting House — where the Tea Party meeting began.
  9. Old State House — the Declaration read from its balcony.
  10. Boston Massacre site
  11. Faneuil Hall — "the Cradle of Liberty."
  12. Paul Revere House
  13. Old North Church — "one if by land, two if by sea."
  14. Copp's Hill Burying Ground
  15. USS Constitution — "Old Ironsides," launched 1797, still in commission.
  16. Bunker Hill Monument

Plan a visit: thefreedomtrail.org · Boston National Historical Park (National Park Service)