: Influenced by Enlightenment ideals, colonists championed liberty, equality, and self-governance. Timeline of Key Events
The war grew from more than a decade of tension over British attempts to assert greater control after years of "salutary neglect". Key drivers included:
: The Intolerable Acts (1774) , designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party , led to the formation of the First Continental Congress .
Final major battle; French and American forces trapped British General Cornwallis. Treaty of Paris
Major American victory; convinced to openly join the war. 1777-78 Valley Forge