Boston Tea Party Disguised as Native Americans, a swarm of Patriots boarded three British ships and dumped more than 300 chests of East India Company tea into Boston Harbor.

Champlain in New France Samuel de Champlain firing at a group of Iroquois, killing two chieftains (1609).

Jesuits in New France Founded in 1539, the Jesuits sought to convert Indians to Catholicism, in part to make them more reliable trading partners and military allies.

Boston from the southeast This view of eighteenth ­century Boston shows the importance of shipping and its regulation in the colonies.

The first American political cartoon Benjamin Franklin’s plea to the colonies to unite against the French in 1754 would become popular again twenty years later, when the colonies faced a different threat.

From La Roque’s Encyclopedie des Voyages An Iroquois warrior in an eighteenth​­century French engraving.

George III The young king of a victorious empire.

Opposition to the Stamp Act In protest of the Stamp Act, which was to take effect the next day, the Pennsylvania Journal printed a skull and crossbones on its masthead.

The Repeal, or The Funeral Procession of Miss Americ-​Stamp This 1766 cartoon shows Grenville carrying the dead Stamp Act in its coffin. In the background, trade with America starts up again.

Samuel Adams Adams was the fiery organizer of the Sons of Liberty.

The Bloody Massacre Paul Revere’s engraving of the Boston Massacre (1770).

The Able Doctor, or America Swallowing the Bitter Draught This 1774 engraving shows Lord North, the Boston Port Act in his pocket, pouring tea down America’s throat and America spitting it back.

Patrick Henry of Virginia Henry famously declared “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!”

The Battle of Lexington Amos Doolittle’s impression of the Battle of Lexington as shooting begins between the Royal Marines and the Minutemen.

View of the Attack on Bunker Hill The Battle of Bunker Hill and the burning of Charlestown Peninsula.

The coming revolution The Continental Congress votes for independence, July 2, 1776.

The Declaration of Independence The Declaration in its most frequently reproduced form, an 1823 engraving by William J. Stone.

Phillis Wheatley An autographed portrait of America’s first African American poet.