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Royal Colony of New Jersey
Royal Colony of New Jersey established by Queen Anne from separate provinces of East New Jersey and West New Jersey. -
Queen Anne's War
During Queen Anne's War, Deerfield, Massachusetts is attacked by French and Indian forces with fifty-six killed and over one hundred captured and carried off. -
New York Slave Revolt
New York slave revolt results in six suicides and twenty-one executions. -
French Colony of Louisiana,
French colonists under the governor of the French colony of Louisiana, Jean-Baptiste le Moyne, Sieur de Bienville, with the French Mississippi Company found the City of New Orleans, named after the Regent of France, Philip II, the Duke of Orleans. It is located on the lands of the Chitimacha tribe. -
The Villasur expedition of Spanish troops
The Villasur expedition of Spanish troops leaves Mexico on a mission to control the increasing presence of the French in the Great Plains. It would end with a defeat by the Pawnee on August 14 near the Loup and Platte Rivers, near Columbus, Nebraska. -
Declaration of war occurs in Dummer's War
Declaration of war occurs in Dummer's War after skirmishes earlier in the year between New England colonists and the Wabanaki Confederacy, backed by New France. Lasted three years until December 15, 1725. -
Lord Proprietors Sell Out Their Interests
Lord proprietors sell out their interests in North Carolina to British Crown, establishing North Carolina as a Crown Colony. -
Province of Georgia Corporate
Province of Georgia corporate charter granted to General James Oglethorpe by British King George II with the original western border of the Pacific Ocean and settlers who had been imprisoned for their debts. -
Anglican minister George Whitefield
Anglican minister George Whitefield arrives for his first of seven visits to North America and becomes the predominant preacher in the First Great Awakening movement throughout the colonies. -
Twenty-nine years After Slaves Revolt
Twenty-nine years after the first revolt of slaves in New York, a second uprising occurs. Seventeen slaves were hanged after the revolt, thirteen burned, and seventy deported. -
The First Battle of King George's War
The first battle of King George's War begins with a raid by New French against the British port of Canso. The four-year conflict against northern British colonies takes a heavy toll after battles in Maine, at Fort Massachusetts, and in Saratoga, New York. -
Georgia Trustees Petition Parliament
Georgia Trustees petition parliament to overturn the original ban against slavery in Oglethorpe's colony. It would be lifted two years later. -
George Washington's Troops Attach Fort Duquense
George Washington and his troops attack Fort Duquesne, an initial action of the French and Indian War between the English and French which began when French forces built and occupied Fort Duquesne in Pittsburgh and did not heed warnings to leave Virginia territory. -
Benjamin Franklin Invents the Lightning Rod
Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod after earlier in the year proving that lightning was electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm. -
France cedes Louisiana to Spain
France cedes Louisiana to Spain. This started a contentious period of thirty-eight years of Spanish rule before Spain returned Louisiana back to France. -
French and Indian War Ends
French and Indian War ends with a peace treaty that cedes Canada and the American midwest to English. This signals and effectively tightens the control of Great Britain's colonial administration of North America. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act places a duty on various commodities, including lumber, food, molasses, and rum in the British colonies. -
Establishment of the Stamp Act
After the establishment of the Stamp Act by the British Government on March 22, which required revenue stamps, taxes, to pay for British troops, nine American colonies hold a Stamp Act Congress in New York and adopted a Declaration of Rights against taxation without representation. -
Stamp Act
Stamp Act is repealed. -
Additional levies
Additional levies are put on goods in American colonies by the British Government when the Townshend Acts are enacted, including levies on glass, painter's lead, paper, and tea. All would be repealed in three years, except for the tax on tea. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurs when British troops fire into a Boston mob, who were demonstrating against British troops at the customs commission. The first to fall was Crispus Attucks, a fugitive slave and merchant seaman near the front, followed by four other men amongst the forty-fifty patriots. This event was later credited as the first battle in the American Revolution, which began five years later, and was used as an incident to further the colonist's cause of rebellion. -
First Independent Anglo-American Government
The first independent Anglo-American government is founded by the Watauga Association in East Tennessee, a group of settlers needing mutual protection along the Watauga River. The written agreement allowed for a five-man court to act as the government. Also is 1772, the Wataugans would negotiate a ten-year lease with the Cherokee for land along the river. -
The House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia reacts strongly against British policies by setting up a committee to contact the other colonies about their common defense. They issue the Virginia Resolutions Establishing A Committee of Correspondence. -
Benjamin Franklin Publishes Public Advertiser
Benjamin Franklin writes and publishes a satirical essay in The Public Advertiser called Rules By Which A Great Empire May Be Reduced To A Small One. -
The Intolerable Acts,
The Intolerable Acts, including the reestablishment of the Quartering Act, requiring colonists to allow British soldiers into their homes, and the curtailment of Massachusetts self-rule, are enacted by the British government. Later led to the 3rd Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which prohibits the U.S. Army from doing the same. -
The British
The British government declares Massachusetts in rebellion. -
Thomas Paine
Thomas Paine, an English writer, publishes his pamphlet "Common Sense," touting the ability and right of America to create a democratic and free nation, winning public support for the cause of American independence from Britain with the sale of hundreds of thousands of copies. Thomas Jefferson received a copy of "Common Sense" at his home Monticello, whose sentiments pleased him, and the course for independence and the Declaration to follow began. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence, from the pen of Thomas Jefferson and his committee, is approved in the Second Continental Congress of the United States of America, held in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was influenced by many writers, including John Locke, and was emboldened by the notion that man had the natural right to change or overthrow the government that denied their rights. -
General Washington
General Washington and the 7,000 man Continental Army defeats British General Charles Cornwallis at Princeton, New Jersey. This battle, combined with that of Trenton one week earlier, impressed upon other European nations that the Americans could combat the British Army. -
British Evacuate Philadelphia
British evacuate Philadelphia to reinforce their troops in New York City, a response to the new French involvement in the conflict. -
Fort Sackville at Vincennes
Fort Sackville at Vincennes, Indiana is surrendered by British troops under the command of British Lt. Governor Henry Hamilton. The militia under Lt. Colonel George Rogers Clark, bolsters the western claims in the American Revolution. -
General Washington arrives at Morristown
General Washington arrives at Morristown, New Jersey, where the Continental Army camps during the 1779-1780 winter of the Revolutionary War. -
Benjamin Franklin invents bifocals
Prompted by poor vision both near and far, and tired of putting his glasses on and off, Benjamin Franklin invents bifocals. It is unknown exactly when this occurred, with Franklin admitting to friends that he had been wearing double spectacles in 1784. -
British troops under Lord Cornwallis
British troops under Lord Cornwallis gain a costly victory at the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina at the expense of Major General Nathanael Greene in the opening salvo of the campaign that would lead to Yorktown. -
British troops begin to leave United States'
British troops begin to leave the United States' soil, evacuating Savannah, Georgia. On December 14, they would continue their evacuation by leaving Charleston, South Carolina. -
Treaty of Paris
British Parliament agrees to the recognition of U.S. independence. A preliminary peace treaty, later formalized as the "Treaty of Paris" is signed between American and British officials in Paris on November 30. -
John Adams ends Revolutionary War
In Paris, France, John Adams leads an American delegation and signs the peace treaty officially ending the Revolutionary War between the United States and Britain. -
Great Britain First Bale of American Cotton
Trade with Great Britain had returned as Britain receives its first bales of imported American cotton. -
Continental Navy
The Continental Navy is disbanded. -
The Treaty of Hopewell Signed
The Treaty of Hopewell is signed between representatives of the Confederation Congress of the United States and the Indian nation of the Choctaw, originally located in the southeastern states of Mississippi, Alabama, and Louisiana and known as one of the five civilized tribes. -
Constitutional Convention
With George Washington presiding, the Constitutional Convention opens in Philadelphia's Independence Hall. -
Thanksgiving is Recognized as a Holiday
Sarah Josepha Hale, American author of the nursery rhyme, "Mary Had a Little Lamb" and her campaign to officially recognize Thanksgiving as a holiday, is born. -
Federal Hall
In Federal Hall, New York City, a converted Customs House, the government of the United States under the United States Constitution begins to act. The U.S. Constitution is declared to be in effect. -
The Steamboat is Patented
The steamboat is patented in the United States by John Fitch. First launched on the Delaware River in 1787, and operated passenger service from Philadelphia to Burlington, New Jersey, which proved unprofitable. -
The United States Post Office Department
- The United States Post Office Department is established, signed into law by President George Washington.
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Federal Law Requiring the Return of Slaves
The United States Congress passes a federal law requiring the return of slaves that escaped from slave states into free territory or states. -
Jay's Treaty is Signed
Jay's Treaty is signed between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Great Britain. This treaty tried to settle some of the lingering troubles stemming from the American Revolution. -
General Wayne Signs a Peace Treaty
General Wayne signs a peace treaty with the Indians at Fort Greenville, Ohio, ending the hostilities in what was then known as the Northwest Territories after the Indian confederation's defeat (the treaty included the above-mentioned tribes, as well as the Eel Rivers, Weas, Kickapoos, Piankeshaws, and Kaskaskias) at Fallen Timbers the year before. -
President George Washington
President George Washington gives his final address as president, published in the American Daily Advertiser, urging strong warnings against permanent foreign alliances, large public debt, and a large military establishment -
John Adams Succeeds George Washington
John Adams succeeds George Washington as president of the United States. -
Invention of a New Mouldboard for a Plow.
Thomas Jefferson, then Vice President of the United States, informs the American Philosophical Society of his invention of a new mouldboard for the plow. -
Abolish Slavery in the State of New York
A law is passed to abolish slavery in the state of New York, effective twenty-eight years later, in 1827. -
First President Living in White House
U.S. President John Adams is the first President to live in the White House, then known as the Executive Mansion and sixteen days later, the United States Congress holds its first session in Washington, D.C. He would be defeated for the presidency by December 6 by Thomas Jefferson.