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The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was the second American tax revolt against the British royal authority. -
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The Battles of Lexington and Concord
British troops had moved from Boston toward Lexington and Concord to seize the colonists' military supplies and arrest revolutionaries. -
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The Declaration of Independence is Signed
is one of the most important but least celebrated days in American history when 56 members of the Second Continental Congress started signing the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. -
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Articles of Confederation are Ratified
Article 1: Created the name of the combined 13 states as The United States of America. Article 2: State governments still had their own powers that were not listed in the Articles of Confederation. Article 3: The combined states were responsible for helping to protect each other from attacks. -
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The Winter at Valley Forge
The winter of 1777-78 was not the coldest nor the worst winter experienced during the war, but regular freezing and thawing, plus intermittent snowfall and rain, coupled with shortages of provisions, clothing, and shoes, made living conditions extremely difficult. -
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The Battle of Yorktown
Supported by the French army and navy, Washington's forces defeated Lord Charles Cornwallis' veteran army dug in at Yorktown, Virginia. Victory at Yorktown led directly to the peace negotiations that ended the war in 1783 and gave America its independence. -
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The Constitution is Ratified
In the United States, Article VII of the Constitution provides that “[t]he ratification of the conventions of nine states, shall be sufficient for the establishment of this Constitution between the states so ratifying the same.” Indeed, on June 21, 1788, New Hampshire was the ninth state to vote to ratify the ... -
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Presidential Inauguration of George Washington
Robert Livingston, Chancellor of New York, administered the oath. Samuel Otis, Secretary of the Senate, held the ceremonial Bible, which was a Masonic Bible acquired at the last minute from St. John's Lodge. Washington took the oath with his hand on the Bible, and kissed the Bible after taking the oath. -
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Washington’s Farewell Address
In his farewell address, Washington exhorted Americans to set aside their violent likes and dislikes of foreign nations, lest they be controlled by their passions: “The nation which indulges toward another an habitual hatred or an habitual fondness is in some degree a slave.” -
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The Death of George Washington
Upon returning home, he did not change out of his wet clothes and went straight to dinner. By the next morning, Washington had a sore throat. His conditioned worsened and late in the evening on December 14, 1799, George Washington died of quinsy. -
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Election Day, 1800
In the election of 1800, the Federalist incumbent John Adams ran against the rising Republican Thomas Jefferson. The extremely partisan and outright nasty campaign failed to provide a clear winner because of a constitutional quirk. -
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Marbury vs. Madison
With his decision in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review, an important addition to the system of “checks and balances” created to prevent any one branch of the Federal Government from becoming too powerful.