-
Jefferson wrote the DOI
June 1776 Thomas Jefferson wrote a draft of the declaration of independence. The DOI did not get adopted by the Second Continental Congress until July 4, 1776 at the meeting that took place at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. -
Battles of Trenton and New Jersey
The Battle of Trenton was a small but pivotal battle during the American Revolutionary War which took place on the morning of December 26, 1776, in Trenton, New Jersey.The Continental Army had previously suffered several defeats in New York and had been forced to retreat through New Jersey to Pennsylvania. -
American and British Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. -
State Constitutions
Pennsylvania created the most radical state constitution of the period.This was a dramatic expansion of who was considered a political person, but other aspects of the new state government were even more radical.He creation of the Massachusetts state constitution of 1780 offered yet another way to answer some of the questions about the role of "the people" in creating a republican government. -
Howe captures Philadelphia
British initiative in the American Revolutionary War to gain control of Philadelphia, which was then the seat of the Second Continental Congress. British General William Howe, after unsuccessfully attempting to draw the Continental Army under General George Washington into a battle in northern New Jersey, embarked his army on transports, and landed them at the northern end of Chesapeake Bay. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution. It was approved, after much debate, by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and sent to the states for ratification. -
Manumission
Manumission, or affranchisement, is the act of an owner freeing his or her slaves. Different approaches developed, each specific to the time and place of a particular society. -
Winter at Valley Forge
Valley Forge functioned as the third of eight military encampments for the Continental Army's main body, commanded by General George Washington. In September 1777, British forces had captured the American capital of Philadelphia -
Congress prohibits enslaved people imported to the US
The Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves of 1807 is a United States federal law that provided that no new slaves were permitted to be imported into the United States. It took effect in 1808, the earliest date permitted by the United States Constitution. -
Spain Declares war on Great Britain
Spain declares war against Great Britain. On this day in 1779, Spain declares war on Great Britain, creating a de facto alliance with the Americans. Spain's King Charles III would not consent to a treaty of alliance with the United States. -
John Paul Jones & Serapis
On September 23, the Bonhomme Richard engaged the Serapis and the smaller Countess of Scarborough, which were escorting the Baltic merchant fleet.From his disabled ship, Jones replied, “I have not yet begun to fight,” and after three more hours of furious fighting it was the Serapis and Countess of Scarborough that surrendered. After the victory, the Americans transferred to the Serapis from the Bonhomme Richard, which sank the following day. -
British forces captured Charles Town
A major engagement and major British victory, fought between March 29 to May 12, 1780, during the American Revolutionary War. -
British surrender at Yorktown
British General Charles Cornwallis surrendered his troops in Yorktown, Virginia. General Cornwallis brought 8,000 British troops to Yorktown. They expected help from British ships sent from New York -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War. -
Plans for first Fed. Tax
The tax was repealed ten years later. However, in 1894 Congress enacted a flat rate Federal income tax, which was ruled unconstitutional the following year. -
Spain closed lower Mississippi River to American Western Settlers
Spain, which held Florida as well as lands west of the Mississippi River, was anxious to halt American expansion into the territory it claimed. As a result, Spain closed the lower Mississippi River to American shipping in 1784 -
The Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was adopted by the United States Congress of the Confederation on May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. ... The 1785 ordinance laid the foundations of land policy until passage of the Homestead Act of 1862. -
The North West Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance, adopted July 13, 1787, by the Confederation Congress, chartered a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory -
Convention
Delegates representing every state except Rhode Island convened at Philadelphia's Pennsylvania State House for the Constitutional Convention. ... On September 17, 1787, the Constitution of the United States of America was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the conclusion of the convention. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising in Western Massachusetts in opposition to a debt crisis among the citizenry and the state government's increased efforts to collect taxes both on individuals and their trades; the fight took place mostly in and around Springfield during 1786 and 1787. -
Singing of the Constitution
The Signing of the United States Constitution occurred on September 17, 1787, at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when 39 delegates to the Constitutional Convention, representing 12 states (all but Rhode Island, which declined to send delegates), endorsed the Constitution created during the four-months -
Delaware fist state to approve Constitution
The first state to ratify was Delaware, on December 7, 1787, by a unanimous vote, 30 - 0. The featured document is an endorsed ratification of the federal Constitution by the Delaware convention. -
New Hampshire ratifies Constitution
Congress of New Hampshire voted in Exeter to establish a civil government, and specified the manner and form that government would have. ... The constitution was the first constitution ever ratified by an American commonwealth. -
Land Act of 1800
On April 15, 1800, the government approved the Harrison Land Act. Under this law, people had the opportunity to buy land in the Northwest Territory directly from the federal government. ... The Harrison Land Act stated that people had to purchase at least 320 acres of land for a minimum of two dollars per acre.
