- February 9
- English Parliament declares Massachusetts colony is in rebellion. [1]
- February 15
- Angelo Braschi chosen as Pope Pius VI. [1]
- February 22
- First US joint stock company (to make cloth) offers shares at £10. [1]
- Jews expelled from outskirts of Warsaw Poland. [1]
- March 6
- First Negro Mason in US initiated, Boston. [1]
- March 19
- Four people buried by avalanche for 37 days, three survive (Italy). [1]
- Poland and Prussia sign trade agreement. [1]
- March 22
- Edmund Burke presents his 13 articles to the English parliament. [1]
- March 23
- Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death". [1]
- April 14
- First abolitionist society in US organizes in Philadelphia Pennsylvania. [1]
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- April 18
- In Massachusetts, Paul Revere and William Dawes ride calling "the British are coming!" to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams to escape. [1] [450.175]
- April 19
- British Marines and Light Infantry under Major John Pitcairn open fire on local militia of Massachusetts at Lexington, killing 19 with no English losses. This begins the American Revolutionary War. [1] [129] [487.34] [696.20] [857.34]
- At Concord bridge, British troops are repulsed by Massachusetts militia with heavy losses to the British. [696.20]
- April 23
- The opera "Il Ré Pastore" is produced (Salzburg). [1]
- May 7
- Turkish state of Bukovina secedes from Austria. [1]
- May 10
- Second Continental Congress convened in Pennsylvania; issues paper currency for first time. [1]
- Second Continental Congress names George Washington, supreme commander. [1]
- Green Mountain Boys capture Fort Ticonderoga NY-American Revolution. [1]
- May 20
- Citizens of Mecklenburg County, North Carolina declare independence of Britain. [1]
- June 7
- United Colonies change name to United States. [1]
- June 12
- First naval battle of Revolution: Unity (American) captures Margaretta (British). [1]
- June 14
- The Continental Congress adopts the New England army as the Continental Army, and votes to raise ten companies of riflemen. [1] [438.70]
- June 17
- British forces attack American militiamen at Breed's Hill; they initially retreat, British Major John Pitcairn is killed by a musket ball, but the British clear the hill. [1] [696.20]
- June 23
- First regatta held on Thames, England. [1]
- July 3
- George Washington takes command of the Continental Army as commander-in-chief at Cambridge, Massachusetts. [1] [397.80]
- July 25
- Maryland issues currency depicting George III trampling Magna Carta. [1]
- August 5
- First Spanish ship, San Carlos, enters San Francisco Bay. [1]
- August 22
- King George III proclaims American colonies to be in open rebellion. [1] [916.169]
- October 16
- Portland, Maine burned by British. [1]
- November 7
- Lord Dunmore promises freedom to male slaves who join British army. [1]
- November 13
- American Revolutionary forces capture Montreal. [1] [1135]
- December 25
- Pope Pius VI encyclical on the problems of the pontificate. [1]
- December 31
- Battle of Québec; Americans unable to take British stronghold. [1]
1776
- January 2
- Austria ends interrogation torture. [1]
- January 5
- Assembly of New Hampshire adopts its first state constitution. [1]
- February 17
- First volume of Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire published. [1]
- March 2
- Americans begin shelling British troops in Boston. [1]
- March 3
- The Continental Marines land at New Providence in the Bahamas. [1] [438.70]
- March 4
- George Washington's Continental Army besieges Boston. [603.56]
- March 17
- British forces evacuate Boston to Halifax, Nova Scotia during American Revolutionary War. [1] [696.21] [857.35]
- April 12
- Halifax resolution for independence adopted by North Carolina. [1]
- May 1
- Doctor Adam Weishaupt, professor of canon law at Ingelstadt University of Bavaria, forms the Order of the Illuminati secret society. [861.13] [916.42] [1096.69] [1118.101]
- Scottish economist Adam Smith releases book The Wealth of Nations. [403.60] [620.60]
- May 2
- France and Spain agree to donate arms to American rebels. [1]
- May 4
- Rhode Island declares independence from England. [1]
- May 10
- First issue of $1 notes, authorized by the Continental Congress. [542.60]
- May 12
- Turgot, French minister of Finance, resigns. [1]
- June 12
- Virginia adopts Declaration of Rights. [1]
- June 28
- Charleston, South Carolina repulses British sea attack. [1]
- June 29
- Mission Dolores founded by San Francisco Bay. [1]
- July 2
- Continental Congress resolves "these United Colonies are and of right ought to be Free and Independent States". [1]
- July 4
- In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the independence of the United States of America from Great Britain and its king. Twelve colonies adopt the declaration. [1] [129]
- July 6
- Declaration of Independence announced on front page of the Pennsylvania Evening Gazette. [1]
- July 8
- Colonel John Nixon gives first public reading of Declaration of Independence. [1]
- July 9
- Declaration of Independence read aloud to General Washington's troops in New York. [1]
- July 19
- New York adopts the declaration of independence from Great Britain. [129]
- August 2
- Formal signing of the American Declaration of Independence. [1] [129]
- August 27
- British defeat Americans in Battle of Long Island. [1]
- August 29
- Americans withdraw from Manhattan to Westchester. [1]
- September 7
- The World's first submarine attack occurs, as the American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of the British flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor. [5]
- September 15
- British forces capture Kip's Bay Manhattan during the Revolution. [1]
- September 17
- Presidio of San Francisco forms as a Spanish fort. [1]
- September 21
- Great fire in New York. [1]
- October 9
- Father Francisco Palou founds Mission San Francisco de Asis in what is now San Francisco, California. [1] [5]
- October 11
- Brigadier General Arnold's Lake Champlain fleet defeated by British. [1]
- October 12
- British Brigade begins guarding Throgg Necks Road in the Bronx. [1]
- October 18
- Colonel John Glover and Marblehead regiment meet British Forces in Bronx. [1]
- October 28
- Battle of White Plains; George Washington retreats to New Jersey. [1]
- November 1
- Mission San Juan Capistrano founded in California. [1]
- November 16
- Hessians capture Fort Washington, Manhattan. [1]
- November 18
- Hessians capture Fort Lee, New Jersey. [1]
- December 5
- Phi Beta Kappa, first American scholastic fraternity (William and Mary College), is founded. [1]
- December 8
- George Washington's retreating army crosses Delaware River from New Jersey. [1]
- December 19
- Thomas Paine publishes his first "American Crisis" essay, in which he writes, "These are the times that try men's souls". [1]
- December 23
- Continental Congress negotiates a war loan of $181,500 from France. [1]
- December 24
- General George Washington crosses the Delaware River to surprise Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey. [1] [464.44]
- December 26
- US General George Washington defeats Hessians at Trenton, New Jersey. [1]
1777
- January 3
- US General George Washington defeats British at Battle of Princeton, New Jersey. [1]
- January 12
- Mission Santa Clara de Asis founded in California. [1]
- January 15
- People of New Connecticut (Vermont) declare independence from England. [1]
- January 16
- Vermont declares independence from New York. [1]
- January 18
- San Jose, California, founded. [1]
- February 21
- English ambassador Joseph Yorke demands dismissal of Governor John de Graaff for saluting US flag. [1]
- March 24
- Benjamin Franklin negotiates a loan for the United States government with French officials. [711.34]
- April 16
- Battle of Bennington-New England's Green Mountain Boys rout British. [1]
- April 20
- New York adopts new constitution as an independent state. [1]
- May 12
- First ice cream advertisement (Philip Lenzi-New York Gazette). [1]
- May 13
- University library at Vienna opens. [1]
- June 14
- The American Continental Congress adopts a resolution stating that "the flag of the United States be thirteen alternate stripes red and white" and that "the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new Constellation." [1] [129]
- July 2
- Vermont becomes the first American territory to abolish slavery. [1] [5]
- July 6
- British General Burgoyne captures Fort Ticonderoga from Americans. [1]
- August 4
- Retired British cavalry officer Philip Astley establishes first circus. [1]
- August 16
- Americans defeat British in Battle of Bennington, Vermont. [1]
- September 11
- Battle of Brandywine, Pennsylvania; Americans lose to British. [1]
- September 19
- Battle of Freeman's Farm (Bemis Heights) or first Battle of Saratoga. [1]
- September 26
- British troops occupy Philadelphia during the American Revolution. [1]
- September 27
- Battle of Germantown; General George Washington defeated by the British. [1]
- September 30
- US Congress flees to York, Pennsylvania, as British forces advance. [1]
- October 7
- Americans beat British in second Battle of Saratoga and Battle of Bemis Heights. [1]
- October 17
- British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga, New York. [1]
- November 15
- Articles of Confederation adopted by Continental Congress. [1]
- December 2
- British General Howe plots attack on US General George Washington's army for December 4. [1]
- December 5
- Horace Walpole writes to Countess of Upper Ossory "I rejoice that the Americans are to be free, as they had a right to be, and as I am sure they have shown they deserve to be." [919.86]
- December 8
- Captain Cook leaves Society Islands. [1]
- December 17
- France recognizes independence of English colonies in America. [1]
- December 24
- James Cook discovers Kiritimati, also called Christmas Island. [5]
1778
- January 18
- Captain James Cook becomes the first known European to discover the Hawaiian Islands, which he names the "Sandwich Islands." [1] [5] [570.62]
- February 6
- England declares war on France. [1]
- France recognizes US, signs treaty of aid in Paris; first US treaty. [1]
- February 14
- "Stars and Stripes" arrives in foreign port for first time (France). [1]
- February 28
- Rhode Island General Assembly authorizes enlistment of slaves. [1]
- March 7
- Captain James Cook first sights Oregon coast, at Yaquina Bay. [1]
- March 15
- Nootka Sound, Vancouver Island discovered by Captain Cook. [1]
- March 22
- Captain Cook sights Cape Flattery, in Washington state. [1]
- April 1
- Oliver Pollock, a New Orleans businessman, creates "$" symbol. [1]
- June 28
- Battle of Monmouth, New Jersey. [1]
- July 3
- British forces massacre 360 men, women and children in Wyoming, Pennsylvania. [1]
- August 31
- British kill 17 Stockbridge Indians in the Bronx during Revolution. [1]
- September 17
- At Fort Pitt, the USA signs a treaty with the Lenape tribe, allowing American troops to pass through the lands inhabited by the Lenape to attack British troops at a Detroit fort. [1076.4]
- November 11
- Iroquois Indians in New York kill 40 in Cherry Valley Massacre. [1]
- November 26
- Captain Cook discovers Maui (Sandwich Islands). [1]
- December 29
- English troops occupy Savannah, Georgia. [1]
1779
- February 14
- Hawaiian natives kill English Captain James Cook on the beach of Kealakekua. Following his death, his body is dismembered, the flesh roasted, and his bones distributed. [1] [688.30] [1555.42]
- February 24
- George Rogers Clark captures Vincennes, India from British. [1]
- May 13
- War of Bavarian Succession ends. [1]
- June 15
- General Anthony Wayne captures Stony Point, Bronx. [1]
- September 23
- American John Paul Jones' Bon Homme Richard defeats HMS Serepis. [1]
- September 27
- John Adams negotiates Revolutionary War peace terms with Britain. [1]
- December 31
- English fleet beats Dutch merchant vessels. [1]
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