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The Flying Shuttle
The flying shuttle was an improvement to looms that enabled weavers to weave faster, invented by John Kay. It was thrown by a leaver that could be operated by one weaver. The shuttle was able to do the work of two people even more quickly. -
The French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was a series of military engagements between Britain and France in North America between 1754 and 1763. -
The Spinning Jenny
The Spinning Jenny was a hand-powered multiple spinning machine invented in 1764 by James Hargreaves. His invention was the first machine to improve upon the spinning wheel. At the time, cotton producers had a difficult time meeting the demand for textiles, and Hargreaves found a way to add quickly to the supply of thread. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a riot in Boston, arising from the resentment of Boston colonists toward British troops quartered in the city, in which the troops fired on the mob and killed several people. -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a group of colonial patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dump more than 300 crates of tea overboard as a protest against the British tea tax. -
The American Revolution
The American Revolution was a war between Great Britain and its 13 American colonies, from 1775 through 1783, by which the colonies won their independence. -
The Battle of Bunker Hill
On June 16, 1775, early in the Revolutionary War (1775-83), the British defeated the Americans at the Battle of Bunker Hill in Massachusetts. -
The Declaration of Independence
This document is a formal statement written by Thomas Jefferson declaring the freedom of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. It was adopted at the Second Continental Congress on July 4th, 1776. -
The Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. -
The Battle of Yorktown
On this day in 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, began the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays's Rebellion was an uprising led by a former militia officer, Daniel Shays, which broke out in western Massachusetts in 1786. Shays's followers protested the foreclosures of farms for debt and briefly succeeded in shutting down the court system. -
George Washington
While he was unanimously elected twice, President Washington established many crucial presidential precedents.In the process, he significantly influenced the path for the presidency moving forward, setting standards in all aspects, including political power, military practice, and economic policy. -
U.S. Supreme Court
The U.S. Supreme Court was the highest federal court in the US, consisting of nine justices and taking judicial precedence over all other courts in the nation. They met for the first time at the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City. -
Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
John Adams
John Adams served as the second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801.