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French and Indian War the final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham.
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With the Treaty of Paris, the British formally gained control of Canada and all the French possessions east of the Mississippi.
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War of independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America. Battles of Lexington and Concord, Mass., between the British Army and colonial minutemen, mark the beginning of the war.
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British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests.
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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.
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The First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia. Delegates included Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams.
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Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
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Continental Congress approves the first official flag of the United States
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Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution.
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Continental army spends a brutally cold winter and its following spring at Valley Forge, Pa.
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George Washington is inaugurated as president at Federal Hall in New York City.
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British General Charles Cornwallis surrenders to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va.
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Great Britain formally acknowledges American independence in the Treaty of Paris, which officially brings the war to a close.
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Shays's Rebellion erupts; farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina take up arms to protest high state taxes and stiff penalties for failure to pay.
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Constitutional Convention, made up of delegates from 12 of the original 13 colonies, meets in Philadelphia to draft the U.S. Constitution.
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George Washington is unanimously elected president of the United States in a vote by state electors.
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U.S. Constitution goes into effect, having been ratified by nine states.
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U.S. Congress meets for the first time at Federal Hall in New York City.
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U.S. Supreme Court meets for the first time at the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City.
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The first ten amendments to the Constitution known as the Bill of Rights are ratified.
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The court made up of one chief justice and five associate justices, hear its first case in 1792.
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Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin greatly increases the demand for slave labor.
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Washington's second inauguration is held in Philadelphia.
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John Adams is inaugurated as the second president in Philadelphia
