-
Queen Anne creates royal New Jersey from portions of other colonies.
-
Massachusetts is attacked by French and Indian forces during Queen Anne's war. Over a hundred Europeans are killed or injured.
-
A slave revolt in New York leads to the death of twenty-seven of those enslaved.
-
Queen Anne's War ends when the French sign the Treaties of Utrecht, passing ownership of Nova Scotia to Britain.
-
North Carolina becomes a Crown Colony after lord proprieters decide to sell their intrrests to the British Crown.
-
The charter for Georgia is issued to General James Oglethorpe for it to be established as a place for indentured servants to work off their debt.
-
Freedom of the Press is officially recognized in New York after a reporter was put on trial and acquitted for slandering the British government.
-
The arrival of Anglican minister George Whitefield begins the Great Awakening throughout the colonies with his "Fire and Brimstone" sermons.
-
A second slave revolt takes place in New York. Thirty slaves were murdered and seventy were deported.
-
Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod.
-
General Washington leads his troops against Fort Duquesne, a fort build by the French in Virginia.
-
Washington surrenders Pennsylvanian Fort Necessity to the French rather than losing any men.
-
The French and Indian War is settled with the Treaty or Paris and cession of Canada and the American Midwest to Britain.
-
Lumber, food, molasses, and rum imports to the colonies have a tax placed upon them via the English Sugar Act.
-
The English issue the Stamp Act which required official revenue stamps to be placed on every export and for the colonists to pay taxes towards supporting the British army.
-
American colonists attend a Stamp Act Congress in New York and adopt a Declaration of Rights fighting taxation without representation.
-
The Stamp Act is repealed after Parliment is thouroughly harrassed.
-
Parliament passes the Declaratory Acts stating that they still hold full authority over the colonies but have chosen to repeal the Stamp Act out of their own good will, not the harassement.
-
New additional levies are put on goods in American colonies by the British when the Townshend Acts are enacted, including glass, painter's lead, paper, and tea.
-
After taking part in a large demonstration against British troops at the Boston customs commission, five colonists are murdered when British soldiers fire into the crowd
-
The Townshend Acts are repealed on every good except tea, which continued to hold a duty by the Prime Minister in order to maintain a sense of dominance over the colonies.
-
By this year, over two hundred miles of road existed in New Hampshire alone and imports to the colonies from England exceeded 4,200,000 lbs.
-
Samuel Adams organizes the Committee of Correspondence, a committee which preceded the Union in beliefs and ideals, which would also have influence in beginning the American Revolution.
-
Samuel Adams writes the Rights of the Colonists after the first Correspondance Committee meeting.
-
When England allowed the English East India Company to hold a monopoly over tea trade into the colonies, as well as continuing to tax the colonists without any type of representation, the colonists rebelled. Josiah Quincy and Samuel Adams led Bostonians onto three tea ships landed in the harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. Parliament subsequently closed the Port of Boston.
-
Rhode Island, Georgia, and Connecticut ban importation of any further slaves.
-
The British government enacts the Intolerable Acts, requiring colonists to house British soldiers in their homes and the revoking of Massachusetts self-rule.
-
The First Continental Congress is held inside Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia to protest the Intolerable Acts. The Congress, attended by representatives from every American colony, except Georgia, petitioned King George to repeal the Intolerable Acts and called for the colonists' civil disobedience and boycotting of British goods.
-
8 Minutemen are killed at Lexington, along with 273 British casualties, beginning the American Revolution. However, many states were still undecided as to whether they were going to fight or reconcile.
-
George Washington is elected Commander-in-Cheif of the army by the Continental Congress.
-
Thomas Paine publishes "Common Sense", a pamphlet about America's right to independance, gaining great support in both America and England.
-
The Declaration of Independence is officially recognized and implemented into the American official system.
-
Washington leads his troops across the Delaware River in order to successfully plant a surprise attack on British soldiers in the 1st Battle of Trenton.
-
Washington leads the Continental army to victory against British General Charles Cornwallis in Princeton, New Jersey. This victory and great show of endurance gained America respect from the other nations of the world.
-
America adopts the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union as the their first constitution.
-
The turning point of the war occurs when France signs treaties of alliance and commerce with the US and effectively acknowledges the independence of the 13 colonies.
-
When the British learn of French involvement in the war, they evacuate Philadelphia in order to reinforce their troops in New York City.
-
In Philadelphia, the Bank of North America is incorporated to help normalize the issuing of paper currency.
-
Britain signs the Treaty of Paris, officially recognizing the US as an independent nation.
-
Massachusetts outlaws slavery, standing behind the Bill of Rights, as it says that “all men are born free and equal.”
-
After passing the Emancipation Act, all Rhode Island children born after this date are free.
-
The first public steamboat demonstration occurs on the Delaware River.
-
Shay's Rebellion takes place in Massachusetts when farmers are unable to pay off their debts because of a poor transition to the new official currency. The men ultimately fail when confronted with the Massachusettes militia.
-
George Washington is unanimously elected as the first President of the United States.
-
The Supreme Court meets for their first session.
-
The First Bank of the United States is established in Philadelphia.
-
Vermont is officially recognized as a U.S. state.
-
John Fitch patents the steamboat in the US.
-
Washington is reelected without opposition.
-
The U.S. Government establishes a permanent navy including six ships.
-
Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, making the processing of cotton 500% faster than doing it by hand. This leads to the boom of cotton production in the South.
-
The Whiskey Rebellion begins when farmers rebel over a liquor tax but are quickly suppressed by 15,000 militiamen sent by Alexander Hamilton.
-
The United States and Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty to resolve lingering issues from the American Revolution.
-
Tennessee is admitted into the Union as the 16th state.
-
Johm Adams is elected as president against Thomas Jefferson.
-
The Alien and Sedition Acts are put into place. Anyone found to be slandering the US government could bepunished. The president also gained the power to deport aliens who ay be found to be maliscious.