-
The Julian calendar is replaced by the Gregorian calendar in the United Kingdom and its colonies.
-
The final battle in the ongoing battle for control of eastern North America between the British and the French. On the Plains of Abraham outside of Quebec, the British defeat the French in a decisive battle.
-
The Treaty of Paris legally gives the British control of Canada and all French lands east of the Mississippi.
-
Five individuals are killed when British troops open fire on a riot, sparking widespread outrage.
-
As a protest against the British tea tax, a group of colonial patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dump more than 300 chests of tea overboard.
-
In Philadelphia, the First Continental Congress convenes, with 56 delegates representing every province save Georgia. Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams are among the delegates.
-
The 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America launched a war of independence against Great Britain. The battles of Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, between the British Army and colonial militiamen, signal the start of the war.
-
Shays' Rebellion breaks out, with farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina taking up weapons in protest of excessive state taxes and harsh penalties for nonpayment.