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342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. The Americans were protesting a tax on tea and the perceived monopoly of the East India Company.
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In this first battle of the American Revolution, Massachusetts colonists defied British authority, outnumbered and outfought the Redcoats, and embarked on a lengthy war to earn their independence.
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The Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. It was engrossed on parchment and on August 2, 1776, delegates began signing it.
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The winter of 1777-78 was not the coldest nor the worst winter experienced during the war, but regular, freezing and thawing, plus intermittent snowfall and rain, coupled with shortages of provisions, clothing, and shoes, made living conditions extremely difficult. Contrary to popular myth, the Continental soldiers marching into Valley Forge were not downtrodden — just exhausted and ill-supplied.
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The Battle of Yorktown proved to be the decisive engagement of the American Revolution. The British surrender forecast the end of British rule in the colonies and the birth of a new nation—the United States of America. It ended Oct 19, 1781.
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Adopted by the Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and ratified by the states in 1781, the Articles of Confederation created a weak central government – a “league of friendship”—that largely preserved state power (and independence). The Articles created a national government centered on the legislative branch, comprised of a single house.
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Written in 1787, ratified in 1788, and in operation since 1789, the United States Constitution is the world's longest-surviving written charter of government. Its first three words are "We The People"
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Although not required by the Constitution, George Washington presented the first Presidential inaugural address. George Washington's inauguration ceremony in New York City was a grand historical event, attended by hundreds.
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President George Washington published his “Farewell Address” to the nation. After two terms in office, Washington decided to retire from public life—clearing the way for the peaceful transfer of power from one President to another.
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George Washington died at his home after a brief illness and after losing about 40 percent of his blood. He said he did not want to be buried in the vault until three days after his death.
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Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams in the presidential election of 1800 by an electoral vote of seventy-three to sixty-five. Electors could not distinguish between president and vice president when voting before the Twelfth Amendment (1804), Jefferson and his running mate, Aaron Burr, received the same number of votes in the Electoral College.
Federalist-controlled House elected Thomas Jefferson president -
President John Adams had issued William Marbury a commission as justice of the peace — but the new Secretary of State, James Madison, refused to deliver it. Marbury then sued to obtain it. With his decision in Marbury v. Madison, Chief Justice John Marshall established the principle of judicial review, an important addition to the system of “checks and balances” created to prevent any one branch of the Federal Government from becoming too powerful.