1700 - The Anglo population in the English colonies in America reaches 275,000, with Boston (pop. 7000) as the largest city, followed by New York (pop. 5000).
1700 - In June, Massachusetts passes a law ordering all Roman Catholic priests to leave the colony within three months, upon penalty of life imprisonment or execution. New York then passes a similar law.
1701 - In July, The French establish a settlement at Detroit. In October, Yale College is founded in Connecticut.
1702 - In March, Queen Anne ascends the English throne. In May, England declares war on France after the death of the King of Spain, Charles II, to stop the union of France and Spain. This War of the Spanish Succession is called Queen Anne's War in the colonies, where the English and American colonists will battle the French, their Native American allies, and the Spanish for the next eleven years.
1706 - January >17, Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston. In November, South Carolina establishes the Anglican Church as its official church.
1711 - Hostilities break out between Native Americans and settlers in North Carolina after the massacre of settlers there. The conflict, known as the Tuscarora Indian War will last two years.
1712 - In May, the Carolina colony is officially divided into North Carolina and South Carolina. In June, the Pennsylvania assembly bans the import of slaves into that colony. In Massachusetts, the first sperm whale is captured at sea by an American from Nantucket.
1713 - Queen Anne's War ends with the Treaty of Utrecht.
1714 - Tea is introduced for the first time into the American Colonies. In August, King George I ascends to the English throne, succeeding Queen Anne.
1716 - The first group of black slaves is brought to the Louisiana territory.
1718 - New Orleans is founded by the French.
1720 - The population of American colonists reaches 475,000. Boston (pop. 12,000) is the largest city, followed by Philadelphia (pop. 10,000) and New York (pop. 7000).
1725 - The population of black slaves in the American colonies reaches 75,000.
1727 - King George II ascends the English throne.
1729 - Benjamin Franklin begins publishing The Pennsylvania Gazette, which eventually becomes the most popular colonial newspaper.
1730 - Baltimore is founded in the Maryland colony.
1731 - The first American public library is founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin.
1732 - February 22, George Washington is born in Virginia. Also in February, the first mass is celebrated in the only Catholic church in colonial America, in Philadelphia. In June, Georgia, the 13th English colony, is founded.
1732-1757 - Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanac, containing weather predictions, humor, proverbs and epigrams, selling nearly 10,000 copies per year.
1733 - The Molasses Act, passed by the English Parliament, imposes heavy duties on molasses, rum and sugar imported from non-British islands in the Caribbean to protect the English planters there from French and Dutch competition.
1734 - In November, New York newspaper publisher John Peter Zenger is arrested and accused of seditious libel by the Governor. In December, the Great Awakening religious revival movement begins in Massachusetts. The movement will last ten years and spread to all of the American colonies.
1735 - John Peter Zenger is brought to trial for seditious libel but is acquitted after his lawyer successfully convinces the jury that truth is a defense against libel.
1739 - England declares war on Spain. As a result, in America, hostilities break out between Florida Spaniards and Georgia and South Carolina colonists. Also in 1739, three separate violent uprisings by black slaves occur in South Carolina.
1740 - Fifty black slaves are hanged in Charleston, South Carolina, after plans for another revolt are revealed. Also in 1740, in Europe, the War of the Austrian Succession begins after the death of Emperor Charles VI and eventually results in France and Spain allied against England. The conflict is known in the American colonies as King George's War and lasts until 1748..
1750 - The Iron Act is passed by the English Parliament, limiting the growth of the iron industry in the American colonies to protect the English Iron industry.
1751 - The Currency Act is passed by the English Parliament, banning the issuing of paper money by the New England colonies.
1754 - The French and Indian War erupts as a result of disputes over land in the Ohio River Valley. In May, George Washington leads a small group of American colonists to victory over the French, then builds Fort Necessity in the Ohio territory. In July, after being attacked by numerically superior French forces, Washington surrenders the fort and retreats.
1755 - In February, English General Edward Braddock arrives in Virginia with two regiments of English troops. Gen. Braddock assumes the post of commander in chief of all English forces in America. In April, Gen. Braddock and Lt. Col. George Washington set out with nearly 2000 men to battle the French in the Ohio territory. In July, a force of about 900 French and Indians defeat those English forces. Braddock is mortally wounded. Massachusetts Governor William Shirley then becomes the new commander in chief.
1756 - England declares war on France, as the French and Indian War in the colonies now spreads to Europe.
1757 - In June, William Pitt becomes England's Secretary of State and escalates the French and Indian War in the colonies by establishing a policy of unlimited warfare. In July, Benjamin Franklin begins a five year stay in London.
1758 - In July, a devastating defeat occurs for English forces at Lake George, New York, as nearly two thousand men are lost during a frontal attack against well entrenched French forces at Fort Ticonderoga. French losses are 377. In November, the French abandon Fort Duquesne in the Ohio territory. Settlers then rush into the territory to establish homes. Also in 1758, the first Indian reservation in America is founded, in New Jersey, on 3000 acres.
1759 - French Fort Niagara is captured by the English. Also in 1759, war erupts between Cherokee Indians and southern colonists.
1759 - 13 September-The Fall of Quebec - Battle of the "Plains of Abraham" - British defeat French, thus gaining control of Canada.
1760 - The population of colonists in America reaches 1,500,000. In March, much of Boston is destroyed by a raging fire. In September, Quebec surrenders to the English. In October, George III becomes the new English King.
1762 - England declares war on Spain, which had been planning to ally itself with France and Austria. The British then successfully attack Spanish outposts in the West Indies and Cuba.
1763 - The French and Indian War, known in Europe as the Seven Year's War, ends with the Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba.
1763 - In May, the Ottawa Native Americans under Chief Pontiac begin all-out warfare against the British west of Niagara, destroying several British forts and conducting a siege against the British at Detroit. In August, Pontiac's forces are defeated by the British near Pittsburgh. The siege of Detroit ends in November, but hostilities between the British and Chief Pontiac continue for several years.
1763 - The Proclamation of 1763, signed by King George III of England, prohibits any English settlement west of the Appalachian mountains and requires those already settled in those regions to return east in an attempt to ease tensions with Native Americans.
1764 - The Sugar Act is passed by the English Parliament to offset the war debt brought on by the French and Indian War and to help pay for the expenses of running the colonies and newly acquired territories. This act increases the duties on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines and indigo (dye). It doubles the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and also forbids the import of foreign rum and French wines.
1764 - The Currency Act prohibits the colonists from issuing any legal tender paper money. This act threatens to destabilize the entire colonial economy of both the industrial North and agricultural South, thus uniting the colonists against it.
1765 - In March, the Stamp Act is passed by the English Parliament imposing the first direct tax on the American colonies, to offset the high costs of the British military organization in America. Thus for the first time in the 150 year old history of the British colonies in America, the Americans will pay tax not to their own local legislatures in America, but directly to England.
Under the Stamp Act, all printed materials are taxed, including; newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards. The American colonists quickly unite in opposition, led by the most influential segments of colonial society - lawyers, publishers, land owners, ship builders and merchants - who are most affected by the Act, which is scheduled to go into effect on November 1.
1765 - Also in March, the Quartering Act requires colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.
1765 - In May, in Virginia, Patrick Henry presents seven Virginia Resolutions to the House of Burgesses claiming that only the Virginia assembly can legally tax Virginia residents, saying, "If this be treason, make the most of it." Also in May, the first medical school in America is founded, in Philadelphia.
1765 - In July, the Sons of Liberty, an underground organization opposed to the Stamp Act, is formed in a number of colonial towns. Its members use violence and intimidation to eventually force all of the British stamp agents to resign and also stop many American merchants from ordering British trade goods.
1765 - August 26, a mob in Boston attacks the home of Thomas Hutchinson, Chief Justice of Massachusetts, as Hutchinson and his family narrowly escape.
1765 - In October, the Stamp Act Congress convenes in New York City, with representatives from nine of the colonies. The Congress prepares a resolution to be sent to King George III and the English Parliament. The petition requests the repeal of the Stamp Act and the Acts of 1764. The petition asserts that only colonial legislatures can tax colonial residents and that taxation without representation violates the colonists' basic civil rights.
1766 - In January, the New York assembly refuses to completely comply with Gen. Gage's request to enforce the Quartering Act.
1766 - In March, King George III signs a bill repealing the Stamp Act after much debate in the English Parliament, which included an appearance by Ben Franklin arguing for repeal and warning of a possible revolution in the American colonies if the Stamp Act was enforced by the British military.
1766 - On the same day it repealed the Stamp Act, the English Parliament passes the Declaratory Act stating that the British government has total power to legislate any laws governing the American colonies in all cases whatsoever.
1766 - In April, news of the repeal of the Stamp Act results in celebrations in the colonies and a relaxation of the boycott of imported English trade goods.
1766 - In August, violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and armed colonists, including Sons of Liberty members. The violence erupts as a result of the continuing refusal of New York colonists to comply with the Quartering Act. In December, the New York legislature is suspended by the English Crown after once again voting to refuse to comply with the Act.
1767 - In June, The English Parliament passes the Townshend Revenue Acts, imposing a new series of taxes on the colonists to offset the costs of administering and protecting the American colonies. Items taxed include imports such as paper, tea, glass, lead and paints. The Act also establishes a colonial board of customs commissioners in Boston. In October, Bostonians decide to reinstate a boycott of English luxury items.
1768 - In July, the governor of Massachusetts dissolves the general court after the legislature defies his order to revoke Adams' circular letter. In August, in Boston and New York, merchants agree to boycott most British goods until the Townshend Acts are repealed. In September, at a town meeting in Boston, residents are urged to arm themselves. Later in September, English warships sail into Boston Harbor, then two regiments of English infantry land in Boston and set up permanent residence to keep order.
1769 - In July, in the territory of California, San Diego is founded by Franciscan Friar Juniper Serra. In October, the boycott of English goods spreads to New Jersey, Rhode Island, and then North Carolina.
1770 - The population of the American colonies reaches 2,210,000 persons.
1770 - Violence erupts in January >between members of the Sons of Liberty in New York and 40 British soldiers over the posting of broadsheets by the British. Several men are seriously wounded.
March 5, 1770 - The Boston Massacre occurs as a mob harasses British soldiers who then fire their muskets pointblank into the crowd, killing three instantly, mortally wounding two others and injuring six. After the incident, the new Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, at the insistence of Sam Adams, withdraws British troops out of Boston to nearby harbor islands. The captain of the British soldiers, Thomas Preston, is then arrested along with eight of his men and charged with murder.
Capt. Preston’s account of the event: http://odur.let.rug.nl/~usa/D/1751-1775/bostonmassacre/prest.htm 
1770 - In April, the Townshend Acts are repealed by the British. All duties on imports into the colonies are eliminated except for tea. Also, the Quartering Act is not renewed.
1770 - In October, trial begins for the British soldiers arrested after the Boston Massacre. Colonial lawyers John Adams and Josiah Quincy successfully defend Captain Preston and six of his men, who are acquitted. Two other soldiers are found guilty of manslaughter, branded, then released.
1772 - In June, a British customs schooner, the Gaspee, runs aground off Rhode Island in Narragansett Bay. Colonists from Providence row out to the schooner and attack it, set the British crew ashore, then burn the ship. In September, a 500 pound reward is offered by the English Crown for the capture of those colonists, who would then be sent to England for trial. The announcement that they would be sent to England further upsets many American colonists.
1773 - In March, the Virginia House of Burgesses appoints an eleven member committee of correspondence to communicate with the other colonies regarding common complaints against the British. Members of that committee include, Thomas Jefferson, Patrick Henry and Richard Henry Lee. Virginia is followed a few months later by New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Connecticut and South Carolina.
1773 - May 10, the Tea Act takes effect. It maintains a threepenny per pound import tax on tea arriving in the colonies, which had already been in effect for six years. It also gives the near bankrupt British East India Company a virtual tea monopoly by allowing it to sell directly to colonial agents, bypassing any middlemen, thus underselling American merchants. The East India Company had successfully lobbied Parliament for such a measure. In September, Parliament authorizes the company to ship half a million pounds of tea to a group of chosen tea agents.
December 16, 1773 - About 8000 Bostonians gather to hear Sam Adams tell them Royal Governor Hutchinson has repeated his command not to allow the ships out of the harbor until the tea taxes are paid. That night, the Boston Tea Party occurs as colonial activists disguise themselves as Mohawk Indians then board the ships and dump all 342 containers of tea into the harbor.
1774 - In March, an angry English Parliament passes the first of a series of Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans) in response to the rebellion in Massachusetts. The Boston Port Bill effectively shuts down all commercial shipping in Boston harbor until Massachusetts pays the taxes owed on the tea dumped in the harbor and also reimburses the East India Company for the loss of the tea.
1774 - May 12, Bostonians at a town meeting call for a boycott of British imports in response to the Boston Port Bill. May 13, General Thomas Gage, commander of all British military forces in the colonies, arrives in Boston and replaces Hutchinson as Royal governor, putting Massachusetts under military rule. He is followed by the arrival of four regiments of British troops.
1774 - May 20, The English Parliament enacts the next series of Coercive Acts, which include the Massachusetts Regulating Act and the Government Act virtually ending any self-rule by the colonists there. Instead, the English Crown and the Royal governor assume political power formerly exercised by colonists. Also enacted; the Administration of Justice Act which protects royal officials in Massachusetts from being sued in colonial courts, and the Quebec Act establishing a centralized government in Canada controlled by the Crown and English Parliament. The Quebec Act greatly upsets American colonists by extending the southern boundary of Canada into territories claimed by Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia.
1774 - In June, a new version of the 1765 Quartering Act is enacted by the English Parliament requiring all of the American colonies to provide housing for British troops in occupied houses and taverns and in unoccupied buildings. In September, Massachusetts Governor Gage seizes that colony's arsenal of weapons at Charlestown.
1774 - September 5 to October 26, the First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with 56 delegates, representing every colony, except Georgia. Attendants include Patrick Henry, George Washington, Sam Adams and John Hancock.
On September 17, the Congress declares its opposition to the Coercive Acts, saying they are "not to be obeyed," and also promotes the formation of local militia units. On October 14, a Declaration and Resolves is adopted that opposes the Coercive Acts, the Quebec Act, and other measure taken by the British that undermine self-rule. The rights of the colonists are asserted, including the rights to "life, liberty and property." On October 20, the Congress adopts the Continental Association in which delegates agree to a boycott of English imports, effect an embargo of exports to Britain, and discontinue the slave trade.
1775 - February 1, in Cambridge, Mass., a provincial congress is held during which John Hancock and Joseph Warren begin defensive preparations for a state of war. February 9, the English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. March 23, in Virginia, Patrick Henry delivers a speech against British rule, stating, "Give me liberty or give me death!" March 30, the New England Restraining Act is endorsed by King George III, requiring New England colonies to trade exclusively with England and also bans fishing in the North Atlantic.
1775 - In April, Massachusetts Governor Gage is ordered to enforce the Coercive Acts and suppress "open rebellion" among the colonists by all necessary force.
April 18, 1775 - General Gage orders 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy the colonists' weapons depot. That night, Paul Revere and William Dawes are sent from Boston to warn colonists. Revere reaches Lexington about midnight and warns Sam Adams and John Hancock who are hiding out there.
At dawn on April 19 about 70 armed Massachusetts militiamen stand face to face on Lexington Green with the British advance guard. An unordered 'shot heard around the world' begins the American Revolution. A volley of British rifle fire followed by a charge with bayonets leaves eight Americans dead and ten wounded. The British regroup and head for the depot in Concord, destroying the colonists' weapons and supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, a British platoon is attacked by militiamen, with 14 casualties. 2 Colonists killed.
British forces then begin a long retreat from Lexington back to Boston and are harassed and shot at all along the way by farmers and rebels and suffer over 250 casualties. News of the events at Lexington and Concord spreads like wildfire throughout the Colonies.
April 23, 1775 - The Provincial Congress in Massachusetts orders 13,600 American soldiers to be mobilized. Colonial volunteers from all over New England assemble and head for Boston, then establish camps around the city and begin a year long siege of British-held Boston.
1774 - September 5 to October 26, the First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with 56 delegates, representing every colony, except Georgia. Attendants include Patrick Henry, George Washington, Sam Adams and John Hancock.
1774 - On September 17, the Congress declares its opposition to the Coercive Acts, saying they are "not to be obeyed," and also promotes the formation of local militia units. On October 14, a Declaration and Resolves is adopted that opposes the Coercive Acts, the Quebec Act, and other measure taken by the British that undermine self-rule. The rights of the colonists are asserted, including the rights to "life, liberty and property." On October 20, the Congress adopts the Continental Association in which delegates agree to a boycott of English imports, effect an embargo of exports to Britain, and discontinue the slave trade.
1775 - February 1, in Cambridge, Mass., a provincial congress is held during which John Hancock and Joseph Warren begin defensive preparations for a state of war. February 9, the English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion. March 23, in Virginia, Patrick Henry delivers a speech against British rule, stating, "Give me liberty or give me death!" March 30, the New England Restraining Act is endorsed by King George III, requiring New England colonies to trade exclusively with England and also bans fishing in the North Atlantic.
1775 - In April, Massachusetts Governor Gage is ordered to enforce the Coercive Acts and suppress "open rebellion" among the colonists by all necessary force.
1775 - April 18, 1775 - General Gage orders 700 British soldiers to Concord to destroy the colonists' weapons depot. That night, Paul Revere and William Dawes are sent from Boston to warn colonists. Revere reaches Lexington about midnight and warns Sam Adams and John Hancock who are hiding out there. 
1775 - April 19 .At dawn on April 19 about 70 armed Massachusetts militiamen stand face to face on Lexington Green with the British advance guard. An unordered 'shot heard around the world' begins the American Revolution. A volley of British rifle fire followed by a charge with bayonets leaves eight Americans dead and ten wounded. The British regroup and head for the depot in Concord, destroying the colonists' weapons and supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, a British platoon is attacked by militiamen, with 14 casualties. 2 Colonists killed.
1775 - April 19 British forces then begin a long retreat from Lexington back to Boston and are harassed and shot at all along the way by farmers and rebels and suffer over 250 casualties. News of the events at Lexington and Concord spreads like wildfire throughout the Colonies.
1775 - April 23, 1775 - The Provincial Congress in Massachusetts orders 13,600 American soldiers to be mobilized. Colonial volunteers from all over New England assemble and head for Boston, then establish camps around the city and begin a year long siege of British-held Boston.
1775 - May 10, 1775 - American forces led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The fort contains a much needed supply of military equipment including cannons which are then hauled to Boston by ox teams.
1775 - May 10, 1775 - The Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, with John Hancock elected as its president. On May 15, the Congress places the colonies in a state of defense. On June 15, the Congress unanimously votes to appoint George Washington general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.
1775 - June 17, 1775 - The first major fight between British and American troops occurs at Boston in the Battle of Bunker Hill. American troops are dug in along the high ground of Breed's Hill (the actual location) and are attacked by a frontal assault of over 2000 British soldiers who storm up the hill. The Americans are ordered not to fire until they can see "the whites of their eyes." As the British get within 15 paces, the Americans let loose a deadly volley of rifle fire and halt the British advance. The British then regroup and attack 30 minutes later with the same result. A third attack, however, succeeds as the Americans run out of ammunition and are left only with bayonets and stones to defend themselves. The British succeed in taking the hill, but at a loss of half their force, over a thousand casualties, with the Americans losing about 400, including important colonial leader, General Joseph Warren.
1775 - July 5, 1775 - The Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition which expresses hope for a reconciliation with Britain, appealing directly to the King for help in achieving this. In August, King George III refuses even to look at the petition and instead issues a proclamation declaring the Americans to be in a state of open rebellion.
1775 - July 6, 1775 - The Continental Congress issues a Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms detailing the colonists' reasons for fighting the British and states the Americans are "resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves."
1776 - January 5, 1776 - The assembly of New Hampshire adopts the first American state constitution.
1776 - January 9, 1776 - Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is published in Philadelphia. The 50 page pamphlet is highly critical of King George III and attacks allegiance to Monarchy in principle while providing strong arguments for American independence. It becomes an instant best-seller in America. "We have it in our power to begin the world anew...American shall make a stand, not for herself alone, but for the world," Paine states.
1776 - March 4-17, 1776 - American forces capture Dorchester Heights which overlooks Boston harbor. Captured British artillery from Fort Ticonderoga is placed on the heights to enforce the siege against the British in Boston. The British evacuate Boston and set sail for Halifax. George Washington then rushes to New York to set up defenses, anticipating the British plan to invade New York City.
1776 - May 2, 1776 - The American revolutionaries get the much needed foreign support they had been hoping for. King Louis XVI of France commits one million dollars in arms and munitions. Spain then also promises support.
1776 - June-July, 1776 - A massive British war fleet arrives in New York Harbor consisting of 30 battleships with 1200 cannon, 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 sailors, and 300 supply ships, under the command of General William Howe and his brother Admiral Lord Richard Howe.
1776 - June-July- On June 7, Richard Henry Lee, a Virginia delegate to the Continental Congress, presents a formal resolution calling for America to declare its independence from Britain. 
1776 - June-July- Congress decides to postpone its decision on this until July. On June 11, Congress appoints a committee to draft a declaration of independence. 
1776 - June-July- Committee members are Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Livingston and Roger Sherman. 
1776 - June-July- Jefferson is chosen by the committee to prepare the first draft of the declaration, which he completes in one day. 
1776 - June-July- Just seventeen days later, June 28, Jefferson's Declaration of Independence is ready and is presented to the Congress, with changes made by Adams and Franklin. 
1776 - June-July- On July 2, twelve of thirteen colonial delegations (New York abstains) vote in support of Lee's resolution for independence. 
1776 - June-July- On July 4, the Congress formally endorses Jefferson's Declaration, with copies to be sent to all of the colonies. 
1776 - June-July- The actual signing of the document occurs on August 2, as most of the 55 members of Congress place their names on the parchment copy.
1776 - July 4, 1776 - United States Declaration of Independence
1776 - August 27-29, 1776 - Gen. Howe leads 15,000 soldiers against Washington's army in the Battle of Long Island. Washington, outnumbered two to one, suffers a severe defeat as his army is outflanked and scatters. The Americans retreat to Brooklyn Heights, facing possible capture by the British or even total surrender. But at night, the Americans cross the East River in small boats and escape to Manhattan, then evacuate New York City and retreat up through Manhattan Island to Harlem Heights. Washington now changes tactics, avoiding large scale battles with the British by a series of retreats.
1776 - September 11, 1776 - A peace conference is held on Staten Island with British Admiral, Lord Richard Howe, meeting American representatives including John Adams and Benjamin Franklin. The conference fails as Howe demands the colonists revoke the Declaration of Independence.
1776 - October 9, 1776 - San Francisco is established by Spanish missionaries on the California coast.
1776 - October 11, 1776 - A big defeat for the inexperienced American Navy on Lake Champlain at the hands of a British fleet of 87 gunships. In the 7 hour Battle of Valcour Bay most of the American flotilla of 83 gunships is crippled with the remaining ships destroyed in a second engagement two days later.
1776 - November, 1776 - More victories for the British as Fort Washington on Manhattan and its precious stores of over 100 cannon, thousands of muskets and cartridges is captured by Gen. Howe. The Americans also lose Fort Lee in New Jersey to Gen. Cornwallis. Washington's army suffers 3000 casualties in the two defeats. Gen. Washington abandons the New York area and moves his forces further westward toward the Delaware River. Cornwallis now pursues him.
1776 - December 6, 1776 - The naval base at Newport, Rhode Island, is captured by the British.
1776 - December 11, 1776 - Washington takes his troops across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The next day, over concerns of a possible British attack, the Continental Congress abandons Philadelphia for Baltimore.
1776 - Among Washington's troops is Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, who now writes "...These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. Tyranny, like Hell, is not easily conquered. Yet we have this consolation with us, that the harder the conflict, the more glorious the triumph."
1776 - December 25-26, 1776 - On Christmas, George Washington takes 2400 of his men and recrosses the Delaware River. Washington then conducts a surprise raid on 1500 British-Hessians (German mercenaries) at Trenton, New Jersey. The Hessians surrender after an hour with nearly 1000 taken prisoner by Washington who suffers only six wounded (including future president Lt. James Monroe). Washington reoccupies Trenton. The victory provides a much needed boost to the morale of all American Patriots.
1777 - January 3, 1777 - A second victory for Washington as his troops defeat the British at Princeton and drive them back toward New Brunswick. Washington then establishes winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey. During the harsh winter, Washington's army shrinks to about a thousand men as enlistments expire and deserters flee the hardships. By spring, with the arrival of recruits, Washington will have 9000 men.
1777 - June 17, 1777 - A British force of 7700 men under Gen. John Burgoyne invades from Canada, sailing down Lake Champlain toward Albany, planning to link up with Gen. Howe who will come north from New York City, thus cutting off New England from the rest of the colonies.
1777 - July 6, 1777 - Gen. Burgoyne's troops stun the Americans with the capture of Fort Ticonderoga on Lake Champlain. Its military supplies are greatly needed by Washington's forces. The loss of the fort is a tremendous blow to American morale.
1777 - July 23, 1777 - British Gen. Howe, with 15,000 men, sets sail from New York for Chesapeake Bay to capture Philadelphia, instead of sailing north to meet up with Gen. Burgoyne.
1777 - July 27, 1777 - Marquis de Lafayette, a 19 year old French aristocrat, arrives in Philadelphia and volunteers to serve without pay. Congress appoints him as a major general in the Continental Army. Lafayette will become one of Gen. Washington's most trusted aides.
1777 - August 1, 1777 - Gen. Burgoyne reaches the Hudson after a grueling month spent crossing 23 miles of wilderness separating the southern tip of Lake Champlain from the northern tip of the Hudson River.
1777 - August 25, 1777 - British Gen. Howe disembarks at Chesapeake Bay with his troops.
1777 - September 9-11, 1777 - In the Battle of Brandywine Creek, Gen. Washington and the main American Army of 10,500 men are driven back toward Philadelphia by Gen. Howe's British troops. Both sides suffer heavy losses. Congress then leaves Philadelphia and resettles in Lancaster, Pennsylvania.
1777 - September 26, 1777 - British forces under Gen. Howe occupy Philadelphia. Congress then relocates to York, Pennsylvania.
1777 - October 7, 1777 - The Battle of Saratoga results in the first major American victory of the Revolutionary War as Gen. Horatio Gates and Gen. Benedict Arnold defeat Gen. Burgoyne, inflicting 600 British casualties. American losses are only 150.
1777 - October 17, 1777 - Gen. Burgoyne and his entire army of 5700 men surrender to the Americans led by Gen. Gates. The British are then marched to Boston, placed on ships and sent back to England after swearing not serve again in the war against America. News of the American victory at Saratoga soon travels to Europe and boosts support of the American cause. In Paris the victory is celebrated as if it had been a French victory. Ben Franklin is received by the French Royal Court. France then recognizes the independence of America.
1777 - November 15, 1777 - Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation as the government of the new United States of America, pending ratification by the individual states. Under the Articles, Congress is the sole authority of the new national government.
1777 - December 17, 1777 - At Valley Forge in Pennsylvania, the Continental Army led by Washington sets up winter quarters.
1778 - February 6, 1778 - American and French representatives sign two treaties in Paris: a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance. France now officially recognizes the United States and will soon become the major supplier of military supplies to Washington's army. Both countries pledge to fight until American independence is won, with neither country concluding any truce with Britain without the other's consent, and guarantee each other's possessions in America against all other powers.
1778 - The American struggle for independence is thus enlarged and will soon become a world war. After British vessels fire on French ships, the two nations declare war. Spain will enter in 1779 as an ally of France. The following year, Britain will declare war on the Dutch who have been engaging in profitable trade with the French and Americans. In addition to the war in America, the British will have to fight in the Mediterranean, Africa, India, the West Indies, and on the high seas. All the while facing possible invasion of England itself by the French.
1778 - February 23, 1778 - Baron von Steuben of Prussia arrives at Valley Forge to join the Continental Army. He then begins much needed training and drilling of Washington's troops, now suffering from poor morale resulting from cold, hunger, disease, low supplies and desertions over the long, harsh winter.
1778 - March 16, 1778 - A Peace Commission is created by the British Parliament to negotiate with the Americans. The commission then travels to Philadelphia where its offers granting all of the American demands, except independence, are rejected by Congress.
1778 - June 18, 1778 - Fearing a blockade by French ships, British Gen. Clinton withdraws his troops from Philadelphia and marches across New Jersey toward New York City. Americans then re-occupy Philadelphia.
1778 - June 19, 1778 - Washington sends troops from Valley Forge to intercept Gen. Clinton.
1778 - June 27/28, 1778 - The Battle of Monmouth occurs in New Jersey as Washington's troops and Gen. Clinton's troops fight to a standoff. On hearing that American Gen. Charles Lee had ordered a retreat, Gen. Washington becomes furious. Gen. Clinton then continues on toward New York.
1778 - July 2, 1778 - Congress returns once again to Philadelphia.
1778 - July 8, 1778 - Gen. Washington sets up headquarters at West Point, New York.
1778 - July 10, 1778 - France declares war against Britain.
1778 - August 8, 1778 - American land forces and French ships attempt to conduct a combined siege against Newport, Rhode Island. But bad weather and delays of the land troops result in failure. The weather-damaged French fleet then sails to Boston for repairs.
1778 - September 14, 1778 - Ben Franklin is appointed to be the American diplomatic representative in France.
1778 - December 29, 1778 - The British begin a major southern campaign with the capture of Savannah, Georgia, followed a month later with the capture of Augusta.
1779 - June 1, 1779 - British Gen. Clinton takes 6000 men up the Hudson toward West Point.
1779 - June 16, 1779 - Spain declares war on England, but does not make an alliance with the American revolutionary forces.
1779 - September 23, 1779 - Off the coast of England, John Paul Jones fights a desperate battle with a British frigate. When the British demand his surrender, Jones responds, "I have not yet begun to fight!" Jones then captures the frigate before his own ship sinks.
1779 - September 27, 1779 - John Adams is appointed by Congress to negotiate peace with England.
1779 - October 17, 1779 - Washington sets up winter quarters at Morristown, New Jersey, where his troops will suffer another harsh winter without desperately needed supplies, resulting in low morale, desertions and attempts at mutiny.
1780 - May 12, 1780 - The worst American defeat of the Revolutionary War occurs as the British capture Charleston and its 5400-man garrison (the entire southern American Army) along with four ships and a military arsenal. British losses are only 225.
1780 - May 25, 1780 - After a severe winter, Gen. Washington faces a serious threat of mutiny at his winter camp in Morristown, New Jersey. Two Continental regiments conduct an armed march through the camp and demand immediate payment of salary (overdue by 5 months) and full rations. Troops from Pennsylvania put down the rebellion. Two leaders of the protest are then hanged.
1780 - June 11, 1780 - A new Massachusetts constitution is endorsed asserting "all men are born free and equal," which includes black slaves.
1780 - July 11, 1780 - 6000 French soldiers under Count de Rochambeau arrive at Newport, Rhode Island. They will remain there for nearly a year, blockaded by the British fleet.
1780 - August 3, 1780 - Benedict Arnold is appointed commander of West Point. Unknown to the Americans, he has been secretly collaborating with British Gen. Clinton since May of 1779 by supplying information on Gen. Washington's tactics.
1780 - August 16, 1780 - A big defeat for the Americans in South Carolina as forces under Gen. Gates are defeated by troops of Gen. Charles Cornwallis, resulting in 900 Americans killed and 1000 captured.
1780 - September 23, 1780 - A British major in civilian clothing is captured near Tarrytown, New York. He is found to be carrying plans indicating Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Two days later, Arnold hears of the spy's capture and flees West Point to the British ship Vulture on the Hudson. He is later named a brigadier general in the British Army and will fight the Americans.
1780 - October 14, 1780 - Gen. Nathanael Greene, Washington's most able and trusted General, is named as the new commander of the Southern Army, replacing Gen. Gates. Greene then begins a strategy of rallying popular support and wearing down the British by leading Gen. Cornwallis on a six month chase through the back woods of South Carolina into North Carolina into Virginia then back into North Carolina. The British, low on supplies, are forced to steal from any Americans they encounter, thus enraging them.
1781 - January 17, 1781 - An American victory at Cowpens, South Carolina, as Gen. Daniel Morgan defeats British Gen. Tarleton.
1781 - January 20, 1781 - Mutiny among American troops at Pompton, New Jersey. The rebellion is put down seven days later by a 600-man force sent by Gen. Washington. Two of the leaders are then hanged.
1781 - March 15, 1781 - Forces under Gen. Cornwallis suffer heavy losses in the Battle of Guilford Courthouse in North Carolina. As a result, Cornwallis abandons plans to conquer the Carolinas and retreats to Wilmington, then begins a campaign to conquer Virginia with an army of 7500 men.
1781 - June 4, 1781 - Thomas Jefferson narrowly escapes capture by the British at Charlottesville, Virginia.
1781 - June 11, 1781 - Congress appoints a Peace Commission comprised of Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, John Jay and Henry Laurens. The commission supplements John Adams as the sole negotiator with the British.
1781 - July 20, 1781 - Slaves in Williamsburg, Virginia, rebel and burn several buildings.
1781 - August 1, 1781 - After several months of chasing Gen. Greene's army without much success, Gen. Cornwallis and his 10,000 tired soldiers arrive to seek rest at the small port of Yorktown, Virginia, on the Chesapeake Bay. He then establishes a base to communicate by sea with Gen. Clinton's forces in New York.
1781 - August 14, 1781 - Gen. Washington abruptly changes plans and abandons the attack on New York in favor of Yorktown after receiving a letter from French Admiral Count de Grasse indicating his entire 29-ship French fleet with 3000 soldiers is now heading for the Chesapeake Bay near Cornwallis. Gen. Washington then coordinates with Gen. Rochambeau to rush their best troops south to Virginia to destroy the British position in Yorktown.
1781 - August 30, 1781 - Count de Grasse's French fleet arrives off Yorktown, Virginia. De Grasse then lands troops near Yorktown, linking with Lafayette's American troops to cut Cornwallis off from any retreat by land.
1781 - September 5-8, 1781 - Off Yorktown, a major naval battle between the French fleet of de Grasse and the outnumbered British fleet of Adm. Thomas Graves results in a victory for de Grasse. The British fleet retreats to New York for reinforcements, leaving the French fleet in control of the Chesapeake. The French fleet establishes a blockade, cutting Cornwallis off from any retreat by sea. French naval reinforcements then arrive from Newport.
1781 - September 28, 1781 - Gen. Washington, with a combined Allied army of 17,000 men, begins the siege of Yorktown. French cannons bombard Gen. Cornwallis and his 9000 men day and night while the Allied lines slowly advance and encircle them. British supplies run dangerously low.
1781 - October 17, 1781 - As Yorktown is about to be taken, the British send out a flag of truce. Gen. Washington and Gen. Cornwallis then work out terms of surrender.
1781 - October 19, 1781 - As their band plays the tune, "The world turned upside down," the British army marches out in formation and surrenders at Yorktown. Hopes for a British victory in the war against America are dashed. In the English Parliament, there will soon be calls to bring this long costly war to an end.
1782 - February 27, 1782 - In England, the House of Commons votes against further war in America.
1782 - March 20, 1782 - British Prime Minister, Lord North, resigns, succeeded two days later by Lord Rockingham who seeks immediate negotiations with the American peace commissioners.
1782 - April 16, 1782 - Gen. Washington establishes American army headquarters at Newburgh, New York.
1782 - April 19, 1782 - The Dutch recognize the United States of America as a result of negotiations conducted in the Netherlands by John Adams.
1782 - February 4, 1783 - England officially declares an end to hostilities in America.
1782 - March 10, 1783 - An anonymous letter circulates among Washington's senior officers camped at Newburgh, New York. The letter calls for an unauthorized meeting and urges the officers to defy the authority of the new U.S. national government (Congress) for its failure to honor past promises to the Continental Army. The next day, Gen. Washington forbids the unauthorized meeting and instead suggests a regular meeting to be held on March 15. A second anonymous letter then appears and is circulated. This letter falsely claims Washington himself sympathizes with the rebellious officers.
1782 - March 15, 1783 - General Washington gathers his officers and talks them out of a rebellion against the authority of Congress, and in effect preserves the American democracy. Read more about this
1782 - April 26, 1783 - 7000 Loyalists set sail from New York for Canada, bringing a total of 100,000 Loyalists who have now fled America.
1782 - July 8, 1783 - The Supreme Court of Massachusetts abolishes slavery in that state.
1782 - September 3, 1783 - The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain. Congress will ratify the treaty on January >14, 1784.
1782 - October 7, 1783 - In Virginia, the House of Burgesses grants freedom to slaves who served in the Continental Army. 


1782 - April 19, 1782 - The Dutch recognize the United States of America as a result of negotiations conducted in the Netherlands by John Adams.
1783 - February 4, 1783 - England officially declares an end to hostilities in America.
1783 - March 10, 1783 - An anonymous letter circulates among Washington's senior officers camped at Newburgh, New York. The letter calls for an unauthorized meeting and urges the officers to defy the authority of the new U.S. national government (Congress) for its failure to honor past promises to the Continental Army. The next day, Gen. Washington forbids the unauthorized meeting and instead suggests a regular meeting to be held on March 15. A second anonymous letter then appears and is circulated. This letter falsely claims Washington himself sympathizes with the rebellious officers.
1783 - March 15, 1783 - General Washington gathers his officers and talks them out of a rebellion against the authority of Congress, and in effect preserves the American democracy. Read more about this
1783 - April 26, 1783 - 7000 Loyalists set sail from New York for Canada, bringing a total of 100,000 Loyalists who have now fled America.
1783 - July 8, 1783 - The Supreme Court of Massachusetts abolishes slavery in that state.
1783 - September 3, 1783 - The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain. Congress will ratify the treaty on January >14, 1784.
1783 - October 7, 1783 - In Virginia, the House of Burgesses grants freedom to slaves who served in the Continental Army.
1783 - November 2, 1783 - George Washington delivers his farewell address to his army. The next day, remaining troops are discharged.
1783 - December 23, 1783 - Following a triumphant journey from New York to Annapolis, George Washington, victorious commander in chief of the American Revolutionary Army, appears before Congress and voluntarily resigns his commission, an event unprecedented in history.
January 14, 1784 - The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress. The Revolutionary War officially ends.
September 22, 1784 - Russians establish their first settlement in Alaska, on Kodiak Island.
February 24, 1785 - Although England refuses to send an ambassador to the U.S., John Adams is sent as the American ambassador to Britain. He will spend the next three years trying without success to settle problems regarding the existence of a string of British forts along the Canadian border, pre-war debts owed to British creditors, post-war American treatment of Loyalists, and the closing of the West Indian colonies to American trade.
May 8, 1785 - Congress passes the Land Ordinance of 1785 which divides the northwest territories into townships, each set at 6 square miles, subdivided into 36 lots of 640 acres each, with each lot selling for no less than $640.
Summer of 1786 - Americans suffer from post-war economic depression including a shortage of currency, high taxes, nagging creditors, farm foreclosures and bankruptcies.
August 22-25, 1786 - Angry representatives from 50 towns in Massachusetts meet to discuss money problems including the rising number of foreclosures, the high cost of lawsuits, heavy land and poll taxes, high salaries for state officials, and demands for new paper money as a means of credit.
August 31, 1786 - In Massachusetts, to prevent debtors from being tried and put in prison, ex-Revolutionary War Captain Daniel Shays, who is now a bankrupt farmer, leads an armed mob and prevents the Northampton Court from holding a session.
September 20, 1786 - In New Hampshire, an armed mob marches on the state assembly and demands enactment of an issue of paper money.
September 26, 1786 - Shays' rebels, fearing they might be charged with treason, confront 600 militiamen protecting the state Massachusetts Supreme Court session in Springfield and force the court to adjourn.
October 20, 1786 - Congress authorizes Secretary of War Henry Knox to raise an army of 1340 men over concerns of the safety of the federal arsenal at Springfield, Mass.
December 26, 1786 - Shays assembles 1200 men near Worcester, Mass. and heads toward Springfield. Massachusetts Governor, Bowdoin, then orders mobilization of a 4400 man force.
January 26, 1787 - Shays' rebels attack the federal arsenal at Springfield but are unsuccessful. Revolutionary War hero, Gen. Benjamin Lincoln, then arrives with reinforcements from Boston to pursue the rebels.
February 21, 1787 - Amid calls for a stronger central government, due in part to Shays' Rebellion, Congress endorses a resolution calling for a constitutional convention to be held in Philadelphia, beginning in May.
May 25, 1787 - With 29 delegates from nine states present, the constitutional convention begins in the state house (Independence Hall) in Philadelphia. A total of 73 delegates have been chosen by the states (excluding Rhode Island) although only 55 will actually attend. There are 21 veterans of the Revolutionary War and 8 signers of the Declaration of Independence. The delegates are farmers, merchants, lawyers and bankers, with an average age of 42, and include the brilliant 36 year old James Madison, the central figure at the convention, and 81 year old Ben Franklin. Thomas Jefferson, serving abroad as ambassador to France, does not attend.
The delegates first vote is to keep the proceedings absolutely secret. George Washington is then nominated as president of the constitutional convention.
June 19, 1787 - Rather than revise the Articles of Confederation, delegates at the constitutional convention vote to create an entirely new form of national government separated into three branches - the legislative, executive and judicial - thus dispersing power with checks and balances, and competing factions, as a measure of protection against tyranny by a controlling majority.
July 13, 1787 - Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance which establishes formal procedures for transforming territories into states. It provides for the eventual establishment of three to five states in the area north of the Ohio River, to be considered equal with the original 13. The Ordinance includes a Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of religion, the right to trial by jury, public education and a ban on slavery in the Northwest.
July 16, 1787 - At the constitutional convention, Roger Sherman proposes a compromise which allows for representation in the House of Representatives based on each state's population and equal representation for all of the states in the Senate. The numerous black slaves in the South are to counted at only three fifths of their total number. A rough draft of the constitution is then drawn up.
August 6-10, 1787 - Items in the draft constitution are debated including the length of terms for the president and legislators, the power of Congress to regulate commerce, and a proposed 20 year ban on any Congressional action concerning slavery.
September 17, 1787 - Thirty nine delegates vote to approve and then sign the final draft of the new Constitution.
September 19, 1787 - For the first time the proposed Constitution is made public as printed copies of the text are distributed. A storm of controversy soon arises as most people had only expected a revision of the Articles of Confederation, not a new central government with similarities to the British system they had just overthrown.
October 27, 1787 - The Federalists, who advocate a strong central government and approval of the new Constitution, begin publishing essays in favor of ratification. Written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay, the total number of articles will eventually reach 85 and be compiled and published as the Federalist Papers. Federalist Papers at Library of Congress
December 7, 1787 - Delaware is the first of the nine states needed to ratify the Constitution. To be followed by: Pennsylvania (Dec. 12) New Jersey (Dec. 18) Georgia (Jan. 2, 1788) Connecticut (Jan. 9) Massachusetts (Feb. 7) Maryland (April 28) South Carolina (May 23) and New Hampshire (June 21).
February 6, 1788 - Anti-Federalists in Massachusetts, led by Sam Adams and John Hancock, favor a more decentralized system of government and give their support to ratification of the Constitution only after a compromise is reached that amendments will be included which guarantee civil liberties.
February 27, 1788 - In Massachusetts, following an incident in which free blacks were kidnapped and transported to the island of Martinique, the Massachusetts legislature declares the slavery trade illegal and provides for monetary damages to victims of kidnappings.
March 24, 1788 - In Rhode Island, the Constitution is rejected by a popular referendum. The state, fearful of consolidated federal power, had refused to send a delegation to the constitutional convention in Philadelphia and had subsequently rejected a state convention to consider ratification.
June 2, 1788 - In Virginia, anti-Federalist forces, led by Patrick Henry and George Mason, oppose ratification of the Constitution. They are joined by Richard Henry Lee who calls for a bill of rights and a lower house set up on a more democratic basis.
June 25, 1788 - In Virginia, the Federalists, led by James Madison, finally prevail as ratification of the Constitution (with a proposed bill of rights and 20 other changes) is endorsed by a close vote of 89 to 75.
July 2, 1788 - A formal announcement is made by the president of Congress that the Constitution of the United States is now in effect, having been ratified by the required nine states.
July 26, 1788 - The state of New York votes 30 to 27 to endorse ratification while also recommending a bill of rights be included.
September 13, 1788 - New York City is chosen by Congress to be the temporary seat of the new U.S. government.
October-December - Commodity prices stabilize, spurring economic recovery and a gradual return to pre-war levels of prosperity.
December 23, 1788 - Maryland proposes giving a 10 square-mile area along the Potomac River for the establishment of a federal town to be the new seat of the U.S. government.
January 23, 1789 - Georgetown University, the first Catholic college in the U.S., is founded by Father John Carroll.
April 30, 1789 - On the balcony of New York's Federal Hall, George Washington, at age 57, is sworn in as the first President of the United States. He then enters the Senate chamber to deliver his inaugural address.
July 4, 1789 - Congress passes its first tax, an 8.5 percent protective tax on 30 different items, with items arriving on American ships charged at a lower rate than foreign ships.
July 14, 1789 - In France, the French Revolution begins with the fall of the Bastille in Paris, an event witnessed by the American ambassador, Thomas Jefferson.
July 20, 1789 - Congress passes the Tonnage Act of 1789 levying a 50 cents per ton tax on foreign ships entering American ports, 30 cents per ton on American built but foreign owned ships, and 6 cents per ton on American ships.
September 25, 1789 - Congress submits 12 proposed constitutional amendments to the states for ratification. The first ten will be ratified and added to the Constitution in 1791 as the Bill of Rights.
September 29, 1789 - The U.S. Army is established by Congress. Totaling 1000 men, it consists of one regiment of eight infantry companies and one battalion of four artillery companies.
March 1, 1790 - A Census Act is passed by Congress. The first census, finished on Aug. 1, indicates a total population of nearly 4 million persons in the U.S. and western territories. African Americans make up 19 percent of the population, with 90 percent living in the South. Native Americans were not counted, although there were likely over 80 tribes with 150,000 persons. For white Americans, the average age is under 16. Most white families are large, with an average of eight children born. The white population will double every 22 years.
The largest American city is Philadelphia, with 42,000 persons, followed by New York (33,000) Boston (18,000) Charleston (16,000) and Baltimore (13,000). The majority of Americans are involved in agricultural pursuits, with little industrial activity occurring at this time.
April 17, 1790 - Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84. His funeral four days later draws over 20,000 mourners.
July 10, 1790 - The House of Representatives votes to locate the national capital on a 10 square-mile site along the Potomac, with President George Washington choosing the exact location.
Source of much of the above: The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/rev-early.htm
America - 1790 to 1810 
Peaceful transition – but problems, and problem people – party formation: Washington to Adams to Jefferson to Madison 
The people: John Adams ,Aaron Burr ,Alexander Hamilton ,Thomas Jefferson,James Madison
September 25, 1789 - Congress submits 12 proposed constitutional amendments to the states for ratification. The first ten will be ratified and added to the Constitution in 1791 as the Bill of Rights.
September 29, 1789 - The U.S. Army is established by Congress. Totaling 1000 men, it consists of one regiment of eight infantry companies and one battalion of four artillery companies.
March 1, 1790 - A Census Act is passed by Congress. The first census, finished on Aug. 1, indicates a total population of nearly 4 million persons in the U.S. and western territories. African Americans make up 19 percent of the population, with 90 percent living in the South. Native Americans were not counted, although there were likely over 80 tribes with 150,000 persons. For white Americans, the average age is under 16. Most white families are large, with an average of eight children born. The white population will double every 22 years.
The largest American city is Philadelphia, with 42,000 persons, followed by New York (33,000) Boston (18,000) Charleston (16,000) and Baltimore (13,000). The majority of Americans are involved in agricultural pursuits, with little industrial activity occurring at this time.
1790 - the first decade
April 17, 1790 - Benjamin Franklin dies in Philadelphia at age 84. His funeral four days later draws over 20,000 mourners.
July 10, 1790 - The House of Representatives votes to locate the national capital on a 10 square-mile site along the Potomac, with President George Washington choosing the exact location.
- Source of much of the above: The History Place http://www.historyplace.com/unitedstates/revolution/rev-early.htm
- July 4. Jefferson submits to Congress his Report on the Subject of Measures, Weights, and Coins, an effort to establish uniform standards for coinage and weight measures. Jefferson is particularly excited by the discovery that the established weight for the American version of the Spanish dollar equals an ounce. He develops an ideal system of equivalencies between money and weight standards, but it is at odds with that of Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton, whose proposal is based on current business practices 
1791 - February 15. Jefferson sends President George Washington, his Opinion of the Constitutionality of the Bill for Establishing a National Bank. Secretary of the Treasury Hamilton argues that the Constitution provides implied powers to establish a Bank. Jefferson disagrees, and he sees Hamilton's plans for a national bank, the development of manufactures, and other related financial policies as creating conditions for the accumulation of the kind of power and corruption identified with the courts and monarchies of Europe. 
1792 - Fall. In one of the first openly partisan electoral contests, George Clinton is supported by Jefferson's allies for the office of governor of New York, while Hamiltonians support John Jay. Clinton wins. Officials canvassing votes void some of those for Jay. 
1793 - Cotton Gin invented November 16. Jefferson writes to Eli Whitney, telling him that he approves of his efforts to win a patent for his cotton gin. Jefferson to Eli Whitney, November 16, 1793.
- Fugitive Slave Act passed 
- April 28. As Secretary of State, Jefferson writes an opinion for President Washington arguing that acceptance of the new French minister to the United States, Edmond Genet, is an acceptance of the new revolutionary government in Paris, led by the Girondins. 
- April 28. 
Jefferson argues that the current French government is continuous with that of Louis XVI, with which the United States made a formal treaty of alliance in 1778 during the American Revolution. Hamilton argues that the treaty and diplomatic relationship were with the monarchy of Louis XVI and ended when Louis was dethroned, imprisoned, and executed on January >21, 1793, and that the relationship must be renegotiated. Democratic-Republican clubs, that have sprung up in the United States in support of France. Genet plans to appeal to Americans over the head of President Washington. Jefferson concludes that he has gone too far. In mid-August, the Jacobins gain control of the French government and many Girondists are imprisoned. Although recalled, Genet, a Girondin, dares not return to France, and he eventually receives asylum in the United States, settles on a farm in upstate New York, and marries Cornelia Clinton, the daughter of Governor George Clinton. 
1795 - Bowdoin College founded – became a center for Abolitionist movements; Gen. Howard (Howard University) graduated; Harriet Beecher Stowe taught there and she began to write Uncle Tom’s Cabin there (in 1850)
- October. James Madison visits Monticello to discuss the Jay Treaty with Jefferson. They are both opposed to its ratification. The treaty, negotiated with Great Britain by John Jay, addresses issues left unresolved since the 1783 Treaty of Paris that ended the American Revolution. The Jay Treaty provides for compensation to British creditors from American debtors, many of whom are Virginians, and it arranges for the evacuation of British troops still occupying northwestern posts in the United States. However, it fails to address the all-important issue of American trading rights, especially in the British West Indies, and leaves the problem of the impressment of American seamen by the British navy unresolved. The treaty is immensely unpopular and furthers the development of party politics. The Senate narrowly ratifies it in April 1796. 
1796 - December 7. John Adams is elected second president of the U.S. Jefferson is elected vice president, having received the second largest number of electoral votes. 
1797 - March 4. Adams inaugurated as President - Jefferson is inaugurated as vice president of the United States and begins gathering information on rules of parliamentary practice. As vice president, Jefferson presides over the Senate. 
1798 - June-July. Congress passes what are collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts. These acts, the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act, the Sedition Act, and the Alien Enemies Act, are passed in the midst of a quasi-war with France and heightened public criticism of foreign policy. 
1799 - Jefferson leaves Philadelphia for Monticello, arriving there on the 8th. Throughout the coming year he devotes himself to Monticello's development. On his way to Philadelphia in November, he visits the new federal city, Washington, D.C., which he plays a key role in designing. (Temple of Liberty: Building the Capitol for a New Nation, Library of Congress Exhibitions) 
December 14. George Washington dies at Mount Vernon. 
1800 - June. The U. S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
- December 3. Electors meet in their states and cast votes for the next president of the United States. A tie vote between Jefferson and Aaron Burr does not become known till the end of the month. This throws the election into the House of Representatives which addresses the matter on February 11, 1801.
1801 - February 11. The electors' votes for president are officially opened and counted in Congress, which already knows that the vote is tied between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The House of Representatives meets separately and continues balloting for six days. On February 17, on the thirty-sixth ballot, Jefferson is elected president and Aaron Burr becomes vice president.
New York passes Emancipation Act 
Population 5.3 million (1 million of African decent) 
1802 - Ohio outlaws slavery -- September. James Callender makes the accusation that Thomas Jefferson has "for many years past kept, as his concubine, one of his own slaves," Sally Hemings. It is published in the Richmond Recorder that month, and the story is soon picked up by Federalist presses around the country. Callender, a Republican, has previously been an avid investigator of Federalist scandals. In 1798, Jefferson had helped pay for the publication of Callender's pamphlet The Prospect Before Us, which claimed to expose John Adams as a monarchist. However, when Jefferson, now president, fails to reward Callender with the office of postmaster in Richmond, Virginia, Callender turns on him. 
1803 - Louisiana Purchase January >18. Jefferson asks Congress for funds for an expedition to explore the Mississippi River and beyond in search of a route to the Pacific. Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private secretary, begins planning the expedition, which forms late in 1803.
- April 30. Robert Livingston, ambassador to France, and James Monroe, special envoy, conclude a treaty of cession in Paris in which the United States purchases from France the whole of the Louisiana territory for fifteen million dollars. The territory, approximately 800,000 square miles comprising the Mississippi River Valley and most of the present-day Midwest, almost doubles the size of the United States. Jefferson's original expectation was that Livingston and Monroe might persuade the French to yield a portion of the Mississippi River Valley for ten million dollars. However, Emperor Napoleon of France has just lost an army and the island of Santo Domingo in the Caribbean to Toussaint L'Overture, leader of a slave insurrection, and he is no longer interested in maintaining a French foothold in North America. He offers the United States the whole of the territory.

 














1898 - TR ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF Navy
SPANISH AMERICAN WAR; for timeline see: http://www.spanam.simplenet.com/ 
1899 - SOUTHERN STATES PASS LAWS TO DISENFRANCISE BLACKS 
1900 - THEODORE ROOSEVELT ELECTED VICE PRESIDENT
1901 - MCKINLEY ASSONATED – THEODORE ROOSEVELT BECOMES PRESIDENT
- CARNEGIE SELLS CARNEGIE STEEL COMPANY FOR $225 MIL 
1903 - WRIGHT BROTHERS FIRST FLIGHT
1906 - SAN FRANCISCO EARTHQUAKE
1908 - FORD INTRODUCES MODEL T
- TAFT ELECTED PRESIDENT 
- TR GOES ON SAFARI AND EUROPE TOUR, VISITS KAISER
- NAACP FOUNDED
1912 - TR RUNS AS PROGRESSIVE… WILSON WINS 
- MORE THAN 1000 AFRICAN AMERICANS LYNCHED SINCE 1901 
1914 - WORLD WAR I BEGINS IN EUROPE 
1917 - "Zimmerman Telegram" - http://www.nara.gov/
- U.S. ENTERS WORLD WAR I 
1918 - WORLD WAR I ENDS 
1919 - TR DIES – CARNEGIE DIES 
1923 - GERMAN MONEY HYPER INFLATES
- HITLER’S BEER HALL COUP ATTEMPT FAILS
1919 - TREATY OF VERSAILLES, 19TH AMENDMENT
- HITLER SENTENCED TO JAIL, BEGINS MEIN KAMPF. 
1925 - HINDENBURG ELECTED PRESIDENT OF GERMANY
1929 - STOCK MARKET CRASHES, DEPRESSION BEGINS
1930 - HITLER’S NAZI PARTY GAINS MAJORITY IN PARLIAMENT
1931 - GEORGE’S DAD GRADUATES FROM COLLEGE / HITLER BEGINS TO TAKE POWER IN GERMANY
- WORST OF DEPRESSION
LMOST 25% UNEMPLOYED
1932 - FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT ELECTED PRESIDENT
- COMMUNIST PARTY MAKES GAINS IN GERMANY
1933 - FDR INAUGURATED “100 DAYS”
- HINDENBURG APPOINTS HITLER CHANCELLOR 
1934 - HINDENBURG DIES, HITLER APPOINTS HIMSELF PRESIDENT - “ FUEHRER” 
1936 - FDR RE-ELECTED
- GERMANY AND ITALY SIGN “AXIS” TREATY 
1937 - German airship HINDENBURG BURNS IN NEW JERSEY 
1938 - “MUNICH” – British P.M. Chamberlain agrees that Hitler can have Czechoslovakia. 
1939 - (SEPTEMBER) WORLD WAR II STARTS IN EUROPE with German Invasion of Poland. In just five weeks Poland surrenders to Germany. See time line: http://www.open.org/~talmadge/holocaust/time.html
1940 - (May) Germany invades Holland, Belgium and France – Churchill becomes P.M.
- (May 30) British evacuate Continent at Dunkirk
- (June) France Surrenders
1941 - (June) Germany invades Russia
- (DECEMBER) JAPANESE ATTACK PEARL HARBOR – U.S. DECLARES WAR ON JAPAN
- HITLER DECLARES WAR ON U.S.
1942 - (January) – Germans begin retreat from Moscow area
- (May) 1000 British planes bomb Cologne, Germany
- (May) U.S. surrenders Philippines to Japan
- (June) Battle of Midway, Japanese Fleet turned back with heavy losses.
- (August) American Marines land on Guadalcanal beginning “island hopping” assault against Japan.
- (September) Battle of Stalingrad begins
- (November) Americans invade North Africa
1943 - (January) Roosevelt and Churchill meet in Casablanca, North Africa
- U.S. continues island offensive against Japan
- (February) Germans surrender in Stalingrad, huge loss.
- (July) Allies land in Sicily
- British bomb Hamburg, creating firestorm, killing over 100,000
- (September) Italy surrenders
- (November) FDR, Churchill and Stalin meet at Teheran, Iran 
1944 - (January) Soviet troops now in Poland – Allies land in Italy at Anzio
- (June 6) Allies invade Europe – D-Day
- (October) MacArthur’s troops land in Philippines.
1945 - (February) Dresden bombed
- (March) Japanese still fighting in Philippines.
- (April) U.S. troops land on Okinawa (near Japan)
- FDR Dies
- (May) Germany Surrenders
- (June) U.N. Charter Signed
- (August) Atomic bombs dropped – Russia declares war on Japan
- Japan surrenders
- (November) War Crimes Trials begin in Germany. 
1946 - U.S. troops in Korea, replacing Japanese
- U.S. grants independence to Philippines (leases bases to U.S.)
- Communist controlled government in East Germany 
1947 - Britain Nationalizes Coal, radio, electrical
- Marshall plan to aid Germany and Europe (originally offered to all of Europe, including USSR occupied.
- Loyalty oaths for Govt. Workers
- Jackie Robinson becomes first African American major league baseball player 
1948 - Peacetime draft
- Truman defeats Dewey and is re-elected.
- Berlin Airlift
- Communist Parties gain control of rest of Soviet occupied Europe 
1949 - NATO established
- U.N. headquarters sited in New York.
- U.S. supported Greek government defeats Communists in civil war.
- South Africa prohibits interracial marriages
- Communist Chinese drive Nationalists to Taiwan, securing control of Mainland China.
- USSR develops Atomic Bomb 
1950 - U.S. recognizes Vietnam
- McCarthy Hearings begin
- Communists in U.S. must register
- U.S. bars trade with Communist China
- Korean war starts, North Invades South – UN intervenes (USSR absent from Security Council) 
1951 - 22nd Amendment, prohibiting more than two presidential terms
- Rosenburgs found guilty, sentenced to death (executed in 1953)
- Truman relieves MacArthur of command in Korea – DM returns in triumph, talk of impeachment… “Old soldiers never die… they just fade away”… and he did.
- Churchill again elected P.M. of Britain 
1952 - King George VI dies; Elizabeth becomes Queen
- Eisenhower and Nixon elected President and Vice President
1953 - U.S. provides military aid to France to suppress Vietnam freedom fighters
1954 - Brown v. Board of Education 
1955 - U.S. begins economic aid to South Vietnam
- Montgomery Bus Boycott; Martin Luther King becomes prominent.
- Women ordained in Presbyterian Church
- Churchill resigns as British P.M.
- U.S. Supreme Court orders immediate desegregation of schools 
1956 - Eisenhower and Nixon re-elected.
- Anti-Communist revolution in Hungary brutally suppressed by Soviet troops. 
1957 - Gov. Faubus of Arkansas uses National Guard troops to prevent de-segregation of Little Rock High School. DDE federalizes troops and forces de-segregation.
- Congress passes Civil Rights act prohibiting discrimination in public. Nevertheless continued resistance to integration in South. 
1958 - First Xerox machine
- Soviets launch “Sputnik”
- First trans-Atlantic jet passenger service.
- DDE sends U.S. Marines to Lebanon to suppress Arab nationalists.
1959 - Alaska and Hawaii become states
- Castro comes to power in Cuba
- Khruschev visits U.S. 
1960 - Lunch counter sit ins begin in South (beginning of “Civil Rights Movement”
- Castro confiscates U.S. property in Cuba; U.S. begins embargo
- Soviets launch dogs and mice into space and bring them back alive.
- Kennedy and Johnson elected President and Vice President 
1961 - US INCREASES INVOLVEMENT IN VIETNAM
- U.S. breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba
- U.S. supports abortive “Bay of Pigs” invasion of Cuba
- JFK institutes the Peace Corps
- Berlin Wall constructed
- CORE attempts to desegregate interstate bus lines
- Black Muslims advocate black power and separation of races 
1962 - Cuban Missile Crisis.
- Military coup (with U.S. approval) overthrows Diem in Vietnam 
1963 - KENNEDY ASSASSINATED
- Oswald shot by Jack Ruby – country “stunned” Lyndon Johnson becomes President.
- Medgar Evers – NAACP worker is killed
- France vetoes British entry into Common Market
- U.S. Nuclear submarine with 129 aboard is lost in Atlantic 
1964 - Johnson defeats Republican Goldwater and remains President –Goldwater only got 52 electoral votes, perceived as a war hawk.
- U.S. Destroyer allegedly attacked in Gulf of Tonkin. Congress resolves that President Johnson given authority to use all power to repel attacks on U.S. forces… this resolution formed basis for massive escalation of U.S. military action in Vietnam without declaration of war.
1965 - Massive escalation of U.S. military effort, combined with nightly TV coverage of war and opposition of liberal news media. Anti war demonstrations become wide spread
- Race Riots in Watts area of L.A.
- 5 million color TV’s
- Malcolm X is shot and killed
1966 - More race riots in many major cities
- African American Edward Brooke is elected U.S. Senator from Mass. 
1967 - More race riots
- Vietnam war continues to escalate
- Thurgood Marshall becomes first African American on U.S. Supreme Court.
- First heart transplant
- Black mayors are elected in Cleveland, Ohio and Gary, Indiana. 
1968 - Tet Offensive
- MLK assassinated
- RFK assassinated
- Nixon defeats Humphrey and becomes President
- US Submarine sinks, 99 die. 
1969 - U.S. - Vietnam peace talks start
- 400,000 people attend “Woodstock”
- My Lai massacre – Lt. Calley convicted in 1971
- Golda Meir becomes Prime Minister of Israel
- Yale, Bowdoin and Colgate admit women 
1970 - Martial Law in Canada because of Quebec separatists attacks
- 448 Universities and colleges closed or on strike in protest against war
- Nixon names two women generals 
1971 - Constitutional Amendment (26) lowering voting age to 18 
1973 - VIETNAM WAR ENDS- NIXON RESIGNS 
1980 - SOME OF CLASS NOW BORN 
1992 - CLINTON ELECTED President,
2000 - DISPUTED ELECTION OF 2000 - George Bush BECOMES PRESIDENT
See Also: African American Timelines


Dr. Quintard Taylor, Jr.
Scott and Dorothy Bullitt
Professor of American History 
http://staff.washington.edu/qtaylor/a_us_history/cold_war_timeline.htm 


 
United States Of America Timeline





1900's

1900 Galveston, Texas was hit by a hurricane (the Great Storm killing over 6,000 people
1903 U. S. acquired the Panama Canal Zone; the Wright brothers made their first flight
1906 Earthquake in San Francisco left 500 missing or dead and destroyed four square miles of the city
1914 World War I began; the Panama Canal opened
1917 U. S. declared war on Germany
1918 World War I ended
1920 The Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution was ratified, giving women the right to vote; the sale and manufacture of alcoholic liquors was outlawed
1927 Charles Lindbergh made the first solo non-stop transatlantic flight
1929 The stock market crash began the Great Depression
1931 The Star-Spangled Banner was adopted as the national anthem
1932 Amelia Earhart was the first woman to complete a solo non-stop transatlantic flight
1933 New Deal recovery programs were enacted; Prohibition was repealed
1935 Social Security Act was passed; the Bureau of Investigation became the Federal Bureau of Investigation led by J. Edgar Hoover
1939 World War II began. The U. S. declared neutrality
1941 U.S. declared war on Japan after attacks at Hawaii, Guam and the Philippines; Germany and Italy declared war on the U. S. and the U. S. reciprocated
1945 U. S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan surrendered; the United Nations was established
1947 The Central Intelligence Agency was established; the U.S. established a policy of aid for countries threatened by Communism, known as the Truman Doctrine; the Cold War with the Soviet Union began
1949 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO was established
1950 The Korean War began. U. S. armed forces played a leading role against North Korean and Chinese troops
1951 President Truman spoke in the first live television broadcast, coast-to-coast
1952 First hydrogen bomb detonated by the U. S.
1953 The Armistice Agreement was signed, ending the Korean War
1961 The Bay of Pigs invasion occurred, an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba by Cuban exiles
1962 The U.S. forced the Soviet Union to withdraw its nuclear weapons from Cuba (the Cuban Missile Crisis); Lt. Col. John Glenn was the first U. S. astronaut to orbit the earth
1963 President John F. Kennedy assassinated
1964 North Vietnamese torpedo boats attacked a U.S. destroyer in The Gulf of Tonkin; Civil Rights Act becomes a law
1965 U. S. planes began bombing raids of North Vietnam; U.S. combat troops arrived in South Vietnam
1968 American soldiers killed 300 Vietnamese villagers in the My Lai massacre; civil rights leader, Martin Luther King, was assassinated; Senator Robert F. Kennedy was assassinated
1969 U.S. astronauts, Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin, Jr., were the first people to walk on the moon
1970 U. S. troops invaded Cambodia
1972 Five employees of President Richard Nixon were caught breaking into the Democratic headquarters in Washington, D. C. (the Watergate scandal)
1973 A cease fire agreement was executed by North and South Vietnam, the Viet Cong and the U. S.; the U. S. troops left Vietnam; the Supreme Court legalized abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy in the Roe v. Wade case; hearings began in the investigation of the Watergate scandal; Vice President Spiro Agnew resigned over charges of income tax evasion and corruption
1974 President Nixon resigned
1979 U. S. established diplomatic ties with mainland China; a nuclear reactor malfunction at Three Mile Island caused a near meltdown; Iranian students invaded the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and held the employees as hostages
1986 The space shuttle, Challenger, exploded shortly after take off from Cape Canaveral, killing all seven crew members; U. S. warplanes bombed cities in Libya; the Irangate scandal was uncovered - proceeds from secret sales of U. S. arms to Iran were used illegally to fund Contra rebels in Nicaragua
1989 The oil tanker, Exxon Valdez, ran aground in Prince William Sound, and spilled more than 10 million gallons of oil, the largest in U. S. history
1991 U.S. led an international coalition in military operations (Desert Storm to drive Iraqis out of Kuwait
1993 A bomb exploded in the basement of the World Trade Center, killing 6 people, injuring 1,000 and causing more than $500 million in damages; federal agents stormed the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas killing 80 cult members; the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was enacted, with the intention of creating a free-trade bloc between the U. S., Canada and Mexico
1995 A bomb in the federal office building in Oklahoma City exploded, killing 168 people
1998 U.S. and Britain launched air strikes against weapon sites in Iraq
1999 14 students and 1 teacher were killed and 23 others wounded in a shooting at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado; U. S. and China signed trade agreement

2000's
2001 Four passenger aircraft were hijacked, two crashed into the World Trade Center, one into the Pentagon and the fourth in a field in Pennsylvania. 3,025 people were killed. The U. S. led massive air strikes at targets in Afghanistan to help defeat the Taliban and to find Osama Bin Laden, who was suspected of being responsible for the attacks on the U. S.; energy giant, Enron, declared bankruptcy after false accounting was discovered
2002 Department of Homeland Security created
2003 The space shuttle, Columbia, exploded upon reentry into the earth's atmosphere killing the seven crew members; the war against Iraq began
2004 Four hurricanes devastated Florida and southern areas of the U. S.
2005 Hurricane Katrina hit the coasts of Louisiana and Mississippi, 80% of New Orleans was flooded, hundreds of people were killed
2006 Millions of immigrants and supporters staged protests against the U. S. government's plans to criminalize illegal immigrants
2007 Wildfires in California caused over 500,000 to leave homes; bridge across Mississippi River in Minneapolis collapsed, 7 killed, 60 injured; gunman at Virginia Tech campus killed 33
2008 Financial crises forced Lehman Brothers to file bankruptcy; investors lost over $50 billion in Ponzi scheme by Bernard Madoff; Barack Obama elected President of the United States
2009 US Airways plane crashed into New York's Hudson River, all on board survived; General Motors filed for bankruptcy protection; President Barack Obama awarded Nobel Peace Prize; US Army major killed 13, injured 30 at Fort Hood Military Base in Texas; incident on international Northwest Airlines flight was failed bomb attack
2010 Catastrophic explosion on oil rig in Gulf of Mexico killed 11, injured 17, caused major ecological and financial damages; mine explosion in West Virginia killed at least 25; Health care bill passed
2011 Occupy Wall Street movement attracted thousands of demonstrators in New York City
2011 Last US troops left Iraq after invasion nine years ago
2011 US forces killed terrorist Osama bin Laden
2012 US soldier killed 16 Afghan civilians in Kandahar


 Decades
Pre-Revolution History
1490-1499 - Columbus/Cabot
1500-1599 - Exploration
1600-1699 - Settlement
1700-1769 - American Rights
1700's
1770-1779 - The American Revolution
1780-1789 - The Nascent Democracy
1790-1799 - America Builds
1800's
1800-1809 - Exploration
1810-1819 - The War of 1812
1820-1829 - A Decade of Compromise & Doctrine
1830-1839 - Conquering the West
1840-1849 - The Mexican War
1850-1859 - Expansion & the Looming Divide
1860-1869 - The Civil War
1870-1879 - The Nation's Centennial Decade
1880-1889 - America Invents
1890-1899 - The Age of Immigration
1900's
1900-1909 - The World Begins to Fly
1910-1919 - World War I
1920-1929 - Prosperity and Its Demise
1930-1939 - The Great Depression
1940-1949 - World War II
1950-1959 - Two Cars in Every Garage
1960-1969 - Civil Rights and Turmoil
1970-1979 - The Nation in Flux
1980-1989 - The Reagan Revolution
1990-1999 - Prosperity as the World Turns
2000's
2000-2009 - The Fight against Terrorism
2010-Present - Economic Recovery