- Jan 11 Francis Salvador becomes 1st Jew elected to office in America (SC)
- Jan 17 9 old women burnt as witches for causing bad harvests in Kalisk, Poland
- Jan 17 Richard Brinsley Sheridan's play "The Rivals" premieres in London
- Jan 22 Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski expels Jews from Warsaw, Poland
- Jan 25 Americans drag cannon up hill to fight British (Gun Hill Road, Bronx)
- Feb 9 British Parliament declares Massachusetts colony is in rebellion
- Feb 15 Angelo Braschi chosen as Pope Pius VI
- Feb 22 1st US joint stock company (to make cloth) offers shares at 10 cents
- Feb 22 Jews expelled from outskirts of Warsaw, Poland
- Mar 6 1st Negro Mason in north America initiated, Boston
- Mar 17 Transylvania Land Company, headed by Richard Henderson, buys most of Kentucky through treaty signed with Cherokee chiefs at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River (later declared illegal)
- Mar 19 4 people buried by avalanche for 37 days, 3 survive (Italy)
- Mar 19 Poland & Prussia sign trade agreement
- Mar 22 Edmund Burke presents his 13 articles to the Westminster Parliament
Event of Interest
Mar 23 Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death" in speech in favour of Virginian troops joining US Revolutionary war
Patrick Henry
- Apr 14 1st abolitionist society in US organizes in Philadelphia
Event of Interest
Apr 18 Paul Revere and William Dawes ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning the "regulars are coming!"
Paul Revere
- Apr 19 Minutemen Capt John Parker orders not to fire unless fired upon
The Shot Heard Round the World
Apr 19 American Revolution begins in Lexington, Massachusetts. The "Shot Heard Round the World" took place in Concord later that day
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- Apr 19 New England militiamen begin the siege of Boston, hemming in the British army garrison
- Apr 19 Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott are captured by British troops riding from Lexington to Concord, Prescott escapes to warn Concord
- Apr 23 Opera "Il Ré Pastore" is produced (Salzburg)
- May 7 Turkish state of Bukovina secedes from Austria
- May 10 Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and issues paper currency for 1st time
Appointment of Interest
May 10 Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia names George Washington Supreme Commander
George Washington
Election of Interest
May 24 John Hancock is unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress
John Hancock
- Jun 12 1st naval battle of Revolution-Unity (US) captures Margaretta (Br)
Event of Interest
Jun 14 US Army first forms as the Continental Army to fight American Revolutionary War
Nathanael Greene
- Jun 15 George Washington appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, the day after Congress establishes the force
- Jun 17 Battle of Bunker Hill (actually it was Breed's Hill)
- Jun 22 1st Continental currency issued ($3,000,000)
- Jun 23 1st regatta held on river Thames, England
- Jul 3 George Washington takes command of Continental Army at Cambridge, Massachusetts
Event of Interest
Jul 5 Second Continental Congress drafts the Olive Branch Petition to King George III
George III
- Jul 6 Congress issues "Declaration of the Causes & Necessity of Taking up Arms", listing grievances but denying intent to be independent
Event of Interest
Jul 10 Horatio Gates issues order excluding blacks from Continental Army
Horatio Gates
- Jul 17 1st military hospital approved
Magna Carta
Jul 25 Maryland issues currency depicting George III trampling Magna Carta
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Event of Interest
Jul 26 US Continental Congress creates United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Event of Interest
Jul 30 Captain James Cook with Resolution returns to England
James Cook
- Aug 5 1st Spanish ship, San Carlos, enters San Francisco Bay
- Aug 22 King George III proclaims colonies to be in open rebellion
- Sep 13 Gotthold Lessing's "Die Juden," premieres in Frankfurt-am-Main
Event of Interest
Sep 25 American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen captured
Ethan Allen
- Oct 8 Officers decide to bar slaves & free blacks from Continental Army
- Oct 13 First US Navy forms when Continental Congress orders construction of a naval fleet
- Oct 16 Portland, Maine burned by British
Event of Interest
Oct 18 African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery
Phillis Wheatley
Event of Interest
Nov 11 Mohawk military leader Joseph Brant goes to London to solicit more support from the government and to persuade the Crown to address past Mohawk land grievances in exchange for their participation as allies in the impending war
Joseph Brant
- Nov 12 General Washington forbids recruiting officers enlisting blacks
- Nov 13 American Revolutionary forces capture Montreal
- Nov 14 -15] Floods ravage Dutch coast provinces
- Nov 24 Continental Congress approves resolution barring blacks from army
- Nov 28 Second Continental Congress formally establishes the Continental Navy
- Nov 29 Sir James Jay invents invisible ink
- Dec 3 First official US flag raised (Grand Union Flag) aboard naval vessel USS Alfred
- Dec 5 At Fort Ticonderoga, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of artillery to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Historic Invention
Dec 16 Englishman Richard Arkwright receives a patent for his carding machine for use in cotton mills
Richard Arkwright