Messier Adds to Catalog
Jan 11 French astronomer Charles Messier adds M51 (spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici) to his catalog
Cook Reaches 71°10' South
Jan 30 Captain James Cook reaches a record 71°10' south, 1820km from the South Pole
Orion Nebula
Mar 4 First sighting of Orion nebula by William Herschel
Hancock's Massacre Day Oration
Mar 5 John Hancock delivers the fourth annual Massacre Day oration, a commemoration of the Boston Massacre, and denounces the presence of British troops in Boston, enhancing Hancock's stature as a leading Patriot
Punishment for Boston Tea Party
Mar 7 King George III charges colonists in Boston with attempting to injure British commerce, paving the way for the closing of the port to punish colonists for the Boston Tea Party
- Mar 20 The British parliament passes first of the Intolerable Acts: the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston harbor until colonists would pay for damages following the Boston Tea Party
- Mar 28 Britain passes Coercive Act against Massachusetts
- Apr 17 First Unitarianism church service in England held by Theophilus Lindsey at the Essex Street Capel in London
- Apr 30 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee for the second time
- May 20 The British pass the second of the Intolerable Acts: the Massachusetts Government Act, giving British-appointed governor wide-ranging powers
- May 23 Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River)
- Jun 1 Boston Port Act: Following the passage of the act, the British government orders Port of Boston closed to punish colonists for the Boston Tea Party
- Jun 2 Intolerable Acts: Amendment to original Quartering Act enacted, allows governors in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters not provided
- Jun 11 Jews of Algiers escape attacking Spanish Army
- Jun 13 Rhode Island becomes first colony to prohibit importation of slaves
- Jun 16 Formation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky
- Jun 22 British parliament accepts Quebec Act, which extends the province's territory and restores French civil law
- Jul 4 Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts
- Jul 12 Citizens of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, pass a symbolic declaration of independence
- Jul 12 Cossack leader Emilian Pugachevs army occupies Kazan
- Jul 17 Captain James Cook arrives in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
- Jul 21 Russo-Turkish War, 1768-74: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war
The Discovery of Oxygen
Aug 1 English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state
- Aug 10 1st Surinam newspaper (1st Wednesday Suriname) begins publishing
- Sep 5 The 1st Continental Congress, a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that later became the United States, convenes at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia
- Sep 5 Twelve of the thirteen American colonies adopt a trade embargo against Great Britain at the first Continental Congress at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Sep 5 With the meeting of the Continental Congress, Philadelphia becomes the 1st capital of the United States
- Sep 15 Cossack pretender to the Russian throne Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev captured
- Oct 14 1st Continental Congress makes Declaration of Colonial Rights in Philadelphia
- Oct 20 American Continental Congress orders discouragement of entertainment
- Oct 21 First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag, raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts and which was in defiance of British rule in Colonial America.
- Oct 26 First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia
- Oct 26 Minutemen organized in US colonies
- Nov 17 First City Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry formed at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, one of the oldest US military units still in service
Revere and Cheswell's Ride
Dec 13 Paul Revere and Wentworth Cheswell ride to warn Portsmouth of the approach of British warships
Admirals
Aviators
Gangsters
Generals
Industrialists
Suffragists