Wedgwood Blue
Jan 1 English potter Josiah Wedgwood writes that he has developed his famous 'wedgwood blue' color in a letter to Thomas Bentley [1]
- 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 18 The West India Committee founded in London by London sugar merchants and Caribbean planters. Initially instrumental in promoting slavery, later aided campaign to end slavery. [1]
- Jan 22 Marshal Oscar von Lubomirski confiscates goods being sold by Jews in settlements on the outskirts of Warsaw, Poland
- Feb 9 British Parliament declares Massachusetts colony in rebellion
- Feb 22 1st US joint stock company (to make cloth) offers shares at 10 cents
- Feb 22 Jews expelled from their settlements on the 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 British MP Edmund Burke makes a speech to the English Parliament advocating for peace with the American colonies
Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death
Mar 23 Patrick Henry proclaims "Give me liberty or give me death" in speech in favor of Virginian troops joining US Revolutionary war
- Apr 14 1st abolitionist society in US organizes in Philadelphia
Event of Interest
Apr 18 Paul Revere warns Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops are marching from Boston to Lexington
- Apr 18 Paul Revere, William Dawes and Samuel Prescott ride from Charlestown to Lexington warning "the regulars are coming!"
The Shot Heard Round the World
Apr 19 American Revolution begins in Lexington, Massachusetts, with the "Shot Heard Round the World" fired later that day in Concord
- Apr 19 Minutemen Capt John Parker orders not to fire unless fired upon
- 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 as does Dawes who acts as a decoy [1]
Il Ré Pastore
Apr 23 Opera "Il Ré Pastore" (The Shepherd King) by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart is first produced in Salzburg
George Washington Named Supreme Commander
May 10 Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia names George Washington Supreme Commander
President Hancock
May 24 John Hancock is unanimously elected President of the Continental Congress
- Jun 12 1st naval battle of Revolution-Unity (US) captures Margaretta (Br)
Continental Army Forms
Jun 14 US Army first forms as the Continental Army to fight American Revolutionary War
- 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
Olive Branch Petition
Jul 5 Second Continental Congress drafts the Olive Branch Petition to King George III
Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
Jul 6 Congress issues the "Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking up Arms", written by Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson and lists American grievances but denies any intent to be independent
Event of Interest
Jul 10 Horatio Gates issues order excluding blacks from Continental Army
Maryland Tramples on the Magna Carta
Jul 25 Maryland issues currency depicting George III trampling Magna Carta
United States Post Office
Jul 26 US Continental Congress creates United States Post Office (U.S.P.O.) in Philadelphia under Benjamin Franklin
Cook Returns to England
Jul 30 Captain James Cook with HMS Resolution safely returns to England at the end of his second voyage
- Aug 5 1st Spanish ship, San Carlos, enters San Francisco Bay
- Aug 22 King of Great Britain and Ireland, George III proclaims the American colonies to be in open rebellion and orders his officials to suppress it
- Sep 13 Gotthold Lessing's "Die Juden," premieres in Frankfurt-am-Main
Ethan Allen Captured
Sep 25 American Revolutionary War hero Ethan Allen captured
Phillis Wheatley Freed
Oct 18 African-American poet Phillis Wheatley freed from slavery
Visit by Mohawk Leader
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
- Nov 12 General Washington forbids recruiting officers from enlisting black troops
- 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
Knox's Artillery Convoy Sets Out
Dec 9 At Fort Ticonderoga, New York, Henry Knox begins his historic transport of abandoned British artillery to Boston, Massachusetts, later forces the British to evacuate Boston [1]
Arkwright's Carding Machine
Dec 16 Englishman Richard Arkwright receives a patent for his carding machine for use in cotton mills
Battle of Quebec
Dec 31 Battle of Quebec: American Continental Army led by Richard Montgomery is defeated trying to take the British stronghold of Quebec City in the American Revolutionary War, General Montgomery is killed and Benedict Arnold is injured
Authors
Dictators
Explorers
Outlaws
Queens
Spies