1770 to 1775

1770

jan - |NEW YORK| Violence between members of the Sons of Liberty and 40 British soldiers over the posting of broadsheets by the British.
mar 05 - The Boston Massacre occurs as a mob harasses British soldiers who fire their muskets pointblank into the crowd. Thomas Preston, The captain, is arrested along with eight of his men and charged with murder.
apr - The Townshend Acts are repealed by the British and the Quartering Act is not renewed. All duties on imports into the colonies are eliminated except for tea.
oct - The trial for the British soldiers of 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.
x - The eraser.
x - Beethoven born.
x - Poet William Wordsworth is born.
x - The population of the American colonies is c2,210,000.

1772

jun - 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.
sep - A 500 pound reward is offered by the English Crown for the colonists who torched the Gaspee. The announcement that they would be sent to England ?+ for trial further upsets many American colonists.
nov - Sam Adams calls a Boston town meeting. A committee of correspondence is appointed to communicate with other towns and colonies.
x - Poland is partitioned for the first time, between Russia, Prussia and Austria.
x - There is a coup d'etat in Sweden.

1773

mar - 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 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.
may 10 - |AMERICAN COLONIES| The Tea Act takes effect.
sep - |AMERICAN COLONIES| Parliament authorizes the East India company to ship half a million pounds of tea to a group of chosen tea agents.
oct - |PHILADELPHIA| Colonists hold a mass meeting in opposition to the tea tax and the monopoly of the East India Company. A committee then forces British tea agents to resign their positions.
nov - |BOSTON| A town meeting is held endorsing the actions taken by Philadelphia colonists. Bostonians fail to get their British tea agents to resign.
nov 29-30 - |BOSTON| Two mass meetings over the tea aboard the three ships now docked in Boston harbor. Colonists decide to send the tea on the ship, Dartmouth, back to England without paying any import duties. The Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Hutchinson, is opposed to this and orders harbor officials not to let the ship sail out of the harbor unless the tea taxes have been paid.
dec 16 - |BOSTON| 8000 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.
x - English Wagon-maker J. Day built a small submarine with detachable ballast stones

1774

mar - English Parliament passes the first of a series of Coercive Acts in response to the rebellion in Massachusetts.
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 arrives in Boston and replaces Hutchinson as Royal governor, putting Massachusetts under military rule.
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.
jun - 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.
sep - Massachusetts Governor Gage seizes that colony's arsenal of weapons at Charlestown.
sep 05 - The First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia with delegates representing every colony, except Georgia. In attendance: Patrick Henry, George Washington +, Sam Adams and John Hancock. [u.oct 26]
sep 17 - The First Continental Congress declares its opposition to the Coercive Acts and also promotes the formation of local militia units.
oct 14 - A Declaration and Resolves is adopted by the First Continental Congress that opposes the Coercive Acts, the Quebec Act, and other measure taken by the British. The rights of the colonists are asserted, including the rights to "life, liberty and property."
oct 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.
x - Swedish chemist invents a future paper whitener.
x - Warren Hastings, the first British governor-general of India took office.
x - Russo-Turkey war ends with Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji.
x - Louis XV of France dies and his grandson, Louis XVI is crowned.
x - The Quebec Act is passed, allowing for Catholics to hold office, re-establishing old boundaries of Canada, and allowing French law.
x - |England ?+| The rules of cricket are made and last for the next two centuries.

1775

feb 01 - |CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS| A provincial congress is held during which John Hancock and Joseph Warren begin defensive preparations for a state of war.
feb 09 - The English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.
mar 23 - |VIRGINIA| Patrick Henry delivers a speech against British rule, stating, "Give me liberty or give me death * !"
mar 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.
apr 14 - Massachusetts Governor Gage is secretly ordered by the British to enforce the Coercive Acts and suppress "open rebellion" among colonists by using all necessary force.
apr 18 - 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.
apr 19 - At dawn 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. The British regroup and head for the depot in Concord, destroying the colonists' weapons and supplies. British forces suffer 250 casualties on the long retreat from Lexington back to Boston. They are harassed and shot at all along the way by farmers and rebels.
apr 19 - At the North Bridge in Concord, a British platoon is attacked by militiamen, with 14 casualties.
apr 23 - 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.
may 10 - 230 volounteers raised in Vermont led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold capture Fort Ticonderoga in New York. The fort contains needed supplies of military equipment including 100 cannons which are then hauled to Boston by ox teams.
may 10 - The Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, with John Hancock elected as its president.
may 15 - The Continental Congress places the colonies in a state of defense.
jun 15 - The Continental Congress unanimously votes to appoint George Washington + general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.
jun 17 - |BREED'S HILL| The first major fight between British and American troops occurs at Boston in the Battle of Bunker Hill. American troops 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." The British get within 15 paces and the Americans let loose a deadly volley of rifle fire, halting the British advance. The British attack again 30 minutes later with the same result. A third attack succeeds as the Americans run out of ammunition and are left only with bayonets and stones to defend themselves. The British lose half their force, over 1,000 casualties, the Americans lose about 400, including General Joseph Warren.
jul 03 - |CAMBRIDGE MASSACHUSETTS| George Washington takes command of the Continental Army which now has about 17,000 men.
jul 05 - The Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition which expresses hope for a reconciliation with Britain, appealing directly to the King.
aug - King George III refuses even to look at the Olive Branch Petition and declares the Americans to be in a state of open rebellion.
jul 06 - 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."
jul 26 - An American Post Office is established by the Continental Congress with Ben Franklin ?*+ as Postmaster General.
sep - Ethan allen captured and imprisoned in an attempt on Montreal.
nov 28 - The American Navy is established by Congress.
nov 29 - Congress appoints a secret committee to seek help from European nations.
dec 23 - King George III issues a royal proclamation closing the American colonies to all commerce and trade, to take effect in March 1776.
x - Henry Grattan became leader of the 'Patriot party'.
x - |Ireland ?| Daniel O'Connell born at Derrynane, Co.Kerry.
x - Pius VI + becomes pope ?+ [u.1799] [re.List of Popes]