"The Boston Massacre," an engraving by patriot Paul Revere.

1760s

• 1760 - Pierre de Rigaud, Governor of New France, capitulates (September 8) to Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst. This ends most fighting in North America between France and Britain in the French and Indian War. Amherst becomes the First British Governor-General of North America (the territories that would later become Canada).

• 1760 - King George II dies (October 25) and is succeeded by his grandson George III.

• 1763 - The Treaty of Paris (February 10) formally ends the French and Indian War. France cedes its territories in North America to Britain.

• 1763 - Pontiac's Rebellion, a war between Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region and the British, begins.

• 1763 - King George's Royal Proclamation of 1763 (October 7) establishes administration in territories newly ceded by France. To prevent further violence between settlers and Native Americans, the Proclamation sets a western boundary on the American colonies.

• 1764 - The Currency Act is passed by Parliament

• 1764 - The Sugar Act is passed by Parliament (April 5)

• 1765 - The Stamp Act is passed by Parliament

• 1765 - The Stamp Act Congress meets, with nine British colonies attending (October)

• 1765 - The Quartering Act of 1765 is passed (May 15)

• 1766 - Liberty Pole erected in New York City commons in celebration of the Stamp Act repeal (May 21). An intermittent skirmish with the British garrison over the removal of this and other poles, and their replacement by the Sons of Liberty, rages until the Province of New York is under the control of the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress in 1775

• 1767 - The Townshend Acts are passed by Parliament (June 29)

• 1769 - To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York broadside published by the local Sons of Liberty (c. December)

1770s

Battles of Lexington and Concord

The extent of America's territorial growth as of 1775. (13 colonies in red)

Burgoyne's surrender at Saratoga

• 1770 - Golden Hill incident in which British troops wound civilians, including one death (January 19)

• 1770 - Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain and the domains across the Seas (January 28)

• 1770 - Boston Massacre (March 5)

• 1771 - Battle of Alamance in North Carolina (May 16)

• 1772 - Samuel Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence

• 1772 - Gaspée Affair (June 9)

• 1772 - The Watauga Association in what would become Tennessee declares itself independent.

• 1773 - The Parliament passes the Tea Act (May 10)

• 1773 - Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York published by local Sons of Liberty (December 15)

• 1773 - Boston Tea Party (December 16)

• 1774 - Benjamin Franklin, Massachusetts' agent in London, is questioned before Parliament

• 1774 - Dunmore's War

• 1774 - British pass Intolerable Acts, including:

• * Boston Port Act (March 31)

• * Administration of Justice Act (May 20),

• * Massachusetts Government Act (May 20),

• * Second Quartering Act (June 2), and

• * Quebec Act

• 1774 - The Powder Alarm, General Gage's secret raid on the Cambridge powder magazine (September 1)

• 1774 - The First Continental Congress meets; twelve colonies send delegates

• 1774 - Burning of the HMS Peggy Stewart (October 19)

• 1774 - Greenwich Tea Party (December 22)

• 1775 - Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19)

• 1775 - Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17)

• 1775 - The Second Continental Congress meets

• 1775 - Olive Branch Petition sent to King George III

• 1776 - New Hampshire ratifies the first state constitution

• 1776 - Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense (January 10)

• 1776 - Battle of Nassau (March 2-March 3)

• 1776 - Declaration of Independence (July 2-4)

• 1776 - Battle of Long Island, a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn (August 27)

• 1776 - British prison ships begin in Wallabout Bay, New York

• 1776 - Staten Island Peace Conference (September 11)

• 1776 - Landing at Kip's Bay (September 15)

• 1776 - Battle of Harlem Heights (September 16)

• 1776 - Great Fire of New York (September 21-22)

• 1776 - Nathan Hale captured and executed for espionage (September 22)

• 1776 - Battle of White Plains (October 29)

• 1776 - Battle of Fort Washington (November 16)

• 1776 - Battle of Fort Lee (November 19)

• 1776 - Battle of Iron Works Hill (December 23-December 26)

• 1776 - Battle of Trenton (December 26)

• 1777 - Second Battle of Trenton (January 2)

• 1777 - Battle of Princeton (January 3)

• 1777 - Forage War

• 1777 - Battle of Bound Brook (April 13)

• 1777 - Middlebrook encampment (May 28-July 2)

• 1777 - Battle of Short Hills (July 26)

• 1777 - Battle of Oriskany (August 6)

• 1777 - Battle of Brandywine (September 11)

• 1777 - Battle of Paoli (Paoli Massacre) (September 20)

• 1777 - British occupation of Philadelphia (September 26)

• 1777 - Battle of Germantown (October 4)

• 1777 - Battle of Saratoga, British army under General Burgoyne surrenders (October 7)

• 1777 - Battle of Red Bank (October 22)

• 1777 - Articles of Confederation adopted by the Second Continental Congress (November 15)

• 1777 - Battle of White Marsh (December 5-December 8)

• 1777 - Battle of Matson's Ford (December 11)

• 1777 - Vermont, as the Republic of Vermont, passes the Constitution of Vermont, the first in the nation to outlaw slavery (although not officially part of the US at the time)

• 1777-1778 - Continental Army in winter quarters at Valley Forge (December 19-June 19)

• 1778 - Treaty of Alliance with France (February 6)

• 1778 - Battle of Barren Hill (May 20)

• 1778 - British occupation of Philadelphia ends (June)

• 1778 - Battle of Monmouth (June 28)

• 1778-1779 - Continental Army in winter quarters at Middlebrook encampment (November 30-June 3)

• 1779 - Battle of Stony Point (July 16)

• 1779 - Battle of Paulus Hook (August 19)

• 1779 - John André captured and the treason of Benedict Arnold is exposed (September 23)

• 1779-1780 - Continental Army in winter quarterts at Morristown (December-May)

1780s

Cornwallis's surrender at Yorktown

• 1780 - Battle of Connecticut Farms (June 6)

• 1780 - Battle of Springfield (June 23)

• 1780 - Battle of Kings Mountain (October 7)

• 1781 - Articles of Confederation ratified (March 1)

• 1781 - The British surrender at Yorktown (October 19)

• 1781 - Bank of North America chartered (December 31)

• 1782 - The British government officially, yet informally, recognizes American independence.

• 1783 - The Treaty of Paris (1783) ends the American Revolutionary War (September 3)

• 1783 - The British withdraw from ports in New York and the Carolinas

• 1784 - "The state of Frankland," later known as Franklin, secedes from North Carolina

• 1785 - Treaty of Hopewell (November 28)

• 1785 - Congress refuses admission of Franklin to the Union

• 1786 - Shays' Rebellion

• 1786 - Annapolis Convention fails

• 1787 - Northwest Ordinance of 1787

• 1787 - Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia

• 1788 - North Carolina reconquers Franklin, which ceases to exist.

• 1787 - Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey ratify the constitution

• 1788 - Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York ratify the constitution

• 1789 - U.S. presidential election, 1789

• 1789 - Constitution goes into effect

• 1789 - George Washington becomes President

• 1789 - Judiciary Act of 1789

• 1789 - Hamilton tariff

• 1789 - Jay-Gardoqui Treaty

• 1789 - North Carolina ratifies the constitution