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Virginia Slave Code passed in the Virginia House of Burgesses.
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George Washington is Born in Westmoreland County, Virginia.
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Poor Richard's Almanac is published for the first of its twenty-six annual editions by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia. It would sell as many as 10,000 copies per year.
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The last major slave rebellion in the mainland colonies of English begins in South Carolina.
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British Parliament enacts the Iron Act to protect their iron forges from American competition and control the iron trade in the colonies.
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British Parliament passes the Currency Act to control the use of paper money in the New England colonies and plantations.
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Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod after earlier in the year proving that lightning was electricity by flying a kite in a thunderstorm.
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Britain and the British colonies switch from the Julian to the Gregorian calendar.
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French and Indian War ends with peace treaty that cedes Canada and the American midwest to English. This signals and effectively tightens the control of Great Britain's colonial administration of North America.
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The Sugar Act places a duty on various commodities, including lumber, food, molasses, and rum in the British colonies.
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British Parliament passes the Stamp Act regulations to pay for British troops in the American colonies and cover debts incurred in the French and Indian War.
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Additional levies are put on goods in American colonies by the British Government when the Townshend Acts are enacted, including levies on glass, painter's lead, paper, and tea. All would be repealed in three years, except for the tax on tea.
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The Boston Massacre occurs when British troops fire into a Boston mob, who were demonstrating against British troops at the customs commission. The first to fall was Crispus Attucks, a fugitive slave and merchant seaman near the front, followed by four other men amongst the forty-fifty patriots. This event was later credited as the first battle in the American Revolution, which began five years later, and was used as an incident to further the colonists cause of rebellion.
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The House of Burgesses in the Colony of Virginia reacts strongly against British policies by setting up a committee to contact the other colonies about their common defense. They issue the Virginia Resolutions Establishing A Committee of Correspondence
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Group of colonial patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dump more than 300 crates of tea overboard as a protest against the British tea tax.
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First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia
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Patrick Henry addresses the Virginia House of Burgesses in St. John’s Church in Richmond, where he decreed, “Give me Liberty or Give me Death.” His speech is often credited with convincing Virginia to permit Virginia troops to enter the Revolutionary War.
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War of independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America.
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The Continental Congress appoints George Washington commander-in-chief of the Continental Army
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Thomas Paine, an English writer, publishes his pamphlet "Common Sense," touting the ability and right of America to create a democratic and free nation, winning public support for the cause of American independence from Britain with the sale of hundreds of thousands of copies.
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The Declaration of Independence, from the pen of Thomas Jefferson and his committee, is approved in the Second Continental Congress of the United States of America, held in Independence Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
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Continental Congress approves the first official flag of the United States
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Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution.
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France signs the treaty of Amity and Commerce with the United States, officially recognizing the new nation, and sends Pierre L’Enfant to be captain of engineers at Valley Forge.
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British Parliament agrees to the recognition of U.S. independence.
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Congress ratifies the preliminary peace treaty, ending the Revolutionary War.
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George Washington is elected unanimously by the Electoral College as the 1st President of the United States.
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In Philadelphia's Congress Hall, the Bill of Rights, which constitutes the first ten amendments to the Constitution, takes effect. Two of the original twelve amendments do not pass.
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George Washington, the 1st commander of the Revolution and President of the United States, passes at his estate in Virginia.