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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1770 | - 5 Mar 1770: Boston Massacre:
British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests.
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| 2 | 1773 | - 16 Dec 1773: Boston Tea Party:
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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| 3 | 1774 | - 1774—1774: Dunmore's War
Dunmore
- 5 Sep 1774—26 Oct 1774: First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia. Delegates include Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams.
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| 4 | 1775 | - 19 Apr 1775—3 Sep 1783: American Revolution: War of independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America. Battles of Lexington and Concord, Mass., between the British Army and colonial minutemen, mark the beginning of the war (April 19, 1775). Battle-weary and destitute Continental army spends brutally cold winter and following spring at Valley Forge, Pa. (Dec. 19, 1777
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| 5 | 1776 | - 4 Jul 1776: Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia.
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| 6 | 1777 | - 14 Jun 1777: Continental Congress approves the first official flag of the United States.
- 15 Nov 1777: Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution.
- Dec 1777—Jun 1778: The famous winter encampment at Valley Forge
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| 7 | 1786 | - 21 Aug 1786: Shays' Rebellion erupts; farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina take up arms to protest high state taxes and stiff penalties for failure to pay.
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| 8 | 1787 | - 14 May 1787—17 Sep 1787: Constitutional Convention, made up of delegates from 12 of the original 13 colonies, meets in Philadelphia to draft the U.S. Constitution.
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| 9 | 1789 | - 1789: George Washington is unanimously elected president of the United States in a vote by state electors (Feb. 4). U.S. Constitution goes into effect, having been ratified by nine states (March 4). U.S. Congress meets for the first time at Federal Hall in New York City (March 4). Washington is inaugurated as president at Federal Hall in New York City (April 30).
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| 10 | 1790 | - 1790: U.S. Supreme Court meets for the first time at the Merchants Exchange Building in New York City (Feb. 2). The court, made up of one chief justice and five associate justices, hears its first case in 1792. The nation's first census shows that the population has climbed to nearly 4 million.
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| 11 | 1791 | - 15 Dec 1791: First ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified.
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| 12 | 1793 | - 4 Mar 1793: Washington's second inauguration is held in Philadelphia.
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| 13 | 1794 | - 14 Mar 1794: Eli Whitney is granted a patent for his invention, the cotton gin, resulting in great increases in the demand for slave labor.
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| 14 | 1797 | - 4 Mar 1797: John Adams is inaugurated as the second president in Philadelphia.
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| 15 | 1803 | - 30 Apr 1803: Louisiana Purchase Treaty is signed
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| 16 | 1812 | - 18 Jun 1812—18 Feb 1815: War of 1812
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Abt 1770 - Aft 1830 (~ 61 years)