1776 - the Continental Congress flees Philadelphia to Baltimore
1776 - General Washington crosses the Delaware River to defeat British at Trenton on Christmas Day
1776 - Adam Smith publishes Wealth of Nations
1777 - Washington establishes winter quarters in Morristown, NJ
1777 - Congress returns to Philidelphia
1777 - John Paul Jones appointed Captain of the Ranger
1777 - 20 yr. old French Marquis de Lafayette helps Philidelphia
1777 - a series of battles (Bennington, Brandywine, 1st Battle of Saratoga, Germantown) causes Congress to move often and culminates in a defeat of the British at the 2nd battle of Saratoga
1777 - British General John Burgoyne marched south down the Hudson River from Canada to Albany in the summer. Along the way, some Some Iroquois Indian warriors marching with them began to kill American settlers indiscriminately. One of the victims was Jane McCrea.
1777 - Congress endorses the Articles of Confederation
1777 - San Jose is founded in California
1777 - Washington's troops enter winter quarters at Valley Forge
1777 - France officially recognizes independence of American colonies
1778 - French/American treaties signed
1778 - John Paul Jones does battle in English seas
1778 - Henry Clinton replaces Howe as head of British Troops
1778 - George Rogers Clark (1751-1818) secures territory on the western frontier at Cohokia
1778 - Articles of Confederation signed
1778 - Ben Franklin heads for France
1778 - France declares war on Britain
1779 - British capture and burn Portsmouth and Norfolk, Virginia
1779 - as battles rage in the North and the South, Congress approves a peace plan and sends John Adams and John Jay to Europe to negotiate
1779 - Washington camps for the winter at Morristown
1779 - Spain declares war on England
1780 - Charleston, N.C. falls to the British
1780 - Benedict Arnold found to be a traitor
1780 - Militia turn back the British at Kings Mountain, North Carolina
1780 - Rev. War in Camden, SC - August 16, 1780
1781 - Articles of Confederation activated
1781 - Spanish fight the British in Florida and the western territories
1781 - Americans win the Battle at Yorktown to end the war
1782 - Treaty of Paris signed by Americans and British
Non-importation Act
1783 - Treaty of Paris - October 4, 1783
1783 - Congress formally declares the war ended
1783 - many Northern States abolish slavery
1784 - Congress ratifies the Treaty of Paris
1784 - Russians' first permanent settlement at Kodiak Island
1785 - Thomas Jefferson becomes Minister to France
1786 - Land Ordinance of 1785 passes Congress making land available in the territories
1786 - Virginia adopts an ordinance of Religious Freedom
1786 - Congress adopts a coinage system and establishes a mint as the post war depression deepens
1787 - Shay's rebellion of debt-ridden farmers in Massachusetts fails
1787 - Northwest Ordinance passes the Continental Congress
1787 - Constitutional Convention opened and a new Constitution is sent to the States for ratification
1787 - first steamboat built by John Fitch
1788 - Federalist Papers are published as the States consider the new Constitution
1789 - Constitution ratified
1789 - first Congress convenes and George Washington is elected 1st President
1789 - Henry Knox becomes head of the first War Department
1789 - Jonn Jay becomes the first Chief Justice
1789 - first 12 amendments to the Constitution submitted to Congress
1789 - John Jacob Astor buys his first piece of land in New York
1789 - the French Revolution begins with the fall of the Bastille
1790 - Census Act, Naturalization Act and the Copyright Act are passed
1790 - Ben Franklin dies
1790 - Congress votes to build a new Capitol on the Potomac River
1790 - in Rhode Island Samuel Slater opens a cotton mill, using child labor and a stolen process from Britain, signaling the beginning of the Industrial Revolution in America
1791 - Vermont becomes the 14th State
1791 - Congress frames the Bill of Rights
1791 - Bank of the United States formed
1791 - in Boston the first American historical society, The Massachusetts Historical Society, is formed
1796 - Treaty of Greenville - Though Little Turtle (Miami) had won battles against General Josiah Harmar in 1790 and against General Arthur St. Clair in 1791, believing that his people were not equipped to win against the forces of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, he advised peace. Not listening, the tribe met a defeat at Fallen Timbers (1795) which led to the peace treaty the following year.
1798 - The White Oak Society - fur trading re-enactments