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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1676 | - 19 Sep 1676: Nathaniel Bacon leads a rebellion against Governor William Berkeley and burns Jamestown in the Virginia Colony. Nathaniel is age 29.
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| 2 | 1680 | - 1680: Estimated colonial population — 151,500.
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| 3 | 1681 | - 4 Mar 1681: William Penn is granted a charter for the Pennsylvania Colony at about age 36.
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| 4 | 1682 | - 10 Mar 1682: Philadelphia County and Bucks County are formed in the Pennsylvania Colony.
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| 5 | 1683 | - 1 Nov 1683: Albany County is established as 1 of 12 original counties in the Province of New York.
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| 6 | 1684 | - 4 Nov 1684: The Schenectady settlement is patented as a township with municipal rights. It is located in what is now Schenectady County, New York.
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| 7 | 1686 | - 22 Jul 1686: Albany, New York is incorporated as a city.
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| 8 | 1690 | - 1690: Estimated colonial population — 210,400.
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| 9 | 1691 | - 12 May 1691: King and Queen County, Virginia is formed with land from New Kent County, Virginia.
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| 10 | 1699 | - Jun 1699: The seat of government of the Virginia Colony is moved from Jamestown about 10 miles east to Middle Plantation in what is now James City County, Virginia. Middle Plantation is soon renamed Williamsburg.
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| 11 | 1700 | - 1700: Estimated colonial population – 250,900.
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| 12 | 1701 | - 12 Sep 1701: King William County, Virginia is formed with land from King and Queen County, Virginia.
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| 13 | 1702 | - 8 Mar 1702: Queen Anne begins her 12-year reign as Queen of England at age 37.
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| 14 | 1706 | - 17 Jan 1706: Benjamin Franklin is born in Boston, Suffolk County, Massachusetts.
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| 15 | 1707 | - 1 May 1707: Great Britain is formed by the union of England and Scotland.
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| 16 | 1710 | - 1710: Estimated colonial population – 331,700.
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| 17 | 1711 | - 1711: About 600-700 Palatine Germans travel from temporary camps on the Hudson River to establish the first settlements in what is now Schoharie County, New York. The German settlements are on the east side of Schoharie Creek. [The settlements are about 25 miles southwest of Schenectady and about 30 miles west of Albany.] The southernmost dorf [village] is in what is now Middleburgh. That dorf is called Weiser's Dorf, and it is headed by John Conrad Weiser.
- 1711: England's Queen Anne induces Germans to emigrate to New York to increase the population of the English colony. She promises that the land on which they settled will be free.
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| 18 | 1715 | - 1715: The Palatine Germans in the Schoharie Valley of New York are poor, speak little English and do not understand what is necessary to take clear title to their lands. Unlike the wealthier Dutch landholders, the Germans are tardy in seeking patents for the land they are occupying. They resist all attempts by the government in Albany to provide clear individual titles to their lands. Instead, they insist that Queen Anne’s promise of free land is sufficient by itself. They abuse government agents and are increasingly suspicious of Dutch landholders moving into the Schoharie Valley. The Germans believe that the Dutch landholders are either trying to take their lands or trying to isolate them. The Germans are growing increasingly more threatening and more violent.
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| 19 | 1720 | - 1720: Spotsylvania County, Virginia is formed with land from Essex County, King and Queen County and King William County, Virginia.
- 1720: Estimated colonial population – 466,200.
- 20 Nov 1720: Hanover County, Virginia is formed with land from New Kent County, Virginia.
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| 20 | 1722 | - 1722: Carteret County, North Carolina is formed with land from Craven Precinct of the Bath District.
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| 21 | 1727 | - 6 Mar 1727: Goochland County, Virginia is formed with land from Henrico County, Virginia.
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| 22 | 1728 | - 14 Oct 1728: Lancaster County, Pennsylvania is formed with land from Chester County, Pennsylvania.
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| 23 | 1729 | - 1729: King George II purchases Carolina lands from a group of proprietors and designates North Carolina and South Carolina as royal colonies. King George II is age 45.
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| 24 | 1730 | - 1730: Estimated colonial population — 629,400.
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| 25 | 1732 | - 1732: Winchester, Spotsylvania County [later to be Orange County, then Frederick County], Virginia is established by Pennsylvania Quakers.
- 22 Feb 1732: George Washington is born in Bridges Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia. This area is located just inland from the Potomac River and is not far from the Potomac's entrance to Chesapeake Bay.
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| 26 | 1734 | - 20 Sep 1734: Orange County [later to be Frederick County], Virginia, is formed with land from Spotsylvania County.
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| 27 | 1738 | - 1738: Frederick County, Virginia is authorized to be established with land from Orange County, Virginia. [The government for Frederick County will not be formed until 1743.]
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| 28 | 1743 | - 13 Apr 1743: Thomas Jefferson is born at Shadwell in Goochland County [later to be Albemarle County], Virginia near what will be Monticello and what is now Charlottesville, Virginia.
- 11 Nov 1743: The government of Frederick County, Virginia is established. Frederick County's land is formed with land from Orange County, Virginia. [Frederick County was originally authorized on December 15, 1738.]
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| 29 | 1748 | - 23 Mar 1748: Cumberland County, Virginia is formed with land from Goochland County, Virginia.
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| 30 | 1749 | - 14 Oct 1749: York County, Pennsylvania is formed with land from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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| 31 | 1750 | - 1750: Estimated colonial population — 1,170,800.
- 27 Jan 1750: Cumberland County, Pennsylvania is formed with land from Lancaster County, Pennsylvania.
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| 32 | 1753 | - 8 Jun 1753: Sussex County, New Jersey is formed with land from Morris County, New Jersey.
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| 33 | 1760 | - 1760: Estimated colonial population — 1,593,600.
- 25 Oct 1760: George III begins his 60-year reign as King of Great Britain and Ireland at age 22.
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| 34 | 1762 | - 1762—1765: A depression lasts 36 months and into 1765.
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| 35 | 1763 | - 1763: Innkeeper Richard McAllister lays out Hanover, York County, Pennsylvania in lowlands at the junction of busy trade roads. McAllister apparently names the town Hanover to please the many persons of German descent living in the area. [Hanover eventually hosts George and Martha Washington, as well as Benjamin Franklin.]
- Nov 1763: French fur trader Pierre de Laclede selects the site for a trading post on the west bank of the Mississippi River and south of the Missouri River. This site will become St. Louis in the Louisiana Territory. Construction of a village begins in 1764.
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| 36 | 1765 | - 22 Oct 1765: Schenectady is established as a borough in what is now Schenectady County, New York. Its charter provides for a Mayor, who is appointed by the Governor of New York.
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| 37 | 1768 | - 1768—1769: A depression lasts 12 months and into 1769.
- 14 Oct 1768: The Treaty of Hard Labour is signed by the British and the Cherokee Indians in Hard Labour, South Carolina. The Treaty opens what is now East Tennessee for settlement by North Carolinians and Virginians.
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| 38 | 1769 | - 1769: Actual settlement of Tennesee begins. Now, more than just hunters begin to enter the state.
- 1 May 1769: Daniel Boone leaves North Carolina for Kentucky at age 34.
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| 39 | 1770 | - 1770: Estimated colonial population — 2,148,100.
- 5 Mar 1770: British soldiers shoot colonists in the Massachusetts Colony. This incident becomes known as the "Boston Massacre."
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| 40 | 1771 | - 8 Mar 1771: Bedford County, Pennsylvania is formed with land from Cumberland County, Pennsylvania.
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| 41 | 1772 | - 1772—1775: A depression lasts 30 months and into 1775.
- Feb 1772: Berkeley County is established in Virginia. It is formed with land from Frederick County. On June 20, 1863, Berkeley County will become part of West Virginia when West Virginia becomes the 35th state.]
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| 42 | 1774 | - 10 Jul 1774: Virginia Governor Lord John Dunmore departs for the Ohio Valley with 1300 men in the Dunmore Expedition against the Shawnee Indians. Lord Dunmore is about age 42.
- 5 Aug 1774: Colonel George Washington is selected as a Virginia delegate to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Washington is age 42. He spends the winter organizing militia companies in Virginia.
- 10 Oct 1774: Colonel Andrew Lewis and the Dunmore Expedition defeat Chief Cornstalk and the Shawnees at the Battle of Point Pleasant in what is now West Virginia.
- 19 Oct 1774: The Shawnees recognize Virginia's claims to the upper Ohio River Valley in the Treaty of Camp Charlotte.
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| 43 | 1775 | - 19 Apr 1775: The Revolutionary War begins at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts.
- 15 Jun 1775: The Second Continental Congress unanimously elects George Washington as a General and as Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army at age 43.
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| 44 | 1776 | - 4 Jul 1776: Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of American Independence is formally adopted by the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. Jefferson is age 33.
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| 45 | 1777 | - 1777: John Adams, future second President of the United States, visits York, York County, Pennsylvania with the Continental Congress. He writes: "The People are chiefly Germans, who have [church] Schools in their own Language, as well as Prayers, Psalms and Sermons so that Multitudes are born, grown up and die here, without learning the English."
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| 46 | 1780 | - 1780: Jefferson County, Kentucky is formed with land from Kentucky County, Virginia.
- 1780: Estimated colonial population – 2,780,400.
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| 47 | 1781 | - Sep 1781: The Spanish found El Pueblo Nuestra Señora de Los Angeles de Poricuncula. It is in what is now Los Angeles County, California.
- 19 Oct 1781: Major General Charles Cornwallis surrenders to General George Washington at Yorktown, York County, Virginia. [Yorktown is southeast of Williamsburg on the York River.] This surrender signals that America has finally won the Revolutionary War. Washington is age 49, and Cornwallis is age 42.
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| 48 | 1783 | - Mar 1783: The American government is currently known as the Confederation Congress. It is politically and economically weak. Veteran Army officers have been promised pensions for life, but it is increasingly obvious that revenue for the pensions will never be raised. It also becomes clear that a proposal for 5 years of benefits will be forgotten after a peace treaty with Great Britain is finally signed and the Army is disbanded. These developments infuriate the Army officers and precipitate a dangerous episode called the Newburgh Conspiracy. Army officers at Newburgh, Orange County, New York begin circulating petitions with veiled threats of action against the Congress if their pensions are not assured. A military coup is not out of the question. The dissident officers schedule a meeting on March 11 to coordinate strategies. General George Washington learns of the order and countermands it. He then calls a meeting of all officers on March 16.
- 16 Mar 1783: General George Washington, age 51, enters a large auditorium in Newburgh where about 500 officers are waiting for him. He walks slowly to the podium and reaches inside his jacket to pull out his prepared remarks. He then pauses and pulls out a new pair of spectacles from his waistcoat. He adjusts his glasses and says, "Gentlemen, you will permit me to put on my spectacles, for I have not only grown gray, but almost blind in the service of my country." Some of the officers begin to sob and many have tears in their eyes. The thoughts of a coup die at that moment, but Washington goes on to appeal to the "sacred honor" of his officers to express their "utmost horror" to any man who wishes to "deluge our rising Empire in Blood."
- 18 Apr 1783: What is now Greene County, Tennessee is formed with land from the Washington District of North Carolina. [In 1790, North Carolina will cede this area and what is now mostly Tennessee to the federal government. Congress will name the area the "Territory South of the River Ohio" (also known as the "Southwest Territory"). Tennessee will become the 16th state on June 1, 1796.]
- 3 Sep 1783: The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the American Revolutionary War with Great Britain. Formal ratification documents are exchanged on May 12, 1784.
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| 49 | 1784 | - 1784—1788: A depression lasts 44 months and into 1788.
- Aug 1784: Settlers in what is now East Tennessee, frustrated by lack of representation in the North Carolina legislature, form the independent State of Franklin. The new State will fail after 4 years.
- 9 Sep 1784: Franklin County, Pennsylvania is formed with land from Cumberland County, Virginia.
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