Events Summary The American Revolutionary War began this year, with the first military engagement on April 19 Battles of Lexington and Concord on the day after Paul Revere's ride. The Second Continental Congress took various steps toward organizing an American government, appointing George Washington commander-in-chief (June 14), Benjamin Franklin postmaster general (July 26) and creating a Continental Navy (October 13) and a Marine force (November 10) as landing troops for it, but as yet the 13 colonies have not declared independence, and both the British (June 12) and American (July 15) governments make laws. On July 6, Congress issues the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms and on August 23, King George III of Great Britain declares the American colonies in rebellion, announcing it to Parliament on November 10. On June 17, two months into the colonial siege of Boston, at the Battle of Bunker Hill, just north of Boston, British forces are victorious, but only after suffering severe casualties and after Colonial forces run out of ammunition, Fort Ticonderoga is taken by American forces in New York Colony's northern frontier, and American forces unsuccessfully invade Canada, with an attack on Montreal defeated by British forces on November 13 and an attack on Quebec repulsed December 31.
Human knowledge and mastery over nature advanced when James Watt built a successful prototype of a steam engine, and a scientific expedition continued as Captain James Cook claims the South Georgia and South Sandwich Islands in the south Atlantic Ocean for Britain. Nature's power over humanity is dramatically demonstrated when the Independence Hurricane (August 29 – September 13) devastates the east coast of North America, killing 4,173, and a smallpox epidemic begins in New England. Smallpox vaccine was then developed by Edward Jenner.
January–June January – The Habsburg monarchy forces the Ottoman Empire to cede Bukovina to its rule. January 5 – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart finishes a Sonata for Keyboard in C. January 14 – Siamese conquest of Chiang Mai and the Lan Na Kingdom. January 17 – Second voyage of James Cook: Captain James Cook takes possession of South Georgia for the Kingdom of Great Britain. February 9 – American Revolution: The Parliament of Great Britain declares the Province of Massachusetts Bay to be in rebellion. February 15 – Pope Pius VI succeeds Pope Clement XIV as the 250th pope. February 26 – The British East India Company factory on Balambangan Island is destroyed by Moro pirates. March 6 – Raghunathrao, Peshwa of the Maratha Empire in India, signs the Treaty of Surat with the British Governor-General Warren Hastings in Bombay ceding the territories of Salsette and Bassein to the British East India Company along with part of the revenues from Surat and Bharuch districts in return for military assistance. This leads to the First Anglo-Maratha War fought between the British and the Marathas, ending with the Treaty of Salbai in 1782. March 17 – Catherine the Great of Russia issues a manifesto prohibiting freed serfs from being returned to serfdom. March 23 – American Revolution: Patrick Henry, a delegate to the Second Virginia Convention after the Virginia House of Burgesses was disbanded by the Royal Governor, delivers his "Give me Liberty or give me Death!" speech at St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia. April 18 – American Revolution: Paul Revere and William Dawes, instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren, ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Sam Adams that British forces are coming to take them prisoner and to seize colonial weapons and ammunition in Concord. April 19 – American Revolution – Battles of Lexington and Concord: Hostility between Britain and its American colonies explodes into bloodshed, igniting the American Revolutionary War. May 10 – American Revolution: The Second Continental Congress meets, elects John Hancock president, raises the Continental Army under George Washington as commander and authorizes the colonies to adopt their own constitutions. Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, leading the Green Mountain Boys of Vermont, capture Fort Ticonderoga. May 17 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress bans trade with Canada. June 11 Coronation of Louis XVI takes place in Reims. The last coronation of the Ancien Regime before the French Revolution American Revolutionary War – Battle of Machias: In the first naval engagement of the American Revolution, Patriot forces capture the schooner HMS Margaretta. June 12 – American Revolution: The British forces offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. Action by citizens of Machias, Maine, in capturing British ships recognises the existence of a United States Merchant Marine. June 14 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress names George Washington as commander of the Continental Army. June 16 – The post of chief engineer of the Continental Army is created. June 17 – American Revolution: Two months into the colonial siege of Boston, British open fire on Breed's Hill on Charles Town Peninsula. After 3 charges, the British take the hill in the Battle of Bunker Hill. June 19 – The post of Commanding General is created by the Continental Congress.
July–December
July 3 – American Revolution: George Washington takes command of the 17,000-man Continental Army at Cambridge. July 5 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress sends the Olive Branch Petition, hoping for a reconciliation. July 6 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress issues Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms, which contains the words: "Our cause is just. Our union is perfect... being with one mind resolved to die freemen rather than to live slaves...". July 26 – The Second Continental Congress appoints Benjamin Franklin to be the first Postmaster General of what later becomes the United States Post Office Department. July 30 – Second voyage of James Cook: anchors off the south coast of England, Captain Cook having completed the first eastbound global circumnavigation. August 18 – Tucson is founded. August 21 – American Revolution – Siege of Fort St. Jean: American rebels launch an invasion of Canada. August 23 – American Revolution: Refusing to even look at the Olive Branch Petition, King George issues a Proclamation of Rebellion against the American colonies. August 29 – September 12 – The Independence Hurricane from South Carolina to Nova Scotia kills 4,170, mostly fishermen and sailors. September 25 – American Revolution: Siege of Fort St. Jean – Battle of Longue-Pointe: Thirteen Colonies revolutionary forces under Maj. Ethan Allen attack Montreal in Quebec, commanded by British General Guy Carleton. Allen's forces are defeated, and Allen himself is captured and held on British ships until he is released. October – The Sayre Plotters attempt to kidnap George III of the United Kingdom. October 13 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress orders the establishment of the Continental Navy (later the United States Navy). October 26 – American Revolution: George III announces to Parliament that the American colonies are in an uprising and must be dealt with accordingly. November – American Revolution: Colonel Richard Richardson's South Carolina revolutionaries march through Ninety-Six District in what becomes known as the Snow Campaign, effectively ending all major support for the Loyalist cause in the backcountry of South Carolina. November 7 – American Revolution: John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, British royal governor of the Colony of Virginia, signs Dunmore's Proclamation, declaring martial law and offering freedom to slaves of Patriots who run away from their owners and join the Loyalist forces (formal proclamation November 15) thus losing the support of planters who see slaves as their vital livelihood. November 10 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress passes a resolution creating the Continental Marines to serve as landing troops for the recently created Continental Navy (the Marines are disbanded at end of the war in April 1783 but reformed on July 11, 1798 as the United States Marine Corps). November 13 – American Revolution: Battle of Montreal – American forces under Brigadier General Richard Montgomery capture Montreal. British General Guy Carleton escapes to Quebec. November 17 – The city of Kuopio, Finland (belonging to Sweden at this time) is founded by King Gustav III of Sweden. December 5 – American Revolution: Henry Knox begins his journey to Cambridge, Massachusetts with the artillery that has been captured from Fort Ticonderoga. December 31 – American Revolution: Battle of Quebec – British forces repulse an attack by Continental Army generals Richard Montgomery and Benedict Arnold at Quebec; Montgomery is killed.
Date unknown Industrial Revolution in Great Britain. James Watt's 1769 steam engine patent is extended to June 1800 by Act of Parliament and the first engines are built under it. John Wilkinson invents and patents a new kind of boring machine. Catherine the Great decrees a Statute for the Administration of the Provinces of the Russian Empire dividing the country into provinces and districts for efficient government. A smallpox epidemic begins in New England. Typhoon Liengkieki devastates the Pacific atoll of Pingelap. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart writes his five violin concertos in Salzburg at about this date. The Calcutta Theatre is inaugurated. Shneur Zalman of Liadi founds the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish dynasty. Probable date – Jeanne Baret returns to France, becoming the first woman to complete a circumnavigation of the globe. Breguet, one of the oldest Swiss luxury watch brands, clock and jewelry manufacturers is founded by Abraham-Louis Breguet in Paris.
Births
January–March January 2 – Henry Tufton, 11th Earl of Thanet, English cricketer (d. 1849) January 3 – Francis Caulfeild, 2nd Earl of Charlemont, Irish politician (d. 1863) January 4 George Weare Braikenridge, English antiquarian (d. 1856) Carlo, Duke of Calabria, Italian prince (d. 1778) January 6 Date Narimura, Japanese daimyō (d. 1796) Horace St Paul, English soldier and Member of Parliament (d. 1840) January 7 – Thomas Amyot, English antiquarian (d. 1850) January 9 Juan Francisco Larrobla, Uruguayan politician (d. 1842) Antonio Villavicencio, statesman and soldier of New Granada (d. 1816) January 10 – James Sewall Morsell, United States federal judge (d. 1870) January 13 – Stanisław Kostka Zamoyski, Polish noble (d. 1856) January 15 – Giosuè Sangiovanni, Italian zoologist (d. 1849) January 18 Pedro Moreno, Mexican soldier (d. 1817) Evelyn Pierrepont, British Member of Parliament (d. 1801) January 19 Hudson Gurney, English antiquary and verse-writer (d. 1864) George Pyke, Canadian politician (d. 1851) January 20 – André-Marie Ampère, French physicist and mathematician (d. 1836) January 22 Manuel García, Spanish singer, teacher and composer (d. 1832)
January 23 Pietro Colletta, Neapolitan general and historian (d. 1831) José Fernández Salvador, Ecuadorian politician and jurist (d. 1853) John Rubens Smith, London-born painter (d. 1849) January 27 – Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling, German philosopher (d. 1854) January 28 Lady Charlotte Bury, English novelist (d. 1861) James Brown Mason, American medical doctor and legislator (d. 1819) January 30 – Walter Savage Landor, English writer and poet (d. 1864) January 31 Giordano Bianchi Dottula, Italian writer and politician (d. 1846) John Richard Farre, English medical doctor (d. 1862) February 1 Philippe de Girard, French engineer and inventor of the first flax spinning frame in 1810 (d. 1845) Jochum Nicolay Müller, Norwegian naval officer who (d. 1848) February 2 – Gurun Princess Hexiao of the Manchu dynasty (d. 1823) February 3 Maximilien Sébastien Foy, French military leader (d. 1825)