07/04/2026
Celebrating the 250!
Timeline: Celebrating our Nation’s 250 Anniversary
1773
• December 16: During the “Boston Tea Party,” colonists protest British taxes by dumping tons of tea into Boston Harbor
1774
• January: The Royal American Magazine, the first periodical to regularly use engraved illustrations, begins; Paul Revere and John Hancock are among the contributors
• March 31: The British Parliament passes the first of five “Intolerable Acts” designed to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party
• September 5: The First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia
1775
• March 23: At the Second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry proclaims, “Give me liberty or give me death!”
• April 19: “The Shot Heard ‘Round the World” is fired as colonists engage the British in the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts; the night before, Paul Revere and others famously ride to Lexington to warn that the British are coming
• May 10: The Green Mountain Boys, led by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold, capture the British fort at Ticonderoga; the Second Continental Congress convenes
• June 15: George Washington is named commander of a new Continental army
• June 17: British troops triumph at the Battle of Bunker Hill, but suffer significant casualties
• July 5–6: Congress adopts “the Olive Branch Petition” (an attempt at peace with Britain) and a “Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms” (which explained the Colonies’ grievances)
• July 26: Congress establishes a postal service, naming Benjamin Franklin postmaster general
1776
• January 10: Thomas Paine anonymously publishes Common Sense, which advocates independence and becomes widely popular among colonists
• March 17: After a 10-month siege, American forces drive the British from Boston
• May 4: Rhode Island is the first US colony to announce independence from Great Britain
• July 4: Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence
• August 27: The British win the Battle of Long Island, eventually driving American forces from the New York City region
• December 25–26: Washington leads his troops across the Delaware River to attack British allies at Trenton, N.J., inspiring a famous portrait
1777
• June 14: The United States adopts its official flag
• September 26: The British capture the Colonial capital of Philadelphia, forcing the Continental Congress to flee
• October 17: British General John Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga, N.Y., a major turning point in the Revolutionary War
• December 19: Washington sets up a winter encampment at Valley Forge, Pa. Over the next few months, roughly 2,000 soldiers die of disease
1778
• February 6: France acknowledges American independence, the first sovereign nation to do so
• June 18: The British evacuate Philadelphia
1779
• April 12: Spain formally enters the war as an ally of France, and declares war on Great Britain on June 21
• September 23: John Paul Jones vows, “I have not yet begun to fight,” and defeats the British frigate Serapis
1780
• September 24: General Benedict Arnold is discovered as a traitor and defects to British forces
1781
• March 1: The 13 colonies ratify the Articles of Confederation, a self-government plan
• October 19: At Yorktown, Va., Gen. Charles Cornwallis surrenders to Washington in the last major battle of the war
1782
• August 7: Washington designates the first version of the Purple Heart, known as the Badge of Military Merit; it is the United States’ first military medal
• Virginia legislators make it legal for any man “to emancipate and set free his slaves”
1783
• September 3: The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Paris, which recognizes American independence and sovereignty over lands east of the Mississippi River
• The US population is 2.4 million
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