Also Within This Year in History:
1775
The “shot heard round the world”—the opening salvo of the American Revolution, fired at the Battles of Lexington and Concord—got 1775 off with a bang. Before the year was out, the Second Continental Congress had appointed George Washington to command the troops and Benjamin Franklin to run the post office. Meanwhile in France, King Louis XVI was crowned, likely unaware that he’d one day face his own revolution—and the guillotine.
Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to hold an elected office in the Americas, takes his seat on the South Carolina Provincial Congress on January 11, 1775. He later became…
In London on February 7, 1775, Benjamin Franklin publishes “An Imaginary Speech” in defense of American courage. Franklin’s speech was intended to counter an unnamed officer’s comments to Parliament that…
During a speech before the second Virginia Convention, Patrick Henry responds to the increasingly oppressive British rule over the American colonies by declaring, “I know not what course others may…
Future President Thomas Jefferson is elected to the second Continental Congress on March 27, 1775. Jefferson, a Virginia delegate, quickly established himself in the Continental Congress with the publication of…
Hoping to keep the New England colonies dependent on the British, King George III formally endorses the New England Restraining Act on March 30, 1775. The New England Restraining Act…
The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, the first American society dedicated to the cause of abolition, is founded in Philadelphia on April 14, 1775.…
On April 18, 1775, British troops march out of Boston on a mission to confiscate the American arsenal at Concord and to capture Patriot leaders Samuel Adams and John Hancock,…
April 19, 1775: At about 5 a.m., 700 British troops, on a mission to capture Patriot leaders and seize a Patriot arsenal, march into Lexington to find 77 armed minutemen…
On May 10, 1775, Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold lead a successful attack on Fort Ticonderoga in upstate New York, while the Second Continental Congress assembles in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The…
On May 24, 1775, John Hancock is elected president of the Second Continental Congress. John Hancock is best known for his large signature on the Declaration of Independence, which he…
On June 10, 1775, John Adams proposes to Congress, meeting in Philadelphia, that the men laying siege to Boston should be considered a Continental Army led by a general. The…
On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress authorizes the enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year. This launches the U.S. Army as America’s first national…
On June 15, 1775, the Continental Congress votes to appoint George Washington, who would one day become the first American president, the commander of the colonies’ first official army. Four…
British General Thomas Gage lands his troops on the Charlestown Peninsula overlooking Boston, Massachusetts, and leads them against Breed’s Hill, a fortified American position just below Bunker Hill, on June…
On June 22, 1775, Congress authorizes the issue of $2 million in bills of credit. By the spring of 1775, colonial leaders, concerned by British martial law in Boston and…
On July 3, 1775, George Washington rides out in front of the American troops gathered at Cambridge common in Massachusetts and draws his sword, formally taking command of the Continental…
On July 5, 1775, the Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition, written by John Dickinson, which appeals directly to King George III and expresses hope for reconciliation between the…
On July 6, 1775, one day after restating their fidelity to King George III and wishing him “a long and prosperous reign” in the Olive Branch Petition, Congress sets “forth…
On July 26, 1775, the U.S. postal system is established by the Second Continental Congress, with Benjamin Franklin as its first postmaster general. Franklin (1706‑1790) put in place the foundation…
Richard Penn and Arthur Lee, representing the Continental Congress, present the so‑called Olive Branch Petition to the Earl of Dartmouth on September 1, 1775. Britain’s King George III, however, refused…
