Table of Contents
Timeline of 1776
A chronological index of notable events, works, and discoveries of the year 1776.
| Date | Event | Category | File |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1775-11-07 | Dunmore’s Ethiopian Regiment — Lord Dunmore’s November 1775 proclamation offers freedom to enslaved Virginians who reach British lines, creating the first large-scale Black military unit in North America before smallpox devastates it in 1776 | Military Events | military/dunmores-ethiopian-regiment.md |
| 1776-01-01 | Mozart in 1776 — prolific Salzburg compositions including Serenata notturna K. 239 and three piano concertos | Arts & Culture | arts/mozart-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | The British Empire in 1776 — global imperial reach and the policies that precipitated the American Revolution | Political Events | politics/british-empire-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | Buffon continues his Histoire naturelle, advancing biogeography and early evolutionary thought | Science & Discovery | science/buffon-natural-history.md |
| 1776-01-01 | Continental Congress finances the war through paper currency, loan offices, and covert French aid amid a structural fiscal crisis | Economics & Trade | economics/continental-congress-finance-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | James Watt’s separate-condenser steam engine enters commercial use, freeing industry from water power and accelerating the Industrial Revolution | Economics & Trade | economics/james-watt-steam-engine.md |
| 1776-01-01 | Joseph Haydn writes his Autobiographical Sketch, reflecting on his rise to the foremost composer of the Classical era | Arts & Culture | arts/haydn-1776-autobiographical-sketch.md |
| 1776-01-01 | The Prohibitory Act takes effect, withdrawing Crown protection and declaring colonial ships forfeit, tightening the Royal Navy blockade of American trade | Economics & Trade | economics/prohibitory-act-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | The Burning of Norfolk — Lord Dunmore’s New Year’s Day bombardment and the ensuing fires destroy Virginia’s largest port, ending royal government in the colony and galvanizing support for independence | Military Events | military/burning-of-norfolk-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | The British East India Company, at the height of its territorial and commercial power, monopolizes Asian trade and governs Bengal amid intensifying parliamentary scrutiny | Economics & Trade | economics/east-india-company-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | Antoine Lavoisier’s quantitative combustion experiments overturn phlogiston theory and lay the groundwork for oxygen chemistry and the law of conservation of mass | Science & Discovery | science/lavoisier-combustion-1776.md |
| 1776-01-01 | Lazzaro Spallanzani’s Opuscoli di fisica animale e vegetabile reports controlled artificial-insemination and regeneration experiments, advancing experimental biology | Science & Discovery | science/spallanzani-naturalist-1776.md |
| 1776-01-05 | New Hampshire promulgates the first written constitution adopted by an American colony, replacing royal government six months before the Declaration of Independence | Political Events | politics/new-hampshire-constitution-1776.md |
| 1776-01-10 | Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense, galvanizing colonial support for independence | Key Figures | people/thomas-paine.md |
| 1776-02-17 | Edward Gibbon publishes Vol. 1 of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire | Arts & Culture | arts/decline-and-fall-roman-empire.md |
| 1776-02-27 | Battle of Moore’s Creek Bridge — Patriot militia rout a Loyalist Highlander force near Wilmington, the first major southern victory and a spur to the Halifax Resolves | Military Events | military/battle-of-moores-creek-bridge-1776.md |
| 1776-03-01 | Phillis Wheatley visits Washington at Cambridge; her ode “To His Excellency General Washington” reaches print in April 1776 | Arts & Culture | arts/phillis-wheatley-1776.md |
| 1776-03-03 | The Continental Navy launches its first operation, the Raid of Nassau, capturing British ordnance in the Bahamas; the April Battle of Block Island and John Paul Jones’s cruises follow | Military Events | military/continental-navy-1776.md |
| 1776-03-04 | Continental troops fortify Dorchester Heights overnight with Knox’s Ticonderoga cannon, forcing the British to evacuate Boston on March 17 and ending the Siege of Boston | Military Events | military/fortification-of-dorchester-heights-1776.md |
| 1776-03-04 | Henry Knox, Washington’s chief artillerist, arms Dorchester Heights with the Ticonderoga cannon he hauled 300 miles overland, forcing the British evacuation of Boston | Key Figures | people/henry-knox-1776.md |
| 1776-03-09 | Adam Smith publishes The Wealth of Nations, founding classical economics | Economics & Trade | economics/wealth-of-nations.md |
| 1776-03-23 | Congress authorizes privateering, turning merchant ships into licensed commerce raiders that disrupt British trade and capture some 2,300 vessels over the war | Economics & Trade | economics/american-privateering-1776.md |
| 1776-03-24 | John Harrison, the clockmaker who solved the longitude problem with the marine chronometer, dies; his H4-derived watch sails with Captain Cook | Science & Discovery | science/john-harrison-marine-chronometer.md |
| 1776-03-28 | Empress Catherine II grants Prince Pyotr Urusov a privilege to stage public entertainments in Moscow, founding the company that becomes the Bolshoi Theatre | Arts & Culture | arts/bolshoi-theatre-1776.md |
| 1776-03-31 | Abigail Adams writes her “Remember the Ladies” letter to John Adams, an early appeal to secure women’s standing in the new republic’s laws | Key Figures | people/abigail-adams-1776.md |
| 1776-04-12 | The Halifax Resolves make North Carolina the first colony to authorize its delegates to vote for independence | Political Events | politics/halifax-resolves-1776.md |
| 1776-05-01 | General William Howe, British commander-in-chief in North America, opens the 1776 campaign, winning Long Island, Kip’s Bay, and Fort Washington yet repeatedly failing to destroy Washington’s army | Key Figures | people/general-william-howe-1776.md |
| 1776-06-08 | The American invasion of Canada collapses at Trois-Rivières, forcing the Continental Army’s withdrawal from Quebec Province after the 1775–1776 campaign | Military Events | military/american-invasion-of-canada-1776.md |
| 1776-06-10 | Beaumarchais establishes Roderigue Hortalez et Cie, a fictitious trading house funneling covert French and Spanish arms to the American revolutionaries | Economics & Trade | economics/roderigue-hortalez-company.md |
| 1776-06-10 | David Garrick gives his farewell stage performance and sells his Drury Lane patent share to a consortium led by Richard Brinsley Sheridan | Arts & Culture | arts/garrick-drury-lane-1776.md |
| 1776-06-12 | Virginia Declaration of Rights adopted — first enumerated bill of rights in American history | Political Events | politics/virginia-declaration-of-rights.md |
| 1776-06-28 | Battle of Sullivan’s Island — Moultrie’s palmetto-log fort repels a British fleet, saving Charleston and the South | Military Events | military/battle-of-sullivans-island.md |
| 1776-06-28 | British naval operations establish Royal Navy supremacy along the American coast, enabling amphibious campaigns and blockade | Military Events | military/british-naval-operations-1776.md |
| 1776-07-01 | Mohawk leader Joseph Brant returns from his London mission, having secured a British alliance for the Mohawk Nation | Key Figures | people/joseph-brant.md |
| 1776-07-01 | The Cherokee War of 1776 erupts as Dragging Canoe’s frontier attacks trigger devastating Patriot punitive expeditions that burn more than fifty Cherokee towns | Military Events | military/cherokee-war-1776.md |
| 1776-07-02 | Lee Resolution adopted — Congress votes the colonies “free and independent States,” the operative act of independence | Political Events | politics/lee-resolution.md |
| 1776-07-02 | New Jersey’s Provincial Congress adopts a state constitution whose broad £50 franchise uniquely enfranchised unmarried women and free people of color until 1807 | Political Events | politics/new-jersey-constitution-1776.md |
| 1776-07-04 | Declaration of Independence adopted by the Second Continental Congress | Political Events | politics/declaration-of-independence.md |
| 1776-07-04 | John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, presides over the Declaration’s adoption and later signs the engrossed parchment first, in his famous oversized hand | Key Figures | people/john-hancock-1776.md |
| 1776-07-04 | John Adams champions independence in the Second Continental Congress and serves on the Committee of Five | Key Figures | people/john-adams-1776.md |
| 1776-07-04 | Samuel Adams, the Revolution’s chief organizer, signs the Declaration of Independence, capping a decade of Sons of Liberty and committees of correspondence agitation for independence | Key Figures | people/samuel-adams-1776.md |
| 1776-07-04 | Thomas Jefferson, principal author of the Declaration of Independence, completes and submits his draft to Congress | Key Figures | people/thomas-jefferson-1776.md |
| 1776-07-04 | Button Gwinnett, one of Georgia’s three delegates, commits to independence and signs the engrossed Declaration in August, later leading the state’s revolutionary government | Key Figures | people/button-gwinnett-1776.md |
| 1776-07-04 | Scottish Enlightenment thought converges on American independence through Smith, Hume, and Witherspoon | Arts & Culture | arts/scottish-enlightenment-1776.md |
| 1776-07-08 | The Declaration of Independence is first publicly proclaimed in Philadelphia, Trenton, and Easton | Political Events | politics/declaration-public-proclamation.md |
| 1776-07-08 | David Rittenhouse, America’s foremost astronomer, is elected to the convention framing the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 while serving as Committee of Safety engineer | Science & Discovery | science/david-rittenhouse-1776.md |
| 1776-07-12 | Captain Cook’s Third Voyage departs Plymouth aboard HMS Resolution and HMS Discovery | Science & Discovery | science/captain-cook-third-voyage.md |
| 1776-07-12 | Congress receives the draft Articles of Confederation from John Dickinson’s committee — America’s first constitution, adopted November 15, 1777 and ratified March 1, 1781 | Political Events | politics/articles-of-confederation-1776.md |
| 1776-08-01 | German auxiliary troops (“Hessians”) begin arriving in America — some 30,000 hired from six German states fight at Long Island, Fort Washington, and Trenton | Military Events | military/hessian-troops-1776.md |
| 1776-08-02 | Benjamin Rush — physician, chemistry professor, and Pennsylvania delegate who shaped Common Sense — signs the engrossed Declaration of Independence and later pioneers Continental Army military medicine | Key Figures | people/benjamin-rush.md |
| 1776-08-09 | Nathanael Greene is promoted to major general, commanding on Long Island and advising the defense of Fort Washington before leading a column at Trenton | Key Figures | people/nathanael-greene-1776.md |
| 1776-08-25 | David Hume, philosopher of the Scottish Enlightenment, dies in Edinburgh, leaving a profound empiricist legacy | Science & Discovery | science/david-hume-1776.md |
| 1776-08-27 | Battle of Long Island — largest engagement of the Revolutionary War; Washington evacuates 9,000 troops | Military Events | military/battle-of-long-island.md |
| 1776-09-07 | David Bushnell’s Turtle, piloted by Ezra Lee, attacks HMS Eagle in New York Harbor — the first recorded use of a submarine in warfare | Science & Discovery | science/bushnells-turtle-1776.md |
| 1776-09-11 | Staten Island Peace Conference — Lord Richard Howe’s meeting with Franklin, Adams, and Rutledge collapses over independence, ending hopes of a negotiated peace | Political Events | politics/staten-island-peace-conference-1776.md |
| 1776-09-15 | Battle of Kip’s Bay — a British amphibious landing routs Connecticut militia on Manhattan, opening the way to the occupation of New York City | Military Events | military/battle-of-kips-bay-1776.md |
| 1776-09-16 | Battle of Harlem Heights — Washington’s first tactical victory of the Revolutionary War revives Continental morale | Military Events | military/battle-of-harlem-heights.md |
| 1776-09-17 | Congress adopts the Model Treaty (Plan of 1776), John Adams’s commercial-treaty template and the first blueprint of U.S. foreign policy | Economics & Trade | economics/model-treaty-1776.md |
| 1776-09-17 | Spain dedicates the Presidio of San Francisco — with Mission Dolores on October 9 — founding the city and the northernmost outpost of New Spain | Political Events | politics/founding-of-san-francisco-1776.md |
| 1776-09-20 | The Great Fire of New York destroys up to a quarter of Manhattan days after the British occupation | Military Events | military/great-fire-of-new-york-1776.md |
| 1776-09-22 | Nathan Hale, a Continental officer of Knowlton’s Rangers, is hanged by the British as a spy in New York, becoming a founding American martyr | Key Figures | people/nathan-hale-1776.md |
| 1776-09-28 | Pennsylvania adopts the most democratic state constitution of the Revolution — a unicameral legislature, a plural executive with no governor, and broad taxpayer suffrage | Political Events | politics/pennsylvania-constitution-1776.md |
| 1776-10-11 | Battle of Valcour Island — Benedict Arnold’s Lake Champlain fleet is defeated but delays General Carleton’s advance until 1777, a strategic American victory | Military Events | military/battle-of-valcour-island-1776.md |
| 1776-10-26 | Benjamin Franklin sails from Philadelphia for France to negotiate the Treaty of Alliance | Key Figures | people/benjamin-franklin-1776.md |
| 1776-10-28 | Battle of White Plains — Howe drives Washington from Chatterton’s Hill, but the Continental Army withdraws intact | Military Events | military/battle-of-white-plains.md |
| 1776-10-31 | British Opposition to the War — Whig politicians Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox lead parliamentary opposition to the American war, Fox delivering a celebrated oration against Lord North on October 31 | Political Events | politics/british-opposition-1776.md |
| 1776-11-01 | Alessandro Volta identifies “inflammable air from marshes” (methane) at Lake Maggiore, founding its scientific study | Science & Discovery | science/volta-methane-1776.md |
| 1776-11-10 | Lord George Germain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, directs British war strategy against the American rebellion | Key Figures | people/lord-george-germain-1776.md |
| 1776-11-16 | Battle of Fort Washington — Manhattan’s last American fort falls; nearly 2,900 troops captured, forcing the retreat across New Jersey | Military Events | military/battle-of-fort-washington.md |
| 1776-12-05 | Phi Beta Kappa is founded at the College of William & Mary — the first American collegiate society named for a Greek motto, and the model for later fraternities and honor societies | Arts & Culture | arts/phi-beta-kappa-1776.md |
| 1776-12-19 | Thomas Paine’s The American Crisis, Number I first appears, opening “These are the times that try men’s souls” during the retreat before Trenton | Arts & Culture | arts/american-crisis-1776.md |
| 1776-12-26 | Battle of Trenton — Washington crosses the Delaware; Hessian garrison captured | Military Events | military/battle-of-trenton.md |
| 1776-12-26 | George Washington in 1776 — after liberating Boston and losing New York, the commander-in-chief’s Delaware crossing and Trenton victory reverse the Revolution’s darkest year | Key Figures | people/george-washington-1776.md |
| 1777-02-05 | Smallpox Inoculation in the Continental Army — Washington mandates inoculation of all recruits, the first mass immunization policy in American military history, in response to the disease crisis of 1776 | Science & Discovery | science/smallpox-inoculation-continental-army.md |
| 1778-02-06 | France and the United States sign the Treaty of Alliance and Treaty of Amity and Commerce — the first U.S. alliance, rooted in covert French aid begun in 1776 | Political Events | politics/french-alliance-1778.md |