| 1760 |
 |
George III becomes King of
Great Britain, Ireland, and the 1.6 million colonists living in
America. |
|
 |
Benjamin Franklin invents the first bifocal lenses for
eye glasses. |
| 1761 |
|
Massachusetts lawyer James Otis opposes
the Writs of Assistance, general search warrants that allowed British
customs men to invade the homes and warehouses of the American colonists
to search for smuggled goods. |
| 1762 |
 |
Ethan Allen establishes an ironworks and blast furnace
in Salisbury, Connecticut. This ironworks will produce many of the cannons
used by the American colonists during the Revolutionary War. |
| 1763 |
|
French and Indian War ends
with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. Canada and all of the North
American territory east of the Mississippi come under the control of the
British. |
|
 |
The Proclamation of 1763 forbids the American colonists
to settle the land beyond the Appalachian Mountains. |
| 1764 |
|
The British government begins to levy
taxes on the colonists to help pay the cost of the French and Indian War
and the ongoing protection of the American colonies. The Sugar Act places
new taxes on sugar, wines, coffee, indigo and other products imported
directly to America. |
|
|
The oldest continuously published newspaper in America,
The Connecticut Courant, begins publishing as a weekly newspaper in
Hartford, Connecticut. |
| 1765 |
 |
British Parliament passes the
Stamp Act, levying a tax on all newspapers, legal documents, pamphlets,
almanacs and playing cards by requiring that they bear a
stamp. |
|
|
Philadelphia, with its agricultural exports,
shipbuilding and iron forging, is the leading economic center of the
American colonies. |
|
 |
James Watt, a 29-year old
Scotsman, designs a steam engine that produces power much more efficiently
than the Newcomen engine of 1712. This invention will have a major impact
on the Industrial Revolution. |
| 1766 |
|
British Parliament repeals the Stamp Act
after American colonists stop buying British goods in protest against the
taxes. |
|
|
British Parliament passes the
Declaratory Act, asserting its "full power and authority" to make any laws
it wishes concerning the American colonies. |
|
|
Freedmen's Bureau is established to aid freed African
Americans. |
| 1767 |
|
Through the Townshend duties, British
Parliament places a tax on tea, paper, glass and paint imported into the
colonies. Colonists immediately begin another boycott of British goods and
begin to look for ways to increase manufacturing in the colonies.
|
|
 |
David Rittenhouse, a Philadelphia clockmaker, builds the
first planetarium in America. Two years later, he plots the orbits of
Venus and Mercury. |
| 1768 |
|
British troops sail to Boston, and two
regiments come ashore to take up quarters in the city. |
|
|
The Massachusetts General Court sends a "Circular
Letter" to legislators in the other American colonies. This letter states
that Parliament had no right to tax the colonists without representation
and asks for the support of the other colonies in resisting the Townshend
duties. |
 |
A newspaper, the Boston Gazette,
publishes "The Liberty Song," possibly America's first patriotic
song. |
| 1769 |
|
Daniel Boone--ignoring the Proclamation of 1763
prohibiting settlers from crossing over the Appalachian mountains--leads
an expedition to the Kentucky region and explores Cumberland
Gap. |
|
|
Henry William Stiegel opens his famous
American glassmaking works in Manheim,
Pennsylvania. |
The
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