January 20 – American Revolution: South CarolinaLoyalists led by Robert Cunningham, signed a petition from prison agreeing to all demands for peace by the newly formed state government of South Carolina.
February 27 – American Revolution: Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge: North Carolina Loyalists charge across Moore's Creek bridge near Wilmington to attack what they mistakenly believe to be a small force of rebels. Several loyalist leaders are killed in the ensuing battle. The patriot victory virtually ends all British authority in the town.
March 2–3 – American Revolution: Battle of the Rice Boats: Following the British seizure of rice from merchant ships on the Savannah River, militia from Georgia and South Carolina attack the British squadron on the river using fire ships.
April 12 – American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina produces the Halifax Resolves making it the first British colony to officially authorize its Continental Congress delegates to vote for independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain.
May 15 – American Revolution: The Continental Congress passes John Adams' preamble, explaining why a declaration of independence was being proposed. The Lee Resolution of independence is first brought before Congress.
July 1 – American Revolution: Congress sitting as a committee of the whole votes in favor of independence.
July 2 – American Revolution: The final (despite minor revisions) U.S. Declaration of Independence is written. The full Continental Congress passes the Lee Resolution.
July 3 – American Revolution: British troops first land on Staten Island, which will become the longest occupied land for the duration of the conflict.
July 8 – American Revolution: The Liberty Bell rings for the first public reading of the Declaration of Independence at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia.
July 29 – Francisco Silvestre Vélez de Escalante, Francisco Atanasio Domínguez, and eight other Spaniards set out from Santa Fe on an eighteen-hundred mile trek through the American Southwest. They are the first Europeans to explore the vast region between the Rockies and the Sierras.[14]
August 2 – American Revolution: A parchment copy of the Declaration of Independence is signed by 56 members of Congress (not all of whom had been present on July 4).[15]
September 1 – Invasion of Cherokee Nation by 6,000 patriot troops from Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina begins. The troops destroy thirty-six Cherokee towns.[18]
September 7 – American Revolution: World's first submarine attack. American submersible craft Turtle attempts to attach a time bomb to the hull of British Admiral Richard Howe's flagship HMS Eagle in New York Harbor.
September 11 – American Revolution: The British and Americans meet at the Staten Island Peace Conference seeking to end the revolution. The meeting is brief and unsuccessful.
September 15 – American Revolution: British land on Manhattan at Kip's Bay.
September 16
American Revolution: Battle of Harlem Heights is fought, and won, making it Washington's first battle field victory.
October 28 – American Revolution: Battle of White Plains: British forces arrive at White Plains, attack and capture Chatterton Hill from the Americans.
October 31 – In his first speech before British Parliament since the Declaration of Independence that summer, King George III acknowledges that all is not going well for Britain in the war with the United States.
November 20 – American Revolution: Battle of Fort Lee – Invasion of New Jersey by British and Hessian forces and subsequent general retreat of the Continental Army.
December 19 – American Revolution: Thomas Paine, living with Washington's troops, publishes the first in the series of pamphlets on The American Crisis in The Pennsylvania Journal, opening with the stirring phrase, "These are the times that try men's souls."
December 21
American Revolution: The Royal Colony of North Carolina reorganizes into the State of North Carolina after adopting its own constitution. Richard Caswell becomes the first governor of the newly formed state.
December 25 – American Revolution: At 6 p.m. Gen. George Washington and his troops, numbering 2,400, march to McConkey's Ferry, cross the Delaware River, and land on the New Jersey bank by 3 a.m. the following morning.
December 26 – American Revolution: Battle of Trenton: Washington's troops surprise the 1500 Hessian troops under the command of Col. Johann Rall at 8 a.m. outside Trenton and score a victory, taking 948 prisoners while suffering only 5 wounded.
^Maryland. Convention (1836). Proceedings of the Conventions of the providence of Maryland, held at the city of Annapolis, in 1774, 1775, & 1776. Baltimore, Md.; Annapolis, Md.: Baltimore, James Lucas & E. K. Deaver; Annapolis, Jonas Green. p. 242. hdl:loc.gdc/scd0001.00117695347. LCCN10012042. OCLC3425542. OL7018977M. Resolved, That after the first day of October next, such part of the said county of Frederick as is contained within the bounds and limits following, to wit : beginning at the east side of the mouth of Rock creek on Potowmac river, and running with the said river to the mouth of Monocacy, then with a straight line to Par's spring, from thence with the lines of the county to the beginning, shall be and is hereby erected into a new county by the name of Montgomery county.