TIMELINE OF EVENTS
| April 19, 1775 | Battles of Lexington and Concord |
| June 1775 | Continental Congress establishes Continental Army |
| June 16, 1775 | Battle of Bunker Hill |
| August 1775 | Representatives of the Continental Congress meet with representatives of the six nations of the Iroquois Confederacy |
| November 1775 | Dunmore issues his proclamation |
| 1776 | New Jersey constitution enfranchises all free inhabitants, including women and free blacks, who meet property qualifications |
| January 1776 | Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense |
| July 4, 1776 | Continental Congress publicly declares independence |
| July 1776– mid-December 1776 |
British forces defeat Continental Army and force retreat |
| December 1776– January 1777 |
Patriot victories at Trenton and Princeton, New Jersey |
| October 1777 | Patriot victory at Saratoga |
| Winter 1777–1778 | Continental Army encamps at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania |
| 1778 | Articles of Confederation ratified by eight states |
| February 1778 | France enters into formal alliance with the United States |
| Summer 1779 | Patriot forces wipe out Iroquois Confederacy villages on New York frontier |
| 1780–1781 | Quock Walker and Elizabeth “Mumbet” Freeman successfully sue for their freedom in Massachusetts |
| March 1781 | Articles of Confederation ratified |
| October 19, 1781 | British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia |
| May 1782 | Deborah Sampson enlists in Continental Army under the name Robert Shurtliff |
| September 2, 1783 | Treaty of Paris signed |