CHRONOLOGY

1775

  • Second Continental Congress opens.

    • 1776

  • Declaration of Independence adopted.

  • Virginia adopts state bill of rights.

    • 1777

  • Articles of Confederation sent to states.

    • 1778

  • State constitutions completed.

    • 1780

  • Pennsylvania institutes gradual emancipation.

    • 1781

  • Articles of Confederation ratified.

  • Executive departments created.

  • Massachusetts slaves sue for freedom.

    • 1782

  • Virginia relaxes state manumission law.

    • 1783

  • Newburgh Conspiracy exposed.

  • Treaty of Paris ends the war.

  • Massachusetts enfranchises taxpaying free blacks.

    • 1784

  • Gradual emancipation laws passed in Rhode Island and Connecticut.

  • Treaty of Fort Stanwix signed.

    • 1785

  • Treaty of Fort McIntosh signed.

  • Congress calls for large requisition.

    • 1786

  • Shays’s Rebellion begins.

    • 1787

  • Shays’s Rebellion crushed.

  • Northwest Ordinance passed.

  • Delaware provides manumission law.

  • Constitutional convention meets in Philadelphia.

  • The Federalist Papers begin to publish.

    • 1788

  • U.S. Constitution ratified.

    • 1790

  • Maryland provides manumission law.

    • 1799

  • Gradual emancipation law passed in New York.

    • 1804

  • Gradual emancipation law passed in New Jersey.