1700's

1701 War of the Spanish Succession begins-the last of Louis XIV's wars for domination of the continent. The Peace of Utrecht (1714) will end the conflict and mark the rise of the British Empire. Called Queen Anne's War in America, it ends with the British taking New Foundland, Acadia, and Hudson's Bay Territory from France, and Gibraltar and Minorca from Spain.



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Johann Sebastian Bach

(1685-1750) 1704 Deerfield (Mass.) Massacre of English colonists by French and Indians. Johann Sebastian Bach 's first cantata. Boston News Letter-first newspaper in America.



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1707 Giovanni da Verrazano explores the coast from Carolina north to Nova Scotia, enters New York harbor.



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Isaac Newton

(1642-1727) 1729 Bach's St. Matthew Passion. Isaac Newton's Principia translated from Latin into English.



Click here for more information: [General Audiences] [For Kids] Listen to "Did Newton Really See an Apple Fall?" Episode 606 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity



Benjamin Franklin

(1706-1790) 1732 Benjamin Franklin begins publishing Poor Richard's Almanack . James Oglethorpe and others found Georgia.



Click here for more information: [General Audiences] [For Kids] Listen to "Ben Franklin, Electricity, and Revolution" Episode 510 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity

1735





John Peter Zenger , New York editor, acquitted of libel in New York, establishing freedom of the press .



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Horsens 1677

Birthplace of Vitus 1740 Capt. Vitus Bering , Dane employed by Russia, discovers Alaska. Frederick II "the Great" crowned king of Prussia.



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1751 The first Encyclopedia is published (Voltaire, Rousseau, Diderot, d'Alembert)



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1752 Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod. The Liberty Bell was ordered from an English bell foundry to celebrate Pennsylvania's 50th anniversary.



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Listen to "The Liberty Bell" Episode 128 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity



Samuel Johnson

(1709-1784) 1755 Samuel Johnson's Dictionary first published. U.S. postal service established.



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1756 Seven Years' War (French and Indian Wars in America) (to 1763), in which Britain and Prussia defeat France, Spain, Austria, and Russia. France loses North American colonies; Spain cedes Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba.



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1757





Beginning of British Empire in India as Robert Clive, British commander, defeats Nawab of Bengal at Plassey.



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Francois Marie Arouet

a.k.a Voltaire

(1694-1778) 1759 British capture Quebec from French. Voltaire's Candide . Haydn's Symphony No. 1.



Click here for more information: [General Audiences] [For Kids] Listen to "Voltaire, Newton, Science, and the French Revolution" Episode 1168 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity

1760





The Industrial Revolution in England begins (1760 - 1851)



Click here for more information: [General Audiences] [For Kids] Listen to "The Industrial Revolution Comes to America" Episode 181 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity



Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

(1756-1791) 1762 Catherine II ("the Great") becomes czarina of Russia. Jean Jacques Rousseau's Social Contract. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart tours Europe as six-year-old prodigy.



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1765

James Watt invents the steam engine . Britain imposes the Stamp Act on the American colonists.



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Listen to "Steam Engines in England During the 18th Century" Episode 69 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity



1770





Boston Massacre : English troops fire on a group of people protesting English taxes.



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1773





Boston Tea Party : English tea is thrown into the harbor to protest a tax on tea.



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1775





Fighting at Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, marks the beginning of the American Revolution .



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1776





The Declaration of Independence is approved July 4 by the Continental Congress (made up of representatives from the American colonies).



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Listen to "Colonial America, 1776: A New Nation of Glorious Amateurs" Episode 1365 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity



William Herschel

(1738-1822) 1781 British General Cornwallis surrenders to the Americans at Yorktown, Virginia, ending the fighting in the Revolutionary War. William Herschel discovers Uranus.



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Ludwig van Beethoven

(1770-1827) 1783 Revolutionary War ends with Treaty of Paris. Ludwig van Beethoven 's first printed works.



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1787 The Constitution of the United States signed. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Don Giovanni.



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George Washington

(1732-1799) 1789 The French Revolution begins with the storming of the Bastille. In U.S., George Washington elected president with all 69 votes of the Electoral College, takes oath of office in New York City.



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Location of new capital

city on the Potomac 1790 Philadelphia temporary capital of U.S . as Congress votes to establish new capital on Potomac.



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1791 U.S. Bill of Rights ratified.



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1793 Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette executed. Reign of Terror begins in France. Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, spurring the growth of the cotton industry and helping to institutionalize slavery in the U.S. South.



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Napoleon Bonaparte

(1769-1821) 1796 Napoléon Bonaparte defeats Austrians. In the U.S., George Washington's Farewell Address (Sept. 17); John Adams elected president; Thomas Jefferson, vice president. Edward Jenner introduces smallpox vaccination.



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Listen to "Napoleon Bonaparte and Iron Construction in France"

Episode 77 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity

1798

Napoleon extends French conquests to Rome and Egypt. U.S. Navy Department established.



Click here for more information: [General Audiences] [For Kids] Listen to "The First American Navy" Episode 1267 from The Engines of Our Ingenuity

