Historical Events in 1774

Messier Adds to Catalog

Jan 11 French astronomer Charles Messier adds M51 (spiral galaxy in Canes Venatici) to his catalog

Cook Reaches 71°10' South

Jan 30 Captain James Cook reaches a record 71°10' south, 1820km from the South Pole

Feb 10 Andrew Becker demonstrates diving suit
Feb 22 British House of Lords rules authors do not have perpetual copyright

Orion Nebula

Mar 4 First sighting of Orion nebula by William Herschel

Hancock's Massacre Day Oration

Mar 5 John Hancock delivers the fourth annual Massacre Day oration, a commemoration of the Boston Massacre, and denounces the presence of British troops in Boston, enhancing Hancock's stature as a leading Patriot

Statesman and Founding Father John Hancock

Punishment for Boston Tea Party

Mar 7 King George III charges colonists in Boston with attempting to injure British commerce, paving the way for the closing of the port to punish colonists for the Boston Tea Party

Americans throwing the cargoes of the tea ships into the river at Boston

Mar 20 The British parliament passes first of the Intolerable Acts: the Boston Port Act, which closed Boston harbor until colonists would pay for damages following the Boston Tea Party
Mar 28 Britain passes Coercive Act against Massachusetts
Apr 17 First Unitarianism church service in England held by Theophilus Lindsey at the Essex Street Capel in London

Iphigénie en Aulide

Apr 19 Christoph Willibald Gluck's opera "Iphigénie en Aulide", based on the play "Iphigenia in Aulis" by Euripides premieres in Paris

Apr 30 Pope Clement XIV proclaims a universal jubilee for the second time

Louis XVI

May 10 Louis XVI ascends to the throne of France

May 20 The British pass the second of the Intolerable Acts: the Massachusetts Government Act, giving British-appointed governor wide-ranging powers
May 23 Chestertown tea party occurs (tea dumped into Chester River)
Jun 1 Boston Port Act: Following the passage of the act, the British government orders the Port of Boston closed to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party
Jun 2 Intolerable Acts: Amendment to original Quartering Act enacted, allows governors in colonial America to house British soldiers in uninhabited houses, outhouses, barns, or other buildings if suitable quarters not provided
Jun 11 Jews of Algiers escape attacking Spanish Army
Jun 13 Rhode Island becomes first colony to prohibit importation of slaves
Jun 16 Formation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky
Jun 22 British parliament accepts Quebec Act, which extends the province's territory and restores French civil law
Jul 4 Orangetown Resolutions adopted in the Province of New York, one of many protests against the British Parliament's Coercive Acts
Jul 12 Citizens of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, pass a symbolic declaration of independence
Jul 12 Cossack leader Emilian Pugachevs army occupies Kazan
Jul 17 Captain James Cook arrives in the New Hebrides (Vanuatu)
Jul 21 Russo-Turkish War, 1768-74: Russia and the Ottoman Empire sign Treaty of Kuchuk-Kainarji ending the war

The Discovery of Oxygen

Aug 1 English chemist Joseph Priestley discovers oxygen by isolating it in its gaseous state

Illustration of Priestley's discovery of oxygen, by Henry Granger

Shaker Founder Arrives in NY

Aug 6 Founder of the Shaker movement, Mother Ann Lee, arrives in New York

Sep 5 The first Continental Congress, a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that later become the United States, convenes at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia
Sep 5 Twelve of the thirteen American colonies adopt a trade embargo against Great Britain at the First Continental Congress in Carpenters' Hall, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sep 5 With the meeting of the Continental Congress, Philadelphia becomes the first capital of the United States
Sep 15 Cossack pretender to the Russian throne Yemelyan Ivanovich Pugachev is captured
Oct 14 First Continental Congress makes Declaration of Colonial Rights in Philadelphia
Oct 20 American Continental Congress orders discouragement of entertainment
Oct 21 First display of the word "Liberty" on a flag raised by colonists in Taunton, Massachusetts, in defiance of British rule in Colonial America
Oct 26 First Continental Congress adjourns in Philadelphia
Oct 26 Minutemen organized in US colonies
Nov 17 First City Troop Philadelphia City Cavalry formed at Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, one of the oldest US military units still in service

Revere and Cheswell's Ride

Dec 13 Paul Revere and Wentworth Cheswell ride to warn Portsmouth of the approach of British warships

Dec 14 First incident of the American Revolution, 400 New Hampshire militiamen successfully attack Fort William and Mary and seize its gunpowder and weapons