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 the Domínguez–Escalante expedition, 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.[2]
August
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).[3]
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.[6]
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.
^Saunt, Claudio (2014). West of the Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, p. 95. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. ISBN 9780393240207.
^U.S. State Department (1911). The Declaration of Independence, 1776. pp. 10–11.
^Willis, John T.; Smith, Herbert C. (January 2012). Smith & Willis, Maryland Politics and Government (2012). U of Nebraska Press. p. 137. ISBN 978-0-8032-3843-5.
^Saunt, Claudio (2014). Revolution: An Uncommon History of 1776, p. 27. W. W. Norton & Company, New York. ISBN 9780393240207.
^"Montgomery County Centennial: An Old-Fashioned Maryland Reunion". The Baltimore Sun. September 7, 1876. p. 1. ProQuest 534282014.
^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. LCCN 10012042. OCLC 3425542. OL 7018977M. 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.
^""Delaware: Admitted as "The First State" December 7, 1787 – Constituting America"". constitutingamerica.org. Retrieved May 8, 2023.
^Stokes (1915–1928), v. 5, pp. 1020–24.
^Armor 1873 and Gordon 1826
^Swem, Earl G.; Williams, John W., eds. (1918). A Register of the General Assembly of Virginia, 1776–1918, and of the Constitutional Conventions. Commonwealth of Virginia. pp. 1–3. Retrieved December 29, 2021.
^ a b"Revolution; Learn NC online". Retrieved May 1, 2016., unavailable
^Tucker(2012), p. 264
^ a bButler, Lindley (2006). Powell, William Stevens (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina, Provincial Congresses. University of North Carolina Press. pp. 917–918. ISBN 0807830712.
^ a b"State Library of North Carolina. Information page for Tryon Palace". Archived from the original on May 3, 2008.
^ a bLewis, J.D. "5th Provincial Congress". The American Revolution in North Carolina. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^ a bConnor, Robert Diggs Wimberly, ed. (1913). A Manual of North Carolina Issued by the North Carolina Historical Commission for the Use of Members of the General Assembly Session 1913. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^Lewis, J.D. "9th North Carolina Regiment". The American Revolution in North Carolina. Retrieved April 30, 2019.
^"Hening's Statutes at Large". vagenweb.org. Retrieved March 5, 2017.
^Suzanne Spellen (aka Montrose Morris) (October 12, 2015). "How Red Hook's Fort Defiance Changed the Revolutionary War". Brownstoner. The entire earthwork was about 1,600 feet (490 m) long and covered the entire island.
^Hough, Franklin Benjamin (1858). The New York Civil List: Containing the names and origin of the civil divisions, and the names and dates of election or appointment of the principal state and county officers from the Revolution to the present time. Albany: Weed, Parsons and Co. pp. 35-36. Retrieved October 30, 2019.
^South, Stanely (2010). Archaeology at Colonial Brunswick. N.C. Office of Archives and History. p. 223. ISBN 978-0-86526-343-7.
^"Brunswick Town/Fort Anderson". North Carolina Office of Archives and History. Archived from the original on March 21, 2009. Retrieved May 11, 2008.
^Roberts, p. 393
^"Department of Historic Resources". virginia.gov.
^"Kentucky: Secretary of State - Land Office - Kentucky County Formations". Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved November 9, 2016.