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This is an accepted version of this page This is the latest accepted revision, reviewed on 3 December 2024. "American history" redirects here. For the history of the continents, see History of the Americas. Further information: Economic history of the United States Current territories of the United States after the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands was given independence in 1994 This ...
The first documented use of the phrase "United States of America" is a letter from January 2, 1776. Stephen Moylan, a Continental Army aide to General George Washington, wrote to Joseph Reed, Washington's aide-de-camp, seeking to go "with full and ample powers from the United States of America to Spain" to seek assistance in the Revolutionary War effort.
The Bank of North America was established as the country's first bank in 1781. [ 92 ] The Continental Congress created its own Continental currency banknotes to increase funding, but this currency quickly depreciated in value and did not survive to the end of the war.
Nation-building is a long evolutionary process, and in most cases the date of a country's "formation" cannot be objectively determined; e.g., the fact that England and France were sovereign kingdoms on equal footing in the medieval period does not prejudice the fact that England is not now a sovereign state (having passed sovereignty to Great ...
July 8–10 – American Revolution: Battle of Gwynn's Island. 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 9 – American Revolution: An angry mob in New York City topples the equestrian statue of George III in ...
Jay founded the New York Manumission Society in 1785, for which Hamilton became an officer. They and other members of the Society founded the African Free School in New York, to educate the children of free blacks and slaves. When Jay was governor of New York in 1798, he helped secure and signed into law an abolition law; fully ending forced ...
This came to a head in 1860 and 1861, when the governments of the southern states proclaimed their secession from the country and formed the Confederate States of America. The American Civil War led to the defeat of the Confederacy in 1865 and the eventual readmission of the states to the United States Congress .
In February 1776, colonists learned of Parliament's passage of the Prohibitory Act, which established a blockade of American ports and declared American ships to be enemy vessels. John Adams , a strong supporter of independence, believed that Parliament had effectively declared American independence before Congress had been able to.