1763 - England passed the Stamp Act; Gov. William Franklin became New Jersey's last royal governor

1765 - New Jersey appointed delegates to the Stamp Act Congress

1774

• New Jersey's First Provincial Congress met in New Brunswick (July) to select delegates to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia
• New Jersey sent delegates to the First Continental Congress in Philadelphia (September 5) - sent grievances to king
• Tea Party at Greenwich (December 12) in Cumberland County; tea taken from British ship Greyhound and burned

1775

• Battles of Lexinton and Concord (April 19)
• New Jersey sent delegates to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia (May 10)
• New Jersey Legislature (Royal Assembly) met for the last time, December 6 to 10

1776

• Gov. William Franklin removed from office by Second Provincial Congress (May)
• New Jersey sent five delegates (Richard Stockton, John Witherspoon, Francis Hopkinson, John Hart, Abraham Clark) to the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia; they voted for the Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Paine published The Crisis, written in Trenton
• New Jersey adopted its first State Constitution by which women, aliens, Native Americans and free blacks, worth fifty pounds, had the right to vote
• Provincial Congress changed its name to the "Convention of the State of New Jersey" (July 18)
• William Livingston appointed the first state governor and inaugurated in Nassau Hall, Princeton
• Battle of Long Island (August 1776)
• Fort Washington (November 16) is lost to the British
• Gen. George Washington evacuated Fort Lee (November 20) to safety across the Hackensack and across New Jersey
• Withdrawal of Washington's army across New Jersey (November 21 to December 8); Washington cross the Delaware River; Hessians reach Princeton and Trenton
• First Battle of Trenton (December 26) - Washington crossed the Delaware and surprised the Hessians; Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emmanuel Leutze
• Washington returned to Pennsylvania

1777

• Second Battle of Trenton (January 2)
• Battle of Princeton - Washington's troops defeated British (January 3)
• Washington encamped at Morristown (January to May); Jockey Hollow and Ford's Mansion
• Battle of Red Bank (October 22)
• Washington and his troops encamp at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania (December-May)
• Isaac Collins prints the first newspaper in New Jersey, the "Constitutional Gazette," a weekly
• New Jersey state seal is approved at the Indian King Tavern in Haddonfield

1778

• Battle of Monmouth (June 28) and story of Molly Pitcher;
• Washington established his winter headquarters at the Wallace House in Somerville
• Continental Army encamped at Middlebrook, New Jersey, for winter
  

1779

• Major Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee led a successful attack on the garrison at Paulus Hook, held by the British since 1776, but failed to capture it for patriots;
• Washington and his troops move to Morristown to spend one of the worst winters of the century

1779-80

• Major Henry Lee attacks the British fort at Paulus Hook (August 19), now Jersey City
• Continental Army encamped again at Jockey Hollow (Morristown)
• Washington stayed at Ford Mansion; story of Wick House (Morristown National Historic Park)

1780

• Battle of Connecticut Farms (June 6) at present-day Union
• Battle of Springfield (June 23); story of Rev. James and Hannah Caldwell
• Washington sets up headquarters at Dey Mansion (July 1-8) in Wayne

1781

• Continental Army left New Jersey

1783

• Washington established his headquarters at an estate known as Rockingham, near Princeton (August 23-November 10); here Washington wrote his "Farewell Address to the Army"; the house has been moved from its original location to the border of the Delaware and Raritan State Park
• The Continental Congress met at Nassau Hall, Princeton, temporarily making it the nation's capital (June 30 to November 20)
• Washington writes his farewell address to his troops at Rockingham (November 2)

1787

• New Jersey sent delegates to the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia;
• William Paterson proposed his New Jersey Plan at the Convention;
• New Jersey was the third state to ratify the Federal Constitution
• John Fitch demonstrated the first steamboat on the Delaware River; he received patent in 1791