March 8 » An anonymous writer, thought by some to be Thomas Paine, publishes "African Slavery in America", the first article in the American colonies calling for the emancipation of slaves and the abolition of slavery.
May 20 » The Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence is allegedly signed in Charlotte, North Carolina.
June 12 » American Revolution: British general Thomas Gage declares martial law in Massachusetts. The British offer a pardon to all colonists who lay down their arms. There would be only two exceptions to the amnesty: Samuel Adams and John Hancock, if captured, were to be hanged.
July 26 » The office that would later become the United States Post Office Department is established by the Second Continental Congress. Benjamin Franklin of Pennsylvania takes office as Postmaster General.
September 11 » Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec leaves Cambridge, Massachusetts.
November 7 » John Murray, the Royal Governor of the Colony of Virginia, starts the first mass emancipation of slaves in North America by issuing Lord Dunmore's Offer of Emancipation, which offers freedom to slaves who abandoned their colonial masters to fight with Murray and the British.
When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin: H.F. Brons, "Family tree Brons", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-brons/I781.php : accessed January 26, 2026), "Roel Jans".
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