1773: American colonists board a British ship and throw more than 300 chests of tea overboard.

1772: John Clais patents 1st scale

1772: 1st traveler's checks issued (London)

1771: John Hancock succeeds Payton Randolph as president of the Continental Congress.

1770: Marie Antoinette (14) marries future King Louis XVI (15) of France

1770: Edward Nairne, an English engineer develops the first widely-marketed rubber eraser for an
inventions competition. [He reportedly sold natural rubber erasers for the high price of 3 shillings
per half-inch cube.]

1770: Off the coast of Australia, James Cook's ship runs into what is now called "The Great Barrier
Reef.

1766: Henry Cavendish England, physicist/chemist discovers hydrogen (inflammable air)

1765: Britain enacts Quartering Act, requiring colonists to provide temporary housing to British
soldiers

1765: England imposes the Stamp Act on its New World Colonies (repealed next year)

1765: On March 21st, the British impose the Stamp Act on the American Colonists