1774 - Juan Bautista de Anza expedition

         Anza  (namesake for the Anza Valley, of southern Californa) leads an expedition from Tubac, Arizona (south of Tucson) overland to California.

(Click here for more on the Anza expedition

         -  In July, Spanish sea captain Juan Jose Perez Hernandez sights the Pacific NW Coast and reaches Queen Charlotte Islands.

         -  In October, Lord Dunmore's War begins against Indians living in the Ohio Valley.  Approximately 50,000 settlers have now crossed over the mountains into the Ohio Valley in search of cheap land.  This defiance of the king's proclamation (of 1763) sets up violent clashes with resident tribes.

         -  A corset makers apprentice named Thomas Paine emigrates to America and publishes Common Sense two years later.  The naturalness of his prose was said to cause John Adams to writhe with envy…