2nd June 1774: The British Parliament passes the Quartering Act, the fourth of the punitive laws passed in the wake of the Boston Tea Party

Just a few months later the First Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia, uniting the colonies in the face of increasingly oppressive British rule.

13th December 1636: The Massachusetts Bay Colony organised a formal militia, laying the foundations for the US National Guard

Some modern-day Massachusetts National Guard regiments are able to trace their history back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1636.