These books were published in 1776:
Thomas Paine, Common Sense
Edward Gibbon, Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire
Adam Smith, On the Wealth of Nations
Thomas Jefferson et al., The Declaration of Independence
Denis Diderot, Encyclopédie (published in its entirety for first time)
David Hume, Autobiography
Also in 1776, in Paris Antoine Laurent Lavoisier demonstrated the composition of air, in Salzburg 20-year-old Mozart began work on Piano Concerto No. 9, and in Moscow the Bolshoi Ballet was founded.
What a year.