"Rip Van Winkle" spans a 20-year period of massive change in America. While we don't get exact dates, when the story opens, Rip lives as a colonial, under the rule of Great Britain. He likes to go to the Inn in the village, where a portrait of King George III hangs. Rip considers himself a loyal British subject.
After Rip Van Winkle awakens after having been asleep for 20 years, he finds out that the United States is an independent nation and that it has fought a revolution. He enters his old Inn only to discover it is now the Union Hotel. He learns that an election is going on, and is surprised when people accuse him of being a "Tory" and a "spy" when he asserts his allegiance to the king.
So while we don't know exactly the dates of the story, we can image them to span a period of, very roughly, 1770 to 1790.
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