1600-1700 US History timeline

By wesleyanderson

  • Plymouth Company 1606

    Sent 100 men to establish a colony in Maine, but failed within a year.

  • Jamestown - May 1607

    The London Company established Jamestown in May of 1607

  • House of Burgesses 1619

    First representative Assembly in the New World. The House of Burgesses was established in the colony of Virginia.

  • Plymouth 1620

    Plymouth became the first permanent settlement of Europeans in the New World.

  • Mayflower Compact 1620

    The colonists who first established the Plymouth colony wrote the Mayflower Compact which effectively became the first official constitution in the New World.

  • Virginia Colony 1624

    Virginia was a cooperate colony from 1607 until the King terminated its charter and Virginia became a royal colony in 1624.

  • Massachusetts Bay Colony 1630

    Settled in 1630 by Puritan settlers organised by John Winthrop

  • Maryland Colony 1634

    Maryland was designed as a safe haven for Roman Catholics. Cecil Calvert (Second Lord Baltimore) petitioned the king for the land for Maryland colony. Leonard Calvert (Third Lord Baltimore) became Maryland's first Governer.

  • Rhode Island Colony 1636

    "Sewer of New England"
    Founded by Roger Williams who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his beliefs. Rhode Island was governed by principles of religious liberty and separation of church and state.

  • New Hampshire Colony 1638

    The New Hampshire colony was a planned colony granted to Captain John Mason.

  • Connecticut Colony 1639

    Founded by Thomas Hooker, who disagreed with the Massachusetts Bay leaders. He convinced his family and 100 others to move with him to establish Hartford.

  • Body of Liberties 1641

    Defined 100 liberties commonly held by citizens of the Massachusets Bay Colony. Considered to be the precursor to the General laws of Massachusetts and state Constitution.

  • Laws and Liberties of Massachusetts 1648

    Became the basis of civil and criminal law in Massachusetts until the 18th century.

  • Navigation Act of 1651

    Goods may only be imported by English ships

  • Navigation Act of 1660

    Certain goods/resources from English colonies must go to England or other English colonies

  • Slavery in 1662

    Virginia recognized slavery

  • Staple Act 1663

    Anything coming to the New World must go through England with the exception of horses, salt, and wine

  • Carolina Colony 1663

    The colony of Carolina was granted to 8 proprietors in 1663.

  • Slavery in 1664

    Maryland First Slave Legislature - declared that "All Negroes or other slaves hereafter imported into province shall serve for life as should their children"

  • New York Colony 1664

    The colony of New York was originally a Dutch colony known as New Netherlands until the King of England granted New Netherlands to his brother the Duke of York, catching the Dutch off guard.

  • New Jersey colony 1664

    New Jersey was ceded to Sir George Carteret and Lord Berkely in 1664. New Jersey later became a Royal Colony under the Charter of Liberties and Privileges in 1684.

  • Joint Council for Trade and Plantations 1672

    Charles II established the Joint Council for Trade and Plantations in 1672.

  • Plantation Duty Act 1673

    placed a tax on goods from one colony to another colony

  • Committee of the Privy Council 1675

    Charles II established the Committee of the Privy Council on Trade and Plantations in 1675.

  • King Philip's War 1675-1678

    Metacom (King Philip) was a Native-American chief that led an armed conflict against the New England colonists

  • Bacon's Rebellion 1675

    Governor Berkely believed that Virginia needed to be friendly to tribes. However, corruption created a tension and social divide between a small elite vs many poor workers in Virginia, and colonists were becoming more and more resentful. In an act of rebellion, Nathaniel Bacon organized a militia to attack Native Americans indiscriminately.

  • Pennsylvania Colony 1681

    William Penn used the King's debt to his father to receive a patent for a Quaker refuge in the New World. The colony was intended to be a utopia. Philadelphia (the City of Brotherly Love) was the first planned city in the English colonies.

  • Dominion of New England 1685

    The Dominion of New England was created in 1685. It united the New England Colonies into a single administrative unit.

  • Slavery in 1691

    Viginia banned interracial marriages

  • Massachusetts Charter of 1691

    Changed Massachusetts status to a royal colony

  • Slavery in 1692

    Virginia slaves accused of capital crimes are denied the right to trial by jury or right to appeal a conviction

  • Salem Witch Trials - February 1692

    Betty Parris and Abigail Williams started having fits, and accused Tituba of witchcraft

  • Salem Witch Trials - May 1692

    Special court of Oyer and terminer formed

  • Salem Witch Trials - October 1692

    By October 1692, 140 were indicted with witchcraft, of whom 50 confessed, 26 were convicted, 20 were executed, and 1 was crushed to death by stones

  • Salem Witch Trials - 1693

    The special court of Oyer and terminer was dissolved. And courts refused to hear any further charges.

  • Navigation Act of 1696

    established admiralty courts to enforce the previous acts