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Jamestown
-Jamestown is founded in 1607
- it was first a fort built by 100 men who had arrived in New England after london investors sent british ships to Chesapeake Bay
- Honored the king and was destined to be the first English settlement in North America -
First commercial shipments of tobacco to England
-John Rolfe heads the first commercial shipments of tobacco to England in 1613
- tobacco provided Virginia colonists with "merchantable commodity" and also increased pressure to expand into Indian territory
- led to the introduction of headright grants -
Indentured Servants in Colonial America
-English migrants who in exchange for the cost of transportation to America, continued to labor for a master for a fixed amount of time
- caused by the introduction of headright grants and the demanding need for tobacco hand labor -
Introduction of Headright Grants
-awards of large plantations on the condition that people who recieved the grants transport workers from England at their own cost.
-developed due to the hand labor that tobacco required
- led to the introduction of indentured servants -
Pilgrims/ Separatists
-Pilgrims embark on the Mayflower in September of 1620 and in November, reach Massachusetts Bay; they wanted to establish their own church (apart from the church of England) where they could worship freely and be able to make their own decisions
-their arrival on the new land would lead many other religious groups to journey to America to establish their own religious communities
- also would set forth some of the first interactions between the english and the indians -
Mayflower Compact
-Because pilgrims began to grumble about authority, William Bradford drafted the Mayflower Compact shortly after their arrival in America
- said that all men of the expedition did "covenant and combine themselves together into a civil body politic"
-was the first document of self-government in North America -
Massachusetts Bay Colony is officially established
- a group of wealthy english Puritans (people who wished to purify and reform the church from within) establish the Massachussetts Bay colony in 1630 after they were granted a royal charter in 1629 -were given the rights to settle and trade as well as to religiously, peaceably, and civily govern the territory
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Calverts
-The Lords Baltimore and supporters of the monarchy who were granted 10 million acres of land by King Charles I and started the colony of Maryland
-was a proprietary colony (a colony in which a small group of people had complete power and control over the land0
-eventually developed a system of headright grants in 1640 due to the pressure of tobacco -
Roger Williams
- a clergyman who believed in religious toleration and the seperation of church and state, was banished from the Bay colony in 1636 (by Puritans)
- he migrated north and purchased land from the Indians and then founded the city of Providence, Rhode Island in the spring of that same year
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Anne Hutchinson
-led religious discussion groups that criticized Boston ministers; she wanted people to believe that they could "earn" their way to heaven
- claimed that she had had a direct relevation from god and in 1638 was banished from the Bay colony. She moved to Roger William's settlement with her followerers where they later established their own community later that year -
The Bloody Tenet of Persecution
-written by Roger Williams , the idea that "forced worship sinks in God's nostrils" was heavily portrayed throughout the book
- the argument gained appeal following the religious excesses of the English civil war- showing significance after King Charles II orders a stop to religious persecution in 1661 -
Navigation Acts
-King Charles passed the Navigation Acts in 1651 to provide a measure of central control over the colonial commerce
- aimed specifically at excluding the Dutch from carrying trade -
Halfway Covenant
- an agreement of the New England colonies that stated that members of the congregation children who had not experienced conversion themselves could join as "half-way" members (they were restricted from participating in communion)
- significance is that unlike in the past, the puritans chose to manage rather than resolve the conflicts involved in becoming an established religion
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King Philip's War
-King Philip's War erupted the spring of 1675 and was a year-long battle in which Indians of southern New England and the Puritan colonies fought for the control of land
-was significant because it marked the end of Indian resistance in New England -
Bacon's Rebellion
- Nathaniel Bacon leads backcountry settlers (some former indentured servants) in the violent murder of Indians, but when colonial authorities try to step in, they turn their fury against the town of Jamestown- burning and pillaging the town
- authorities hoped to appeal to backcountry settlers by enlarging the stock of available land and becoming favorable to the idea of expanding into Indian territory -inspired other uprisings to occur in the following years
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William Penn
-William Penn, a quaker who wanted to make the western portion of Jersey a "religious haven" was granted land west of the Delaware by King Charles in 1681
- he played a major role in founding Pennsylvania and its capital Pennsylvania ( which later became known as America's breadbasket and the most important colonial port in North America) -
King Williams War
-lasting from 1689-1697, France and England battle on the northern frontiers of New England and New York
- war is ended by the Treaty of Ryswick (1697) which established inconclusive peace, ultimately leading to the fighting being resumed three years later in Queen Anne's War -
Salem Witch Trials
-The trials took place over the course of the 17th century when women who were childless, widowed, or modeled independence or assertiveness were accused of witchcraft.
- were caused mainly because of the incredibly strict and harsh communities that Puritans were forced to live in -
Wool Act of 1699, Hat Act of 1732, Iron Act of 1750
-These acts ( the date above corresponds with the Wool Act of 1699 although I wasn't sure of the day and month) placed limitations on colonial enterpreises that might compete with those in England
- colonial manufacture of these products was forbidden
- result of the navigation acts passed by parliament between 1651-1696 -
Florida Slave Policy
-spanish declared that Florida would become a refuge for escaped slvaes from the English colonies
- offered free land to any fugitives who could help defend the colony and convert to catholicism; many africans established colonies surrounding St. Augustine
- paved the road for tension and conflict within the next few years (Queen Anne's War) -
Middle Passage
-English sailors christened the voyage of slave ships the Middle Passage in the 18th century
-voyage of ships:
*England to Africa
*Africa to America
* America to England
- african americans were chained to one another and often forced to lie on their own body waste
- 1 of every 6 Africans died on the Middle Passage -
Immigration Policies
-British colonies grew more rapidly than other nations due to less restrictive immigration policies. While the strict policies in New England and New Spain curbed the number of english immigrants, Britain allowed a massive immigration of English people to North America during the 17th century
- by 1700 there were a total of 150,000 English men and women
-British were also the only colonial power to encourage the immigration of foreighn nationals to their colonies- stimulating even more growth -
Enlightenment
- argued that the Universe was governed by natural laws that people could understand and apply to their own advantage
- emphasized rationality, harmony and order apart from the traditional folk culture themes of unfathomable mysteries of God and nature and the inevitability of human failure -appealed to those whose ordinary lives had improved their lot
- introduced a new way of thinking and inspired poetry, essays, novels and theatrical works in the british colonies
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Redemptioners
- families who arranged with the ships owner to pay thier passage on arrival in North America
- upon arrival in the colonies they sold themselves for the payment if no one stepped forth to pay- often times being seperated as a result
- whether it be redemptioners or indentured servants, it was estimated that over their term, they earned their masters about 50 pounds sterling, an equivalent to 4 or 5 thousand dollars today. This played a major role in the economic health of colonial america.
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French Crescent
- during the 17th century, France establishes a great crescent of colonies, military posts, and settlements using their trade network and Indian alliances
- extended form the mouth of the St. Lawrence, Southwest to the great lakes, and down the Miss. to the Gulf of Mexico
- "long lots": pieces of land that stretched back to the rivers-giving settlers bottomlands to farm as well as frontage to waterways
- was significant because it drew people to come to the French colonies (and they did!)
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Fictive Kinship
- african american parents encouraged their kids to use family terms in addressing unrelated people (auntie/uncle) -"brother" and "sister" were affectionate terms for age mates -during the middle passage it was common for adults to call all children "son" or "daughter"
- fictive kinship may be one of the first devices enslaved Africans used to humanize the world of slavery
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Queen Anne's War
-England fights France and Spain in the Caribbean and on the northern frontier of New France (part of the European conflict known as the War of the Spanish Succession)
- At the conclusion of the war in 1713, France was forced to give Acadia, Newfoundland and Hudson Bay to Great Britain in exchange for guarantees of security for the french speaking residents of those provinces
-the British win the right to supply slaves to spanish colonies in the Americas (1713) -
Virginia Slave Code
-declared that children inherited the status of their slave mother
-said that baptism could not alter conditions of servitude
- said that the death of a slave during punishment could not be considered a felony
- became a model for other colonies and helped to strengthen the institution of slavery in the 18th century -
Saybrook Platform
- enacted a system of governance by councils of ministers rather than by congregations
- established due to tensions between congregational autonomy and central control that accompanied the creation of a state of church
- was significant because it weakened the passion and committment of church members
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Jonathon Edwards
-Reverend in the community of Northampton, Western Massachussets
- tried to challenge the rationalist approach to religion by preaching to a group of young people from poor families in a way that appealed to their emotions
-sparked the Great Awakening -
Indian Alliances
-Indians were concerned with the tremendous growth of colonial population in the British Atlantic coastal colonies
-In the 1730's and 1740's Pennsylvania's seizures of lands from the Delawares gave the Indians a look at what was to come
-Significance: Indian alliances with France were not due to the Indians great love or affection towards France- but more over because they greatly feared British expansion -
Georgia
- created by an act of Parliament in 1732
- tired to prohibit slavery but found that coastal colonies were being settled by South Carolina planters with their slaves
- was opened to slavery under royal authority in 1752 ( the coast becomes an extension of the Carolina low county system)
- leader: James Oglethorpe
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Poor Richard's Almanac
- a yearly almanac written by Benjamin Franklin (first published in 1732 and continuing through 1757) -was significant because Franklin used a traditional literary form to promote the Enlightenment emphasis on useful and practical knowledge
- Franklin was one of the first Americans to bring Enlightenment thought to ordinary folk
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Molasses Act of 1733
-enacted by Parliament due to pressure from British West Indian planters
-placed a prohibitive duty on sugar products brought from foreign countries to North America
- if the regulations had been strictly enforced there would have been conflict with the colonists but because they weren't, the merchants and manufacturers of the port cities of the North prospered -
George Whitefield
- played a role in the growth of the Great Awakening
- evangelical Anglican minister from England who made the first several tours of the colonies -said that the right kind of preaching could have a powerful effect (people falling to the ground, wringing their hands, lifting their eyes to heaven and crying to god, etc) -"They seemed like persons awakened by the last trumpet and coming out of their graves to judgment" - Whitefield
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War of Jenkin's Ear
-Great Britain v. Spain in the Caribbean and Georgia (part of the Eruopean War of the Austrian Succession)
-lasts from 1739-1743
-erupts when a one-eared sea captain by the name of Jenkin's testifies before the House to the indiginities suffered by British merchant sailors at the hands of the spanish
*pulls out a dry and withered ear- claiming it had been cut from his head!
-produced an agreement on the boundary of Georgia and Florida that today seperates those states -
Stono Rebellion
-20 newly arrived Africans sacked the armory in Stono, South Carolina and began marching to Florida for freedom
- grew to nearly 100 before they were destroyed in battle by the militia
- inspired many other racial uprisings to occur afterwards which ultimately caused colonial officials to shut off slave trade in South Carolina for 10 years -
Great Awakening
-widespread colonial revival of religion (known to be the American version of the second phase of the protestant reformation)
- religious leaders condemned laxity, decadence, and officialism of established protestantism and reinvigorated it with calls for piety and purity
- increased # of young people involved in church
-gave townspeople a voice in the community and made their opinions actually count
- introduced many slaves to christianity
- brought "unchurched" colonists back to Protestantism -
King George's War
-lasts from 1744-1748
-Great Britain and France fight in Acadia and Nova Scotia (second American round of the War of the Austrian Succession)
- caused French to negotiate a settlement in 1748 but because the war had been fought to a stalemate in other areas, it restored the prewar status quo and France got Louisiana back
-was the first time a concluding battle had been fought on American soil -
French and Indian War
-last of the great colonial wars pitting Great Britain against France and Spain (known in Europe as the Seven Years War)
- was the final and most destructive conflict between France and Britain before the French Revolution
- decided the future for the region between the Miss. River and the Appalachain Mts
- laid the conflict for the American Revolution between the British and the American colonies -
John Woolman
-Quaker; wrote "Considerations on the Keeping of Negroes" (published in 1754)
-pointed to the bible's declaration that all peoples were of one blood and urged his readers to imagine themselves inthe place of Africans
- significant because it was one of the first times public sympathy had been shown toward african slaves -
"Sinners in the Angry Hands of God"
- sermon written by Jonathan Edwards and preached in 1754 -was significant because it portrays Edward's and other Puritan predecessors outlook of a cruel and hell-bent outlook on the relationship between humankind and God
- expressed the awful weight of sin and was aimed at hard-hearted congregations
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Old Lights v. New Lights
New lights: railed against Arminianism and called for revival of Calvinism
Old lights: condemned emotional enthusiasm as part of the heresty of believing in a personal and direct relationship with God outside the order of the church
- Old lights stirred up lots of trouble towards the new lights and in the 1760s they try to politicize the dispute by passing laws in the general assembly but instead end up getting thrown out of office by the New lights. The leadership they recieve assists in Revol. -
Junipera Serra
-president of the missions in Baja
- joined Gaspar de Portola and other franciscan missions in Baja in establishing a spanish presence in the north
-helped found the first mission and pueblo conplex in present-day California
-established headquarters at Monterey Bay on the central coast in 1770 -
Merchantilism
-created by European imperial powers in the early 19th century to ensure that wealth from slavery benefited their states
-political control of the economy by the state
- belief that the world economy is a "zero-sum" game in which economic gains were equal to losses
- Essential aspect of the theory: STEALING WEALTH (i.e. slavery because masters were stealing the labor of slaves) -
Death of princess DIana
- Princess Diana of Whales is killed in a car accident
- was later determined that the wreck was caused by her driver, Henri Paul who lost control of the car at high speeds while intoxicated and under the influence of anti-depressants
- the fatal accident turned out to be part of a conspiracy involving Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh
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Lewinsky Scandal
- a sex scandal between Bill Clinton (President at the time) and 22-year-old white house intern Monica Lewinsky
- led to Clinton's impeachment by the U.S. House of Representatives in 1998
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Columbine shootings
- Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, two students attending Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado embark on a massacre killing 12 students and a teacher and injuring 21 others at the school
- they then committed suicide
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September 11 Attacks
- Iraqi terrorists under the influnence of Osama Bin Ladin hijacked 4 commercial passenger jet airliners- crashing two of them into the world trade centers (killing all on board and many in the building), one of them into the Pentagon, and another in a field in Pennsylvania after passengers attempted to retake control over the plan
- killed 2,974 in all
- led to the war in Iraq in 2006
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Columbia Space Shuttle destroyed
- the spaceship Columbia disintegrated during re-entry over Texas on its 28th mission -all seven passengers were killed
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Tsunami in Asia
- a tsunami hits several countries along the Indian Ocean (Sri Lanka, India and Thailand were hit the hardest), killing over 23,000 people and leaving many cities in complete ruins
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Hurricane Katrina
- hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans, Lousiana as a category three storm- killing close to 1,900 people and leaving more than $100 billion dollars in preliminary damages
- estimated to have been the costliest tropical cyclone in U.S. history
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Introduction of Myspace
- Myspace, a social networking site, is introduced in early 2006 as a place where friends can chat and share pictures and videos -by June, it is the most popular social networking site with close to 100 million users
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Shootings at Virginia Tech
- took place on the campus of Virgina Polytechnic Institute and State University -perpertrator was Seung-Hui Cho who killed 32 people and wounded many others before committing suicide
- the massacre was the deadliest peacetime shooting incident by a single gunman in U.S. history, on or off a school campus
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Obama wins presidential election
- Barack Obama is elected the 44th president of the United States
- becomes the first African American to be elected into presidential office