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Jamestown
The British establish their first American colony at Jamestown, Virginia, named for King James I, who grants the Virginia Company a charter to settle in the Chesapeake Bay region. -
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Dates
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Dutch East India Company
The Dutch East India Company sends Henry Hudson (d. 1611) to explore the area around present-day New York City and the river north to Albany. The river bears his name and the territory is claimed by the Dutch. -
Pilgrims
Immigration to New England begins with the migration of Pilgrims who establish Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts -
New Netherlands
The island of Manhattan is purchased from local Indians; the colony is named New Netherlands and its capital New Amsterdam. The first group of Dutch settlers disperse up the Hudson River, to the Delaware River area in New Jersey, to Governor's Island, Manhattan Island, and Long Island. -
Great Migration
A large amount of English Puritans with a charter and a mission to set up a Puritan commonwealth establish a settlement on the Massachusetts Bay. Nearly 20,000 English immigrants arrive within the next decades which is a part of the Great Migration -
New Sweden
The Swedes establish the colony of New Sweden in present-day Delaware -
jews
The first Jewish immigrants to America arrive in New Amsterdam as refugees from a Dutch colony in South America. Specifically Sephardic Jews, they were originally forced out of Spain by the Spanish Inquisition -
immigragtoin slows
This was the end of a significant English migration to the Puritan Massachusetts Bay colony. Immigration is officially discouraged hereafter. The first native Africans are brought to Virginia in 1619 as part of new trade relationships. They are hired, with rights of contract, for work on large plantations of tobacco, rice, and indigo (a plant used to make blue dye). By the 1660s, plantation owners change the laws and revoke contracts so that the Africans cannot earn their freedom. -
Pennsylvania
William Penn (1644–1718), a wealthy Quaker and friend of King Charles II of England, receives a large tract of land west of the Delaware River, which he names for himself—Pennsylvania. -
First Schoolin Mid-Atlantic
Quakers establish the first school of the Mid-Atlantic colonies in Pennsylvania. They are among the first groups in America to teach both girls and boys to read and write. Training in classical languages, history, and literature is available at a public school in Philadelphia beginning in 1689 -
Georgia
Georgia is the last of the thirteen English colonies to be settled. It is established not so much for economic opportunity, but to be a military barrier between Spanish-owned Florida and the Carolinas. It is also set up as a refuge for former prisoners and the poor. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War begins. France and Britain fight for seven years over the territory from Canada down the west side of the Mississippi River to New Orleans. In Europe, the conflict is called the Seven Years' War. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris is signed by France and Britain, ending the French and Indian War. England now owns all the territory from the eastern coastline west to the Mississippi. -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act is passed by the British, forbidding American importation of foreign rum and taxing imported molasses, wine, silk, coffee, and a number of other luxury items. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act is passed by the British, taxing all colonial newspapers, advertisements, leases, licenses, pamphlets, and legal documents. -
Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts, named for the British secretary of the treasury, are passed, taxing the colonists on imported paper, glass, lead, and tea. -
Boston Tea Party
Angered by the tea tax and the British East India Company's monopoly on tea trade, the independent New England colonial merchants dump the precious cargo overboard into the Boston harbor. This incident is called the Boston Tea Party. -
Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress of fifty-five representatives (except from the colony of Georgia) meets in Philadelphia to discuss relations with Britain, the possibility of independence, and the hope of a peaceful solution. King George III scorns the thought of reconciliation and declares the colonies to be in a state of open rebellion. -
War of Independence
The American War of Independence begins. Paul Revere makes his midnight ride through Lexington and Concord, Massachusetts, on April 18. -
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson drafts the Declaration of Independence. -
End of the War
English general Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia, ending six years of war between colonial America and Britain. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the War of Independence, and the original thirteen colonies along the eastern seaboard become the first United States. -
Constitutional Convention
A large group of representatives from the newly independent colonies met at the Philadelphia State House to discuss the future of the country and to draft a document reflecting Revolutionary ideals. This meeting in May is called the Constitutional Convention. -
Constitution
The Constituion of the United States get ratified. -
First President
George Washington gets elected to be the first president of the United States. -
citizenship
Congress passes an act requiring two years residency in the U.S. before qualifying for citizenship. Then in 1795 it gets raised from two years to five years. -
Bill of Rights
Ten amendments to the Constitution protecting individual rights are ratified. They are called the Bill of Rights. -
Second President
John Adams becomes the second president of the United States, and serves a four-year term.