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The Founding of Roanoke
Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe reach Roanoke Island in July, authorized by Sir Walter Raleigh, claim the land and return to England in September -
The Return from Roanoke *
The colonists on Roanoke Island are forced to return to England due to hardships -
John White Returns to England *
John White returns to England for more supplies leaving the thriving colony. Seven assistants are left in charge with strict instructions that if the colonists should decide to leave the fort, they would carve their destination on a tree and add a Maltese cross if they had to leave because of attack -
The First Resupply of Jamestown
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The Settlement of Quebec
Sent on an expedition by Francis I, King of France, Jacques Cartier arrived at Gaspé in 1534, taking possession of lands that had been inhabited for thousands of years by Amerindians and the Inuit. In 1608, Samuel de Champlain made landfall on the north shore of the St. Lawrence River at a spot that the Aboriginals called Kébec. In 1642, Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve founded a Catholic mission that he named Ville-Marie and which would become Montréal at the end of the 18th century -
The Second Resupply of Jamestown
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The First Meeting of The House of Burgesses
During the 1610s, the small English colony at Jamestown was essentially a failure. Fearful of losing their investment, the officers of the Virginia Company of London embarked upon a series of reforms designed to attract more people to the troubled settlement. They began by ending the company monopoly on land ownership, believing that the colonists would display greater initiative if they had an ownership position in the venture. Company officials also made justice in Virginia more predictable by -
The Pilgrams Land at Plymouth
December 11, 1620, that the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock. The Pilgrims were Separatists, because they wanted to completely separate themselves from the Church of England. It was persecution of the Pilgrims by the English monarchy which lead the Pilgrims to leave England and first migrate to Holland and then subsequently to America. Other ships brought additional Pilgrims to the colony. The FORTUNE (1621), the ANNE and the LITTLE JAMES (1623) and the second MAYFLOWER (1629). -
The First Thanksgiving
In early autumn of 1621, the 53 surviving Pilgrims celebrated their successful harvest, as was the English custom. During this time, "many of the Indians coming... amongst the rest their great king Massasoit, with some ninety men." That 1621 celebration is remembered as the "First Thanksgiving in Plymouth." For more about the "First Thanksgiving," -
The First African American Slave was Sold
At the end of the 14th century Europeans started to take people from Africa against their will. Initially they were mainly used as servants for the rich. The Europeans justified the taking of slaves by arguing that they were providing an opportunity for Africans to become Christians. By the 17th century the removal of slaves from Africa became a holy cause that had the full support of the Christian Church. -
The Settlement of New Amsterdam
Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam, the capital of Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrenders New Amsterdam, the capital of New Netherland, to an English naval squadron under Colonel Richard Nicolls. Stuyvesant had hoped to resist the English, but he was an unpopular ruler, and his Dutch subjects refused to rally around him. Following its capture, New Amsterdam's name was changed to New York, in honor of the Duke of York, who organized the mission. -
The Founding of Boston
The first English immigrant to settle in Boston was the Reverend William Blackstone. He came by himself in 1629, to a peninsula by a stream, called by the local Algonquin inhabitants, Shawmet. A year later, John Winthrop and his Puritan settlers of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, arrived to the north in Salem. Finding Salem less than desirable for a settlement, Blackstone invited Winthrop to visit Shawmut -
The Founding of Rhode Island
In 1524, Italian explorer Giovanni Verrazzano became the first documented European to land on the shores of Rhode Island. He inadvertently gave the future colony its name by describing the island on which he landed to be "about the bigness of the Island of Rhodes". He named this island Luisa, after the Queen Mother of France, under whose flag he sailed. Around 1614, Dutch explorer Adriaen Block visited this same island en route to the Hudson and named it after himself. -
The Settlement of Philidelphia
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King Phillip's War
an armed conflict between Native American inhabitants of present-day southern New England and English colonists and their Native American allies in 1675–76. The war is named after the main leader of the Native American side, Metacomet, to the English as "King Philip". Major Benjamin Church emerged as the Puritan hero of the war; it was his company of Puritan rangers and Native American allies that finally hunted down and killed King Philip on August 12, 1676 The war continued in northern England -
Bacon's Reblellion
The rebellion began as a dispute among English settlers in Virginia over American Indian policy. It erupted into a civil war pitting anti-American-Indian western settlers against Governor William Berkeley and his allies who encouraged more conciliatory policies toward indigenous peoples. Although the rebellion took the name of Nathaniel Bacon, who arrived as young man in Virginia in 1674 and was immediately welcomed into elite society, the causes and consequences of the rebellion, -
The Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft—the Devil's magic—and 20 were executed. Eventually, the colony admitted the trials were a mistake and compensated the families of those convicted. Since then, the story of the trials has become synonymous with paranoia and injustice, and it continues to beguile the popular imagination more than 300 years later Read more: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo -
The Yamasee War *
An Indian confederation led by the Yamasee came close to exterminating the white settlements in their area -
The Start of The Elightenment in America
a term sometimes employed to describe the intellectual culture of the British North American colonies and the early United States . -
The Founding of Georgia
•In 1733, a group of settlers joined Oglethorpe to found Savannah, Georgia.
•Georgia began with the intention to have little landholding and no slavery. However, when it became a royal colony in 1752, plantations and slavey became a major part of the Georgian economy.
•Georgia was in the first group of states to ratify the new Constitution after the Revolutionary War -
Start of the Great Awakening in America
Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 20th century. Each of these "Great Awakenings" was characterized by widespread revivals led by evangelical Protestant ministers, a sharp increase of interest in religion, a profound sense of conviction and redemption on the part of those affected, a jump in evangelical church membership, and the formation of new religious movements and denominations. -
Ben Franklin Open Printing Shop
Bought property on Philadelphia's Market Street. Eventually he put together several lots of land on Market Street. These housed his print shop and retail space, -
The Fall of Quebec
Pitt's success during his first year of power was marvelous. He had played a winning band in the terrible war that convulsed Europe at the time, and had won the most signal victories in America. Louisburg, Frontenac, and Duquesne had fallen before his victorious armies, and the French hold on the Ohio country was entirely broken. Pitt now planned still greater things for the coming year -- no less than the complete conquest of New France, and the expulsion of French authority from all North Amer -
The Seven Years War Ended
Due to disputes over land is won by Great Britain. France gives England all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish give up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba. -
The Proclamation of 1763
The end of the French and Indian War in 1763 was a cause for great celebration in the colonies, for it removed several ominous barriers and opened up a host of new opportunities for the colonists. The French had effectively hemmed in the British settlers and had, from the perspective of the settlers, played the "Indians" against them. The first thing on the minds of colonists was the great western frontier that had opened to them when the French ceded that contested territory to the British. The -
The Boston Tea Party
ictory in the French and Indian War was costly for the British. At the war's conclusion in 1763, King George III and his government looked to taxing the American colonies as a way of recouping their war costs. They were also looking for ways to reestablish control over the colonial governments that had become increasingly independent while the Crown was distracted by the war. Royal ineptitude compounded the problem. A series of actions including the Stamp Act (1765), the Townsend Acts (1767) and -
Parliament Passes the Sugar Act
On April 5, 1764, Parliament passed a modified version of the Sugar and Molasses Act (1733), which was about to expire. Under the Molasses Act colonial merchants had been required to pay a tax of six pence per gallon on the importation of foreign molasses. But because of corruption, they mostly evaded the taxes and undercut the intention of the tax — that the English product would be cheaper than that from the French West Indies. This hurt the British West Indies market in molasses and sugar and -
The End of the American Revolution
Yorktown, Virginia
The British were surrounded by the Americans on land, and by the French in the ocean.
This French battle plan illustrates the siege of Yorktown and the naval blockade
that defeated the British in 1781.
France's Admiral de Grasse arrived in time to block a British fleet that was coming to rescue Lord Cornwallis from French and American land forces. -
The Parliament Passes the Stamp Act
On February 6th, 1765 George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and others was denied. The bill was passed on February 17, approved by the Lords on March 8th, and two weeks later ordered in effect by the King. The Stamp Act was Parliament's first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the colonies. Great Britain was faced with a massive national debt following the -
The Battle of Lexington
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The First Meeting of the Sons of Liberty
n Boston in early summer of 1765 a group of shopkeepers and artisans who called themselves The Loyal Nine, began preparing for agitation against the Stamp Act. As that group grew, it came to be known as the Sons of Liberty. And grow it did! These were not the leading men of Boston, but rather workers and tradesmen. It was unseemly that they would be so agitated by a parliamentary act. Though their ranks did not include Samuel and John Adams, the fact may have been a result of a mutually benefici -
The Stamp Act was Repealed
The American colonists won their first victory over Parliament when the Stamp Act was repealed in early 1766. The boycott of English goods proved to be the decisive factor, as there was no way for Grenville and his party to persuade the rest of Parliament to ignore the pain the American boycott was inflicting on English manufacturers. Still, the repeal came only after another round of long and contentious debates in which William Pitt delivered a historic speech in defense of the Americans: “ -
Ben Franklin's First European Visit
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Parliament Pssses the Townshend Acts
Series of 1767 laws named for Charles Townshend, British Chancellor of the Exchequer (Treasurer). These laws placed new taxes on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. Colonial reaction to these taxes was the same as to the Sugar Act and Stamp Act, and Britain eventually repealed all the taxes except the one on tea. In response to the sometimes violent protests by the American colonists, Great Britain sent more troops to the colonies -
The Parliament Passes the Tea Act
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies, and in fact imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. This tea was to be shipped directly to the colonies, and sold at a bargain price. The Townshend Duties were still in place, however, and -
The Parliament Passes the Intolerable Acts
The government spent immense sums of money on troops and equipment in an attempt to subjugate Massachusetts. British merchants had lost huge sums of money on looted, spoiled, and destroyed goods shipped to the colonies. The revenue generated by the Townshend duties, in 1770, amounted to less than £21,000. On March 5, 1770, Parliament repealed the duties, except for the one on tea. That same day, the Boston massacre set a course that would lead the Royal Governor to evacuate the occupying army fr -
The First Continental Congress Meets
A convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. -
The First Continental Congress meets
A convention of delegates from twelve of the thirteen North American colonies that met on September 5, 1774, at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, early in the American Revolution. It was called in response to the passage of the Coercive Acts (also known as Intolerable Acts by the Colonial Americans) by the British Parliament. The Intolerable Acts had punished Boston for the Boston Tea Party. -
The American Revolution *
The American Revolution creates the United States of America. The Revolution was due to the British burden of taxes and total power to legislate any laws governing the American colonies -
The Battle of Concord
On the evening of April 18th, the British troops were ferried across the Boston Harbor to start their march on Lexington. Paul Revere hung two lanterns in the church steeple. Then Paul Revere, William Dawes and Dr. Samuel Prescott rode to warn the colonists that the British were coming.
Paul Revere rode to Lexington and alerted Samual Adams and John Hancock. By the time the British soldiers reached Lexington, Samual Adams and John Hancock had escaped.
Minute Man Memorial, Concord, Massachus -
The Second Continental Congress Meets
The Second Continental Congress meeting started with the battle of Lexington and Concord fresh in their memories. The New England militia were still encamped outside of Boston trying to drive the British out of Boston. The Second Continental Congress established the militia as the Continental Army to represent the thirteen states. They also elected George Washington as Commander in Chief of the Continental Army. -
The Olive Branch Petition
was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 5 and submitted to King George on July 8, 1775. It was an attempt to assert the rights of the colonists while maintaining their loyalty to the British crown. King George refused to read the petition and on August 23 proclaimed that the colonists had "proceeded to open and avowed rebellion." -
Publishing of " Common Sense "
Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight that occurred on March 5, 1770, between a "patriot" mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to rouse the ire of the citizenry. The presence of British troops in the city of Boston was increasingly unwelcome. The riot began when about 50 citizens attacked a British sentinel. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in additional soldiers -
The Declaration of Independence
a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
The Crossing of the Delaware
the first move in a surprise attack organized by George Washington against the Hessian forces in Trenton, New Jersey. Planned in partial secrecy, Washington led a column of Continental Army troops across the icy Delaware River in a logistically challenging and dangerous operation. Other planned crossings in support of the operation were either called off or ineffective, but this did not prevent Washington from successfully surprising and defeating the troops of Johann Rall quartered in Trenton. -
The Battle of Treton
during the American Revolutionary War, after General George Washington's crossing of the Delaware River north of Trenton, New Jersey. The hazardous crossing in adverse weather made it possible for Washington to lead the main body of the Continental Army against Hessian soldiers garrisoned at Trenton. After a brief battle, nearly the entire Hessian force was captured, with negligible losses to the Americans. The battle significantly boosted the Continental Army's flagging morale, and inspired re- -
Marquis de Lafayette Lands in America
Marquis had returned to France and pursued a political career championing the ideals of liberty that the fledgeling US Republic represented. After the Marquis left the French legislature in 1824, President James Monroe invited him to tour the United States, partly to instill the Spirit of 1776 in the next generation of Americans[1] and partly to celebrate the nation's 50th anniversary. -
The Battle of Fort Ticonderoga
Fort Ticonderoga was built by the French as Fort Carillon when they held Canada and the routes to the southern end of Lake Champlain. In 1758 during the French and Indian War Ticonderoga was the scene of a fearsome battle between the British and American colonists and the French under the Marquis de Montcalm. The following year, the fort was captured by the British under Amherst. -
The Battle at Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga is said to be the biggest turning point in the Revolutionary War. The battle showed the world that the young American army was an effective fighting force. It could beat highly trained British troops in a major battle. As a result of this great battle, the European powers were interested in the cause of the Americans and began to support them. -
The Winter at Valley Forge
The Continental Army arrived at Valley Forge on December 19, 1777, after a tough campaign of battles with the British. Since early fall, the General had problems with getting supplies to his troops. As winter approached, the problems became worse. Soldiers received irregular supplies of meat and bread. Shortages forced the men to forage for food in the forests and farm fields that they passed. -
Articles of Confederation were signed
The representatives of the thirteen states agree to create a confederacy called the United States of America, in which each state maintains its own sovereignty and all rights to govern, except those rights specifically granted to Congress. -
The Battle of Yorktown
General George Washington learned that Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis' army was encamped near Yorktown, VA. After discussing options with his French ally, Lieutenant General Jean-Baptiste Ponton de Rochambeau, Washington decided to quietly move his army away from New York City with the goal of crushing Cornwallis' isolated force. Departing on August 21, the Franco-American army began marching south. As any success would be dependent upon the French navy's ability to prevent Cornwalli -
The Treaty of Paris Signed *
The Treaty of Paris is signed by the victorious United States and the defeated Great Britain -
The 3/5's Compromise is Passed
was a compromise between Southern and Northern states reached during the Philadelphia Convention of 1787 in which three-fifths of the population of slaves would be counted for enumeration purposes regarding both the distribution of taxes and the apportionment of the members of the United States House of Representatives. It was proposed by delegates James Wilson and Roger Sherman. -
The Great Compromise is Passed
When it appeared that the Constitutional Convention would break up the delegates began to make compromises on important issues. The first thing that they resolved was the problem of State Representation. -
The Constitutional Convention
State House in Philadelphia, the same location where the Declaration of Independence had been signed 11 years earlier. For four months, 55 delegates from the several states met to frame a Constitution for a federal republic that would last into "remote futurity." This is the story of the delegates to that convention and the framing of the federal Constitution. -
Federalist Papers Published
These were published to help defend the ratification of the new constitution. -
George Washington was Inaugurated as President
The Nation's first chief executive took his oath of office in April in New York City on the balcony of the Senate Chamber at Federal Hall on Wall Street. General Washington had been unanimously elected President by the first electoral college, and John Adams was elected Vice President because he received the second greatest number of votes. -
Shay's Rebellion
Farmers petitioned the state senate to issue paper money and to halt foreclosure of mortgages on their property and their own imprisonment for debt as a result of high land taxes . -
The Whiskey Rebellion
Angered by an excise tax imposed on whiskey in 1791 by the federal government, farmers in the western counties of Pennsylvania engaged in a series of attacks on excise agents.
