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History of America
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Jamestown
The Virginia Company of England established Jamestown, Virginia, on May 14, 1607, the first permanent British settlement in North America. -
Virginia House of Burgesses
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to make conditions in the colony more agreeable for its inhabitants. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, most of them women. -
John Peter Zenger
John Peter Zenger was a German American printer, publisher, editor, and journalist in New York City. He was a defendant in a landmark legal case in American jurisprudence, known as the Zenger Trial. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, in which it forbade all settlers from settling past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. -
Quartering Act
In 1765 the British further angered the colonist by passing the Quartering Act. The act forced the American colonist to house and feed the British forces who were serving in North America. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain that imposed a direct tax on the colonies of British America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the sugar act. Parliament repealed the Stamp Act because boycotts were hurting British trade and used the declaration to justify the repeal and save face. The declaration stated that the Parliament's authority was the same in America as in Britain and asserted Parliament's authority to pass laws that were binding on the American colonies. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Boston Tea Party
At nine o'clock at night, a band of Bostonians disguised as Native Americans boarded the British merchant ship Dartmouth and two companion vessels anchored at Griffin's Wharf in Boston harbor. They began throwing barrels of tea into the water as an act of rebellion against the British taxes on tea. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act, passed by Parliament 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. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763).
The war was fought between the colonies of British America and New France, with both sides supported by military units from their parent countries of Great Britain and France, as well as Native American allies. -
1st Continental Congress
The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the colonies except Georgia sent delegates. -
2nd Continental Congress
It succeeded the First Continental Congress, which met between September 5, 1774 and October 26, 1774, also in Philadelphia. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. -
Declaration of Independence
By issuing the Declaration of Independence, adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, the 13 American colonies severed their political connections to Great Britain.
