-
Period: to
Colonial Era
-
Founding of Jamestown
Virginia Company of London received a charter from King James I for a settlement in the New World. The main attraction was the promise of gold and a strong desire to find a passage through America into the Indies. -
Founding of Viginia House of Burgesses
first representative government group in the American colonies; Famous delegates include Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, and George Washington. -
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
drafted in open meeting; it was a modern constitution. It established a regime democratically controlled by the “substantial citizens.” -
Maryland Act of Toleration
guaranteed toleration to all Christians. It also decreed the death penalty for those, like Jews and atheists who denied the divinity of Jesus -
Halfway Covenant
dramatized the difficulty of maintaining the religious devotion of the founding generation. As time went on, the doors of the Puritan churches swung fully open to all comers, converted or not. The widening of church membership gradually erased the distinction between the “elect” and other members of society. -
King Phillip's War
King Phillip (Metacom) made an alliance to resist English encroachment. He mounted a series of coordinated assaults on English villages in New England. -
Bacon's Rebellion
many of the rebels involved were frontiersman who had been forced into the untamed backcountry in search of land. They resented the friendly policies of Berkley (governor of Virginia at the time) to the Indians. -
Leisler's Rebellion
revolt against the colonial authority of English King James II after New Yorker Jacob Leisler learned of the 1688 Glorious Revolution across the Atlantic. -
Salem Witchcraft Trials
witchcraft persecutions often directed at property-owning women; most that were accused came from families associated with Salem’s growing market economy; accusers came from subsistence farming families -
Massachusetts Bay Founding
“a city upon a hill”; the Puritan bay colonists believed that they had a covenant with God, an agreement to build a holy society that would be a model for humankind. All adult males who belonged to the Puritan congregations, which in time came to be called the Congregational Church could vote; un-churched men remained vote less in elections, as did women. -
First Great Awakening
Liberal ideas began to challenge the Calvinist religion. Some worshipers now proclaimed that human beings were not necessarily predestined to damnation and might save themselves by good works -
John Peter Zenger Trial
trial of a New York newspaper printer over criticism of the royal governor. Any kind of libel was illegal in this time period; therefore, Zenger was arrested. -
Stono Rebellion
20 black slaves met near the Stono River in secret to plan their escape to freedom. They killed 2 storekeepers and stole the guns and powder inside the store. The group of slaves grew as they headed south -
Period: to
Revolutionary Era
-
French and Indian War
War between French and the British with their respective Indian allies; fought over the Ohio River Valley -
Proclamation of 1763
proclamation of the London government to prohibit settlement in the area beyond the Appalachians. It was not designed to oppress the colonists at all, but to work out the Indian problem and prevent another bloody rebellion like Pontiac’s. -
March of Paxton Boys
retaliation against American Indians in the frontier in the aftermath of the French and Indian War and Pontiac’s Rebellion. The retaliation was commenced by some Scotts-Irish immigrants to the American colonies -
Stamp Act
First direct tax on the American colonists by the British. Every legal and public document had to have a Stamp (British seal) on it. Obviously, the Stamp cost money. -
Boston Massacre
A crowd of about 60 townspeople began taunting and throwing snowballs at a squad of 10 redcoats. The Bostonians were still mad over the death of an eleven-year-old boy, shot 10 days earlier. -
Boston Tea Party
about 100 Bostonians, loosely disguised as Indians, boarded the docked ships, smashed open 342 chests of tea, and dumped their contents into the Atlantic in protest of the Tea Act of 1773 -
Lexington and Concord
the British in Boston were sent to take storages of gunpowder and “bag” the “rebel” ringleaders, Samuel Adams and John Hancock. The colonial “Minute Men” at Lexington were pushed back to Concord, where they were ready to send the British running. -
Olive Branch Petition
request to settle the differences of the colonies and Great Britain peacefully. King George III rejects the petition and proclaims the colonies to be in open rebellion. -
Common Sense
challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine (the author) used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain -
Declaration of Independence
document declaring the 13 American colonies independent from Great Britain. Written by Thomas Jefferson and declared in effect by the Continental Congress -
Writing of the AOC
document detailing form of government taken after the Revolutionary War. The focus was on state governments, which had a lot of power. -
Writing of the Constitution
document detailing our form of government. Form of government outlined largely resembles the Virginia Plan
