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Period: to
British Colonization
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Reign of James I
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Founding of James Town
Decided on locating of the first permanent British settlement in North America, Jamestown, in Virginia -
Virginia
Based on George Weymouth's accounts of voyages to the New England area in 1606, two private companies were formed to seek a patent for colonization on the Atlantic Coast. One of these companies was called the London Company and it was given the southern Virginia territory. The other company was called the Plymouth Company and its patent was for northern Virginia. -
House of Burgesses
This group of representatives met from 1619 until 1776. The members, or burgesses, were elected from each county in Virginia with each county sending two burgesses. The House of Burgesses is important because the ideas and leaders from this House helped bring about the American Revolutionary War. -
Massachusetts
founded by the Pilgrims (William Brewster, John Carver, Edward Winslow, and William Bradford).The Puritans first fled to Holland to escape the punishment of the Church of England. They then decided to go to Massachusetts -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first governing document of Plymouth Colony. It was written by the male passengers of the Mayflower, consisting of separatist Puritans, adventurers, and tradesmen. The Puritans were fleeing from religious persecution by King James of England. -
New York
founded by the Dutch West India Company. The Dutch offered the Indians sixty Dutch guilders for the Island of Manhattan (2400 English cents, or $24). The English then proceeded to take it from the Dutch for nothing. -
Connecticut
The first English settlers arrived in Connecticut in 1633 under the leadership of Reverend Thomas Hooker. They were Puritans from the Massachusetts Bay Colony. -
Navigation Act
The Navigation Act, 1651. The first Navigation Act was passed by the Rump Parliament in October 1651 in the wake of an unsuccessful diplomatic attempt by Oliver St John and Walter Strickland to negotiate an alliance between the English Commonwealth and the United Provinces of the Netherlands. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley.Bacon's Rebellion was an uprising in 1676 in the Virginia Colony in North America, led by a 29-year-old planter Nathaniel Bacon. About a thousand Virginians rose because they resented Virginia Governor William Berkeley's friendly policies towards the Native Americans. -
Salem Witch Trials
The infamous Salem witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of hysteria spread throughout colonial Massachusetts, a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases -
Molasses Act
Was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which imposed a tax of six pence per gallon on imports of molasses from non-English colonies. Parliament created the act largely at the insistence of large plantation owners in the British West Indies. -
Albany Congress
The colonial governments of Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts and New Hampshire all sent commissioners to the Congress. Although the treaty with the Iroquois was the main purpose of the Congress, the delegates also met to discuss intercolonial cooperation on other matters. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. -
Pontiac's Rebellion
Chief Pontiac led a rebellion of a number of tribes against the British and the colonists. Pontiac's Rebellion followed the defeat of the French in the French Indian War (1754-1763) and the conclusion of the series of conflicts referred to as the French and Indian Wars.