-
Roanoke
Roanoke is a colony that was set out to be the be the first settlement for the English. The colony was abandoned after only three years after it was founded. There was no trace of the 120 settlers that vanished. -
Jamestown
On December 6, 1607, 104 English man and boys traveled to Virginia. On May 13, the English chose Jamestown as the first permanent settlement. -
Salutary Neglect
Salutary Neglect was an unwritten policy of the British government. It was in practice from the late 1600s to the mid 1700s. The name came from a British statesman that said the wise and salutary neglect by the British that allowed the colonies to grow significantly. -
House of Burggesses
The House of Burgesses was a gathering of elected people to represent Virginia that met from 1643 to 1776. This group was the first democratic government in America. -
Great Migration
The puritans came to America because they wanted to separate from the English church. They wanted to separate from the church because in England, you could only participate in the religion the king or queen. -
Mayflower/Plymouth/Mayflower Compact
The mayflower is a ship that a group of English families, also known as the Pilgrims, took from English to America in 1620. The Mayflower Compact were rules for self-governance made by the English settlers. On September 16, 1620, the Mayflower sailed from Plymouth. -
New York
The colony of New York started when the Dutch settled along the Hudson River in 1624 and then they established the colony of New Amsterdam. Then in 1664, the English took over the colony and renamed it New York. -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
Massachusetts Bay Colony was settled in by the Puritans under the leadership of John Winthrop. In Massachusetts Bay Colony, the Puritans were able to participate in whatever religion they wanted to unlike in England. -
Maryland
In 1632, King Charles I granted a charter to George Calvert. The charter allowed him ownership rights to a region east of the Potomac River in exchange for a share of the money from the land.The colony of Mary land was a safe haven for English Catholics fleeing anti-Catholic persecution in Europe. -
Connecticut
The founders of the Connecticut colony were Thomas Hooker and John Haynes. In 1636, the English arrived when a large group of Puritans from Massachusetts founded the Colony of Connecticut at the city of Hartford. They came looking for freedom of religion. -
Rhode Island
Rhode Island was founded by Roger Williams in 1636. Roger Williams had been banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his of religious tolerance. Rhode Island became a safe place for people persecuted for their religious beliefs. -
Maryland Toleration Act
The assembly of the Province of Maryland passed “An Act Concerning Religion,” also called the Maryland Toleration Act of 1649. The act was meant to ensure freedom of religion for Christian settlers of in the colony. -
Carolina
Charles II issued a new charter to a group of eight English noblemen, granting them the land of Carolina, as a reward for their faithful support of his efforts to regain the throne of England. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was the most serious challenge to royal authority before the American Revolution. Historians often connect this event to the decline of indentured servitude and the corresponding rise of slavery within the British American colonies. The biggest effect of Bacon's Rebellion was that labor in Virginia and other colonies turned away from using indentured servants. People began to invest in slavery instead. -
Pennsylvania
William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681, when King Charles II granted him a charter for over 45,000 square miles of land. Penn had previously helped found Quaker settlements in West New Jersey and was eager to expand his Quaker colony. -
Salem Witch Trials
In 1692, Salem, Massachusetts authorities interrogated Sarah Good. The authorities wanted to determine if they indeed practiced witchcraft. This is how the infamous Salem Witch Trials began. None of the people who were accused were found guilty. -
Great Awakening and Enlightenment
The First Great Awakening was a period when spirituality was revived. This feeling swept through the American colonies between the 1730s and 1770s. . -
French-Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a large war between Great Britain and France. This war is also known as the Seven Years' War. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The British received Canada from France and Florida from Spain. France got to keep its West Indian sugar islands and gave Louisiana to Spain. -
Albany Plan
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. In 1754, representatives from seven of the British colonies adopted the plan. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation Line of 1763 was a British-produced boundary marked in the Appalachian Mountains. The proclamation required that future land purchases be made only by the government. The colonists strongly objected to the Proclamation of 1763. They resented that the British government was restricting their settlements.