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The first permanent English colony in North America is founded at Jamestown, Virginia.
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Settlers in Jamestown start growing tobacco, which becomes the main cash crop for Virginia and Maryland.
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The Virginia House of Burgesses, the first colonial legislature, is founded at Jamestown, the beginning of representative government in America.
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The first Africans arrive in Jamestown, marking the beginning of North America slavery.
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The Pilgrims land at Cape Cod, the beginning of Massachusetts.
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The Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact, agreeing to govern themselves in the new world.
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Puritan leader John Winthrop says Massachusetts should be a “city upon a hill”, raising the idea that America is a special place.
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Planters from the Caribbean Island of Barbados found Charles Town (Charleston) in South Carolina.
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Settlers in Charlestown began growing rice, which becomes the main cash crop for South Carolina.
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Georgia is founded, the last of the 13 colonies.
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The First Great Awakening, a religious revival, begins at Jonathan Edward’s church in Northampton, Massachusetts, and then sweeps the 13 colonies.
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The Stone Rebellion erupts near Charles Town, the largest slave revolt in colonial America.
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With the French and Indian war about to start, Benjamin Franklin proposes the Albany Plan of Union, the first plan to unite the colonies.
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France and Britain began a war that eventually will drive France from most of North America.
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In order to keep peace with Indians, King George lll of England forbids English colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains.
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French and Britain close a war that drove France from most of North America.