DC U.S. History Tech Project

  • James Town Founded

    Jamestown was founded on May 13, 1607, when 104 English men came over to North America to start a settlement. The English decided to stop in Jamestown, Virginia to make their new home.
  • First African Slaves

    In August 1619, enslaved Africans were brought to Port Comfort via a ship - White Lion. The slaves were taken to Virginia to be traded for supplies- food, cattle/animals, etc. Days later, another ship- treasurer- arrived in Virginia with even more slaves to bring to North America.
  • House of Burgess

    The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia.
  • Mayflower Arrives

    After more than two months at sea, the Pilgrims arrived at Cape Cod on November 11, 1620. They later sailed up the coast to Plymouth to start building their own town.
  • Massachusetts Bay Founded

    In 1629 King Charles I of England granted the Massachusetts Bay Company a charter to trade in and colonize the part of New England that lay approximately between the Charles and Merrimack Rivers, and settlement began following.
  • First Navigation Act Passes

    British Parliament declared that only English ships would be allowed to bring goods into England and that the North American colonies could only export their commodities, such as tobacco and sugar, to England.
  • King Phillips War

    The war is seen as a final attempt to drive out the colonists and is considered the deadliest war American has ever seen. The colonist army burned villages as they went, killing women and children.
  • Bacons Rebellion

    Nathanial Bacon requested to have the Native Americans pushed off their land so the farmers could have it to farm on. The government told him no so he burned the whole town of Jamestown to the ground.
  • The Glorious Revolution

    Within 30 years of Charles II's restoration to the throne in 1660, England was once again on the verge of civil war. In 1688 the country was invaded by a foreign army and its King fled, as the Crown was offered by Parliament to his own nephew and son-in-law.
  • Salem Witch Trials

    A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. More than 200 people were accused. Thirty people were found guilty, 19 of whom were executed by hanging
  • The War of the Spanish Succession

    A conflict that arose out of the disputed succession to the throne of Spain following the death of the childless Charles II, the last of the Spanish Habsburgs.
  • Virginia Code

    The Code of Virginia is the official record of laws enacted by the Virginia General Assembly and signed by the Governor. These laws apply to everyone in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Code of Virginia is organized into 67 Titles dealing with particular topics; Titles are organized into Chapters.
  • Seven Year's War

    The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France.
  • Industrial Revolution

    The Industrial Revolution shifted societies from an agrarian economy to a manufacturing economy where products were no longer made solely by hand but by machines. This led to increased production and efficiency, lower prices, more goods, improved wages, and migration from rural areas to urban areas.
  • Stamp Act

    The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government without the approval of the colonial legislatures.
  • Invention of the Steam Engine

    The first useful steam engine was invented to be used to pump water out of mines.
  • Boston Massacre

    The Boston Massacre was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which nine British soldiers shot several of a crowd of three or four hundred who were harassing them verbally and throwing various projectiles
  • Boston Tea Party

    It was an act of protest in which a group of 60 American colonists dressed up and snuck onto a boat and threw 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor to agitate against a tax on tea.
  • Declaration of Independence approved

    The Declaration of Independence, headed The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, is the founding document of the United States. It was adopted on July 4, 1776, by the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House, later renamed Independence Hall, in Philadelphia
  • French Revolution

    The French Revolution was a period of major social upheaval that began in 1787 and ended in 1799. It sought to completely change the relationship between the rulers and those they governed and to redefine the nature of political power.
  • Thomas Jefferson Elected President

    Thomas Jefferson was elected the 3rd president of the United States.
  • U.S. Declared War on England

    The American war declaration, opposed by a sizable minority in Congress, had been called in response to the British economic blockade of France, the induction of American seaman into the British Royal Navy against their will, and the British support of Indian tribes along the Great Lakes frontier
  • War of 1812

    The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain, primarily over the impressment of American sailors by the British Navy, as well as disagreements over trade, western expansion, and Native American policy. The war ended inconclusively after three years of fighting.
  • English Forces Burn the White House

    During the War of 1812, the British were urged to attack the former colonies after American troops attacked Canada and burned government buildings. Washington was picked as the target because of its symbolic importance, its easy access from the sea, and the inability of inexperienced American troops to defend it
  • Florida is Purchased by Spain

    Florida had become a burden to Spain, which could not afford to send settlers or man garrisons, so Madrid decided to cede the territory to the United States in exchange for settling the boundary dispute along the Sabine River in Spanish Texas.
  • U.S. Mexican War

    The Mexican-American War marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K.
  • Abraham Lincoln elected President

    Abraham Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States.
  • Civil War

    Civil War was fought over the moral issue of slavery. In fact, it was the economics of slavery and political control of that system that was central to the conflict. A key issue was states' rights.
  • Gettysburg Address

    The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery.
  • First Transcontinental Railroad is completed

    Within ten years of its completion, the railroad shipped $50 million worth of freight coast to coast every year. Just as it opened the markets of the west coast and Asia to the east, it brought products of eastern industry to the growing populace beyond the Mississippi.