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Roanoke Island Colony founded. Every settler mysteriously vanishes.
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Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in the new world, is founded.
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First representative assembly in the New World.
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An agreement to self-government called the Mayflower Compact was signed by all the free men on the Mayflower.
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Roger Williams founds Providence, RI
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British Parliament passed first navigation act.
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Nathaniel Bacon leads revolt against British Governor Sir William Berkeley.
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William Penn signs treaty with Delaware Indians and buys land for Pennsylvania
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20 alleged witches executed
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Great Awakening Revival Begins
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Benjamin Franklin publishes the first Poor Richard's Almanac
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Zenger was accused of speaking adversely of the Government. Reason we now have the first Amendment
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Organized colonies
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French and Indian War begins
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forbade colonist from settling west of the Appalachian Mts.
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Sugar Act passed by British Parliament to pay for the French and Indian War
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Stamp Act enacted by British Parliament to fund royal troops
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Quartering Act passed by British Parliament, requiring colonists to house British troops
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levied taxes
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British Troops fire into Boston mob, killing 5
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Cargo thrown overboard to protest the tea tax
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curtailed Massachusetts self-rule
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Paul Revere and William Dawes rode to alert Patriots that the British were coming
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First battles of the Revolutionary war fought
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Thomas Paine publishes his pro-independence pamphlet, and sells 100,000 copies
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Declaration of Independence approved, giving the 13 colonies independence from Britain
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Turning point of the war in America's favor. It convinced Europe that America might actually win the war and persuaded France to help us.
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Articles of Confederation adopted by Continental Congress. Became the first outline of America's new government, and was the precedent to the Constitution.
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John Paul Jones of the Bonhomme Richard defeated Serapis in British North Sea waters.
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Cornwallis retires to Yorktown, Virginia
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British General Cornwallis surrenders
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Treaty of Paris signed, ended Revolutionary War
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Constitutional Convention opened in Philadelphia. U.S. Constitution accepted by delegates September 17. Delaware became first state to ratify it December 7, 1787
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Adopted by Continental Congress for Northwest Territory. Made rules for statehood and guaranteed freedom of religion, support for schools, and banned slavery.
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George Washington unanimously voted first President of the United States of America. John Adams became his Vice-President.
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Bill of Rights submitted to the states. Went into effect December 15th
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Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, making it easier and more profitable to grow cotton, thus reviving southern slavery
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Washington warned against permanent alliances with foreign powers, big public debt, large military establishments, and devices of small, artful, enterprising minority.
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Thomas Jefferson buys Louisiana from Napoleon for about three cents an acre, doubling the size of the U.S.
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Thomas Jefferson orders Meriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore the Louisiana Purchase. Expedition ended September 23rd, 1806
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Robert Fulton invents the first practical steamboat that could move against the current or a strong wind
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War declared on Britain for seizing U.S. ships, kidnapping over 4000 U.S. sailors, and arming Native Americans
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Francis Scott Key writes the poem, Star Spangled Banner, during the bombardment of Fort McHenry.
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President James Monroe gives the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the Americas wereclosed to further colinization and that The U.S. considered itself the protector of Latin America.
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Cherokee Indians forced to walk from their homeland of Georgia to Oklahoma in what is come to be known as the Trail of Tears
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Samuel F.B. Morse sends the first telegraph message.
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Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton led the Seneca Falls, NY Women's rights convention
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California was to be admitted as a free state, only if the fugitive slave law was strengthened. Proposed by Henry Clay.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, which exposed the evils of slavery
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The Court ruled that slaves did not become free if taken into a free state, blacks could not be citizens, and the Missouri Compromise was considered unconstitutional.
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Republican Abraham Lincoln elected President in a four-way race.
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Seven Southern states secede to set up the Confederate States of America and elect Jefferson Davis President.
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Confederate Forces fire on the Union controlled Fort Sumter, starting the Civil War.
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The Battle of Antietam, the bloodiest one day battle of the war, is fought.
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President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing all slaves in areas still in rebellion.
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Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ullyses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House
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Linoln is shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theatre
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13th Amendment abolishes slavery
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The 14th Amendment, providing citizenship to all born in the U.S., is ratified
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The 15th Amendment gave blacks the right to vote.
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Clara Barton Founds the American Red Cross
