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Jamestown Founding
The Virginia Company of England made a daring proposition: sail to the new, mysterious land, which they called Virginia in honor of Elizabeth I, the Virgin Queen, and begin a settlement. They established Jamestown, Virginia, on May 14, 1607, the first permanent British settlement in North America. -
VA House of Burgesses
The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first legislative assembly of elected representatives in North America. The House was established by the Virginia Company, who created the body as part of an effort to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America and to make conditions in the colony more agreeable for its current inhabitants. -
Mayflower Compact
The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the United States. It served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. -
Plymouth Founding
Plymouth Colony was, along with Jamestown and other settlements in Virginia, one of the earliest successful colonies to be founded by the English in North America, and the first sizable permanent English settlement in the New England region. Plymouth holds a special role in American history. Many of the people and events surrounding Plymouth Colony have become part of American traditions such as Thanksgiving and the monument known as Plymouth Rock. -
Fundamental Orders
The Fundamental Orders were adopted by the Connecticut Colony council. The orders describe the government set up by the Connecticut River towns, setting its structure and powers. It has the features of a written constitution, and is considered by some as the first written Constitution in the Western tradition. This is how Connecticut earned its nickname of The Constitution State. The Order gave men more voting rights and made more men eligible to run for elected positions. -
Pennsylvania Founding
The founding of Pennsylvania, about 40,000 square miles, was confirmed to William Penn under the Great Seal. William Penn wrote that he believed God would make his colony "the seed of the nation." Penn wanted his Pennsylvania to be a land where people of differing languages and customs could live together, where men and women could worship as they pleased, where men could participate fully in their government. The city of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is known as the "city of brotherly love." -
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a time in the 18th century when many important inventions were made. Many of these inventions made work easier and cheaper. As these inventions created new manufacturing and industry, many people also moved away from farms into cities. It was a time of very rapid change in the world. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War resulted from ongoing frontier tensions in North America as both French and British imperial officials and colonists sought to extend each country’s sphere of influence in frontier regions. Disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war’s expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was the first direct British tax on American colonists. Every newspaper, pamphlet, and other public and legal document had to have a Stamp, or British seal, on it. The Stamp cost money. The colonists didn't think they should have to pay for something they had been doing for free for many years, and they responded in force, with demonstrations. The Sons of Liberty was formed in response to this Act. The Stamp Act Congress also gave the colonists a model for the Continental Congress. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first constitution of the United States. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government, leaving most of the power with the state governments. The need for a stronger Federal government soon became apparent. The present United States Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation on March 4, 1789. -
Boston Tea Party
This famed act of American colonial defiance served as a protest against taxation. On the night of December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. The implication and impact of the Boston Tea Party was enormous ultimately leading to the sparking of the American Revolution. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts was the American Patriots' name for a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into the Boston harbor. -
Lexington and Concord Battles
Ready to fight at a moment's notice, minutemen began fighting early in the American Revolution. Their efforts at Lexington and Concord inspired many patriots to take up arms against Britain. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty. It is the founding document of the American political tradition. The Declaration of Independence announced to the world the unanimous decision of the thirteen American colonies to separate themselves from Great Britain. -
Saratoga Battle
The Battles of Saratoga marked the climax of the Saratoga campaign giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British general John Burgoyne's surrender to American forces at the Battle of Saratoga marked a turning point in the Revolutionary War. -
Yorktown Battle
The Battle of Yorktown was a battle between the British and the combined forces of American and French troops. It ended with Britan surrendering to the combined American and French Army. The siege proved to be the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War. -
Shay's Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. -
Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution, originally comprised of seven articles, delineates the national frame of government. The Constitution of the United States is the first constitution of its kind, and has influenced the constitutions of other nations. -
Washington's Inauguration
The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of George Washington as President. Sworn in by Chancellor of New York Robert Livingston during this first presidential inauguration, Washington became the first President of the United States following the ratification of the Constitution. -
Washington's Farewell Address
George Washington's Farewell Address is a letter written by the first American President, George Washington, to "The People of the United States of America. Washington wrote the letter near the end of his second term as President, before his retirement to his home Mount Vernon. The "Farewell Address" is a classic statement of republicanism, warning Americans of the political dangers they can and must avoid if they are to remain true to their values. -
Marbury vs. Madison court case
The case resulted from a petition to the Supreme Court by William Marbury, Justice of the Peace in the District of Columbia and Secretary of State James Madison. It was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government. -
Louisiana Purchase
The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million. The ratification of the Louisiana Purchase treaty by the Senate on October 20, 1803, doubled the size of the United States and opened up the continent to its westward expansion. The Louisiana Purchase is considered the greatest real estate deal in history! -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict, lasting for two-and-a-half years, fought by the United States of America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies and its American Indian allies. The War of 1812 has been referred to as a victorious “Second War for Independence,” and used to define Canadian identity.
