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jamestown founded
The founding of Jamestown, America’s first permanent English colony, in Virginia in 1607 – 13 years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth in Massachusetts – sparked a series of cultural encounters that helped shape the nation and the world. The government, language, customs, beliefs and aspirations of these early Virginians are all part of the United States’ heritage today. -
virginia house of burgesses
After his arrival in Jamestown in 1619, Governor George Yeardley immediately gave notice that the Virginia colony would establish a legislative assembly. This assembly, the House of Burgesses, first met on July 30, 1619. -
mayflower compact
The Mayflower Compact, signed by 41 English colonists on the ship Mayflower on November 11, 1620, was the first written framework of government established in what is now the United States. The compact was drafted to prevent dissent amongst Puritans and non-separatist Pilgrims who had landed at Plymouth a few days earlier. -
fundemental orders of conn.
This document was the first written constitution in North America. Written by Puritan clergymen, The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was adopted by the residents of Hartford, Windsor, and Wethersfield and remained the colony’s law until 1662. It was composed of a preamble and eleven orders, and named God’s requirement for “good and orderly government” to “order and dispose” of peoples’ affairs as the reason for people to “associate and conjoin” themselves into a Commonwealth -
french indian war
The final Colonial War (1689-1763) was the French and Indian War, which is the name given to the American theater of a massive conflict involving Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Sweden called the Seven Years War. The conflict was played out in Europe, India, and North America. In Europe, Sweden , Austria, and France were allied to crush the rising power of Frederick the Great, King of Prussia. The English and the French battled for colonial domination in North America, the -
war ends treaty of paris
The Spanish-American War had its origins in the rebellion against Spanish rule that began in Cuba in 1895. The repressive measures that Spain took to suppress the guerrilla war, such as herding Cuba's rural population into disease-ridden garrison towns, were graphically portrayed in U.S. newspapers and enflamed public opinion. In January 1898, violence in Havana led U.S. authorities to order the battleship USS Maine to the city's port to protect American citizens -
currency act
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currency act
The colonies suffered a constant shortage of currency with which to conduct trade. There were no gold or silver mines and currency could only be obtained through trade as regulated by Great Britain. Many of the colonies felt no alternative to printing their own paper money in the form of Bills of Credit. -
quartering act
The Quartering Acts refers to provisions passed by the British Parliament during the 18th century. Under these Acts, local colonial governments were forced to provide provisions and housing to British soldiers stationed in the American colonies. The two Quartering Acts were amendments to the Mutiny Act, which was reviewed and renewed each year by the British Parliament. The intent of the Acts was to alleviate problems experienced during the Seven Years’ War, but in reality they increased tension -
stamp act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains (10,000 troops were to be stationed on the -
townshend act
The Townshend Acts were a series of measures introduced into Parliament by Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend in 1767. The acts imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea imported into the colonies and created a Board of Customs Commissioners to enforce customs laws without the accused having recourse to a trial by jury. -
boston massacre
The presence of British troops in the city of Boston was increasingly unwelcome. The riot began when about 50 citizens attacked a British sentinel. A British officer, Captain Thomas Preston, called in additional soldiers, and these too were attacked, so the soldiers fired into the mob, killing 3 on the spot (a black sailor named Crispus Attucks, ropemaker Samuel Gray, and a mariner named James Caldwell), and wounding 8 others, two of whom died later (Samuel Maverick and Patrick Carr). -
tea act
Colonists in Philadelphia and New York turned the tea ships back to Britain. In Charleston the cargo was left to rot on the docks. In Boston the Royal Governor was stubborn & held the ships in port, where the colonists would not allow them to unload. Cargoes of tea filled the harbor, and the British ship's crews were stalled in Boston looking for work and often finding trouble. This situation led to the Boston Tea Party. -
coercive acts (intolerable acts)
Properly known as the Restraining Acts, the Coercive Acts, as they were popularly known in England, were introduced in 1774 by the new government of Lord North, who acted with the direct encouragement of George III. Several voices of caution had been raised in Parliament, particularly those of Edmund Burke and Lord Chatham, who feared that stern measures were charting a course no one really wanted to follow; their advice, however, was not heeded. -
battles of lexington and concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. On the night of April 18, 1775, hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to nearby Concord in order to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and other riders sounded the alarm, and colonial militiamen began mobilizing to intercept the -
decloration of independence
Although Thomas Jefferson is often called the “author” of the Declaration of Independence, he wasn’t the only person who contributed important ideas. Jefferson was a member of a five-person committee appointed by the Continental Congress to write the Declaration. The committee included Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Robert Livingston, and Roger Sherman -
battle of valley forge
Things could hardly have looked bleaker for Washington and the Continental Army as 1777 came to a close. The British had successfully occupied Philadelphia, leading some members of Congress to question Washington's leadership abilities. No one knew better than Washington that the army was on the brink of collapse--in fact, he had defied Congress' demand that he launch a mid-winter attack against the British at Philadelphia and instead fell back to Valley Forge to rest and refit his troops -
battle of saratoga
The BATTLE OF SARATOGA was the turning point of the Revolutionary War. The scope of the victory is made clear by a few key facts: On October 17, 1777, 5,895 British and Hessian troops surrendered their arms. General John Burgoyne had lost 86 percent of his expeditionary force that had triumphantly marched into New York from Canada in the early summer of 1777. -
battle of yorktown
On this day in 1781, General George Washington, commanding a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops, begins the siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwallis and a contingent of 9,000 British troops at Yorktown, Virginia, in the most important battle of the Revolutionary War -
treaty of paris of 1783
The talks began in April 1782, after the American-French victory at Yorktown led to the toppling of Lord North's Tory government and the naming of a Whig, Lord Rockingham, as prime minister and Lord Shelburne as foreign minister.
