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Jamestown
Jamestown had around 100 people when it was being settled. Famine, disease and conflict with local Native American tribes in the first 2 years brought Jamestown to the brink of failure. -
Virginia House of Burgesses
It was the 1st order of business was set to a minimum price for the sale of tobacco. Although the first session was cut short because of an outbreak of malaria, the House of Burgesses soon became a symbol of representative government.. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was signed by 41 English colonist on the ship. This was also the first written framework of government establishment in what is now the United States. -
Bacon's Rebellion
This was a popular revolt in colonial Virginia. The revolt was led by Nathaniel Bacon. High taxes, low prices for tobacco, and resentment against special privileges given those close to the governor. -
Salem Witch Trials
The infamous Salem trials began around the spring of 1692, after a group of girls claimed they were possessed by the devil. Some local women were accused of witchcrafft. 150 more men, women and children were accused over the next several months. -
Trial of John Peter Zenger
In 1733, Zenger was accused of LIBEL, a legal term whose meaning is quite different for us today than it was for him. The trial of John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, was an important step toward this most precious freedom for American colonists. -
French and Indian War
It's also known as the 7 year war. It lasted from 1756 through 1763. At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation was issued by King George III. The proclamation, in effect, closed off the frontier to colonial expansion. The proclamation also established or defined four new colonies, three of them on the continent proper. Quebec, which was of course already well settled, two colonies to be called East Florida and West Florida — and off the continent, Grenada -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliment. 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. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act wasn't about philosphers or human rights, it was about fairness. The anger was first and foremost about fairness. It's not fair to tax us without giving us a say in it.The idea that a person's property belongs, first and foremost, to him or her; and the idea that it is fundamentally unfair to violate that idea. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was a British Law passed in mid March. The British Parliament passed this act as well as the Stamp Act. It was passsed to affirm power for the colonies. -
Boston Massacre
This incident was growing out of anger against the British troops. The troops fired into the rioting crowds and killed 5 men. 3 on the spot and 2 of wounds later. -
Tea Act
The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies and in fact imposed no new taxes. It was designed to prop up the East India Company which was floundering financially and burdened with eighteen million pounds of unsold tea. . Cargoes of tea filled the harbor, and the British ship's crews were stalled in Boston looking for work and often finding trouble. -
Boston Tea Party
Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded 3 ships in the Boston Harbor and threw out 342 chests of tea, This resulted in the passage of the punitive Coercive Acts in 1774 and pushed the two sides closer to war. -
1st Continental Congress
The congress met from September 5th through October 26th. Delegates were selected by the people. The colonies presented there were united in a determination to show a combined authority to Great Britain. Their aims were not uniform at all. Pennsylvania and New York sent delegates with firm instructions to seek a resolution with England. -
2nd Continental Congress
What became known as the Second Continental Congress was called into session as the British stormed Boston in an attempt to arrest the patriots, With the bloody fights at Concord and Lexington fresh in their minds, the delegates of twelve of the thirteen Colonies came together in Philadelphia to draw up a statement of positions in regards to the actions of the British Parliament. This session of the Second Congress was to stay in session until March 2, 1789. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration was written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the 2ndContinental Congress. The declaration opens with a preamble describing the document's necessity in explaining why the colonies have overthrown their ruler and chosen to take their place as a separate nation in the world.
