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1570
The Iroquois League
An alliance of Native Americans called the Iroquois League allied itself with Britain. The League had formed nearly 200 years earlier in what is now upstate New York. The Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca peoples-often at war with each other formed an alliance in 1570. -
Colonial communications
Printers in the colonies were also publishers. They printed and distributed newspapers, books, advertisements, and political announcements. The first Amerian printer set up a printing press in Cambridge Massachusetts. He published the Bay Psalm Book for use in the Puritan church services. -
New England Confederation
Massachusetts, Plymouth, Connecticut, and New Haven colonies form the New England Confederation -
The Navigation Acts
The English government passed several laws to control colonial trade and ensure the colonies remained profitable for England. -
Charles II Dies
Charles II, the king of England, comes to die in 1685. The crown would be passed down to his brother James which his first action is to create the Dominion of New England. -
The Glorious Revolution
King James II's catholic wife gave birth to a son which made the leader of Parliament fear the beginning of a Catholic dynasty. They invited Mary and her dutch husband, William of Orange, to become co-rulers of England. This is known as the Glorious Revolution -
The Enlightenment in America
John Locke was widely read in the American colonies. His ideas influenced Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Frankin, among others. Jefferson used Locke's theories when he wrote the Declaration of Independence. -
A Revival of Religion
The Great Awakening beginning in New England and New Jersey in the 1720s and 1730s the Great Awakening swept through all the colonies. -
Resisting slavery
The major revolt in the colonial period is known as the Stono Rebellion. About 100 enslaved Africans in South Carolina took weapons from a firearms shop and killed several people before they were apprehended. -
Slavery in North and South
The number of Africans in the Engish colonies grew quickly because of births as well as the slave trade. The agricultural economy determined where most Africans lived. The area with the largest number of Africans was in the southern plantations where they worked as slaves.