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Jamestown
The first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia. -
Captain Christopher Newport
After five months at sea, three ships led by Captain Christopher Newport reach Cape Henry on the Virginia coast. The Susan Constant, the Discovery, and the Godspeed, later move up the James River for forty miles till they stop on Jamestown Island. -
Pocahontas and John Rolfe
The history of Jamestown continues with the marriage of Pocahontas to John Rolfe, who would bring tobacco seeds to the colony and begin its harvesting this year. Their marriage led to eight years of peace among the colonists and Indians. -
Thirty's Years War
The Thirty Years’ War was a religious war fought over a thirty-year time period from 1618 to 1648, involving most of the major European powers. It mainly took place in the territory of Germany. Beginning as a religious conflict between Protestants and Catholics in the Holy Roman Empire, it gradually developed into a general war involving much of Europe, for reasons not necessarily related to religion. -
The House of Burgesses
The first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia. The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown. -
Mayflower
The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England.
Before disembarking from their ship, the Mayflower, 41 male passengers sign the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that forms the basis of the colony's government. -
The Puritan Expedition
The Puritan expedition which left England for the New World on September 6, reaches Cape Cod near Provincetown, not their original destination of Virginia. They explore the coastline for an appropriate settlement location. -
The Powhatan Indians
A sudden attack by Powhatan Indians, led by their chiefian Opechancanough against the English colony at Jamestown, results in the death of more than 300 settlers. -
Body of Liberties
A document originally published in 1641, is the first legal code established by European colonists in New England and was composed of a list of liberties, rather than restrictions, and intended for use as guidance for the General Court of the time. -
Massachusetts Law
Enacted in 1648, served as the basis for civil and criminal law in the colony until the eighteenth century. This code was a revision of a 1641 code known as The Body of Liberties, which was written by NATHANIEL WARD, a Puritan minister and teacher. -
The Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts, or more broadly The Acts of Trade and Navigation were a long series of English laws that developed, promoted, and regulated English ships, shipping, trade, and commerce between other countries and with its own colonies. -
virginia recognize slavery 1662
white fathers were no longer required to legally acknowledge, support, or emancipate their illegitimate children by slave women. Men could sell their issue or put them to work -
Staple Act
altered preexisting regulations so that any goods picked up in foreign ports had to be taken back to England, unloaded, inspected, paid for in duties, and repacked for shipment to the colonies. This greatly increased the prices paid by colonial consumers. -
Maryland's 1st Slave Legislature
As a result Maryland passed a law in 1664 making blacks and their children slaves for life. Slaves were considered property, and they were bought and sold just as a house or land would be bought and sold, and they had very few, if any, rights. -
Plantation Duty Act
act of Parliament intended to eliminate the smuggling of articles enumerated in the Navigation Act of 1660 and to induce the colonists to export those articles directly to England by allowing them to be traded to other colonies with the payment of the usual English import duty. -
King Phillips War
Metacom's War or the First Indian War, was an armed conflict between English colonists and the American Indians of New England in the 17th century. It was the Native-American's last major effort to drive the English colonists out of New England. -
Bacon's Rebellion
was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. -
Dominion of New England
The Dominion was formed in 1686 and merged the colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island, together into one large colony. In 1688, the Dominion was expanded to include New York and New Jersey. -
Bill of Rights
An Act Declaring the Rights and Liberties of the Subject and Settling the Succession of the Crown. The Bill of Rights 1689, also known as the English Bill of Rights, is an Act of the Parliament of England that sets out certain basic civil rights and clarifies who would be next to inherit the Crown. -
Navigation Act of 1696
were efforts to put the theory of mercantilism into actual practice. Beginning in 1650, Parliament acted to combat the threat of the rapidly growing Dutch carrying trade. Later laws were passed in 1651, 1660, 1662, 1663, 1670 and 1673. A companion enforcement law was enacted in 1696.
