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US History
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Jamestown established
Jamestown was the first permanent English Colony. The Virginia Company traveled for 5 storm filled months across the Atlantic Ocean to find the New World. In honor of their king, the colonists named Jamestown after King James. This colony was built on a marshy peninsula surrounded by salt water and swarming with mosquitos. The colonists often stole from Native Americans, even though this was a terrible thing, it was the only reason that Jamestown did not collapse. -
Signing of the Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was a group contract that's goal was to form a civil government and society through civil laws. They were able to create this contract because the colonists were outside of an organized government, so the colonists resolved to rule themselves. The writers granted themselves the right to vote and hold office, however the servants who traveled with them would have to wait. -
Establishment of Massachusetts Bay colony
This colony's purpose was to be a refuge for Puritans. The colonists that settled here wanted to purify the Church of England. Unlike the Virginian colonists, most of this colony's inhabitants traveled from the old world in family groups. Within 8 months of establishment, disease had wiped out 200 of the 700 colonists. -
Establishment of Maryland
Maryland was the first proprietary colony, which means that an individual owned it. The 12 million acre colony was granted to Sir George Calvert who was a Roman Catholic that died before his charter began. Therefore his son tookover and continued the charter. Cecilius Calvert strived to ensure that his colony would not make the same mistakes as Jamestown. Calvert made sure to only bring colonists with families of the intention to stay. In a religous aspect, Jesuit priests served as missionaries. -
Pequot War
The Pequot War started because settlers in Massachusetts claimed that a Pequot murdered a colonist. In response to this accusation, the settlers set fire to a nearby Pequot Village and killed everyone that tried to escape. A counterattack was launched by the Indians, which led to the Treaty of Hartford. This treaty dissolved the Pequot Nation. -
Toleration Act
Because the Catholics and Protestants feuded very violently, Celius Calvert was scared to lose his colony. So Cecilius appointed Protestants to ruling council and created the Toleration Act. This act was a revolutionary document that welcomed all Christians. This allowed all dominiations in Maryland, until 1654 when the law was retracted. -
King Philip's War
After the Pequot war tensions between Indians and the English resolved a little bit. However, John Sassamon, came with a warning to the English that Wampanoags were preparing for war. Once Sassamon was found murdered in a frozen pond, colonial authorities assumed that the Indians killed him. This led to a bunch of back and forth violence between both sides. This ended in 5% of colonial men dead and an even high death toll in the Wampanoags villages. -
Bacon's Rebellion
The falling tobacco prices due to overproduction, rising taxes, and crowds of landless freed servants sparked the Bacon Rebellion. The final straw that sent this rebellion into chaos was the murder of a planter's herdsman by an Indian. White men retaliated by killing some 24 Indians. The rebellion eventually became a battle of landless servants against wealthy planters and political leaders. -
Earth's gravitational pull
Isaac Newton announced his transformational theory of the earth's gravitational pull. Newton believed more in natural laws than in the laws of God. People called Deists carried the scientific outlook on life that Newton promoted. -
Salem Witch Trials
In the Salem Village during the year 1692 witchcraft spread throughout the colonies. Several teen girls became enchanted with a woman named Tituba. When a few of these girls started to behave oddly, the village minister then beat Tituba into confessing that she was doing the devil's work. The village jail was soon filled with more than 150 colonists accused of witchcraft.