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Native Americans and the Survivors
Many (Native American) survivors (of smallpox) welcomed the English as potential allies against rival tribes who had escaped the catastrophe. The relatively healthy environment coupled with political stability and the predominance of family groups among early immigrants allowed the New England population to grow to 91,000 people by 1700 from only 21,000 immigrants. In contrast, 120,000 English went to the Chesapeake, and only 85,000 white colonists remained in 1700. -
First Comprehensive Slave Code
Virginians used the law to protect the interests of enslavers. In 1705(exact date unknown) the House of Burgesses passed its first comprehensive slave code. Earlier laws had already guaranteed that the children of enslaved women would be born enslaved, conversion to Christianity would not lead to freedom, and enslavers could not free their enslaved laborers unless they transported them out of the colony. -
Yamasee, Carolina
In 1715, the Yamasee, Carolina’s closest allies and most lucrative trading partners, turned against the colony and nearly destroyed it entirely. Writing from Carolina to London, the settler George Rodd believed the Yamasee wanted nothing less than “the whole continent and to kill us or chase us all out.”27 The Yamasee would eventually advance within miles of Charles Town. -
End of Conflict
Charles Town ultimately survived the onslaught by preserving one crucial alliance with the Cherokee. By 1717, the conflict had largely dried up, and the only remaining menace was roaming Yamasee bands operating from Spanish Florida. Most Native American villages returned to terms with Carolina and resumed trading. -
Printing and Books
It wasn’t until William Parks set up his printing shop in Annapolis in 1726 that the Chesapeake had a stable local trade in printing and books. -
Christmas with Judge Samuel Sewell
Many, if not most, New Englanders retained strong ties to their Calvinist roots into the eighteenth century, but the Puritans (who became Congregationalists) struggled against a rising tide of religious pluralism. On December 25, 1727, Judge Samuel Sewell noted in his diary that a new Anglican minister “keeps the day in his new Church at Braintrey: people flock thither.”35 Previously forbidden holidays like Christmas were celebrated publicly in church and privately in homes. -
The Walking Purchase of 1737
The Walking Purchase of 1737 was emblematic of both colonists’ desire for cheap land and the changing relationship between Pennsylvanians and their Native neighbors.Through treaty negotiation in 1737, Native Delaware leaders agreed to sell Pennsylvania all of the land that a man could walk in a day and a half, a common measurement used by Delawares in evaluating distances. -
Enslaved Africans in Virginia
By 1750, there were approximately one hundred thousand enslaved Africans in Virginia, at least 40 percent of the colony’s total population.11 Most of these enslaved people worked on large estates under the gang system of labor, working from dawn to dusk in groups with close supervision by a white overseer or enslaved “driver” who could use physical force to compel labor. -
France and Britain feuded over the boundaries.
The feud turned bloody in 1754 when a force of British colonists and Native American allies, led by young George Washington, killed a French diplomat. -
Seven Years’ War
Britain was at war from the War of the Spanish Succession at the start of the century through the Seven Years’ War in 1763. -
French achieved victory.
In North America, the French achieved victory in the early portion of this war. They attacked and burned multiple British outposts, such as Fort William Henry in 1757. -
British Attacks
The French seemed to easily defeat British attacks, such as General Braddock’s attack on Fort Duquesne, and General Abercrombie’s attack on Fort Carillon (Ticonderoga) in 1758. These victories were often the result of alliances with Native Americans. -
Americans United
By 1763, Americans had never been more united. They fought and they celebrated together. But they also recognized that they were not considered full British citizens, that they were considered something else. Americans across the colonies viewed imperial reforms as threats to the British liberties they saw as their birthright. -
Stamp Act Congress of 1765
The Stamp Act Congress of 1765 brought colonial leaders together in an unprecedented show of cooperation against taxes imposed by Parliament, and popular boycotts of British goods created a common narrative of sacrifice, resistance, and shared political identity. A rebellion loomed. -
Original slavery in the states.
New York traced connections to slavery and slave trade back to Dutch settlers of New Netherland in the seventeenth century. Philadelphia became an active site of the Atlantic slave trade, and enslaved people accounted for nearly 8 percent of the city’s population in 1770. In southern cities, including Charleston, urban slavery played an important role in market economy. Enslaved people, both rural and urban, made up the majority of the laboring population on the eve of the American Revolution. -
Britain sent regiments to Boston.
Britain sent regiments to Boston in 1768 to help enforce the new acts and quell the resistance. On the evening of March 5, 1770, a crowd gathered outside the Custom House and began hurling insults, snowballs, and perhaps more at the young sentry. -
Big Cities Growing
By 1775, Boston, Newport, New York, Philadelphia, and Charleston were the five largest cities in British North America. Philadelphia, New York, Boston, and Charleston had populations of approximately 40,000, 25,000, 16,000, and 12,000 people, respectively. -
Start of American Revolution
The American Revolution was an epic political and military struggle waged between 1765 and 1783 when 13 of Britain's North American colonies rejected its imperial rule. -
End of American Revolution
With the assistance of France, the American colonies were able to defeat the British, achieve independence and form the United States of America. -
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 14 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The point of the event was decide how America was going to be governed. Although the Convention had been officially called to revise the existing Articles of Confederation, many delegates had much bigger plans. -
States added to Union
(1787-1788) Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Virginia, etc. -
George Washington
George Washington (1732-99) was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War (1775-83) and served two terms as the first U.S. president, from 1789 to 1797. During the American Revolution, he led the colonial forces to victory over the British and became a national hero. -
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of time in France when the people overthrew the monarchy and took control of the government. When did it take place? The French Revolution lasted 10 years from 1789 to 1799. It began on July 14, 1789 when revolutionaries stormed a prison called the Bastille. -
The Haitian Revolution
The Haitian Revolution (1791–1804) inspired free and enslaved Black Americans, and terrified white Americans. Port cities in the United States were flooded with news and refugees. Free people of color embraced the revolution, understanding it as a call for full abolition and the rights of citizenship denied in the United States. -
Word Spreads of Rebellion
Not only did some literate enslaved people read accounts of the successful attack in Virginia’s newspapers, but others also heard about the rebellion firsthand when slaveholding refugees from Haiti arrived in Virginia with their enslaved laborers after July 1793. -
John Adams
John Adams (1735-1826) was a leader of the American Revolution and served as the second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801. ... In the 1780s, Adams served as a diplomat in Europe and helped negotiate the Treaty of Paris (1783), which officially ended the American Revolutionary War (1775-83).