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Jamestown Founded
The founding of Jamestown was Americas first permanent English colony in Virginia. They named their first colony after their King, James I. -
First tobacco crop planted
Tobacco saved the Jamestown colony and opened the door to future British settlement. The struggling colony had been unable to find a means of wealth by which to support themselves. Tobacco was planted by John Rolfe in the colony, and soon became a large-scale export to European countries. The wealth of tobacco also brought more colonists to the area and replenished the population. -
First African Slaves
Slavery in America started in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought 20 African slaves into Jamestown, Virginia. Throughout the 17th century, North America started to turned to African slaves as a cheaper, more plentiful source of labor. -
Founding of Virginia House of Representatives
First representative government group in the American Colonies; met for the first time in Jamestown. -
Massachusetts founded
Massachusetts Bay Colony is one of the original English settlements in present-day Massachusetts, founded in 1628 and settled in 1630 by a group of about 1,000 Puritan refugees from England. -
Maryland Act of Toleration
Did not bring on complete religious freedom; the act was a solution to the conflict between the Catholics and the protestant. -
First Navigation Act
The Navigation Acts were a series of laws designed to restrict England’s carrying trade to English ships in the 17th and 18th centuries. Their efforts were to put the theory of mercantilism (the economic theory that trade generates wealth and is stimulated by the accumulation of profitable balances) into actual practice. In 1651 the First Navigation Act was passed. -
King Phillips War
Marked as the last major effort by the indians of Southern New England to drive out the english settlers; unsecussful, just pushed the indians out of their territory. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. -
Salem Witch Trials
More than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft (Devil's Magic) 20 people were excuted; trails were amitted a mistake. -
War of Spanish Succesion
The War of the Spanish Succession was a European conflict triggered by the death of Charles II of Spain in November 1701. -
French and Indian War
Britain and Prussia defeat France, Spain, Austria, and Russia. France loses North American colonies, Spain gives Florida to Britain in exchange for Cuba. -
Stamp act
Great Britain was left with large sums of debt after the Seven Years War. Seeing taxation as a potential revenue source, the first internal tax they imposed upon the American colonies was the Stamp Act. -
Beginning of Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution began when agricultural societies became more industrialized and urban. The railroad, the cotton gin, electricity and other inventions permanently changed society. -
Steam Engine
James Watt was a Scottish inventor, mechanical engineer, and chemist who improved the steam engine with his Watt steam engine in 1776. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a riot that occurred on March 5, 1770. It took place on King Street in Boston. It began as a street brawl between American colonists and a British soldier. It quickly escalated to a bloody slaughter. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin’s Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. The American colonists were very frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” therefore they dumped 342 chests of British tea into the harbor. -
Battle of Saratoga
This battle took place in New York, and the colonial forces managed to surround and come out victorious over the British forces led by General John Burgoyne. It proved to be a pivotal moment because the American victory led Spain, France, and the Netherlands to support the colonies’ cause. -
Decleration of Independence approved
The Congress formally adopted the Declaration of Independence. It was written by Jefferson in Philadelphia on July 4, a date now celebrated as the birth of American independence. -
French revolution
The French Revolution was a turning point in modern European history that began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s with the ascent of Napoleon Bonaparte. -
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was the third president of the U.S. and was the author of the Declaration of Independence. 1776 he ran and came in second place and became Vice President. In 1800 the election came out in a tie, but House of Representatives ruled him as president. -
Congress Declares War on England
The beginning of the War of 1812 was caused due to the British Royal Navy restricting trade routes to the U.S., impressing U.S. sailors, and the U.S.'s desire to expand its borders. -
Whitehouse burn down
British forces storm into the Chesapeake Bay and burn multiple government buildings including the Capitol building, the White House. The British forces pulled their forces only because they had achieved their war goals and were moving down to New Orleans to capture it as well. -
Florida is purchased From Spain by U.S.
Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams came together to sign the document that would transfer control of Florida to the U.S. The Florida Peace Treaty was created to hand over the last Spanish American colony to the U.S. because of numerous boundary disputes. The U.S. gave Spain $5 million to cede Florida into the newly formed nation. -
Monroe Doctorine
President James Monroe gave his annual presidential speech warning European powers not to interfere in the western hemisphere or else the U.S. would step in and stop them. -
U.S. Mexican War
The U.S.-Mexican War lasted from 1846-1848 and was the first U.S. conflict fought on foreign soil. It was a war that was disputing the independence of Texas and the border of the Rio Grande. At the end of the war, Mexico lost about a third of its territory to the expansion-minded U.S., who claimed nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln is elected as the 16th president of the U.S. When entering office Abraham Lincoln was tasked with dealing with an incredibly divided nation dealing with the issue of states' rights about slavery. -
Civil War Begins
The tension between the Northern and Southern states over states' rights and slavery finally got to the point where war broke out. The election of Abraham Lincoln caused 7 southern states to leave the Union and create the Confederate States of America. 4 more states soon joined these rebel states. -
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg was done in order to address the war that was occurring. He wanted to dedicate the field to the fallen soldiers on both sides, and he wanted the soldiers to know what they were fighting for. -
First continental rail road complete
On the day of completion, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah. The last spike of the railroad was ceremoniously placed to connect the two railroad lines together.