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1.
Jamestown Settlement founded
The first English settlers arrive in America and set up camp in a swamp on the Chesapeake Bay. More interested in gold than growing food, very few of the first settlers survived the first winter. Eventually the colony would become heavily invested in the production of tobacco. -
2. 1619, Jamestown
Yorktown
The first English settlers arrive in America and set up camp in a swamp on the Chesapeake Bay. More interested in gold than growing food, very few of the first settlers survived the first winter. Eventually the colony would become heavily invested in the production of tobacco -
3.
Mayflower Compact
Settled by Puritans seeking religious freedom and blown off course by a storm they founded Massachusetts. The Puritans were looking to cleanse themselves of the corruption of England and start a perfect community in a pristine wilderness -
4. 1700’s, Europe and America
No Taxation without Representation!
“a phrase, generally attributed to James Otis about 1761, that reflected the resentment of American colonists at being taxed by a British Parliament to which they elected no representatives and became an anti-British slogan before the American Revolution; in full, ‘Taxation without representation is tyranny.’.” -
5. 1730’s-1740’s
The Great Awakening
A religious movement in America that was inspired by the Enlightenment which inspired greater religious tolerance and made religion accessible to more people which fed into the fervor that propelled the American Revolution. -
6. 1754-1763
French and Indian War
A war between the French and British caused mainly by their competition for land in America. The war began when the French built a fort in the Ohio River Valley. -
7.
African Slave Trade in American Colonies
The first Africans are brought to Jamestown by Dutch traders and were used in the production of tobacco. Chattel slavery as a system would continue in America until its abolition at the end of the American Civil War in 1865. -
8. February 10, 1763
Treaty of Paris
This treaty ended the French and Indian war and established the new border of Britain’s colonial holding to reach to the Mississippi River. The treaty also removed the French from Canada and the Spanish from Florida -
9. October 1763
Proclamation of 1763
This battle is considered to be the turning point of the American Revolutionary war because the British no longer attempted to attack through the interior and the French (due to Ben Franklin’s behind the scenes bargaining) ultimately chose to support the American’s claim to independence by signing an alliance. -
10.
Stamp Act
A tax imposed by the British government in which American colonists were required to purchase special paper for official documents (like licenses), newspapers and playing cards. This was the first of several other taxes which infuriated the colonists. -
11. March 5, 1770
Boston Massacre
What began as a dispute between Boston ropemakers and British soldiers, turned to bloodshed. The event was used by patriots as propaganda against British rule. -
12. December 16, 1773
Boston Tea Party
A group of patriots protesting the Tea Act and dressed in disguise as Mohawk Indians dump millions of dollars of British tea into Boston Harbor. -
13. April 19, 1775
Lexington and Concord
British seek to destroy a stockpile of colonial weapons and ammunition at Concord. Colonists (having been forewarned of the plan) meet the British at Lexington. The battle lasts only 15 minutes and when the British finally reach Concord the arsenal had been emptied -
14. January 10, 1776
Common Sense
A widely read pamphlet written by an anonymous author (whom we now know to be Thomas Paine) which suggested that the time had come for the colonies to become an independent republic. -
15. July 4, 1776
Declaration of Independence
Penned by Thomas Jefferson and drawing from the Enlightenment ideas of John Locke, this was America’s break up letter to the King and England and signatories became traitors to the Crown, a crime punishable by death! -
16. October, 1777
Battle of Saratoga
This battle is considered to be the turning point of the American Revolutionary war because the British no longer attempted to attack through the interior and the French (due to Ben Franklin’s behind the scenes bargaining) ultimately chose to support the American’s claim to independence by signing an alliance -
17. December 1777-June 1778
Winter at Valley Forge
American troops suffered a great deal during this winter, lacking supplies and exposed to the elements Washington’s Continental Army lost 2,000 out of 10,000 men without seeing any battle. -
18. October 1781
Battle of Yorktown begins.
With the support of the French and German military and military experts, the Americans are able to secure the surrender of General Cornwallis when they surround the British fleet and lay siege for three weeks with constant shelling -
19.
Treaty of Paris (1783)
The formal end of the American Revolution which set the borders of the newly established United States of America. The United States extended the nation to the Mississippi River.
