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Jamestown, VA founded.
-Jamestown is founded, soon to become the Virginia Colony.
-Jamestown was settled by English under the leadership of Captain Christopher Newport, and the orders of the Virginia Company of London. During their time in Virginia, the settlers suffered from disease, deplorable winter conditions, starvation, and indian raids.
Cause: Desires for wealth and greater international trade.
Effect: Virginia colony is founded and many other settlers including puritans will follow in their foot steps. -
Dutch deliver first slaves to Virginia
-Dutch slave transports reach Virginia after a long voyage from the African coast.
-These were the first slaves to arrive in English North America. The slaves were treated more as indentured servants under contract, similar to many white immigrants.
Cause: Requirment for more workers and farm hands in the scarcely populated colonies.
Effect: Slavery would expand and develop into a great moral dilemma throughout the next 240 years. -
Mayflower reaches Massachusetts
-English arrive at Cape Cod Massachusetts aboard the Mayflower. The ships is loaded with rum and other supplies.
-101 pilgrims were on board, led by Captain Christopher Jones.
Cause: Religous persecution by the Church of England.
Effect: Puritans would later follow and establish the Massachusetts colony. -
Puritans arrive in Massachusetts
- John Winthrop leads a Puritan migration of 900 colonists to Massachusetts Bay where he will serve as the first governor. -In September, Boston is officially established and serves as the site of Winthrop's government. Cause: Religous persecution against the Puritan faith in England Effect: Puritan polulation and influence grows rapidly in the colonies in the coming years.
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Providence and Rhode island Founded
-In 1636 Roger Williams founded prividence and Rhode Island.
-Providence and Rhode island became a place for those seeking to escape religious intolerance.
-Williams was banished from Massachusetts for proposing ideas that called for religious freedoms, political freedoms, and the seperation of church and state. These were not included in Puritan ideals.
Cause:Roger Wlliams' banishment from Puritan Massachusetts.
Effect: Rhode island and Providence became havens to escape religious persecution. -
First Colonial Printing Press
-First printing press is brought to the colonies. It was located in Cambridge of the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
-It was transported over seas by Reverand Joseph Glover who was deprived of his position in the Church of England.
Cause: Joseph Glover's removal from his religious position in England. he died aboard his ship during the voyage.
Effect: Printing was introduced to the colonies for the publishing of books, manuscripts and newspapers. -
Religious Heresy Punishable by Death
-Colonial Puritan legislatures declare that religious heresy in Massachusetts is punishable by death (hanging).
Cause:Violations of Puritan customs and law within Massachusetts.
Effect:The Massachusetts colony becomes a dangerous place for non-Puritans or individual free-thinkers. -
Navigation Act of 1660
-English navigation act is passed in 1660 that required ships to be used exclusively for trade in the colonies.
-it also limited exports like sugar, tobacco, and other commodities.
Cause:English parliment seeking to maximize revenues made in the colonies.
Effect: Enriched England but lead to further resentment in the colonies toward the authority of the crown. -
Hostilities come to an end.
-The Dutch and English had engaged in armed conflict over colonies in New England.
-The Treaty of Westminster ends hostilities between the English and Dutch and returns Dutch colonies in America to the English.
Cause:English prove to be to powerful for the Dutch in the colonies, and therefore an agreement had to be made to end hostilities.
Effect:Hostilites between the Dutch and English come to an end. Dutch lose the last of their territorial control in New England. -
Bacon's Rebellion
- Bacon's rebellion was a rebellion led Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governer George Berkeley. -Accumulating greviences and the disorganized governemnt of the frontier governemnt caused the rebellion. Cause:Personal anger of Nathaniel Bacon and Berkeleys refusal to retaliate against indian raids on the frontier. Effects:Berkeleys house was trashed after his defeat but in the end little to no change resulted and Berkeley returned to power.
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Queen Anne's war
-Queen Anne rises to the throne in March.
-War is declared on France after the death of the Spanish king Charles II in order to break the union of France and Spain.
-England would war with France, Spain, and Native Americans for the next eleven years.
Cause: The death of Charles II of Spain
Effect:England gains more territorial control. They gain acadia, Newfoundland, and the Hudson bay area. -
Benjamin Franklin is born!
-Benjamin Franklin was born on Milk Street, in Boston, Massachusetts on January 17, 1706.
-He wasbaptized at Old South Meeting House and was one of ten children.
(No cause)
Effect: Franklin would grow up to benefit the colonies through his innovation, writing, printing, and political genius. -
Division of Carolina Colonies.
-Carolina colony splits into North Carolina and South Carolina.
Cause: Cultural differences between north and south and disputes between proprieters of territories.
Effect: The effect of this was further division within the colonies contributing to the full 13. -
King George I ascends to the throne
-King George becomes king of England.
Cause; The death of King William III. George succeeded as he was next in line.
Effect:George I was blamed for the collapse of the South sea Company in the colonies which crippled thousands economically. -
French and Indian War
-War was fought between the British colonies and new France in the north eastern regions of North America.
-Native Americans fought for both sides in the war.
Cause:Conflict between French and english settlers over the Ohio River Valley territory.
Effect:After the English win the war the French relinquish nearly all of their territory in the New World, excluding small islands off the coast of South America and east of central America. -
Proclamation of 1763
- The Proclamation of 1763, signed by King George III of England, prohibits any English settlement west of the Appalachian mountains. -Settlers already in the region are forced to cool down tensions with Native Americans. Cause:Governemnt sought to regulate settlement in order to further organize their North American Empire. Effect:Major source of tension in the colonies that contributed to the outbreak of the American Revolution.
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Passing of the Stamp Act
-In March, the Stamp Act is passed by the English Parliament imposing the first direct tax on the American colonies.
-Under the Stamp Act, all printed materials are taxed, including; newspapers, pamphlets, bills, legal documents, licenses, almanacs, dice and playing cards.
Cause:English required great funds to defend their newly aquired territory in North America as a result of the French and Indian War,
Effect:Resentment of British policy in the colonies. Seperate colonies unite politically. -
Outbreak of The American Revolution
-Militiamen and citizenry as a combined force from Concord and Lexington, and other towns revolt against the British.
-Militia and British forces meet in both Lexington and Concord. American militia suffer greater casualties than the British, but casualties are small.
Cause: British recieve word of militia forming and munitions cache held by rebels.
Effect:Support for the revolution increases and the war officially begins. -
Declarlation of Independance
-The declaration was led by John Adams and written by Thomas Jefferson. many other Founding Fathers contributed to its content such as Ben Franklin and John Hancock.
-The document declared that the 13 colonies were independant states seperate from Britain, and that they were united as one nation.
Cause: Gradually increasing unrest in the colonies and the American Revolution.
Effect: A new Nation was formed. The United States of America! -
Yorktown
-American and french forces surround the British at Yorktown.
-General Cornwallis surrenders.
-Treaty of Paris is signed on September 3rd 1783, ending the revolutionary war. The United States are officially independant.
Cause:Cornwallis moves his forces to Yorktown where American and French forces could surround him.
Effect: Leads to the end of the war which leads to American independance. -
Constitution Ratified
-Constitution is finally ratified.
-Rhode Island is the last state to ratify.
-The constitution sets up the structure of the American governemnt and identifies and ensures the rights of the people.
Cause: A new democratic nation requires laws and structure. Rights had to be constituted to the people of the states.
Effect: Constitution continues to be ammended today. Our governemnt and people opperate within its boundaries. -
U.S. Capital moved.
-June. The U. S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
-The construction of the new capital was carefully articulated and planned out.
-White house also became the home of the President
Cause:American Government wanted a more central location for the capital.
Effect:All of American politics would revolve around the capital and the city would grow rapidly. many other buildings and monuments were erected. -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
- The expedition led by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark departs, moving up the Missouri River. -They explore the Louisiana Purchase territory ceded to the U.S. by Emporer Napoleon of France. Cause:The newly purchase territory had to be surveyed and charted. Effect: New knowledge of and later expansion into the American west.
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War of 1812
-British and Americans dispute and war over territory in the Great Lakes region and Ohio River Valley. American forces invade Canada but fail to gain ground.
-Battle of New orleans is a great upset for American troops led by Andrew Jackson.
-Capitol is burned by the British.
Cause:Territory disputes and naval impressment on the seas.
Effect:British and United States will never again go to war with one another, and later become close allies. -
Missouri Compromise
-Missouri Compromise, admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
-The compromise also prohibited slavery in the remainder of the Louisiana Purchase north of 36°30'N lat
Cause:Disputes of slavery between the north and south in state governemnts and congress.
Effect:Eventually contributed to further tensions over the moral dilemma of slavery, which would eventually help lead to the Civil War. -
Erie Canal
- Erie Canal completed -It was a major transportation achievement which made New York and New York City ascend commercially. Cause: Invention of the steam boat requires quicker and more direct canal routes between major cities. Effect: Economic benefits result. Trade is facilitated and the shipping of industrial goods is facilitated as well.
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Andrew Jackson Elected
-Jackson wins the election of 1829
-He is widely known as a protector and representative of the common man and the pauper.
-Jackson was a veteran of war and a hero in the War of 1812 which increased his popularity greatly.
-He was criticized for his steadfast opinions and autocratic manner. -Jackson spent most of his presidential years trying to destroy the national bank. -
Dredd Scott Decision
-The Dred Scott case had a very broad and damaging outcome. The Supreme Court ruled that Dred Scott, a negro, had no rights whatsoever.
-Further, the court ruled that the federal government had no legal right to interfere with the institution of slavery. -
Civil War
-Civil War is fought between the Confederacy (southern states) and the Union (northern states).
-Union wins after a hard fought war that bore the weight of 600,000 casualties.
-The south and north were once again united. Reconstruction begins in 1865 to rebuild the nation to allow the south to return as smoothly as possible in Lincolns opinion.
Cuse:Cultural and economic differences between the south and north. The issue of slavery in the states.
Effect:Slavery is abolished + Civil Rights
