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Founding of Jamestown
Jametown was the first succesful English colony in the Americas. The first settlers of Jamestown were young men who were seeking gold. They nearly starved as they were not prepared to establish a permanent settlement. However, once it was discovered that tobacco grew well in Virginia, Jamestown developed a thriving economy, built on plantation agriculture and slave labor. -
First Africans are brought to British America
While Africans had been enslaved by Europeans for more than a century prior to 1619, this was the first recorded instance of Africans being brought into British North America. While these first 20 people who were sold in Jamestown were indentured servants (they would be freed after a number of years), soon thousands of Africans were brought in exclusively for slavery. This began centuries of bondage and violence--the impacts of which are seen today in racist laws, inequalities, and practies. -
Establishment of the House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first elected legislature in the English colonies. Its establishment contributed the colonial belief that the English colonies had the right to elect their own legislatures. It was the percieved threat to this right, after the French and Indian War, that led to the American Revolution. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was signed by the Pilgrims to establish a government upon their arrival at what was to become the Plymouth Colony. Like the Virginia House of Burgesses, the Mayflower Compact contributed to the development of the colonial belief that the colonies, althought subject to the King, were at least partially self-governing. This also helped create the notion that the people themselves (that is, the governed)--not a monarch--should give consent for laws. -
First of the Navigation Acts Passed
The Navigation Acts were a series of laws passed by he British Parliament to regulate colonial trade. These laws restricted the ability of the colonies to trade with countries other than Britain in order to ensure that Britain was the primary beneficiary of trade. -
Virginia Establishes Legal Slavery
The growing cash crop economy of Virginia, combined with a decline in the number of Englishmen and women who were willing to work as indentured servants, led Virginia to legalize the institution of slavery. Eventually, slavery would be legal in all of the English colonies in North America, although more widespread in the South. Over the next number of years in every colony, racist laws were passed that made slavery hereditary (you could be born into it), and created other racial inequities. -
Bacon's Rebellion Helps Lead to White Privilege
In Virginia, Nathaniel Bacon, a farmer, led a rebellion against rich planters because he felt they were not doing enough to protect the lower class from ongoing attacks with Natives. In his rebellion, Bacon declared unity of all white AND black laborers--who he felt shared a similar struggle. Once the rebellion was stopped, the House of Burgesses passed a series of racist laws that gave white people significant privilege over black people in order to turn the lower classes against each other. -
English Bill of Rights is passed by Parliament in England
Passed in 1689 by the English Parliament (lawmaking group), the English Bill of Rights listed certain rights that were "true, ancient, and indubitable rights and liberties of the people" of England. It limited the powers of the king in such matters as taxation and keeping a standing army, as well as provided free speech and elections for members of Parliament. Importantly, many English but also colonists began to believe these liberties were their birthright, and must be protected. -
Salutary Neglect
Beginning in the 18th Century, Britain stopped strictly enforcing the laws restricting colonial trade. It was very difficult and expensive to enforce these laws, and since both the English and the American economies were growing, England saw no need to strictly enforce them. -
Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual/scientific movement that dominated European ideas during the 1700s. Most ideas centered on the importance of reason (as opposed to religion) and applying it to society and politics. Philosopher John Locke in particular argued that all people had natural rights, which the government--getting its power from the people--should protect them. While most philosophers were antislavery, many believed there was a hierarchy of humans, with whites at the top. -
French and Indian War
War fought in part for control over the North American continent. Most Native Americans backed the French, as they were viewed as less of a threat to Native culture and land holdings. After a few early defeats, Britain managed to defeat the French, who then abandoned the North American continent. Although they were victorious, the war left Britain deeply in debt. British attempts to tax the colonies to pay off their war debt contributed to the American Revolution. -
Proclamation of 1763
In 1763, Britain declared that the colonists were not allowed to settle west of the Applachian Mountains. Britain did this because they feared that colonial expansion might cause another war -- and because the larger their empire, the harder and more expensive it would be to govern. Colonists were angry at the limitation, viewing western lands as ripe for settlement. The Proclamation was often ignored. -
Stamp Act
One of the first British attempts to raise revenue by taxing the colonies directly (rather than just regulating colonial trade). Because colonists were not represented in the British Parliament, they viewed this as a violaton of their right, as Englishmen, to be represented in any government that taxed them. The colonists begain to protest under the motto of "No taxation without representation." -
Boston Massacre
In the early morning hours, several Boston residents began harassing a British sentry (guard). When more British troops came, the Boston residents began throwing stones, snowballs, and using clubs. In the comotion, one British soldier fired, causing the others to shoot without an order. Several colonists died and British troops were convicted of manslaughter. This event contributed greatly to tension in the colonies, and an increased sense that the British were tyrants. -
Somerset Case
In 1772, an enslaved man named James Somerset was brought to England from Virginia, after which his enslaver tried to send him to be enslaved in Jamaica. Somerset sued for his freedom, and an English Court ruled in his favor, arguing that colonial slaves became free when brought to England. While this by no means abolished slavery in the colonies, it caused a stir. The Colonial elite, many of whom were enslavers, began to fear that slavery--and therefore their power and wealth--was in danger. -
Tea Act
Although the Tea Act lowered the tax on tea imported into the colonies by te British East India Company, it also assured a monoply on the tea trade for the British East India Company, threatening coloniea merchants. -
Boston Tea Party
To protest the Tea Act, a group of American colonists boarded a ship in the port of Boston and dumped the tea it was carrying into the Harbor. Britain responded by passing the intolerable acts. -
Intolerable/Coercive Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a series of British Laws meant to punish the colony of Massachusetts for their resistance to British taxes. Britain hoped that bif they made an example of Massachusetts, the other colonies would end their resistance. The plan backfired as actually increased colonial resistance to British rule. -
Lexington and Concord
Even before the colonies formally declared Revolution in July, 1776, the war had begun at Lexington and Concord, in Massachusetts. At this battle, British forces were routed by the Massachusetts militia, and the British were pushed back to Boston. While the casualties, were minimal, this battle influenced many colonists to oppose the British, who they now viewed as willing to use violence against the colonies. -
Olive Branch Petition
This was the final attempt by the Colonists to avoid going to war with Britain. Most colonists outside of Virginia (wealthy planters) and Massachusetts (wealthy merchants) believed revolution was too extreme, the war was too dangerous, and still identified as Englishmen. This Olive Branch Petition was an attempt to ask Parliament to better protect their natural rights. The King supposedly refused to even read the Petition, and declared the colonists traitors. -
Lord Dunmore's Proclamation
War had already begun between the Colonists and the British in 1775 (even before Independence was declared). As a tactical measure, Royal governor in Virginia Dunmore issued a declaration that any enslaved person who ran away and joined the British would be freed. Already paranoid of slave insurrections, Colonial enslavers panicked, and many whites swung to the Patriots' side as a result. As many as 100,000 enslaved people escaped and joined the British army due to this Proclamation. -
Common Sense is Published by Thomas Paine
Written by Thomas Paine, Common Sense was a short pamphlet that argued the American colonies should declare themselves free from British Rule. Common Sense was instrumental in convincing many colonists to support the cause of independence. Most colonists were on the fence, but this document was huge in convincing many that revolution was a good idea. -
Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson, the Declaration of Independence asserted that the colonies were "free and independent." Deeply influenced by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke, the Declaration argued that government was created to protect the rights of citizens and that, because the British government had not protected their rights, the colonies had a right to rebel. Jefferson, waited on by an ensalved person, also listed grievances against the King and an intent to form a new country.