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Roanoke
In the settlement’s difficult founding year, its mayor, John White, left for England to request resources and manpower. He returned three years later only to find the settlement empty—his wife, child, and grandchild, the first English child born in the Americas, having vanished. The word CROATOAN and the letters CRO, carved into trees within the colony’s borders, were the only signs pointing to an explanation.
https://www.britannica.com/story/the-lost-colony-of-roanoke -
Jamestown
Jamestown Colony, was the first permanent English settlement in North America. The colony gave England its first foothold in the European competition for the New World, which had been dominated by the Spanish since the voyages of Christopher Columbus in the late 15th century. The new settlement initially consisted of a wooden fort built in a triangle around a storehouse for weapons and other supplies, churches and homes. https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/jamestown -
Salutary Neglect
Salutary neglect is an American history term that refers to an unofficial and long-term 17th & 18th-century British policy of avoiding strict enforcement of parliamentary laws, meant to keep not American colonies obedient to England. This policy, which lasted from about 1607 to 1763, allowed the enforcement of trade relations laws to be lenient. https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/topic/salutary-neglect/ -
House of Burgesses
Representative assembly in colonial Virginia, which was an outgrowth of the first elective governing body in a British overseas possession, the General Assembly of Virginia. It included the governor himself and a council along with two elected burgesses from each of the colony’s 11 settlements. The assembly met in Jamestown until 1700, when meetings were moved to Williamsburg, the newly established capital of colonial Virginia. https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-of-Burgesses -
Mayflower/Plymouth/Mayflower Compact
Mayflower was an English ship that transported the first English Puritans, known today as the Pilgrims, from England to the New World. The 1620 agreement (first called the Mayflower Compact in 1793) was a legal instrument that bound the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England. https://www.plimoth.org/learn/just-kids/homework-help/mayflower-and-mayflower-compact -
New York
The New York Colony was one of the original 13 colonies located on the Atlantic coast of North America. The original 13 colonies were divided into three geographic areas consisting of the New England, Middle and Southern colonies. The New York Colony was classified as one of the Middle Colonies. When was the colony of New York founded? The New York Colony was founded in 1626 by the Duke of York and other colonists on Manhattan Island. https://www.landofthebrave.info/ -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was the most successful and profitable colony in New England. Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by the Massachusetts Bay Company during the Great Puritan Migration. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a charter colony. This meant that the administration of the colony was elected by the colonists and the colony was allowed to self-govern, as long as its laws aligned with those of England. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/ -
Carolina
When was the colony of South Carolina founded? The South Carolina Colony was founded in 1633 by eight English nobles with a Royal Charter from King Charles II - refer to Lords Proprietors and the Charter of Carolina. North and South Carolina were one colony until 1729. When was the colony of North Carolina founded? The North Carolina Colony was founded in 1653 by the Virginia colonists. - refer to Lords Proprietors and the Charter of Carolina. https://www.landofthebrave.info -
Maryland
Maryland became a separate colony under a charter granted to Lord Baltimore George Calvert. Religious conflict was strong in ensuing years as the American Puritans, growing more numerous in Maryland and supported by Puritans in England, set out to revoke the religious freedoms guaranteed in the founding of the colony. https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-settlement-of-maryland -
Connecticut
Early on, the English settlers under John Winthrop Jr. struggled with the Dutch for possession of the land, but the English eventually gained control of the colony and set up a permanent settlement there. Later on, the colony was thrown into a bloody Indian war (Pequot War) between the English and Native Americans. Connecticut would go on to play an important role in self-government due to its founder, Thomas Hooker. https://thehistoryjunkie.com/connecticut-colony-facts/ -
Rhode Island
Banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his radical views, Roger Williams purchased land from the Narragansett Indians and founded the first permanent white settlement in Providence in 1636. His firm belief in religious freedom, tolerance and the separation between church and state governed the colony of Rhode Island and inspired the future founders of the United States. https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/rhode-island -
Maryland Toleration Act
The Maryland Toleration Act, also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was a law mandating religious tolerance for Trinitarian Christians. It created the first legal limitations on religious hate speech in the world. The Act allowed freedom of worship for all Trinitarian Christians in Maryland, but sentenced to death anyone who denied the divinity of Jesus. https://www.americanhistoryusa.com/topic/maryland-toleration-act/ -
Bacon's Rebellion
In March 1676, after attacking a friendly tribe and falsely accusing them of stealing his corn, Bacon insisted that the governor finance and support a militia to attack Native Americans on the colony’s border. When headed to Jamestown to begin his tenure there, was met with a chilly welcome. https://www.history.com/news/bacons-rebellion-jamestown-colonial-america -
Pennsylvania
The Pennsylvania Colony was classified as one of the Middle Colonies. The Province of Pennsylvania was an English colony in North America that existed from 1682 until 1776, when it joined the other 12 of the 13 colonies in rebellion against Great Britain and became the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The Pennsylvania Colony was founded in 1682 by William Penn and other colonists. The name of Pennsylvania means woodland together with Penn. https://www.landofthebrave.info/pennsylvania-colony.htm -
Salem witch trials
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of witchcraft cases brought before local magistrates in a settlement called Salem which was a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 17th century. The Salem Witch Trials officially began in February of 1692, when the afflicted girls accused the first three victims, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft and ended in May of 1693, when the remaining victims were released from jail. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-salem-witch-trials/ -
Great Awakening/Enlightenment
The Great Awakening was a religious revival that impacted the English colonies in America during the 1730s and 1740s. The movement came at a time when the idea of secular rationalism was being emphasized, and passion for religion had grown stale. Christian leaders often traveled from town to town, preaching about the gospel, emphasizing salvation from sins and promoting enthusiasm for Christianity. https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/great-awakening -
Albany Plan
The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. On July 10, 1754, representatives from seven of the British North American colonies adopted the plan. Although never carried out, the Albany Plan was the first important proposal to conceive of the colonies as a collective whole united under one government. https://history.state.gov/milestones/1750-1775/albany-plan -
French-Indian War
The French and Indian War took place was because both the British and the French claimed the Ohio River Valley as their own territory, which is the present-day location of six states: Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Kentucky, Illinois and Indiana. The French and Indian War later became a global war when it spread to Europe in 1756 and nearly every European great power at the time joined in, which resulted in the Seven Years War. https://historyofmassachusetts.org/french-and-indian-war/ -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 was issued by the British at the end of the French and Indian War to appease Native Americans by checking the encroachment of European settlers on their lands. It created a boundary, known as the proclamation line, separating the British colonies on the Atlantic coast from American Indian lands west of the Appalachian Mountains. https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/1763-proclamation -
Great Migration
The Great Migration was the relocation of more than 6 million African Americans from the rural South to the cities of the North, Midwest and West from about 1916. During the Great Migration African Americans built homes for themselves in public life, actively confronting racial prejudice as well as economic, political and social challenges to create a black urban culture that would exert enormous influence in the decades to come. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/great-migration
