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Roanoke
John White left Roanoke Island (off the coast of Carolina) for three years leaving his wife, daughter, and infant grandaughter. He found no trace of the colony or its inhabitants only the words "croatoan" carved in a tree. White believes the settlers were killed or abducted by the Native America. -
Jamestown
In 1607 a group of roughly 100 members of the Virginia Company founded the first permenant English settlement in North America. For two years the settlers were close to failure but then a new group of settlers arrived in 1610 with more supplies. John Rolfe married the chief Algonquian's daughter Pocohantas and a period of peace followed. Tobacco became Virginia's first profitable export and it remained the capital of the Virginia colony until 1699. -
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected representatives from Virginia and it was the first democratically elected legislative body of its time. From 1619 until 1643 the elected burgesses met as the lower house of the general assembly of Virginia. Each country had to burgesses to the house. Towns could petition to send a single representative, as Jamestown. -
Mayflower/Plymouth/Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower was the ship that the pilgrims arrived on when they got to Plymouth. The Mayflower Compact was an agreement between the settlers on New Plymouth, it was the first governing document of the Plymouth colony written by the male passengers of the Mayflower, consisting of separatists, adventurers, and tradesmen. -
New York
New York was one of the original 13 colonies and was classified as one of the middle colonies. It was founded by the Duke of York and other colonists. It was founded for trade and profits -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was located by modern day Boston and Salem. It was founded by the investors of the Massachusetts Bay Company and its colonists were mainly puritans. The puritans wanted to purify the church of England but after years of conflict they wanted a brand new start. John Winthrop is credited to be the main founder of the MBC, he was said to be a well learned man and substantially wealthy. He and other wealthy puritans secured the land from King Charles. -
The Great Migration
The Great Puritan Migration was an English migration to Massachusetts and it consisted of a few hundred pilgrims who went to the Plymouth colony. The puritans left England primarily due to religious reasons but also economic reasons. They felt that the church of England was hostile and threatening and that they were too close to the Catholic religion and needed to be reformed. -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by a group of Puritans from England under the leadership of Governor John Winthrop, he guided the arrival of nearly 1000 colonists to the new world. They first stopped at Salem but soon established a permanent settlement on the Shawmut Penninsula Of Massachusetts Bay. However, the gradually improved their living conditions and totaled over 20,000 colonist thoughout the decade. -
Maryland
King Charles I of England granted a charter the first Lord of Baltimore, George Calvert giving him property rights to a region east of the Potomac River. In exchange, he was given a share of income derived from the land. The territory was named Maryland in honor of Henrietta Maria. Maryland became a haven for Roman Catholics persecuted in England. -
Rhode Island
The Rhode Island Colony was founded by Roger Williams who had been banished from the Massachusetts colony for his advocacy of religious tolerance and separation from church and state. Benedict Arnold was the first governor appointed under Rhode Island in 1663 and was the great grandfather of the notorious traitor of the Revolutionary War. -
Connecticut
Thomas Hooker founded Connecticut in 1636, its name comes from a derived Indian word meaning "river." The Connecticut colony was an English colony until 1776 when it joined the rest of the colonies in the war for fighting independence from Great Britain. -
Maryland Toleration Act
Also known as the Act Concerning Religion, was a law mandating religious tolerance for Tristitarian Christians. Passed on April 21, 1649 by the assembly of the Maryland Colony in St. Mary's city. It was the second law requiring religious tolerance in the British North American colonies and created the first legal limitations on religious hate speech. -
Carolina
King Charles II granted 8 supporters land in the Carolinas with easy access to the trade in the West Indies, people settled in the Carolinas to grow cash crops like rice, indigo and tobacco. By 1720, African slaves outnumbered European settlers on the Carolinas 2:1. In 1729, Carolina became a royal colony and was split into North and South Carolina. -
Pennsylvania
Founded by William Penn, it was a haven for his fellow quakers. Pennsylvania's capital, Philadelphia, was the site of the first and second continental congress in 1774 and 1775, the latter of which production of the Declaration of Independence, sparking the American revolution. After the war, Pennsylvania became the second state to ratify the U.S Constitution. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch trials were a series of witchcraft cases brought before local magistrates in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. People believed that the devil was constantly trying to find a way to destroy Christians and their communities. The trials began after a group of girls fell ill from playing a fortune telling game, after doctors couldn't find what was wrong with them he diagnosed them as being bewitched. -
Great Awakening/Enlightenment
The Great Awakening and Enlightenment are similar is way that the enlightenment was a movement started by the philosophers and scientists and it slowly trickled down to the masses. The Great Awakening was a movement of the masses and a religious and spiritual movement whereas Enlightenment was a movement that centered on scientific spirit and reasoning. -
Albany Plan
The Albany Plan was to place the British North American colonies under a more centralized government. This was the first important proposal to conceive the colonies and a collective whole united under one government. Other people call the Albany Plan a larger meeting known as the Albany Congress. They met in 1754 because of a breakdown in negotiations between the colonies of New York and Mohawk, they wanted a treaty between the colonies and the Iroquois that would clear Indian relations. -
The French-Indian War
Also called the seven year war, when France expanded into the Ohio river valley it brought a huge conflict with the British colonies. Between the years of 1754-1755 the French won a string of victories defeating in quick succession George Washington. A series of battles led to the British declaring war on 1756 and the war lasted until 1763. -
Salutary Neglect
The term Salutary Neglect stems from the colonial era. Even though England believed in a system of mercantilism where the colonies existed for the benefit of the mother country, Sir Robert Walpole decided to try something different to stimulate commerce. Companies, merchants and independent went about their business in these colonies on their own without a lot of overlook from the British government. -
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. It has become the cornerstone of Native American law in the United States and Canada.
