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Jamestown
The Jamestown settlement in the Colony of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. -
Virginia House of Burgesses
First democratically-elected legislative body in British North America. This group of representatives met from 1619 until 1776. -
Plymouth Rock
Plymouth Rock is the traditional site of disembarkation of William Bradford and the Mayflower Pilgrims who founded Plymouth Colony in 1620. -
MayFlower Compact
An agreement reached by the Pilgrims on the ship the Mayflower in 1620, just before they landed at Plymouth Rock. -
Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
It was a Constitution for the colonial government of Hartford and was similar to the government that Massachusetts had set up. -
Glorious Revolution
When William of Orange took the English throne from James II in 1688 The event brought a permanent realignment of power within the English constitution. -
English Bill of Rights
A British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1689 that declared the rights and liberties of the people. -
Salem Witch Trials
A series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. -
John Peter Zenger
New York printer and journalist whose famous acquittal in a libel suit (1735) established the first important victory for freedom of the press in the English colonies of North America. -
French and Indian War
Also known as the Seven Years War. The french wanted to extended their colonist and gain more land to the west which is called Ohio territory. -
Albany Plan of Union
A plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies -
Proclamation of 1763
King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. -
Quarting Act
Two British Laws, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain 1765 and 1774, that were designed to force local colonial governments to provide provisions and housing to British soldiers stationed in the 13 Colonies of America. -
Stamp Act
Was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. -
Declaratory Act
An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain, which accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act 1765 and the changing and lessening of the Sugar Act. -
Boston Massacre
A riot in Boston (March 5, 1770) arising from the resentment of Boston colonists toward British troops quartered in the city, in which the troops fired on the mob and killed several persons. -
Tea Act
An Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. -
Boston Tea Party
A raid on three British ships in Boston Harbor (December 16, 1773) in which Boston colonists, disguised as Indians, threw the contents of several hundred chests of tea into the harbor as a protest against British taxes on tea and against the monopoly granted the East India Company. Origin of Boston Tea Party. -
1st Continental Congress
a meeting of delegates from twelve of the Thirteen Colonies who met from September 5 to October 26, 1774 at Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania early in the American Revolution. -
The Declaration of Independence
The freedom of the thirteen American colonies from Great Britain. -
2nd Continental Congress
The Second Congress managed the Colonial war effort and moved incrementally towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. -
Treaty of Paris
Negotiated between the United States and Great Britain, ended the revolutionary war and recognized American independence. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. -
Toleration Act
Was an Act of the Parliament of England, which received the royal assent on 24 May 1689.
