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First Navigation Acts
The English Parliament passes the first of the Navigation Acts, requiring that colonial exports to England be carried on English ships or ships built in English colonies, that certain "enumerated articles" be sold exclusively to England, and that all European goods bound for the colonies must first pass through England. -
Second and Third Navigation Acts
In 1660 and again in 1663, England passes the second and third of the Navigation Acts that regulate colonial trade. It is becoming increasingly evident to England that the colonies represent a profitable source of wealth and trade. The Navigation Acts seeks to enforce England's place as the first stopping point for all colonial goods, so they can collect duties before colonial produce is reshipped throughout the world. -
Plantation Duty Act
England passes the next of the Navigation Acts that regulate colonial trade, known as the Plantation Duty Act. It requires every captain loading enumerated articles to land them in England or pay a duty on the spot if they are to be delivered to another colony. By 1678, customs collectors are in every colony. -
Lords of Trade
Charles II designates certain privy councilors to serve as the Lords of Trade, who are to enforce the new mercantile system and maximize potential profits for the mother country. -
King Philips War Begins
King Philip plans a series of attacks on colonial settlements. The Plymouth Colony seeks retribution for Sassamon's murder by trying three Wampanoags and hanging them. The Indians believe that their comrades have been framed and their sovereignty insulted. -
Edict of Fontainebleau
Louis XIV, the French "Sun King," revokes his grandfather Henry IV's Edict of Nantes (1598). Protestantism is once again declared illegal in France through the Edict of Fontainebleau. Huguenot (French Protestant) churches are destroyed. Because of this official policy of persecution, 200,000-500,000 Protestants flee France, seeking asylum across the world, including in North America. -
Lords of Trade Sue Massachusetts
The Lords of Trade begin legal proceedings against the Massachusetts Bay Company. It has been charged with allowing violations of the Navigation Acts and seizing the proprietary rights of Maine and New Hampshire. -
Formation of New England
King James II moves to reduce colonial autonomy and his own dependence on Parliament by combining the colonies of Connecticut, Massachusetts, Plymouth, Rhode Island, New York, New Hampshire, East Jersey and West Jersey into a single colony: The Dominion of New England. -
Sir Edmund Andros in New England
King James II appoints Sir Edmund Andros to serve as Captain General and Governor in Chief in and over all that part of our territory and dominion of New England in America known by the names of our Colony of the Massachusetts Bay, our Colony of New Plymouth, our Provinces of New Hampshire and Main and the Narraganset Country or King's Province." -
King William’s War Begins
Europe's War of the Grand Alliance, fought between the Habsburg and Bourbon dynasties, spills over into North America, as Indian allies of the French attack English frontier settlements. The war, the first of several pitting English colonists against the French and their Native American allies, is called King William's War because it begins after English King William III joins the League of Augsburg against France. -
The Glorious Revolution
William III and Mary II officially replace James II as monarchs of England after James—Mary's father—flees to France. William and Mary's so-called "Glorious Revolution" is successful. The English Bill of Rights (Parliament controls taxation and all Englishmen enjoy certain "undoubted" rights, such as trial by jury), the Toleration Act (only Anglicans can hold office; Protestant dissenters, but not Catholics, can now worship freely), and the Mutiny Act (Parliament, not the military, regulates mut -
Glorious Revolution Sparks Revolt
News of the Glorious Revolution in England sparks revolts in the colonies. Boston militiamen seize Governor-in-Chief Andros and put him in jail. The New England colonies begin to reestablish governments as they existed prior to the acts of James II. -
Maryland’s Protestant Rebellion
The Protestant Association overthrows Lord Baltimore's Catholic government of Maryland. King William III concurs that Baltimore has mismanaged the colony and revokes his charter, although he allows Baltimore to retain his land. The colony ends its history of religious toleration. -
Leisler Executed
Jacob Leisler, leader of a failed rebellion in New York, is convicted of treason by the new colonial government and sentenced to be hanged, cut down before he dies, his bowels burned in front of his eyes, then to be decapitated and his body quartered. The new Governor reportedly commutes the last parts of the sentence—all but the hanging. -
King William’s War Ends
The Treaty of Ryswick ends King William's War, but the result is indecisive and the peace does not hold for long. The French, Dutch, English, and Spanish sign the treaty. -
Apalachee Massacre
The Apalachee massacre occurs in western Florida. James Moore, the ex-governor of South Carolina, leads 50 Englishmen and 1,000 Creek Indian allies against the Spanish and their Apalachee Native American allies during Queen Anne's War. Moore and his forces destroy all but one of The Apalachee massacre occurs in western Florida. James Moore, the ex-governor of South Carolina and his forces destroy all but one of the fourteen Spanish missions that had been founded in the region. -
Treaty of Utrecht
The Treaty of Utrecht ends Queen Anne's War. Under the treaty, Britain gains Newfoundland and the Hudson Bay region of Canada, as well as the Caribbean island of St. Kitts. Peace prevails until the onset of King George's War in 1744. -
The Great Awakening
Congregationalist minister Jonathan Edwards presides over a remarkable religious awakening in his Northampton, Massachusetts congregation. He helps to spearhead a revivalist movement that comes to be known as the Great Awakening, in which religion is once again popularized and made into a more direct and emotional experience for parishioners by charismatic ministers like Edwards. -
Battle of Louisbourg
New Englanders win the only important victory in King George's War. Three years later, the peace treaty that ends the war restores Louisbourg to France and leaves many issues between the two imperial powers unresolved. -
French and Indian War
Known as the Seven Years' War in Europe, the fourth and final conflict of its kind pits the English against the French and their Indian allies. Finally, the Peace of Paris ends the French and Indian War in 1763 and Britain establishes the extremely controversial Proclamation Line along the Appalachian Mountains, designed to halt westward expansion by colonists.
