Timeline for 1600-1876

By kyndalleaves

  • Jamestown, Virginia

    The first permanent English settlement is made in Jamestown, Virginia.

  • Slaves and the House of Burgesses

    The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown. The House of Burgesses meets for the first time in Virginia.

  • Plymouth Colony

    The Plymouth colony in Massachusetts is established by the Pilgrims.

  • Maryland

    Maryland is founded as a Catholic colony.

  • Providence Colony

    Providence, Rhode Island is founded by Roger Williams.

  • Slavery

    Slavery is legalized in Connecticut and recognized in the American colonies.

  • The Navigation Act

    The Navigation Act is passed by British Parliament to control colonial commerce.

  • Bacon's Rebellion

    Bacon's Rebellion, led by Nathaniel Bacon, causes the burning of Jamestown and the death of 24 men, including Bacon. It was a rebellion of planters against Governor Berkeley.

  • Public Occurrences

    The first newspaper issue in the United States publishes in Boston, the Public Occurrences.

  • The Salem Witch Trials

    The Salem witch trials resulted in the arrests of 150 people and the death of 19. They were held in Essex, Suffolk, and Middlesex counties.

  • The First Theater

    The first theater in the colonies to open for business in Williamsburg, Virginia, when contract is signed to build theater.

  • Poor Richard's Almanac

    Poor Richard's Almanac is published by Benjamin Franklin in Philadelphia.

  • George Whitefield

    George Whitefield arrives in North America and becomes the predominant preacher in the First Great Awakening movement through the colonies.

  • Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning rod after proving that lightning was electricity.

  • The Sugar Act

    The Sugar Act places a duty on various commodities, including rum, lumber, food, and molasses.

  • The Stamp

    The Stamp Act is established which required revenue stamps and taxes to pay for British troop. Nine colonies adopted the Declaration of Rights against taxation without representation.

  • The Townsend Acts

    The Townsend Acts are enacted which put additional levies on goods in the colonies.

  • The Boston Massacre

    The Boston Massacre occurs when British troops fired into a mob and killed five colonists. It is credited as the first battle in the American and furthered colonists cause of rebellion.

  • The Committee of Correspondence

    Samuel Adams organizes the Committee of Correspondence that begins the American Revolution, and he writes his "Rights of the Colonists" documents.

  • The Boston Tea Party

    The colonists resisted the monopoly, the East India Company. Josiah Quincy and Samuel Adams led a group of men dressed as Native Americans to dump 342 chests of tea overboard in protest of the British Government taxing the colonies without their consent.

  • The Intolerable Acts and the First Continental Congress

    The Intolerable Acts are enacted by the British Government. The First Continental Congress is held in Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, protesting the Intolerable Acts.

  • 1775

    -The British Government declares Massachusetts in rebellion.
    -Patrick Henry gave his "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death" speech to the Virginia House of Burgesses in Richmond.
    -Paul Revere and William Dawes rode through the night to warn patriots that the British were coming to Concord.
    -The Battle at Lexington and Concord took place, and the "shot heard around the world" began the American Revolutionary War.

  • 1776

    -Thomas Paine published "Common Sense" which inspired the Declaration of Independence and the need for independence.
    -The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and his committee. It was approved by the Second Continental Congress.
    -General Washington and his troops crossed the Delaware River to defeat 1,400 Hessians in the first Battle of Trenton.

  • 1777

    -The Continental Army defeats General Charles Cornwallis at Princeton, New Jersey. This battle impressed upon other European nations that the Americans could combat the British Army.
    -The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union are adopted by the Continental Congress in Independence Hall. It serves as the first constitution of the United States.
    -France recognizes the independence of the 13 colonies, signing treaties of alliance and commerce. French involvement is the turning point.

  • End of the Revolutionary War

    British Parliament agrees to the recognition of U.S. independence. A preliminary peace treaty, later formalized as the "Treaty of Paris" is signed between American and British officials in Paris.

  • Currency

    The United States adopts a decimal coinage system, with the dollar overwhelmingly selected as the monetary unit, the first time any nation has done so.

  • The Steamboat

    The first private test of John Fitch's new invention, the steamboat, occurs on the Delaware River.

  • Shay's Rebellion

    In Massachusetts, six hundred debt-ridden farmers, led by Daniel Shays, revolt against their creditors and high Massachusetts taxes. Faced with imprisonment and the loss of their farms for not paying their debts, they engage in Shays' Rebellion, but it fails when state militia intervene.

  • The First President

    George Washington is elected unanimously by the Electoral College as the 1st President of the United States.

  • The Post Office

    The United States Post Office Department is established, signed into law by President George Washington.

  • The Cotton Gin

    Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, which could do the work of fifty men when cleaning cotton by hand.

  • The Second President and Political Parties

    The U.S. Electoral College meets to elect Federalist John Adams as president. Political parties came into prominence with this election after the retirement of George Washington. Electors who chose the president were chosen by the states, using various methods, including the popular vote or by state legislators.

  • The Third President

    Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated for his first term as President of the United States.

  • The Louisiana Purchase

    President Thomas Jefferson doubles the size of the United States of America with his purchase of the Louisiana Territory from Napoleon's France, thus paving way for the western expansion that would mark the entire history of the 19th century from Missouri to the Pacific Coast.

  • The Lewis and Clark Expedition Ends

    The Lewis and Clark Expedition to map the northwest United States ends. Essential to the journey was Sacagawea, their female Indian guide.

  • Slavery

    The importation of slaves is outlawed, although between 1808 and 1860, more than 250,000 slaves were illegally imported.

  • The Fourth President

    James Madison is elected as the 4th President of the United States, defeating Charles C. Pinckney.

  • The War of 1812

    A French-British dispute that got the U.S. involved with the French while the Native Americans joined the British side. Americans forces were ill-prepared for war but managed to fight most of the battles to a stalemate.

  • The Missouri Compromise

    This compromise proposed by Henry Clay in 1820 was to maintain sectional balance and allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state while Maine entered free. It also split the Democratic-Republican party ending their 20 year control of national politics.

  • The Trail of Tears

    Thousands of Cherokees and other Indians were forcefully marched to Oklahoma territory under the supervision of the U.S. army. Thousands died from sickness and starvation along the way. It represented the poor relationship between the Indians and the Americans.

  • Texas Rebellion

    Texas declared their independence from the Mexican government. Many important battles, such as the Alamo, were fought between the Texan forces led by Sam Houston and the Mexican forces led by Santa Ana.

  • The Mexican American War

    The Mexicans and the Americans were in a dispute over the boundaries of Texas and also control of California. The war was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo in 1848 with America winning the titles to both Texas and California. The new land raised disputes about slavery in the new territory.

  • The Compromise of 1850

    It admitted California as a free state and restricted slave trade in Washington D.C., appealing to the North. It also created the Fugitive Slave law and allowed popular sovereignty in Utah and New Mexico territory, appealing to the South. It was an attempt to keep the country unified.

  • The Kansas-Nebraska Act

    It said that Kansas and Nebraska would be admitted into the Union under popular sovereignty. This act led to violent disputes in Kansas over slavery which became known as "Bloody Kansas". It pushed the country closer to the Civil War.

  • The Sixteenth President

    Abraham Lincoln became the 16th president of the United States.

  • The Civil War

    It was a series of battles fought between the Northern Union and the Southern Confederation. It ended in 1865 with the confederate surrender at the Appomattox Courthouse. The Union victory allowed for abolishment of slavery.

  • The Emancipation Proclamation

    President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free."

  • Abraham Lincoln's Death

    President Abraham Lincoln became the first president to be assassinated in office. He was murdered at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth.

  • The Transcontinental Railroad

    The Union Pacific Railroad and the Central Pacific Railroad connected at Promontory Point. in 1869. The transcontinental Railroad helped to improve trad and transportation throughout America. It also brought corruption.

  • The Telephone

    Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. A gigantic communication network was thus created. This gave women a new role as telephone operators changing their role in society. It also revolutionized communication.