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Period: 1492 to
US History: VHS Summer: Chloe Kirkwood
U.S. History: from Columbus and the first British settlements to the end of the Reconstruction era. This timeline will contain a summary of important events and ideas in this time period. -
1518
The Middle Passage
Link text][https://www.ushistory.org/us/6b.asp] Note: Date provided is when the transcontinental slave trade started. Slavery wasn't outlawed until into the 19th century. Caused millions of African men and women to be transported thousands of miles from their homes and into chattel slavery. Their children would be born into bondage. Slavery now had a color and slaves were viewed as inferior. Traded to the British for guns, textiles, etc. Ships were extremely cramped. Dead bodies thrown off. -
Jamestown Colony Settlement
[Link text][https://www.ushistory.org/us/] First permanent British settlement in the new world. Came to the new world to search for gold like the Spanish had found in South America. This was a vain venture. Without the help of Powhatan's people they would have all died in the first couple of winters. John Smith implemented the "work or starve" mentality which increased productivity. Tobacco became the economy of the settlement. -
Boston Tea Party
[Link text][https://www.ushistory.org/us/9f.asp] Radicals threw 342 cases of tea from the British Tea Company into the Boston Harbor. They did this because the Townshend Acts had been repealed except for the tax on tea. They objected to it in principle and thought that they had paid enough in lives and effort in the French and Indian War. British entirely shut down Boston Harbor, representative assemblies in Boston, and put the British Ambassador equivalent as Governor of Boston. -
The Declaration of Independence
[Link text][https://www.ushistory.org/us/10g.asp] It was written by a team of five. Thomas Jefferson wrote the majority of it. It described Britain as tyrants. A part explained their grievances and why they thought that the relationship could not be reconciled. It used phrases such as "all men are created equal" and "the unalienable rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" which have become famous and have been models for other democracies since.It described Britain as tyrants.
