Colonial america

A Timeline of Colonial America

By emisch
  • Roanoke

    Roanoke
    -John White and 100 colonists went to Roanoke (an island off Virginia's coast).
    -White had to go back to England to get more supplies. He planned to be back in a few months, but England and Spain's war delayed him.
    -When he returned, he found the colonists had vanished, and the only clue was the word "CROATOAN" carved into a tree.
    -Roanoke's failure caused England to not colonize the New World for 17 years, until Jamestown.
    https://www.history.com/news/what-happened-to-the-lost-colony-of-roanoke
  • Jamestown

    Jamestown
    -English colonists came to the New World. They founded Jamestown, and searched for gold.
    -But, they spent so much time looking for gold that they didn't prepare for winter, so most colonists died in the first winter.
    -Their leader, John Smith, told them to work or they wouldn't get food.
    -John Rolfe and Pocahontas began to grow and sell tobacco, which made a lot of money, and Jamestown became England's first permanent settlement.
    https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/jamestown
  • The House of Burgesses

    The House of Burgesses
    -The House of Burgesses was an assembly of representatives for settlements first held in Jamestown in 1619.
    -The meetings were moved in Williamsburg in 1700, but the House was taken control of by the English government in 1643, and Virginia was made a royal colony.
    -The freedom the House of Burgesses allowed colonists to have made them want freedom from England's control, which would soon lead to Bacon's Rebellion and the American Revolution.
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/House-of-Burgesses
  • The Great Migration

    The Great Migration
    -The Great Migration began in 1620 when Pilgrims landed at Plymouth, which led to large amounts of religious dissidents coming to the New World, because they didn't like the Church of England's ways.
    -From 1620-1640, over 15,000 migrants came to the New World.
    -Migration ceased when the English Civil War began in 1642.
    -The Great Migration changed the colonies, because it led to the establishment of many permanent settlements.
    -https://historyofmassachusetts.org/the-great-puritan-migration/
  • Mayflower/Plymouth/Mayflower Compact

    Mayflower/Plymouth/Mayflower Compact
    -William Bradford and 100 Pilgrims landed and established Plymouth.
    -While on the Mayflower, Bradford and 40 colonists signed the Mayflower Compact, a set of rules for how they should govern themselves, the first of its kind in the New World.
    -The First Thanksgiving was held in Plymouth between Pilgrims and Indians.
    -Plymouth was the first permanent European settlement in New England, and it was the start of The Great Migration.
    https://www.history.com/topics/colonial-america/pilgrims
  • Salutary Neglect

    Salutary Neglect
    -Under King James I, Britain employed Salutary Neglect, which meant that they allowed the colonies to trade as they pleased, as long as they were loyal to Britain.
    -The colonies did this from 1621-1750.
    -However, the policy led to the colonies being almost entirely self-suffiecient, which left them at a better position economically for the American Revolution more than a century later.
    https://www.britannica.com/topic/salutary-neglect
  • New York

    New York
    -When the Dutch first founded what would become New York in 1624, they called it New Amsterdam.
    -However, in 1664, the English renamed it New York. This happened when the Dutch surrendered the settlement to the English army.
    -The Dutch were allowed to stay even after England took over.
    -New York was fought over immensely during the American Revolution, since it was a crucial trading port.
    https://www.history.com/topics/us-states/new-york
  • Massachusetts Bay Colony

    Massachusetts Bay Colony
    -The Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded by Puritans in 1629.
    -They were religiously strict, and regularly banished dissidents.
    -They had a grant to trade as they pleased, having government independent of royal control. This freedom made 20,000 migrants arrive there by 1640.
    -In 1691, King Charles II took away their freedom and made them a royal colony, merging Plymouth and Maine with Massachusetts Bay, making it the largest colony.
    https://www.britannica.com/place/Massachusetts-Bay-Colony
  • Maryland

    Maryland
    -In 1632, at the recommendation of Lord Baltimore, King Charles I allowed Maryland to be founded as a place for the English Catholics to worship without fear of religious persecution.
    -However, there were only 17 Catholics in the group of original settlers, whom arrived in 1634. The rest were Protestant.
    -In 1642, the settlers went to war with a local Indian tribe. This "war" went on until they signed a peace treaty in 1652.
    https://www.thoughtco.com/facts-about-the-maryland-colony-103875
  • Rhode Island

    Rhode Island
    -Rhode Island was founded in 1636, by Rodger Williams, a dissidant from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
    -Other dissidents came to Rhode Island, including Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from Massachusetts for speaking out against the church.
    -In 1663, the settlements of Rhode Island were united under a charter drawn up in England, after much negotiation.
    -Rhode Island had abolished slavery by 1652, and it also separated church and state.
    https://www.thoughtco.com/rhode-island-colony-103880
  • Connecticut

    Connecticut
    -In 1636, a Puritan pastor, Thomas Hooker, and his congregation were ordered to leave Massachusetts by the General Court.
    -When they arrived in Connecticut, they fought the Pequot Indians, and decimated the Pequot population.
    -The number of settlers had increased to 800 by 1637.
    -The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut was the governing document of the colony, and its core values can be found in the Constitution of the United States of America.
    https://www.thoughtco.com/connecticut-colony-103870
  • The Maryland Toleration Act

    The Maryland Toleration Act
    -The Maryland Toleration Act of 1649 allowed the large number of Christians in Maryland to stay there without fear of oppression from the Church of Englad, and granted anyone religious freedom if they believed in the Holy Trinity.
    -This act gave people more religious freedom in Maryland then in England or in any other English colonies at the time.
    https://www.christianity.com/church/church-history/timeline/1601-1700/maryland-toleration-act-11630122.html
  • Carolina

    Carolina
    -King Charles II gave land grants to his supporters in the New World, which resulted in the creation of the Carolina colonies.
    -The people who settled there would grow cash crops to make profits for England.
    -In order to keep up with demands, the owners of the land bought slaves from Africa and forced them to work the land.
    -In 1729, the King declared North and South Carolina to be separate, since they had different ideas on how to run Carolina.
    -http://www.ushistory.org/us/5c.asp
  • Bacon's Rebellion

    Bacon's Rebellion
    -Nathaniel Bacon arranged a militia of farmers and slaves, who were enraged at governor William Berkely for allowing Indians to live on colonists' land.
    -Bacon and his followers set fire to Jamestown because Berkely wouldn't let them fight the Indians.
    -The Rebellion would have continued, but Bacon died of dysentery and the rebellion was defeated by Berkely's men at Chesapeake Bay.
    -This was the first colonial rebellion against royal control.
    http://totallyhistory.com/bacons-rebellion/
  • Pennsylvania

    Pennsylvania
    -Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 by William Penn, who intended it to be a place for him and others Quakers to live.
    -Penn initially combined Delaware wiht Pennsylvania as a part of his plan, but Delaware separated form Pennsylvania in 1701.
    -During the American Revolution, Pennsylvania was where the First and Second Continental Congress took place. The Declaration of Independence was also signed in Philadelphia.
    https://www.thoughtco.com/key-facts-about-the-pennsylvania-colony-103879
  • The Salem Witch Trials

    The Salem Witch Trials
    -The Salem Witch Trials were a string of convictions of 31 people accused of witchcraft in Massachusetts. The accusations were based off of Cotton Mather's teachings about the threats witches pose to Puritans.
    -Panic spread through Salem. Citizens were tried and sentenced in court, but all evidence against the "witches" was fake.
    -The "witches" were hanged, others imprisoned or, in the case of Giles Corey, crushed by boulders. https://www.britannica.com/event/Salem-witch-trials
  • Great Awakening/ The Enlightenment

    Great Awakening/ The Enlightenment
    -The Enlightenment was a movement that spread through America in the 1700s. It placed emphasis on reason and rational thinking as opposed to religion.
    -When the Christian preachers realized this, they set out to revive Christianity in the colonies, an act that would later be known as the Great Awakening.
    -Jonathan Edwards catalyzed the Great Awakening with his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”
    https://www.history.com/topics/british-history/great-awakening
  • The Albany Plan

    The Albany Plan
    -The Albany plan was a plan to unite the English colonies under a central government which was made in 1754 by the Albany Congress.
    -Benjamin Franklin published the "Join or Die" cartoon in the Boston Gazette, urging people to support the Albany Plan of Union.
    -While the Albany Plan was never made official, (England rejected it), its values can be found in the U.S Constitution, and was partly the motivation for the American Revolution.
    https://www.thoughtco.com/the-albany-plan-of-union-4128842
  • The French/Indian War

    The French/Indian War
    -The French and Indian war was fought between Britain and France from 1756-1763.
    -The English declared war on France because they had been expanding into the territory of English colonies.
    -At the beginning of the war, the French defeated George Washington and his militia.
    -The English turned the tide of the war and after the battle of Quebec, and received Canada and Louisiana as is specified in the Treaty of Paris.
    https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/french-and-indian-war
  • The Proclamation of 1763

    The Proclamation of 1763
    -The Proclamation of 1763 was put in place by King George III after the French and Indian War to prevent settlers from expanding beyond the Appalachian mountains, so as to not anger the Native Americans.
    -The Proclamation angered the colonists, because it prevented them from settling on good farmland.
    -The Proclamation stayed in place until the onset of the Revolutionary War in 1775.
    https://www.history.com/topics/native-american-history/1763-proclamation-of