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Jamestown
Jamestown was the first permanent English colony in North America and allowed the British to have a foothold in the Americas. It also an experiment to test if a colony would thrive under certain living conditions, what it could produce, and how much effort it would take to maintain a settlement. -
Tobacco
Tobacco produces the first returns on the investment of the Virginia Company and becomes the first merchantable commodity of the Virginia colonists. Although it greatly increased profits from the colony, its effects include soil infertility and dangerous expansion into Indian Territory. It was the single most important commodity produced in North America. -
Mayflower Compact
The First Document of self-government in North America. It was in essence a social contract in which the settlers consented to follow the compact's rules and regulations for the sake of survival. -
The Bay Psalm Book
In 1639 the first printing press was brought to the English colonies and the first publication was the "Bay Psalm Book". The importance of this was mainly the ability to mass produce literature and thus imcrease the literacy of the colonists in the New World. -
Navigation Acts
The Navigation Acts were a series of legislation that were put in place under the Puritan commonwealth government to prevent foreign trading in the colonies. These acts were one of the many causes to resentment of the English monarchy among the colonists. -
Cardinal Richelieu
The French Prime Minister laid out a fundamentally Catholic imperial policy, and under his guidance colonists constructed a second Catholic empire in North America. He also founded local seminaries, oversaw the appointment and review of priests, and laid the foundation of the resolutely Catholic culture of New France. -
King Philip's War
The war between Metacomet (his tribe of Wompanoags) and the colonists that settled in Plymouth. This marked the end of organized Indian resistance in New England and caused the enslavement of many native peoples as well as a combined total of 6000 dead (between the colonists and Indians). -
Glorious Revolution
A bloodless transition in 1688 where Parliament engineered replacing King James II with his daughter Mary and her husband, William of Orange. The effects it had on the colonies and eventually the United States include the English Bill of Rights 1689 inspired in large part the United States Bill of Rights, the overthrow of the proprietary rule of the Calvert family in Maryland, and the transformation of Massachusetts, Maryland, and New York into royal colonies. -
John Locke
John Locke wrote the "Letter on Tolerance" which stated that churches were voluntary societies and could work only through persuasion. That a religion sanctioned by the state was no evidence of its truth, because different nations had different official religions. His ideas were embodied in the Toleration Act that was passed in 1689. Later on he articulated a philosophy of reason in proposing that the state existed to provide for the happiness and security of individuals (inspired T. Jefferson). -
King William's War
England and France opened a long struggle for colonial supremacy in North America that was not concluded until 1763. This war was a possible cause to three future events, one being the French and Indian War, another being Queen Anne's War, and the last one being France's aid to the colonists during the American Revolution. -
The Wool Act
This act was the first of three acts that placed limitations on colonial enterprises that might compete with those at home. This enactment forbade the colonial manufacture of this product. In doing this, England created unrest among the colonists. -
Queen Anne's War
A conflict, which had everything to do with slavery, that pitted Great Britain and its allies against France and Spain. Britain prevailed and gained the exclusive right to supply slaves to the Spanish colonies in America, which led to more sporadic fighting and eventually the War of Jenkins's Ear. -
Poor Richard's Almanac
Poor Richard's Almanac was written by Benjamin Franklin in an attempt to promote the new Enlightenment emphasis on useful and practical knowledge. Franklin was one of the first Americans to bring Enlightenment thought to ordinary folk. -
French and Indian War
The last of the great colonial wars pitting Great Britain against France and Spain. Known in Europe as the Seven Years War. The effect of this war was a serious rise in animosity between England and France, which could have led to France helping the colonial army fight the British. -
Junipera Serra
Established his headquarters in Monterey Bay in California (for Spain). Even earlier than that, he founded the first mission and pueblo complex in present day California and explored parts of the west coast of North America for the Spanish Empire.