Important Historical Events of the Colonial Period

Transcription

1 Important Historical Events of the Colonial Period 1607 Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia. Jamestown The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia. The first African slaves are brought to Jamestown Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England. Before disembarking from their ship, the Mayflower, 41 male passengers sign the Mayflower Compact, an agreement that forms the basis of the colony's government Founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony by the Puritans who are led by Gov. John Winthrop.

2 st public school: Boston establishes a Latin School to provide a classical education, similar to the free grammar schools in Boston, England Harvard University was founded as a place to train ministers Roger Williams is driven from Puritan Massachusetts and begins the colony of Rhode Island as a place of religious tolerance

3 1638 Anne Hutcheson is forced to leave the Puritans and Massachusetts Bay Colony for questioning Puritan beliefs and practices. She and her family go to Rhode Island Massachusetts Education Law of Required that parents or master saw to it that the children knew the principles of religion and the capital laws of the commonwealth Law of 1647, also known as the Old Deluder Satan Act required towns of fifty families or more to hire a schoolmaster who would teach children to read and write. Towns over 100 families are required to form a Latin grammar school capable of preparing children to be admitted to Harvard College Dame Schools are an early combination of day care and schools. Dame schools are run by women who informally instruct students for pay. Over the next century dame schools will show that women can be effective teachers, while raising the expectation of education, especially for girls.

4 1648 The first publicly maintained school house in the United States, located in Dedham, Massachusetts 1650 Colonial population is estimated at 50, English seize New Amsterdam (city and colony) from the Dutch and rename it New York after the King s brother the Duke of York Joseph Estabrook was the first school teacher in Lexington, Massachusetts. In 1716, Estabrook taught his school for five months and was paid fifteen pounds from the town treasury.

5 French and Indian War: Final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec and, by the Treaty of Paris 1763; they formally gained control of Canada and all the French possessions east of the Mississippi Boston Massacre: British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests Boston Tea Party: Group of colonial patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dumped more than 300 crates of tea overboard as a protest against the British tea tax.

6 1774 First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia. Delegates include Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams 1776 Declaration of Independence is adopted by the Second Continental Congress announces that the colonies are no longer a part of the British Empire which leads to full blown war with England American Revolution: War of Independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America. Battles of Lexington and Concord, Mass., between the British Army and colonial minutemen, mark the beginning of the war (1775). Battle-weary and destitute Continental army spends brutally cold winter and following spring at Valley Forge, Pa. ( ).

7 British general Charles Cornwallis surrenders to Gen. George Washington at Yorktown, Va. (1781). Great Britain formally acknowledges American independence in the Treaty of Paris, which officially brings the war to a close (1783).