American History Before
1877
KEY EVENTS EXPLAINED
MS. C. ANDERSON 2016
1607 Founding of Jamestown
• 104 English men and boys arrived to establish a settlement.
• The location surrounded by deep water
• At first, many settlers died from disease, starvation, Indian wars.
• Powhatan Indians gave help
• 1612 cashcrop – Tobacco helped make Jamestown a viable
settlement.
• First permanent English settlement in the U.S.
1620 Mayflower Compact & Plymouth
• first written plan for
government
• “Saints” – Separatists held Calvinist
beliefs separate from Church of
England; didn’t want to lose English
identity
• Plymouth Colony, MA
• 1620-1691
• First Thanksgiving
• Plymouth Rock
1754-63 French & Indian War /
Seven Years War
• The British and French both
wanted to control the Ohio
Valley territory in North
America.
• British colonists wanted to settle
/ French wanted to use it for fur
trade
• Ended with Treaty of Paris 1763
American Revolution Crash Course
• 1775-1781(3)
• Stamp Act
• Taxation without representation
• Boycotting British goods
• Committee of Correspondence
• Continental Congress
• Enlightenment
1775-1783 American Revolution
1783 Treaty of Paris
• New boundaries
• Recognizing the thirteen
colonies as free states
• Establishing boundaries
between the United States
and British North America
1776 Declaration of Independence
• Declared independence of 13
colonies 1 year after the war
started with GB
• Thomas Jefferson wrote it