Review of All Dates (5 Steps to a 5: AP) US History

2500 BCE

2500 BCE

Migration of Asians to the Americas across the Bering Strait begins.

1492

Voyage of Columbus to the Americas

1488

Portuguese reach Cape of Good Hope

1489

Vasco da Gama leads expedition around the Cape of Good Hope and sails to India

1519

Cortes enters Mexico

1520–1530

Smallpox epidemic devastates Native American populations in many parts of South and Central America, virtually wiping out some tribes.

1542

Spanish explorers travel through southwestern United States

1534–1535

French adventurers explore the St. Lawrence River

1607

The English settle in Jamestown

1619

Virginia establishes House of Burgesses (first colonial legislature)

1620

Plymouth colony founded

1629

Massachusetts Bay Colony founded

1634

Maryland colony founded

1636

Roger Williams expelled from Massachusetts Bay Colony and settles in Providence, Rhode Island; Connecticut founded by John Hooker

1642

City of Montreal founded by the French

1530s

Jacques Cartier explored St. Lawrence River in what is now known as Canada (New France).

1600s

Samuel de Champlain colonized Canada and founded Quebec in 1608.

1606

King James I granted the London Company a charter to colonize North America.

1607

Jamestown was founded by a London Company expedition.

1609

Henry Hudson explored the Hudson River.

1625

Manhattan became New Amsterdam.

1629

John Winthrop became governor of Massachusetts; John Winthrop called America a "city upon a hill"; a large, well-financed, and well-organized expedition sailed to Massachusetts; .

1632

King Charles I granted the Calverts a charter to found Maryland.

1640

Over 20,000 people had moved to Massachusetts.

1664

New York was born when New Amsterdam surrendered to an English fleet.

1660s

King Charles II gave Carolina, which later split into North and South Carolina, to a group of wealthy people.

1651

Parliament passed the first law regulating American trade

1651

First of several Navigation Acts approved by British parliament

1662

A law was passed in Virginia declaring that the child of a slave mother was also a slave

1676

Bacon’s Rebellion takes place in Virginia

1682

Dutch monopoly on slave trade ends, greatly reducing the price of slaves coming to the Americas

1684

English court convicted Massachusetts Bay Colony of violating the Navigation Acts

1686

Creation of Dominion of New England

1688

Glorious Revolution in England; James II removed from the throne

1689

English and French wars began

1689

Beginning of the War of the League of Augsburg

1689-1697

King William's War (League of Augsburg War) in America

1692

Witchcraft trials take place in Salem, Massachusetts

1702

Beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession

1702-1713

Queen Anne's War (War of the Spanish Succession) in America

1704

French and Native Americans raided Deerfield, Massachusetts

1733

Molasses Act of 1733 raised duties on foreign sugar

1739

South Carolina's Stono Rebellion, the largest slave uprising in British colonies

1688

Glorious Revolution in England

1706/1707

England and Scotland were formally united with the Acts of Union

1720s

Massachusetts resisted Great Britain's pressure to regularize royal governor salaries

1740s

George Whitefield's sermons drew thousands to the colonies

1815

Battle of Waterloo

1750

Native American tribes west of the Appalachian Mountains were eager to trade with Europeans but determined to maintain their independence

1754

Virginia Governor Robert Dinwiddie sent a small force to the Ohio Territory to defend British interests and force the French to leave; George Washington led the detachment

1754

Representatives of colonies meet at Albany Congress to coordinate further Western settlement

1756

Beginning of Seven Years’ War

1755

General Edward Braddock destroyed Fort Duquesne

1756

French and Indian War and the Seven Years' War merged

1754

Albany Congress brought together seven northern colonies; Benjamin Franklin proposed forming a colonial council

1757

William Pitt took power in Britain

1763

Signing of Treaty of Paris ending Seven Years’ War

1764

Currency Act prohibited colonies from issuing their own paper money

1764

Parliament approves Sugar Act

1765

Stamp Act of levied colonial tax instead of customs duty on imported goods

1765

Sons of Liberty riots forced Massachusetts stamp agent to resign;

1765

Stamp Act Congress declared that as Englishmen, colonists could not be taxed by an unrepresentative body

1765

Quartering Act required colonies to house and feed British troops in America

1766

William Pitt became prime minister

1766

Stamp Act repealed, but in Declaratory Act.

1766

Parliament affirms its right to tax the colonies

1767

Townshend Acts imposed duties on British merchants' lead, paper, glass, and tea; *Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania* by John Dickinson

1768

Samuel Adams wrote Circular Letter declaring that “taxation without representation is tyranny”

1768

British seized a smuggling ship belonging to John Hancock; Redcoats stationed in Boston

1770

Lord North became prime minister

1770

Boston Massacre, five killed and eight wounded

1773

Tea Act passed by Lord North's government

1773

Boston Tea Party, 350 chests of tea thrown into the harbor

1774

Intolerable Acts, also known as Coercive Acts, passed by Parliament to punish Massachusetts for the Boston Tea Party; Quebec Act expanded Quebec to include the western territories

1774

First Continental Congress, Declaration of Rights and Grievances and Suffolk Resolves adopted

1775

Second Continental Congress scheduled for May 10

1775

King George II and Lord North rejected the First Continental Congress's petition.

1775

General Thomas Gage sent a force of 700 men to destroy the militia arsenal at Concord.

1775

the British vanguard met 80 militiamen in Lexington.

1775

Battles of Lexington and Concord Meeting of Second Continental Congress

1775

Ethan Allen and his Vermont Green Mountain Boys took Fort Ticonderoga from its tiny British garrison.

1776

Ticonderoga's snow-dragged cannon convinced the British to leave Boston.

1775

The Second Continental Congress faced unprecedented challenges.

1775

The Battle of Bunker Hill occurred.

J1776

Thomas Paine published Common Sense.

1776

Richard Henry Lee of Virginia placed a motion before Congress.

1776

John Adams and Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.

1776

The Declaration of Independence was debated

1776

Congress voted for independence.

1776

Declaration of Independence approved Surrender of British forces of General Burgoyne at Saratoga

1776

Common Sense published by Thomas Paine

1777

State constitutions written in 10 former colonies

1781

The Battle of the Virginia Capes happened.

1782

Peace negotiations began in Paris.

1783

The Treaty of Paris was signed.

1777–1778

Continental army encamped for the winter at Valley Forge French begin to assist American war efforts

1781

The Articles of Confederation were ratified.

1786–1787

Shays’ Rebellion in Massachusetts

1787

Northwest Ordinance establishes regulations for settlement of territories west of the Appalachian Mountains

**1787

** Constitutional Convention ratifies U.S. Constitution