US history

Timeline of Historical Events in North America

Explorations and Early Settlements

• 1001: Leif Ericson explores North America.

• 1492: Christopher Columbus discovers America.

• 1497: John Cabot claims North America for England.

• 1501: Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America.

• 1585:

  • March 25: Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America.

  • June: Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island.

  • June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Walter Raleigh.

Significant Events in the 17th and 18th Century

• 1688: The Glorious Revolution in England leads to a constitutional monarchy and passing of the Bill of Rights.

• 1763:

  • February 10: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada east of the Mississippi River added to the British empire.

  • October 7: The Proclamation of 1763 issued by King George III after the end of the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War to organize the new North American empire and stabilize relations with Native Americans. No British settlements allowed west of the Appalachian mountains. Settlers already in these areas required to return east.

• 1764:

  • February: James Otis urges a united response to the recent acts imposed by England. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to James Otis.

  • July: James Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved."

  • August: Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods.

• 1765:

  • March 22: The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament.

  • March 24: The Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.

  • July: The Sons of Liberty is formed - a secret organization opposed to the Stamp Act.

  • December: Over 200 Boston merchants refuse to pay the Stamp Tax.

• 1766:

  • March 18: Stamp Act repealed.

  • January: New York assembly refuses to fully enforce the Quartering Act.

  • August: Violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and members of the Sons of Liberty.

• 1768:

  • July: Merchants in Boston and New York boycott British goods.

  • September: English warships sail into Boston Harbor leaving two regiments of English troops to keep order.

• 1770: March: "The Boston Massacre" - Four workers shot by British troops in Boston.

• 1773: December 16: The Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.

• 1774: March: The Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans).

• 1775:

  • February 9: English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion.

  • April 19: Shots fired at Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed. "Minute Men" force British.