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1600-1805
In late April of 1607, an expedition led by Captain Christopher Newport, arrived on the Virginia coast. The 105 passengers started the James town settlement and had selected this location because of its deep-water anchorage and good defensive position. The colony was originally governed by a council of seven men, with one of the men serving as president.
The English Civil Wars consisted of three wars which were fought between Charles I and Parliament between 1642 and 1651. These wars were a part of a wider conflict involving Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. The main reason for the wars was disagreements about religion, and discontent over the king’s use of power and his economic policies. In 1649 the Parliament sentenced Charles I to death and the military leader took over as Lord Protector of the Commonwealth, until Charles's son was restored to throne. The wars took up to 200,000 people's lives around 4.5% of the population at the time.
The Navigation Act of 1651 was an act of Parliament intended to promote the self-sufficiency of the British Empire by restricting colonial trade to England and decreasing dependence on foreign imported goods. The Navigation Act of 1651, aimed primarily at the Dutch, required all trade between England and the colonies to be carried in English or colonial vessels, resulting in the Anglo-Dutch War in 1652.
The Great Plague of London was an epidemic of plague that ravaged London, England, from 1665 to 1666. City records indicate that some 68,596 people died during the epidemic, though the actual number of deaths is suspected to have exceeded 100,000 out of a total population estimated at 460,000. The outbreak was caused by Yersinia pestis, the bacterium associated with other plague outbreaks before and since the Great Plague of London.
The scientific advancement had not become successful, and was just starting at the time. While a cure was not successful for the Great Plague, the advancements in science and medicine helped to cure smallpox in the 1800's.
The Glorious Revolution, also known as the “Bloodless Revolution” began in 1688 in England. The revolution started because England wanted to get dethrone King James II because of his religious and political policies. England feared that King James II would make the country an absolute monarchy, and they wanted to overthrow him. The revolution led to the abolishment of absolutism in England and as a result King James fled the country and William of Orange took over.
The army had a large impact in the revolution, where the standing army and the weapons used were now larger and more powerful than they had been. Armies now had access to more gunpowder and weaponry than James II, forcing him to back down.
King William III and Queen Mary II signed the English Bill of Rights in 1689, which was an act that gave power over England to Parliament. It provided freedom of speech to Parliament and limited the powers of the king and queen. King William II and Queen Mary II couldn’t rule without the permission of Parliament. England's Bill of Rights later influenced the American Constitution and encouraged freedom of speech in the constitution.
In 1701, the Act of Settlement was signed. It only allowed Protestants to reign over England and was designed to ensure that the monarchies remained Protestant. This was done under Queen Anne’s rule, as she was afraid that the throne would be given to a Roman Catholic when she died since she had no living family; her only living son died when he was young. The act ensured that the values of the English Monarchy would remain Anglican.
Queens Anne’s War was a war that broke out in 1702 and was a conflict between Spain, England, and France. The war was fought over the control of the North American territories. France and Spain were allies so the war was mainly fought between Britain and France. Great Britain supplied allying Native American groups with new firearms and warfare supplies that were used to siege Spanish land. The war ended by the Treaty of Utrecht being signed. The treaty left temporary peace between the countries because the control of the colonies was not settled.
The Acts of Union were two acts of Parliament that united the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Scotland. The act was passed by the Scottish and English Parliaments in 1707 in hopes of strengthening both the English and Scottish kingdoms. Scotland wanted to recover from their financial problems caused by the Darien Scheme that happened in 1695 and they believed that the English could help them. England was concerned that the Scottish kingdom would make alliances with other countries against England, so they decided to unite the two countries.
Queen Anne died on August 1st, 1714, and since her only son had already died, she was the last of the Stuart Monarchs and had no one in the family to take over the kingdom. King George I, who was a Protestant and member of the House of Hanover, was third in line to the throne and because of the Acts of Settlement, was able to succeed Queen Anne. George I started the reign of the House of Hanover’s, where his son and grandson would continue on the reign.
The Seven Year’s war was a world war where the dominating countries of France and Britain were rivalries for world power. The war was fought in Europe and overseas in the Americas, pitting Britain against France and Spain for the colonies of America and the Caribbean. In Europe, the war started out because of territorial tensions between Prussia and Austria over Silesia. The war ended in February 1763 with the signing of the Hubertusburg and Paris treaties. Britain gained land of Spanish Florida, Upper Canada, and other holdings that France lost overseas.
In an effort to recompense the debt from the Seven Year’s War, George III felt it acceptable to tax the colonists for payment of the safety and security of the colonies. There was the Sugar Act – 1764, the Stamp Act-1765, the Townshend Act-1767, and the Tea Act-1773. The Canadian, Caribbean, and some American colonists accepted the tax, and understood the cause of the tax, but some colonists that were already disloyal to the king, rebelled. Though the taxes were repealed, rebellion of American colonists over these taxes ultimately led to the American Revolution.
Map of Battle of Bunker Hill
The revolution started in April 1775 with the Battle at Lexington and Concord and was described as the “shot heard around the world.” Major and memorable British victories include the Battle of Bunker Hill (1775), Quebec (1775), Trenton (1776), Saratoga (1777), Rhode Island, 1778, Siege of Charleston (1780), Cape Henry (1781), and Delaware Capes (1782) – this was the last British land victory of the thirteen colonies. There were 50,000 red coat soldiers fighting for the British cause, and 25,000 lost their lives. In a way, Britain was fighting alone in the revolution, as many French and Spanish forces were siding with the colonists and were fighting with Britain to gain more land in the Americas.
There were advancements in weapons during the war.
Some of the weapons used include the Flintlock Rifle and Pistol, along with cannons and mortors which helped with fighting from afar instead of close-quarter fighting.
Battle of Lexington
On September 3, 1783, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams and John Jay traveled to Paris, France to sign the Treaty of Paris with George III. The treaty officially ended the Revolutionary War and acknowledged the United States as an independent nation. It marked the end of the First British Empire as Britain lost control of the Thirteen Colonies and much of their land in the America’s.
The East India Company was an English trading company that was established in India for trade with East and Southeast Asia. Under government intervention in 1784, William Pitt of England established ‘Pitt’s India Act’ which established political control of the company. The act established dual control, where the company-controlled day to day administration, but the political control and the board of directors were responsible to British Parliament. It was a massive win for Britain, as they were able to monopolize trade in Asia.
While Great Britain acknowledged that the United States was an independent nation, they refused to support the economic welfare of the country. They would only buy 10% of colonial goods from the colonies but pushed English exports and manufactured goods into the colonies. Before the revolution, Great Britain were buying 75% of colonial exports, so this was an act of defiance to show that Great Britain was still not settled with the loss of the colonies.
On May 7, 1794, the British Parliament suspended the Habeas Corpus law, meaning that persons could be unlawfully sentenced to prison and court. King George III and the British parliament worried that the unrest and rebellion in France with the French Revolution would spark rebellion in Britain. George III was able detain persons that he suspected for conspiring against him or the British government. The Act was in affect from May 1794 to July of 1795.
Great Britain and Ireland united as the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. After Ireland gained independent in 1798, Great Britain feared that Ireland would side with France. The two parties decided to unite the nations on January 1, 1801. Irish leaders were under the impression that their loss of independence would be compensated by the emancipation of civil disabilities for Roman Catholics. George III was the monarch at the time, and strongly refused this idea, as he was a staunch Anglican.