Quinlan's Timeline

Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus set sail from Spain in 1492 in search of new land. After 10 weeks at sea, Christopher Columbus finally landed in the Caribbean Islands.

Cause: He set sail from Spain.

Effect: He landed in the Caribbean Islands.

1492

The Roanoke Colony

In 1585, Queen Elizabeth sent a group of colonists led by John White to colonize America. In 1587, John White returned to England for more supplies. When he returned to Roanoke in 1590, everyone was gone. They searched the island for evidence but all they found was the word Croatian carved into a tree.

Cause: A group of colonists set sail on a boat called the Mayflower.

Effect: They landed on an island in North Carolina which they later named Roanoke Island.

1585

Jamestown

In 1607, a group of colonists lead by John Smith set sail from England under the order of King James I. Over the first winter, only 60 out of the 500 people survived. Some of the reasons so many people died that first winter are that they didn't have enough supplies, they drank the swamp water, and diseases. They were really struggling after that, but things turned around when a man named John Rolfe introduced tobacco to Virginia and it became a major cash crop.

Cause: The Jamestown Colony set sail from England with a small number of supplies.

Effect: They found land next to a swamp where a lot of people died.

1607

The Plymouth Colony

1620

In 1620, 122 colonists tried to sail to America on 2 ships; the Mayflower and the Speedwell. Not long after the 2 ships left port, the Speedwell sprang a leak and both boats returned to the port. They crowded as many settlers as they could onto the Mayflower and set sail. They could fit 102 passengers, and between 25 to 30 crewmen on the boat. they had to leave 20 of the original passengers of the Speedwell behind.

After 2 months at sea, the people reached land in Massachusetts. Then they decided that they would need to make an agreement on how problems would be solved and how the colony would run. The compact said that they would only be loyal to the King of England, they would make clean and fair laws, they would all serve God, and they would all work for the colony. After searching the coast, the colonists found a place called Plymouth. It had a large harbor for their ships, a river with fresh water, and lots of flat land for farming. The men also voted for John Carver to be their first governor.

The Wampanoag tribe lived next to the Plymouth Colony. The Plymouth colony established a peace treaty with the Wampanoag Tribe and agreed to trade animal furs. One man from the Wampanoag tribe named Squanto agreed to stay with the colony. He had previously traveled to Europe and learned some English which helped him teach the pilgrims to hunt, fish, farm, and how to survive the winter. Without Squanto's help, the colony probably wouldn't have survived the first harsh winter.

In 1621, the colonists had a feast with their harvest. They had invited some people to join them from the Wampanoag tribe. They continued having the feast every year and in 1623, started calling the feast Thanksgiving.

Cause: The Plymouth left England for religious freedom.

Effect: They found land on the edge of Massachusetts.

French and Indian War

The French and Indian war started in 1754 because the British started expanding west and started interfering with the French territory. The first official battle of the war was The Jumonville Glen, which took place on the 28th of May, 1758. The battle was fought on where Fayette County, Pennsylvania would be now. General Washington ended up defeating the French and retreating into Great Meadows and building Fort Necessity.

After 9 years of fighting, the war finally ended on February 10th, 1763 because of the Treaty of Paris. The French were forced to give up all of the North American land they owned. Britain gained all of the land east of the Mississippi and Spain gained all of the land west of the Mississippi River.

Cause: The British started expanding west and started interfering with the French territory

Effect: The British and the French started fighting over the land

and the British ended up winning.

1754- 1763

The Stamp Act

The stamp act was a tax put forth on March 22, 1765, to help the British pay for the recently fought war.

The tax put on paper goods such as document, newspapers, books, and even playing cards. Many of the colonists boycotted and protested against it.

Cause: The British needed to pay for the French and Indian war.

Effect: They put a tax on paper goods to help pay for it.

The Stamp/ Townshend Acts

The Boston Massacre

1770

On March 5th, 1770, A mob of people were protesting against the British. They were throwing rocks and snowballs at them. While everyone was throwing the rocks and snowballs, someone reached for one of the British officer's guns. The officer panicked and shot, then all of the other officers started shooting at the townspeople. They killed 5 men and 3 were injured.

Cause: Someone grabbed an officer's gun.

Effect: The British started shooting and killed 5 men and injured 3.

The Boston Tea Party

1773

In 1773, the British parliament put forth the Tea Act. The Tea Act was a tax put on tea imported by The British East India Company, which was the only tea allowed to be imported to the British Colonies. The colonists protested the Tea Act on December 16, 1773, by throwing 92,000 pounds of tea off the British ships while dressed as Native Americans into the harbor, which nowadays would be worth around $1 million dollars.

Cause: The British made a tax on tea.

Effect: The colonists protested by throwing 342 chests of tea off the British ships.

1774

The Intolerable Acts

The British retaliated against the colonists for acting in the Boston Tea Party by creating 4 new acts. The first act was the Boston Port Act. The Act closed down Boston Harbor to all ships until the colonists paid for the tea they dumped into the harbor. The Second act was the Massachusetts Government Act . The Massachusetts Government Act made it so the British got to choose the governer. It also made it so the governer could appoint whoever he wanted, taking rights and power away from the colonists. The third act was the Administration of Justice Act. The Administration of Justice Act allowed the governer to move trials against British governent officials to Great Britain. This would make it nearly impossible for the officials to get convicted. The fourth and final act was the Quartering Act. It said that all colonies must provide shelter for British soldiers if no shelter was acessable. This ment that at any time you could be forced to provide shelter to British soldiers and provide them with food and water.

Cause: The colonists threw $1 million dollors worth of tea into the harbor.

Effect: The British made 4 acts as punishments.

1774

The First Continental Congress

The Continental Congress was the first official governing body of America. It was a group of state representatives (except for Rhode Island) who wanted to stop the intolerable acts. The first Continental Congress made 2 major actions. The first action was that they sent a letter to King George the III explaining the issues they had for how they were being treated. They stated that if the king did not revoke the Intolerable Act, they would boycott British goods. The king chose to ignore them, leading the Americans to make their second major action and begin the boycotting against the British.

Cause: The Americans did not agree with the Intolerable Acts, so they banded together and formed the Continental Congress. They all wrote a letter explaining the issues they had with how they were being treated. They said that if the king did not meet their demands, they would start boycotting British goods.

Effect: The king chose to ignore the letter, leading the Americans to start boycotting the British goods.

1775

Paul Revere

On April 18th, 1775, Paul Revere was sent by the colonists and the militia to watch for the British to see if they would come by sea or by land. They told him to hang 1 lantern on the town's church if the British were coming by land and 2 if the British were coming by sea. The colonists, who were expecting the attack were of the opposite shore and were expecting the attack. It was night at the time, so they couldn't see the British. He saw the British marching down to their boats, and he rode his horse to the church and hung the 2 lanterns. It is said it Paul Revere shouted, "The British are coming!" as he rode down the eastern coast, but this is not true. He was trying to be quiet to not get caught by the British. Since he was able to warn the colonists about where the British were coming from, the colonists were prepared and fought off the British.

Cause: Paul Revere was sent to watch the British and see if they were coming by land or sea.

Effect: The British were coming by sea and Paul Revere

was able to warn the colonists.

1775

The Shot Heard Around The World

The Battle of Lexington was a very small fight. It was the battle that started the Revolutionary War. The teams were very uneven. There were only around 80 American militiamen and around 273 British soldiers. Neither side was actually expecting to fight, but a gun shot went off, which caused the British to start shooting. No one knows who fired the gun shot nor if it was an accident or on purpose. The shot is called the shot heard around the world.

1776

1776

1777-

1778

1781

1781