DATING GAME

1453:  Fall of Constantinople
1492:  Columbus
1588:  Spanish Armada
1607:  Virginia
1619:  First slaves
1620:  Plymouth Colony
1676:  Bacon’s Rebellion
1688-89:  Glorious Revolution, Bill of Rights, Leisler’s Rebellion
1692:  Salem Witch Trials
1754-1763:  French and Indian War
1775:  Revolutionary War
1776:  Declaration of Independence
1783:  Peace of Paris
1787:  Constitutional Convention
1789:  Constitution Ratified
1791:  Bill of Rights
1800:  Revolution of 1800
1811 (1812)-1815:  War of 1812
1820:  Missouri Compromise
1831:  Nat Turner’s Revolt
1832:  Nullification Crisis (Compromise of 1833)
1846-1848:  Mexican War
1850:  Compromise of 1850
1860-1865:  Civil War
1877:  Reconstruction ends
1898:  Spanish-American War
1914 (1917)-1918:  WWII
1929:  Stock market crash
1933:  New Deal begins
1939 (1941)-1945:  WWII
1949:  Fall of China, Soviet A-bomb
1954-1973 (1975):  Viet-Nam War
1957:  Sputnik
1963:  Assassination of Kennedy
1968:  Tet, RFK, MLK
1969:  Man on the Moon
1974:  Nixon resigns
1989:  Berlin Wall falls
1991:  USSR ends
 
PERIODISATION

pre--1607:  Pre-colonial (1587)
1607-1763:  Colonial
1764-1783:  Revolutionary
1781-1789:  Confederation
1789-1800:  Early National/Early Republic (1824?)

COLONIAL SOCIETY

Types of Colonies

Proprietary
Maryland
Pennsylvania
Delaware

Self-Governing
Connecticut
Rhode Island

Royal
Virginia (after 1624, formerly self-governing)
New Hampshire (after 1679, formerly self-governing)
Massachusetts (after 1691, formerly self-governing)
North Carolina (after 1729, formerly proprietary)
South Carolina (after 1729, formerly proprietary)
New Jersey (after 1702, formerly twp proprietary colonies)
Georgia (after 1752, formerly proprietary)

OR

Profit-based
Virginia
Carolinas
New York
New Jersey (mostly)

Religion/philosophy-based
Massachusetts
Connecticut
New Hampshire (somewhat)
Rhode Island
Maryland
Pennsylvania (Delaware) (partly)
Georgia (at first)

Pyramid

King (not in America)
Aristocracy (few in America)
Gentry (landed, no work, live off rents)
Middle class/bourgeoisie (merchants, lawyers, doctors, &c)
Yeoman farmers (independent, landowners)
Workers (dependent but free)
Indentured servants (unfree)
Slaves

Some trends before the Revolution will be a result of this social structure, which is a fairly rigid hierarchy, although not as rigid as in most European countries, which is why Englishmen call Frenchmen slaves.

South is principally a staple crop area, middle colonies are mostly small farmers and merchants, New England is mostly small farmers and fishermen, and merchants and shipwrights

Social Rebellions

Bacon’s Rebellion
1676:  A wealthy recent immigrant, Bacon was upset that Gov. Sir Wm. Berkeley’s government was not fighting the Indians hard enough, yet many of the ‘best men’ in the government were, in Bacon’s mind, his social inferiors.  He led an uprising of poor freemen against Berkeley, attacked Indians indiscriminately, and abruptly died of the bloody flux.  Berkeley was restored to power, but soon relieved by the King.  As a result, all free men could vote but imports of indentured servants declined and imports of slaves rose.  This is seen by some as an early attempt at independence and by others as a simply power struggle between Bacon and Berkeley.

Leisler’s Rebellion
1689:  Upon hearing of the Glorious Revolution, New England and the Middle Colonies overthrew Sir Edmund Andros’s Dominion of New England.  In New York, Jacob Leisler was the leader of a rebellion by small farmers, businessmen, and workingmen who created a government not dominated by the large landowners or merchants.  In 1691, Leisler refused to recognise the royally appointed governor and was executed.

Salem Witch Trials
1692:  At a time of political stress (Massachusetts had just lost her charter) and fear (King Philip’s War had decimated New England in 1675), religious fervour and socio-economic stress combined as merchants grew richer and ministers lost status.  The accusers in Salem tended to be rural people who had lost family in Indian attacks or who were part of the declining land-holders.  The accused tended to be richer folk or people who did not conform to Puritan expectations.  Eventually the hysteria died away and the authority of the Puritan church was badly diminished.

The Great Awakening
1730s-1740s:  Although largely based in the Puritan Churches and the Church of England, both communitarian churches, the Great Awakening stressed personal involvements in religion, emotional responses to God, and a degree of personal independence.  It created a split in many established churches, leading to a spirit of self-determination, as many people founded new churches.  The individual determinism helped lead to democracy, and the diminishing of traditional church authority and cohesion also destabilised society.

Peter Zenger Trial
1735:  An American newspaper publisher was arrested for committing libel against Royal Governor Cosby and was imprisoned and tried in New York. His acquittal on the grounds that the material he had printed was true established the freedom of the press as it was later defined in the Bill of Rights.

Shays’ Rebellion
1786-1787:  Disgruntled western Massachusetts farmers and Revolutionary War veterans revolted when 1/3 of them were in debt for taxes and the eastern merchants who controlled the government would only accept specie as payment.  Farmers led by Daniel Shays refused to pay taxes, threatened court officials, demanded paper money (to cause inflation—a major political issue for all of the 18th and 19th centuries), the relocation of the capital from Boston, the end of debtors’ prisons, tax relief, and a moratorium on debts.  They felt their work in the Revolution was being cheated.  In 1787 Shays was defeated, sentenced to death, and pardoned by Gov. Hancock.  Later in 1787 twelve states sent delegates to a meeting in Philadelphia.  Their purpose was to change the Articles of Confederation, but the subject changed to negotiations that were to lead to the United States Constitution. Fear of uprisings like Shays’ Rebellion was a motivation for creating a strong central government, especially the creation of a standing federal army. In addition many states moved their capitals to rural regions, where state governments would be better informed of local events and better able to control such uprisings.

Whiskey Rebellion
1794:  Farmers in Western Pennsylvania rebelled against the tax on distilled drinks.  They felt this was just like the taxes Britain had imposed in the 1760s and 1770s, especially since large producers were taxed less than smaller, western distillers.  Fearing a repeat of Shays’ Rebellion, Washington crushed the rebellion, demonstrating the power of the Federal government, but the tax was repealed in 1802.

All these democratical trends will lead to Jacksonian Democracy and universal male suffrage in the 1820s.

WAR AND PEACE

War

Glorious Revolution 1688-1689
King William’s War (War of the League of Augsburg (1688)) 1689-1697
France and Turkey versus England, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Sweden, many German states in the Holy Roman Empire
  Mostly a draw
Queene Anne’s War (War of the Spanish Succession) 1702-1713
 Basically the same folks as in King William’s War
Minor territories changed hands, Louis XIV’s grandson became King of Spain (but could never be King of France; his line is still royal in Spain), Britain got Acadia/Nova Scotia
War of Jenkins’ Ear 1739-circa 1742
 England versus Spain
War over Caribbean possessions, largely a draw, merged with
King George’s War (War of the Austrian Succession) 1740-1748
France, Prussia, Spain, Bavaria versus Austria, England, Netherlands to see if Maria Theresa could be Archduchess of Austria, Queen of Hungary and Bohemia, &c, &c (she could)
New England militia took Fort Louisburg but had to give it back; at Dettingen (1743) George II was the last King of England to command troops in the field
French and Indian War (Seven Years War (1756)) 1754-1763
 Britain, Prussia, Hannover versus France (and Indians), Austria, Russia, Sweden, Saxony
  *Fort Duquesne, Quebec
First world war to begin in America; fought over the Ohio Valley and Canada; Britain won and got everything east of the Mississippi (including Florida) and Spain got Louisiana to make up for Florida
Revolution 1775-1783
 US, France, Spain, Netherlands versus Britain
  Independence for US, victory for British elsewhere
Indian Wars circa 1794
 St. Clair’s defeat, Fallen Timbers, Mad Anthony Wayne
Quasi-War 1798~1800
 Undeclared naval war with France

Peace

Ryswick 1697
Utrecht 1713
Aachen/Aix-la-Chappelle 1748
Paris 1763
Paris 1783
Greeneville 1794 (paid for Indian lands)

Other Treaties

Franco-American Alliance 1778~1800
Jay Treaty 1794 (British would evacuate Great Lakes forts, US
would repay loyalists, got trading rights in Caribbean, made claims for lost American shipping, settled most of Canadian border)
Pinckney Treaty 1795 (set boundary with Spain, allowed Americans
free use of the Mississippi and New Orleans)

Steps towards Revolution

Peace of Paris (1763)
Proclamation of 1763
Currency Act (1764)
Sugar Act (1764)
Stamp Act Congress, New York (1764)
Stamp Act (1765)
Quartering Act (1765)
Declaratory Act (1766)
New York Suspending Act (1767)
Townshend Duties (1767)
Occupation of Boston
Boston Massacre (5 March, 1770)
Tea Act (1773)
Boston Tea Party (16 December, 1773)
Intolerable Acts
 Coercive Acts (1774)
  Boston Port Act
  Massachusetts Governor Act
  Imperial Administration of Justice Act
  Quartering Act
 Quebec Act (1774)
First Continental Congress (1774)

Major Battles of the Revolution

Lexington and Concord 1775
Siege of Boston 1775-1776
Fall of New York 1776
Trenton 1776
Saratoga 1777
Fall of Charleston 1780
King’s Mountain 1780
Yorktown 1781

ATTEMPTS AT UNION

Dominion of New England, 1686-1689, Gov. Sir Edmund Andros
Albany Conference, 1754, 7 colonies, Join or Die!
Stamp Act Congress, 1764, 9 colonies
Committees on Correspondence, Committees of Safety
First Continental Congress, 1774, 12 colonies
Second Continental Congress, 1775-1781, 13 colonies
Articles of Confederation, 1781-1789
Annapolis Convention, 1786
Constitutional Convention, 1787, 12 states
Constitution, 1789, Conservative! British! Polybian!
 

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