Colonial America Events

Led by an Indian guide, on December 16, 1675 on a bitterly cold storm-filled day, the main Narragansett fort near modern South Kingstown, Rhode Island was found and attacked by the coloni...

Spring of 1676 marked the high point for the combined tribes when, on March 12, they attacked Plymouth Plantation itself. Though the town withstood the assault, the natives had demonstrat...

On March 26, 1676 during King Philip's War, Captain Michael Pierce led approximately 60 Plymouth Colony colonial troops and 20 Wampanoag Christian Indians in pursuit of Narragansett India...

The new year of 1676 saw Philip weakened—somewhat. In January, he and his band traveled further west to Mohawk territory, seeking, but failing to secure, an alliance. The winter months sa...

In April 1676 the Narragansett were defeated and their chief, Canonchet, was killed. On May 18, 1676, Captain William Turner of the Massachusetts Militia and a group of about 150 militia ...

With the help of their long-time allies the Mohegans, the colonists won at Hadley, Massachusetts, on June 12, 1676, and scattered most of the survivors into the wilds of New Hampshire and...

Philip's allies began to desert him. By early July, over 400 had surrendered to the colonists, and Philip himself had taken refuge in the Assowamset Swamp, below Providence, Rhode Island,...

With Metacomet's death, the war in the south was largely ended. Over 600 colonists and 3,000 Indians had been killed. Several hundred more natives who had surrendered or been captured wer...

In 1686, the entire region was reorganized under a single government known as the Dominion of New England; this included the colonies of Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, Connect...

In 1686, the entire region was reorganized under a single government known as the Dominion of New England; this included the colonies of Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, Connect...

In 1686, the entire region was reorganized under a single government known as the Dominion of New England; this included the colonies of Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, Connect...

In 1686, the entire region was reorganized under a single government known as the Dominion of New England; this included the colonies of Plymouth, Rhode Island, Massachusetts Bay, Connect...

On October 9, 1701, the colonial legislature of Connecticut chartered the Collegiate School in Saybrook to educate students for "Publick employment both in Church & Civil State." Original...

The Seven Years War (1689-1763) was a massive conflict involving Austria, England, France, Great Britain, Prussia, and Sweden. The conflict was played out in Europe, India, and North Amer...

The Revenue Act of 1764, also known as the Sugar Act, was the first tax on the American colonies imposed by the British Parliament. Its purpose was to raise revenue through the colonial ...

On September 1, 1764, Parliament passed the Currency Act, effectively assuming control of the colonial currency system. The act prohibited the issue of any new bills and the reissue of ex...

On February 6th, 1765 George Grenville rose in Parliament to offer the fifty-five resolutions of his Stamp Bill. A motion was offered to first read petitions from the Virginia colony and ...

In March 1765, Parliament passed the Quartering Act to address the practical concerns of such a troop deployment. Under the terms of this legislation, each colonial assembly was directed ...

AN ACT for the better securing the dependency of his Majesty's dominions in America upon the crown and parliament of Great Britain. WHEREAS several of the houses of representatives in ...

Taxes on glass, paint, oil, lead, paper, and tea were applied with the design of raising £40,000 a year for the administration of the colonies. The result was the resurrection of colonial...

Colonial resistance to British control took many forms, perhaps the most effective was the general success of the non-importation agreements. Such agreements appeared as early as 1766. Th...

On June 9, the Gaspee attempted to stop and search the Hannah, a small trader from Newport bound for Providence. The captain of the Hannah, Benjamin Lindsey, refused to comply even after ...

The Tea Act, passed by Parliament on May 10, 1773, would launch the final spark to the revolutionary movement in Boston. The act was not intended to raise revenue in the American colonies...

The Boston Port Act is an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 14 Geo. III. c. 19) which became law on March 30, 1774, and is one of the measures (variously called the Intoler...

Parliament’s offensive against Massachusetts, the perpetrator of the Boston Tea Party, included an effort to afford legal protections to officials serving in the disobedient colony. Th...

The Massachusetts Government Act (citation 14 Geo. III c. 45) was passed by the Parliament of Great Britain and became a law on May 20, 1774. The act is one of the Intolerable Acts or the...

A second Quartering Act (citation 14 Geo. III c. 54) was passed on June 2, 1774, as part of a group of laws that came to be known as the Intolerable Acts. The acts were designed to restor...

The Quebec Act of 1774 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain (citation 14 Geo. III c. 83) setting procedures of governance in the Province of Quebec. The principal components of t...

The first Continental Congress met in Carpenter's Hall in Philadelphia, from September 5, to October 26, 1774. Carpenter's Hall was also the seat of the Pennsylvania Congress. All of the ...

The Continental Association, often known simply as the "Association", was a system created by the First Continental Congress in 1774 for implementing a trade boycott with Great Britain. C...

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachuse...

In the immediate aftermath of the battles of the 19th, the Massachusetts militia, under the loose leadership of William Heath, who was superseded by General Artemas Ward late on the 20th,...

On May 10, 1775, Fort Ticonderoga was captured by a small force of American Patriots led by Ethan Allen and Colonel Benedict Arnold. They surprised and captured, without significant injur...

In May 1775, with Redcoats once again storming Boston, the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia. The questions were different this time. First and foremost, how would t...

On the night of June 16, 1775, a detail of American troops acting under orders from Artemas Ward moved out of their camp, carrying picks, shovels, and guns. They entrenched themselves on ...

August 30, 1775 at Stonington, Connecticut - On August 30, the British Navy began a bombardment of Stonington. There were 2 people killed in town and a number of houses were destroyed by ...

Allen and his men crossed the St. Lawrence on the night of the 24th, landing at Longue-Pointe. The inhabitants he met there were friendly, but he posted guards on the road to Montreal to ...

The Burning of Norfolk was an incident that occurred during the American Revolutionary War. On January 1, 1776, by the order of John Murray, Earl of Dunmore, Royal Governor of the Colo...

Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, during the American Revolution. Common Sense was signed "Written by an Englishm...

The evening before the battle, a small scouting party approached the bridge and saw only a small encampment on the north side of the bridge. They were not aware of the much larger force h...

The 11-month siege of Boston ended when the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, fortified Dorchester Heights in early March 1776 with cannons captured at Ticonderoga...

Articles 1-3 address the subject of rights and the relationship between government and the governed. Article 1 states that "all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have ce...

At around 9 AM, on June 28, the British fleet fired a signal gun to advance against the fort. Less than an hour later, the nine warships arrived at the fort. The Thunder and Friendship an...

Carolina Day is the day set aside to commemorate the first decisive victory of the American Revolutionary War. On June 28, 1776, a small band of Palmetto State patriots defeated the mi...

The preparation of the first Virginia Constitution began in early 1776, in the midst of the early events of the American Revolution. Among those who drafted the 1776 Constitution were Geo...

IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776. The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America, When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve th...

At 9:00 am, Washington arrived from Manhattan. Around this time five British ships attempted to sail up the East River to cut off any possible American evacuation but the wind had shifted...

On September 15, 1776, General Howe landed at Kip's Bay. General Washington's troops were spread so thinly here that he had to retreat and again saved many troops from being captured. Mea...

On the morning of September 16, Washington received word that the British were advancing. Washington, who had been expecting an attack, sent a reconnoitering party of 150 men under the co...

Carleton's fleet, commanded by Captain Thomas Pringle, which included 50 unarmed support vessels, sailed onto Lake Champlain on October 9. Moving cautiously, the British advanced up the l...