Chronology: Origins to 1820

c. 1450

50 million Native peoples, organized into a variety of tribes and nations with languages, oral literatures, cultures, and histories, occupy North and South American continents

Johannes Gutenberg invents first printing press with movable metal type in Germany

1492

Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas

Columbus writes letter describing the results of his first voyage to the Americas and encouraging exploration; letter is swiftly translated and published widely

1493

1497

Vasco de Gama sails around Cape of Good Hope to India

1500

Native populations devastated by European diseases

Martin Waldseemüller attributes discovery of “America” to Amerigo Vespucci in Cosmographiae Introductio

1507

1518

Slaves are imported from West Africa to Hispaniola

1519–1521

Cortés defeats Aztecs in Mexico and seizes lands

1539

Hernando de Soto invades present‐day Florida

First printing press in the Americas arrives in Mexico City

Las Casas, A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies

1542

1565

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founds St. Augustine in Spanish Florida

Bernal Diaz, The Conquest of New Spain

1568

1579

Sir Francis Drake sails around Cape Horn and up the west coast of present‐day California

1585

Two ships from England land at Roanoke Island, in present‐day North Carolina, and the territory is named Virginia after the “Virgin Queen,” Elizabeth I

1587

A second group of English colonists settles at Roanoke but disappears and is known as the “Lost Colony”

Thomas Harriot, A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia

1588

Richard Hakluyt, Principall Navigation, Voiages and Discoveries of the English Nation

1598

José de Acosta, Historia natural y moral de las Indias translated as The Naturall and Morall Historie of the East and West Indies, 1604

1590

1603

Samuel de Champlain explores St. Lawrence River

1607

Jamestown, the first permanent English colony, is established in present‐day Virginia

Captain John Smith, A True Relation of such occurances and accidents of noate as hath hapned in Virginia since the first planting of the Colony

1608

King James Bible published in England

1611

Lewis Bayly, The Practice of Piety

1612

Samuel de Champlain, Les Voyages du Sieur de Champlain

1613

1614

Smith maps northeast coast and names “New England”

Virginia planter John Rolfe marries Pocahontas, daughter of Chief Powahatan

Smith, “A Description of New England”

1616

1617

Pocahontas dies in England while on a visit there

1619

First black Africans forcibly brought to colonial Jamestown, as slaves or indentured servants

1620

Mayflower reaches Plymouth in present‐day Massachusetts

1621

Puritans sign defensive alliance with Wampanoags

William Bradford and Edward Winslow, Mourt’s Relation

1622

350 colonists die in an attack by Powhatans in Jamestown

Smith, Generall Historie of Virginia, New‐England, and the Summer Isles

1624

Virginia Company goes bankrupt and is taken by England as a royal colony

The Dutch Republic established New Amsterdam, later New York City

1629

Establishment of Massachusetts Bay Company by Puritans

John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” address delivered en route to America

Bradford begins Of Plimoth Plantation

1630

Great Migration of Puritan settlers arriving in Massachusetts

Colonial population: 4600

Champlain, Les Voyages de la Nouvelle France

1632

1635

Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony

Thomas Morton, New English Canaan

1637

Pequot War, the first large‐scale conflict between an Indigenous people and the English colonists of New England, resulting in

English massacre of several hundred Pequots at Mystic

Captain John Underhill, Newes from America

1638

First printing press in colonial America arrives in Boston

Bay Psalm Book

1640

Colonial population: 26 600

1641

Massachusetts legalized slavery, the first colony to do so

1642

Outbreak of Civil War in England

Johannes Megapolensis, Jr., A Short Account of the Mohawk Indians

Roger Williams, The Bloudy Tenent, of Persecution, for cause of Conscience, Discussed, in A Conference betweene Truth and Peace

1644

Rhode Island granted colonial charter

1649

Maryland Toleration Act guarantees religious liberty to all

Charles I put to death in London

Oliver Cromwell leads the establishment of the Commonwealth of England

Anne Bradstreet, The Tenth Muse

1650

Colonial population: 50 400

Edward Johnson, The Wonder‐Working Providence of Sions Saviour in New‐England

1651

Adriaen van der Donck, A Description of New Netherlands

1655

1658

Oliver Cromwell dies in England

1660

Monarchy is restored in England with coronation of Charles II

Four people executed in Boston for publicly expressing their Quaker views

Michael Wigglesworth, The Day of Doom

1662

John Eliot, The New Testament, Algonquian translation

1663

1667

Virginia established the first slave code in the colonies

William Penn, The Great Case of Liberty of Conscience Once More Debated & Defended

1670

Colonial population: 111,900

Increase Mather, A Brief History of the War with the Indians

1675–1676

King Philip’s War, last large‐scale resistance by Native peoples in southern New England

Metacom (King Philip) killed

1681

Pennsylvania founded by William Penn

Mary Rowlandson, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God

Edward Taylor begins writing Preparatory Meditations

1682

New England Primer

1683

1688

Glorious Revolution in England

King William’s War (also known as the Second Indian War) begins

Publication of first newspaper in colonies: Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick

1690

1692–1693

Salem witchcraft trials

Cotton Mather, Wonders of the Invisible World

1693

Jonathan Dickinson, God’s Protecting Providence

1699

Francis Daniel Pastorius, Circumstantial Geographical Descriptions of the Lately Discovered Province of Pennsylvania

1700

Colonial population: 250 900

Enslaved population: approximately 25 000

Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana

1702

Sarah Kemble Knight writes The Journals of Madam Knight

1704

1706

Benjamin Franklin born in Boston

Isaac Watts, Hymns

John Williams’s The Redeemed Captive Returning to Zion

1707

William Byrd begins to write The Secret Diary

1712

New York slave revolt

First theater company in British North America opened in Williamsburg

1716

Watts, Psalms

1719

Franklin, A Dissertation on Liberty and Necessity, Pleasure and Pain

New York Gazette, first newspaper published in New York City

1725

William Byrd, A History of the Dividing Line; God’s Mercy Surmounting Man’s Cruelty, Exemplifed in the Captivity and Redemption of Elizabeth Hanson

1728

1730

First Great Awakening, evangelical religious revival

Franklin begins annual publication of Poor Richard’s Almanac

Franklin prints first German‐language newspaper in the colonies

1732

John Gyles, Memoirs of Odd Adventures, Strange Deliverances

1736

1739

Stono Uprising, a slave rebellion, in North Carolina

Jonathan Edwards, Personal Narrative

1740

Anglican minister George Whitefield begins 10‐week American preaching tour to seven colonies

Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

American Magazine, founded by Andrew Bradford

1741

Dr. Alexander Hamilton compiles travel record Itnerarium

Samuel Richardson, Pamela, first novel published in colonial America by Benjamin Franklin

1744

Lucy Terry Prince, “Bars Fight”

1746

1747

Benjamin Franklin begins experimentation with lightening rod

1750

Colonial population: 1 170 800

Earliest known performance of a play written and performed in colonial America: Le Banc de Villeneuve, Le Pére Indien

1753

1754

New York Society Library loans books for annual fee

1756

French and Indian Wars begins and lasts until 1763

Thomas Brown, A Plain Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Remarkable Deliverance

Jupiter Hammon, “An Evening Thought;” A Narrative of the Uncommon Sufferings and Surprising Deliverance of Briton Hammon, a Negro Man

1760

John Woolman, Some Considerations on the Keeping of Negros

1762

Bible published in Algonquian language

1763

John Dickinson, Declaration of Rights and Grievances

1765

The Stamp Act imposes special tax on all publications and legal documents in American colonies

Dickinson, Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies

1767

Samson Occom writes A Short Narrative of My Life

Dickinson, “The Liberty Song”

1768

1770

Boston Massacre: Crispus Attucks, a free black tradesmen and the first man killed, is the first casualty of the American Revolution

Franklin begins writing Autobiography

1771

Samson Occom (Mohawk), A Sermon Preached at the Execution of Moses Paul

1772

Mercy Otis Warren, The Adulateur

Phillis Wheatley, Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral

1773

Elizabeth Ashbridge, Some Account of the Fore‐Part of the Life of Elizabeth Ashbridge

Occom, A Choice Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs

1774

Warren, The Group

Franklin, Proposed Articles of Confederation

1775

Battles of Lexington, Concord, and Bunker Hill

First abolition organization, the Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage, founded in Philadelphia

Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Franklin, and others, The Declaration of Independence

Thomas Paine, Common Sense

1776

Declaration of Independence is ratified by Second Continental Congress

1777

Vermont became the first colony to ban slavery

Judith Sargent Murray, “On the Equality of the Sexes”

The United States Magazine founded in Philadelphia

1779

General John Sullivan leads an American army through Iroquois country, burning towns and destroying crops

“Sentiments of an American Woman,” a broadside credited to Esther deBerdt Reed, published

1780

Founding of the Ladies Assocation of Philadelphia, an organization that eventually raises $300 000 for the Continental Army

1781

Surrender of British forces at Yorktown effectively ends the Revolutionary War

Articles of Confederation are ratified

Elizabeth Freeman successfully wins a suit in Massachusetts to challenge her enslaved status

Hector St. John de Crèvecoeur, Letters from an American Farmer

1782

The Travel Diary of Elizabeth House Trist: Philadelphia to Natchez, 1783–84

John Filson, The Discovery, Settlement, and Present State of Kentucke

Joshua Smith and Samuel Sleeper, Divine Hymns, or Spiritual Songs

1784

Revolutionary War formally ends with the ratification of the Treaty of Paris

Jefferson, Notes on the State of Virginia; A Narrative of the Lord’s Wonderful Dealings with John Marrant, a Black

1785

Brothertown Indian Nation formed

Royall Tyler, The Contrast

Abraham Panther, A Surprising Account of the Discovery of a Lady Who Was Taken by the Indians

1787

Constitutional Convention opens in Philadelphia

The Northwest Ordinance bans slavery in the Northwest Territory

Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison, The Federalist Papers

1788

Ratification of US Constitution

William Hill Brown, The Power of Sympathy

Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa

1789

George Washington elected first President of the United States

French Revolution begins

Sarah Wentworth Morton, Oûabi

Thomas Paine, The Rights of Man

1790

First official US census and population count: 3 929 214

Non‐white free population: 59 150

Enslaved people: 294 280



Second Great Awakening, evangelical religious revival

William Bartram, Travels through North & South Carolina, Georgia, East & West Florida

1791

Ratification of the Bill of Rights

1792

George Washington reelected President of the United States

Monarchy is abolished in France and Republic established

Charles Brockden Brown, Arthur Mervyn

1793

Yellow fever epidemic in Philadelphia

Susanna Rowson, Slaves in Algiers; or, A Struggle for Freedom and Charlotte Temple

1794

Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin, increasing the profitability of slavery

Joel Barlow, “The Hasty Pudding”

1796

John Adams elected President

Hannah Webster Foster, The Coquette

Royall Tyler, The Algerine Captive

1797

Brown, Wieland

Susanna Rowson, Reuben and Rachel

Andrew Burnaby, Travels Through the Middle Settlements in North‐America in the Years 1759 and 1760Murray, The Gleaner

William Dunlap, André: A Tragedy in Five Acts

1798

Yellow fever epidemic in New York City

Brown, Ormond and Arthur Mervyn; Account of the Remarkable Occurrences in the Life and Travels of Colonel James Smith

1799

Mason Weems, The Life and Memorable Actions of George Washington

Brown, Edgar Huntly

1800

US population: 5 308 483

Thomas Jefferson elected President

Tabitha Tenney, Female Quixotism

Sally Sayward Barrell Keating Wood, Dorval; or the Speculator

Port Folio founded

1801

Haitian slaves led by Toussaint Louverture overturn French government and establish the Republic of Haiti

Washington Irving, Letters of Jonathan Oldstyle, Gent.

1802

Isaac Mitchell, The Asylum; or, Alonzo and Melissa (expanded version published in 1811)

1804

Jefferson reelected President

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark begin 8000‐mile journey from Missouri River to Oregon coast

1807

Congress ends the African slave trade by passing the Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves, which takes effect in 1808

An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade passed by Parliament in England

James Nelson Barker, The Indian Princess

Leonora Sansay, The Secret History; or, The Horrors of St. Domingo

1808

James Madison elected President

Tecumseh and Tenskwatawa (the Shawnee Prophet) establish Prophetstown, a pan‐Indian village and headquarters of a confederacy of Native peoples resisting US expansionism

Irving, A History of New York

1809

Rebecca Rush, Kelroy

1812

Madison reelected President

War of 1812 begins which lasts until 1815

William Cullen Bryant, “To a Waterfowl”

Philip Freneau, A Collection of Poems

North American Review founded

1815

James Riley, Authentic Narrative of the Loss of the American Brig Commerce

1817

American Colonization Society founded

Cherokee women deliver a petition protesting land sessions

1816

James Monroe elected President

1819

Panic of 1819 causes many western banks to fail

James Fenimore Cooper, Precaution

Irving, The Sketchbook of Geoffrey Crayon

1820

US population: 9 638 453

The Missouri Compromise excludes slavery from the Louisiana Purchase to the north and west of Missouri

James Monroe reelected President