Table Of ContentCHRONOLOGY
OF
AMERICAn
HISTORy
VOLUME I
★ ★ ★
Colonization and Independence
Beginnings to 1788
CHRONOLOGY OF
AMERICAN HISTORY
Volume I
Colonization and Independence
Beginnings to 1788
Volume II
Expansion and Civil War
1789 to 1865
Volume III
Industry and Modernity
1866 to 1920
Volume IV
Challenges at Home and Abroad
1921 to the Present
CHRONOLOGY
OF
AMERICAn
HISTORy
V O L U M E I
★ ★ ★
Colonization and Independence
Beginnings to 1788
J O H N C . F R E D R I K S E N
Chronology of American History
Copyright © 2008 John C. Fredriksen
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Fredriksen, John C.
Chronology of American history / John C. Fredriksen.
v. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Contents. v. 1. Colonization and independence, beginnings to 1788—v.
2. Expansion and Civil War, to 1865—v. 3. Industry and modernity, to 1920—v.
4. Challenges at home and abroad, to the present.
ISBN 978-0-8160-6800-5 (set : hc : alk. paper) 1. United States—History—
Chronology. 2. United States—Civilization—Chronology. 3. United States—
Biography. I. Title.
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C
ONTENTS
✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰ ✰
Introduction vii
Chronology 1
Maps 569
Bibliography 586
I
ntroductIon
P P P P P P P P P P P P P P P
As best as can be discerned, human habitation of North America
began around 50,000 years ago when residents of Siberia crossed the
Bering Straits to Alaska and began a gradual migration southward.
These first Americans eventually spread into Mexico and the South Ameri-
can continent, where arose several splendid and sophisticated civilizations.
The inhabitants of North America, however, remained somewhat primitive
culturally compared to their neighbors to the south, and were thus little
prepared when the first waves of Europeans began descending upon them
in the 15th century. About 500 years earlier, the Vikings had also carved out
a few communities on Newfoundland, but none of them flourished and all
were abandoned. The discovery of the New World in 1492 by Columbus,
however, found the Europeans more technically advanced in their ability
to navigate across the vast Atlantic, and with larger ships that could carry
bigger crews and more supplies. But Spain, France, and England proved
far too distracted by events at home for any systematic colonization of the
New World, and for many decades their attempts also proved sporadic and
uniformly failures. Save for the Spanish at St. Augustine, North America
remained devoid of European contact or influence except for an occasional
explorer or missionary. The tempo and scope of events were destined to
increase shortly after, however.
By the 17th century, episodic European exploration of North America
had evolved into serious and sustained colonization efforts. The major play-
ers, England, France, and, to a lesser but still important extent, Sweden
and the Netherlands, had established viable outposts dotting the Atlantic
coastline, while Spain maintained its lingering presence in Florida and along
the Gulf coast. These endeavors, driven more by commercial and religious
impulses than imperial ones, remained fraught with peril throughout the
nascent days of their existence, either through direct economic and military
competition with each other or hostility arising from the Native American
communities they encountered. In time there evolved a multiplicity of gov-
ernmental structures, along with social and ethnic melanges within these
various colonies, all of which contributed to the rise of a new civilization
vii
viii Chronology of American History
increasingly distinct from the Eu ro pe an largesse that spawned them. By dint
of military victory in numerous wars, Eng land gradually established itself as
the dominant culture, language, and pol iti cal philosophy of North America,
but despite very broad and deep ties to the Old World, the colonies contin-
ued evolving in their own way.
At length, po liti cal, philosophical, and economic confrontation gave rise
to a new national entity, the United States of America. This was from the
onset a very disparate, multicultural affair that ironically demonstrated that
its very jumbled nature was among its greatest assets. People seldom appre-
ciate that the fabric of the American polity, woven from diverse threads,
was over a century and a half old by the breaking point of 1775. And what
a glorious assortment of colors, hues, and beliefs it was: En glish, French,
Dutch, German, Scandinavian, Welsh, Scottish, and Irish, with a smattering
of Italian, French, and other Mediterranean strains, leavened throughout by
enclaves of Africans and Native Americans. Furthermore, viable religious
freedom, for all intents and purposes unattainable in Eur ope, was also in its
infancy, with Anglicans, Baptists, Quakers, Congregationalists, Methodists,
and Jews easily rubbing shoulders with each other in peace. Even Massachu-
setts, that strident bastion of Puritan absolutism, was gradually overtaken
by a tide of tolerance. However, wealth, economic opportunity, and per-
sonal freedom were far from uniformly distributed among the constituent
segments of society, and the ready acc ep tance of slavery in certain areas
is proof that the national construct contained inequities. But, even at this
early date, the first cries of abolitionism and social reform were also heard.
The United States in 1788 was thus still evolving pol iti cally and on the cusp
of experimenting with new forms of representative government under the
world’s first written constitution. Far from perfect, perhaps, yet a far cry
from 1607 and the problematic settlements at Jamestown, Plymouth, and
New Amsterdam. America remains a work in progress.
This volume is envisioned to provide extensive chronological historical
coverage of North America, from the first colonization to the United States
under the Articles of Confederation. Chronologies on American history are
standard fare in reference collections but, in a major oversight, these tend
to stress social and pol iti cal events at the expense of military affairs; this
volume goes to great lengths to address such deficiencies with a more bal-
anced approach. It also affords treatment of numerous and salient topics of
interest to researchers, students, and laypersons alike. Even a simple perus-
ing of the text calls to the reader’s eye such wide- ranging concerns as art;
business; diplomacy; literature; medical, military, and naval events; politics;
publishing; religion; science; slavery; societal developments; and technol-
ogy in a simple to use and easily accessed format. Space constraints restrict
most entries to a single line, but highly important events can command up
to a paragraph in coverage. Wherever possible, entries are also assigned an
Introduction ix
exact year, month, and day for or gan i za tion al purposes. The text is further
buttressed by inclusion of 100 capsule biographies throughout the text,
denoting individuals of singular import to their time. These are uniform in
composition and touch upon birth and death dates, background, education,
and other facets, in addition to their most obvious concern. The volume is
finally rounded out with a 5,000- word bibliography of the very latest schol-
arship pertaining to most events represented therein, including dissertations
and master’s theses, where applicable. Furthermore, the pages are replete
with numerous and relevant illustrations that function both as embellish-
ments and visual points of reference.
From perusing these pages one may grasp the imposing pageantry of
American history and all its threads of continuity and points of departure.
Nothing or no one has been overlooked, and, while degrees of coverage may
vary in length, the author cast the widest possible net for purposes of inclu-
sion. I am deeply indebted to my editor, Owen Lancer, for suggesting this
project to me. It was an arduous, nearly exhausting sojourn at times, but I
am a better historian for it.
———John C. Fredriksen
