Timeline of American Literature and Events

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King James I granted the Virginia Company of London a charter to create an English settlement in North America in June 1606. Their goals were to find gold and determine a waterway which would take them to the Orient. The Virginia Company set foot on Jamestown on May 14, 1607 to form the Virginia English Colony. Approximately one third of the colonists survived the winter of the “Starving Time” in 1609, and fifteen years later in 1624, Virginia became a crown colony when the king dismissed the Virginia Company Charter due to the Algonquians attack which killed over 300 settlers. Jamestown only survived because of a last minute warning but burned down in 1698. Many colonists that survived celebrated May Day on May 1, 1628 with Thomas Morton dancing around a maypole, but the Plymouth Pilgrims were against this display of celebration, and Captain Miles Standish sent Thomas Morton back to England. Intolerance continued when Anne Hutchinson was forced to leave Boston because of her religious beliefs and influence to help establish Rhode Island in 1638. Five years later, Native Americans murdered Anne and her family. Quakers were the next to be forced to leave during the time between 1655 and 1656. Those that refused to leave suffered by being whipped or imprisoned, and the legislature ruled against Quaker services two years later. Parliament ordered the suspension of Quaker corporal punishment in 1661 after three years of Quakers being hanged for refusing to leave Massachusetts. English law in the colonies also severely affected slaves. Those who converted to Christianity and became legal residents of Maryland were granted freedom—until 1664. It was then that Maryland passed a law dictating servitude of life for black slave... ... middle of paper ... ...rr/social%20studies/05/0101firstwi.html Quidor, J. (2011). In Encyclopædia Britannica. Web. 14 Nov. 2015. http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/487273/John-Quidor Starwinar. (2010. Herman or Henry. Web. 29 Nov. 2015. http://starwinar.wordpress.com/daily-short-story/herman-or-henry/ The Virtual Union. (2011). Scrape T.V. the world on your side. Web. 18 Nov. 2015. http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Health/Pages/Doctor-pioneering-use-of-Comas-on- demand-Scrape-TV-The-World-on-your-side.html Wikipedia. (2011). Mayflower compact. Web. 21 Nov. 2015. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mayflower_Compact Wikispaces. (2011). The scarlet letter. Web. 25 Nov. 2015. http://amsu-english11-8.wikispaces.com/The+Scarlet+Letter WordPress. (2007). Young Goodman Brown. Web. 29 Nov. 2015. http://garble.wordpress.com/2007/11/27/young-goodman-brown/

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