| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1614 | - 5 Apr 1614—5 Apr 1614: Pocahontas marries John Rolfe
Don’t blame Disney: Pocahontas was being mythologized from the moment she came cartwheeling into the English settlers’ fort as the barely clothed, free-spirited teenage daughter of Chief Powhatan. John Smith was the first to stoke the legend, penning the now-famous account of Pocahontas saving him from execution upon his 1607 capture by the Tsenacommacah. How much of his account is true is up for debate, but it is a matter of record that after Smith left Jamestown for England, Pocahontas was taken hostage by settlers seeking the return of their own people. Her father agreed to a prisoner exchange but having been baptized by the settlers, his daughter chose to stay among them — marrying John Rolfe in 1614. Two years later they set sail for England, where Pocahontas rebuked Smith for leaving Virginia and forsaking the promises he had made to her people. As Pocahontas and Rolfe were returning to the New World in 1617, she became seriously ill and died in her husband’s arms. Rolfe was killed in an Indian attack in Virginia in 1622, so he was not around to counter the Rolfe-Pocahontas-Smith love triangle idea later exploited by writer John Davis in his book “Travels in the United States of America.”
|
| 2 | 1660 | - 1660—1660: Monarchy restored in England
Monarchy restored in England
|
| 3 | 1707 | - 1707—1707: Union of England and Scotland
Union of England and Scotland
|
| 4 | 1752 | - 10 Jun 1752—10 Jun 1752: Yosemite is named as the first US national park
Yosemite is named as the first US national park
|
| 5 | 1770 | - 17 Dec 1770—17 Dec 1770: Ludwig Von Beethoven is born
Ludwig Von Beethoven is born
|
| 6 | 1776 | - 1776—1776: Declaration of American Independence
American Declaration of Independence determines the political evolution of the New World and the rise of American power.
|
| 7 | 1789 | - 1789—1789: French Revolution; George Washington elected the first President of America
French Revolution marks a fundamental break with the tradition of monarchy; the “rights of man” are enshrined.
|
| 8 | 1794 | - 1794—1794: Whiskey Rebellion
As the new country began finding its feet, U.S. Pres. George Washington sent troops to western Pennsylvania in 1794 to quell the Whiskey Rebellion, an uprising by citizens who refused to pay a liquor tax that had been imposed by Secretary of Treasury Alexander Hamilton to raise money for the national debt and to assert the power of the national government. Federalists cheered the triumph of national authority; members of the Thomas Jefferson’s Republican (later Democratic-Republican) Party were appalled by what they saw as government overreach. More than two centuries later, the names and faces have changed, but the story is ongoing.
|
| 9 | 1798 | - 7 Jul 1798—7 Jul 1798: United States Marine Corps is established
The United States Marine Corps is established
|
| 10 | 1803 | - 1803—1803: Louisiana Purchase
Louisiana Purchase
|
| 11 | 1804 | - 11 Jul 1804—11 Jul 1804: Alexander Hamilton shot by V.P. Aaron Burr in a duel
Alexander Hamilton shot by V.P. Aaron Burr in a duel
|
| 12 | 1805 | - 1805—1805: Battle of Trafalagar and Nelson's death
Battle of Trafalagar and Nelson's death
|
| 13 | 1825 | - 1825—1825: Rocket steam locomotive built
Rocket steam locomotive built, marking the start of the railway age of cheap, fast land transport.
|
| 14 | 1836 | - 1836—1836: Telegraph Invented
Telegraph Invented
|
1584 - 1624 (40 years)
