Documents
Original documents are central to what historians examine as part of understanding the past. Our team is building out a catalog of easily accessible historical documents that teachers and students can study. Starting with documents related to the four expeditions to the New World led by Columbus, we are creating a timeline in documents all the way up to recent events.
Chronology of Events in Documents:
1492 Privileges and Prerogatives Granted by their Catholic Majesties, Isabella and Ferdinand, to Christopher Columbus.
1492 Excerpts from the journal of Christopher Columbus.
1493/4 Letter from Columbus to King and Queen of Spain, translated, reports on the success of his voyage.
1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, dividing North and South America by Spain and Portugal.
1606 Virginia Charter granted by King James.
1607 Instructions from the Virgina Company of London to the captains and company of Jamestown.
1606-24 Jamestown events recounted in John Smith’s history.
1610 Laws for the Colony of Virginia.
1620 Mayflower Compact.
1622 A Jamestown settler describes life in Virginia.
1629 Salem Covenant.
1630 John Winthrop, “A Modell of Christian Charity,” preached en route to the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1636 The Enlarged Salem Covenant.
1647 Old Deluder Satan Act for public schools in Massachusetts.
1649 Maryland Act of Religious Toleration.
1663 Rhode Island Royal Charter.
1682 William Penn, An Act for Freedom of Conscience.
1693 Cotton Mather, account of Salem Witch Trial.
1700 The publication of The Selling of Joseph, the first anti-slavery text in America.
1704 Act to Prevent the Growth of Popery in Maryland.
1753 Virginia Governor Dinwiddie letter demanding French removal from Ohio River Valley, delivered by Major George Washington.
1756 Act to Prevent the Growth of Popery in Maryland.
1763 Treaty of Paris, finalizing expanded British control in North America.
1763 Proclamation from King George III prohibiting American colonists from settling in the lands west of the Appalachians.
1764 The Sugar Act, a tax on sugar imported into the American colonies.
1765 The Stamp Act, the first direct tax on the American colonies issued by the Parliament in Great Britain.
1765 The Quartering Act, the first of two issued to the American colonies.
1765 The Stamp Act Congress met in New York in October of 1765 and published the Resolutions of the Stamp Act Congress.
1766 An Act Repealing the Stamp Act and The Declaratory Act are passed on the same day.
1767 Parliament issues a series of laws known as The Townshend Acts.
1767-68 John Dickinson’s letters arguing against the Townshend Acts published as “Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania to the Inhabitants of the British Colonies”.
1768 Massachusetts issued a Circular Letter to the other Colonial Legislatures in response to the Townshend Acts.
1773 The Tea Act passed by British Parliament.
1774 The Coercive, or Intolerable Acts: The Boston Port Act, The Massachusetts Government Act, The Administration of Justice Act, and The Quartering Act.
1774-1789 The Journals of the Continental Congress, Selected Documents.
1776 Maryland Constitution ratified, Declaration of Rights XXXIII restores religious freedom to all Christians, including Catholics.
1851 Maryland Constitution, Article 33, secures religious liberty for Jews and non-Christians.
Documents will be added to this bank chronologically as we progress through history with the films.