This section of the timeline of United States history concerns events from before the lead up to the American Revolution.
John Casor,a servant in Northampton County in the Colony of Virginia,in 1655 became one of the first people of African descent in the Thirteen Colonies to be enslaved for life as a result of a civil suit.
Anthony Johnson was an Angolan-born man who achieved wealth in the early 17th-century Colony of Virginia. Held as an indentured servant in 1621,he earned his freedom after several years and was granted land by the colony.
Richard Lee I was an English-born merchant,planter and politician who was the first member of the Lee family to live in America. Poor when he arrived in the colony of Virginia in 1639,Lee may have been both the colony's wealthiest inhabitant and as its largest landholder by the time of his death,owning 15,000 acres (23 sq mi) in Virginia and Maryland. In addition to holding several important government and military posts,he became a merchant,planter and politician and served a term in the House of Burgesses. He managed to negotiate several major political upheavals for his economic gain.
Christopher Reynolds was not a politician but was sent as a member of the Virginia House of Burgesses for one session to rebuke in the late 1652 session the alleged excesses of his predecessor,which Reynolds did.
Elizabeth Key Grinstead (or Greenstead) (1630 –January 20,1665) was one of the first Black people in the Thirteen Colonies to sue for freedom from slavery and win. Key won her freedom and that of her infant son,John Grinstead,on July 21,1656,in the Colony of Virginia.
Colonel Edward Hill was a Virginia planter,soldier and politician. In addition to representing Charles City County for many terms in the House of Burgesses,fellow members three times selected him as its Speaker,and he sat in the Virginia General Assembly's upper house,the Virginia Governor's Council in 1651 as well as from 1660 to 1663. Burgesses also sent Hill to Maryland to put down Richard Ingle's 1646 rebellion,and he acted as the colony's temporary governor before ceding to the proper governor,Leonard Calvert,but later contested nonpayment of monies promised to him and Virginia militia troops for that action. Col. Hill also led the Charles County and Henrico County militia and Pamunkey Native Americans against other tribes in Hanover County in 1656,with less success.
Robert Wynne (1622–1675) was a Virginia politician and landowner. He was one of the men representing Charles City County in the House of Burgesses from 1658 until 1675,and in 1658 and during the Colony's "Long Parliament" fellow burgesses selected him as their Speaker 1662–74. This was the second longest tenure of any Speaker.
Gideon Macon was an early American settler and political figure.
Slavery in Virginia began with the capture and enslavement of Native Americans during the early days of the English Colony of Virginia and through the late eighteenth century. They primarily worked in tobacco fields. Africans were first brought to colonial Virginia in 1619,when 20 Africans from present-day Angola arrived in Virginia aboard the ship The White Lion.
John Punch was an Angolan-born resident of the colony of Virginia who became its first legally enslaved person in British colonial America under criminal law. In contrast,John Casor became the first legally enslaved person of the colonies under civil law,having committed no crime.
Irish indentured servants were Irish people who became indentured servants in territories under the control of the British Empire,such as the British West Indies,British North America and later Australia.
Colonel Lemuel Mason was an early Virginia planter,politician,justice of the peace,and militia colonel,who represented Lower Norfolk County in the House of Burgesses intermittently over three decades.
In May 1607,one hundred men and young boys were on an expedition where they arrived in what is now known as Virginia. This group were the first permanent English settlers in America. They named the colony of Jamestown,after the English King James. The site was chosen precisely for its location and beneficial factors. Jamestown was surrounded by water on three sides of the land;this made it easily accessible for ships to come and go. It was far enough inland,making it easier to defend from a possible Spanish attack. At the time,it was said that the men had to be able to create a living before any women could be a part of the colony.
The Gloucester County Conspiracy,also known as the Servant's Plot or Birkenhead's Rebellion,is one of the first slave rebellions in America. This event set the stage for many of the slave uprisings that followed in the decades to come. It was the first occurrence of English,Irish,African and Indian indentured servants and slaves working together. Regardless of their ethnicity,all of the servants and slaves were treated poorly,which served as a uniting force between them. This rebellion occurred at a key time in history,when Virginian tobacco farmers heavily relied upon their workers for product and profit. By utilizing the power they held in this regard,the slaves and servants could maximize the effects of their actions. This uprising created the official slave rebellion movement.
John Graweere also known as John Gowen was one of the First Africans in Virginia,who was a servant who earned enough money to pay for his son's freedom. He filed a lawsuit to free his son,arguing that he wanted to raise him as a Christian. The court agreed and freed the son.
John Carter was an English merchant who emigrated to the Virginia colony,where he speculated in land,established plantations using indentured and enslaved labor,and served in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly. He founded the more famous branch of the Carter family of Virginia. The immigrant ancestor of the other branch,Thomas Carter of Barford plantation may have been related since both came from the same English village,and while Thomas Carter initially settled in Northumberland County,both men eventually settled in Lancaster County.
Sir Richard Kemp was a planter and politician in the Colony of Virginia. Kemp served as the Colony's Secretary and on the Governor's Council from 1634 to 1649. As the council's senior member,he also served as the acting Colonial Governor of Virginia from 1644 to 1645 during travels by Governor Sir William Berkeley. Kemp had also worked closely relation with Berkeley's predecessor,Sir John Harvey.
Thomas Swann was a planter,tavernkeeper,militia officer and politician in the Colony of Virginia who sat in both houses of the Virginia General Assembly and survived Bacon's Rebellion.
