US Political Beginnings
1607: 1 st colony, Virginia, was founded with the first permanent English settlement in North America at Jamestown to expand territory with colonial pioneers. Our Political Beginning March 5, 1770: British troops in Boston fired on a jeering crowd, killing five. Known as the Boston Massacre, the English troops were just trying to halt protest to their rule and hush the rioting citizens. 1643: The Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, New Haven, and Connecticut settlements formed the New England Confederation to for a ?league of friendship? for defense against Native Americans. July 4, 1776: The colonies adopted the Declaration of Independence, proclaiming the existence of the new nation away from English rule in Philadelphia.