1621. Formal grant of free government by a written charter.

A Council of State and a General a.s.sembly established--the model of every subsequent provincial form of government.

1622. Ma.s.sacre of settlers by Indians under Opechancanough.

1624. Fall of the London Company.

Virginia becomes a royal province.

1644. Second Indian Ma.s.sacre. Opechancanough captured and killed.

1652-60. Virginia under the Commonwealth.

1660. Called the "Old Dominion."

Navigation Acts put into operation by British Government.

1673. Grant to Lords Culpeper and Arlington of immense estates by Charles II.

1676. Bacon's Rebellion. 1693. William and Mary College chartered.

Postal System adopted.

1698. The seat of government removed to Williamsburg.

1699. The Huguenots settle in Virginia.

1700. First Commencement of William and Mary College.

1732. Scotch-Irish and Germans settle in the Shenandoah Valley.

George Washington born February 22.

1733. Founding of Richmond at the Falls of the James.

1736. First Virginia Newspaper--"The Virginia Gazette."

Norfolk incorporated.

1737. Richmond laid out by Col. William Byrd.

1742. Richmond incorporated.

1743. Thomas Jefferson born April 2.

1754. The French and Indian War begun. Battle of Great Meadows.

French defeated by Colonists under George Washington.

1755. Braddock defeated in his attack on Fort Duquesne.

1758. Fort Duquesne captured by English and Virginia troops.

1763. "The Parsons' Case." Patrick Henry's Famous Speech.

End of the French and Indian War.

1764. Battle of Point Pleasant (now in West Virginia).

1765. Resolutions of the House of Burgesses against taxation without representation.

1765. The British Parliament pa.s.ses the Stamp Act.

1766. Stamp Act repealed by Parliament.

1767. Parliament imposes a tax on tea and other articles.

1769. Virginia resolves pa.s.sed by the House of Burgesses, May 16.

1774. The first Continental Congress met at Philadelphia, September 9.

1775. Convention at Richmond "to organize a provincial form of government and a plan of defense for the Colony."

End of royal government in Virginia. Committee of Safety appointed.

1776. Const.i.tution and Bill of Rights adopted.

Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson signed in Philadelphia, July 4.

1779. The seat of government removed to Richmond.

Conquest of the Northwest Territory by Col. George Rogers Clarke.

1780. Virginia troops defeat the British at King's Mountain, October 7.

1781. Richmond captured by British under Benedict Arnold, in January.

Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, October 19.

Cession of the Northwest Territory to the Federal Government.

1785. Act of Religious Freedom.

1787. Const.i.tution of the United States adopted in convention of which George Washington was President.

1788. Ratifies the Const.i.tution of the United States.

1789. Washington inaugurated first President of the United States, April 30.