America History of 1670 - 1699

1670-1674  

• 1670 Hudson's Bay Company is chartered.  
• 1673 Marquette and Joliet travel from Lake Michigan down the Mississippi as far as the Arkansas River, completing a 2500-mile journey of exploration.

1675-1679 

• 1675-78 King Philip's War.  It begins when Metacomet (King Philip) leads an attack against Swansea in retaliation for the Plymouth colony's execution of three Wampanoag tribe members. Metacomet is betrayed and shot on 12 August 1676, and the war formally ends when Sir Edmond Andros makes peace in Maine on 12 April 1678.   
• 1675 (September) The Massachusetts settlements of Deerfield and Hadley experience the first of three raids from the Wampanoag and Nipmuck peoples.
• 1676. May 2. Mary Rowlandson is ransomed after her capture during an attack on Lancaster. 
  30 July. Bacon's Rebellion. Tobacco planters led by Nathan Bacon ask for and are denied permission to attack the Susquehannock Indians, who have been conducting raids on colonists' settlement. Enraged at Governor Berkeley's refusal, the colonists burn Jamestown and kill many Indians before order is restored in October.
  

1680-1684  

• 1681 4 March. William Penn receives a charter for land on which he will found Pennsylvania   
• 1683 Penn and Native Americans negotiate a peace treaty at Shackamaxon under the Treaty Elm 
  
• 1684 Charter of the Massachusetts Bay Colony is revoked after critical reports reach England.  This ends the requirement of church membership for voting.

1685-1689  

• 1686 Governor Edmund Andros  begins issuing a series of unpopular orders aimed at the consolidation of colonies into one large settlement.  He dissolves the assemblies of New York and Connecticut, limits the number of town meetings in New England to one per year, places the militia under his direct control, and forces Puritans and Anglicans to worship together in the Old South Church.   
• 1689 April. Rebellious colonists force Andros to take shelter in a fort  for his own protection.Cotton Mather supports the rebellion.  

• 25 July. Andros is ordered back to England to stand trial. The colonies reestablish their previous systems of government. 
  

1690-1694  

• 1690 (1689-1763). The series of wars known as the French and Indian War begins with King William's War.  Schenectady, N. Y. and other areas are burned by French and Native Americans; Massachusetts colonists capture Port Royal, Nova Scotia; and Canadian forces destroy Casco, Maine.  
• 1692 (May). Salem witchcraft trials begin. From June-September 22, 20 people are executed.  
• 1693 The College of William and Mary is founded.

1695-1699 

• 1697 Massachusetts general court expresses official repentance for the witchcraft trials; Samuel Sewall confesses guilt from his Boston church pew. 
• 1699 Peace treaty at Casco Bay, Maine, brings hostilities between the Abenaki Indians and the Massachusetts colony to an end.