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Puritanism: Colonists' arrival in North America
On December 18th, 1620, Puritan Pilgrim colonists arrived in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in an effort to escape the persecution of their religion by the Church of England. In their success in being able to practice their religion freely, other groups soon follow. -
Rationalism: The Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War was a conflict between Great Britain and its American Colonies that ended in complete independence for the Colonies, which secured many freedoms and natural rights for their citizens. -
Romanticism: Industrial Revolution
Beginning in 18th-century Britain, the Industrial Revolution was a social and economic development that revolutionized production, manufacturing, and industrial technology around the world. -
Transcendentalism: Women's suffrage movement
The Women's suffrage movement was a large-scale movement aimed at giving women the right to vote. While it initially met resistance, the movement was eventually successful in securing the right to vote for women. -
Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism: The Civil War
The American Civil War was a large American conflict between the Northern Union and the Southern Confederates over States' Rights (specifically slavery in the South) and resulted in slavery being abolished in America and the southern states returning to the USA. -
Realism, Regionalism, and Naturalism: Slavery abolished
As a direct result of the American Civil War, slavery in America was abolished completely, impacting many in the South by drastically changing one fundamental aspect of the Plantation System (slaves were now free, slave owners no longer had free labor). -
Modernism: World War 1 (The Great War)
Beginning in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, World War 1 was a global conflict based primarily in Europe on a scale never seen before. -
Harlem Renaissance: Prohibition
The Prohibition was a time in American history when virtually all alcoholic beverages were banned, which led to widespread alcohol smuggling (called bootlegging) operations on a nationwide scale. This impacted citizens through the increase of crime and large-scale crime organizations in America. -
Modernism: The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a global economic crash that began when the stock market crashed in America in August 1929. This had a large effect on the country by rapidly reducing the number of jobs available, and as a result unemployment rates soared. -
Contemporary: The Cold War
The Cold War was a political conflict between the Soviet Union and the United States and their allies. While there was little physical confrontation between the two powers, the conflict included a nuclear arms stalemate, extensive espionage, and a "Space Race" for aerospace superiority. This greatly affected the lives of American citizens through terrifying news of the two superpowers' growing nuclear stockpiles and the mass paranoia/hysteria regarding the Red Scare.
