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40,000 BCE
Bering land bridge {first wave}
A strait between Asia and North America that might have connected two continents. -
Period: 40,000 BCE to
beginning of exploration
The spread of mankind throughout the world out of Africa, over the past two million years, is a form of exploration. So are the great tribal movements of historical times. But in these cases the motive is practical - to find better pastures, or seize somebody else's property. -
1345 BCE
Mesoamerica { Aztecs human sacrifice }
The Aztec civilization gained an reputation for bloodthirsty human sacrifice with tales of the heart being ripped from a live body, decapitation, etc. Sacrifice was a ritualized process which gave the highest honor to the gods and was a necessity to ensure their prosperity. -
400 BCE
Dark Ages {Catholic Church}
The Dark Ages was a period of religious struggle. Orthodox Christians thought of this time as a period of Catholic corruption; they rejected the ways of the Catholic Church with its papal beliefs and order. Orthodox Christians strove to recreate a pure Christianity, rid of the “dark” Catholic ways. Catholics did not view this era as “dark.” Catholics viewed this period as a productive religious era. -
150 BCE
Rome
Rome controlled the greatest empire ever seen in Europe at that time. Many of the conquered nations benefited from Roman rule as the Roman way of life was imposed on those conquered societies. Roman public baths, roads, water supplies, housing etc. all appeared in Western Europe,but many fell into disuse after the Romans retreated back to Rome. -
1350
The Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and peaking in Europe. -
1400
Aztecs {Caste System}
The Aztecs followed a strict social hierarchy in which individuals were identified as nobles, commoners, serfs, or slaves. The noble class consisted of government and military leaders, high level priests, and lords. -
1478
The Renaissance
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci, was an Italian Renaissance polymath whose areas of interest included invention, painting, sculpting, architecture, -
Virginia {Roanoke}
The Roanoke Island colony, the first English settlement in the New World, was founded by English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh. The first Roanoke colonists did not fare well, suffering from scarcity of food supplies and Indian attacks -
Period: to
English colonial societies
British settlers colonized on the coast of north america. Colonial society in the North America colonies in the 18th century (1700's) was represented by a small wealthy social group having a distinctive cultural and economic organization. The members of Colonial society had similar social status, roles, language, dress and norms of behavior. -
John Smith
John Smith was an English soldier, explorer, colonial governor, Admiral of New England, and author. He played an important role in the establishment of the Jamestown colony, the first permanent English ... -
Puritans {Plymouth Colony}
The Puritans were a group of English Reformed Protestants, who sought to "purify" the Church of England from its "Catholic" practices, maintaining that the Church of England was only partially reformed. -
Caribbean Colonies {Barbados,Jamaica}
Barbados was the main port for trade and travel between Britain and her growing number of American colonies along the eastern seaboard. In 1655 Jamaica became a British colony too, and was soon part of the trade network. -
Charter Colonies {New York}
The Province of New York was a British proprietary colony and later royal colony on the northeast coast of North America. As one of the Thirteen Colonies, New York achieved independence and worked with the others to found the United States. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between February 1692 and May 1693. -
Act of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland. -
Period: to
colonial america
The history of European settlements from the start of colonization in the early 16th century until their incorporation into the United States of America. -
Triangular Trade
Trade that involved shipping goods from Britain to West Africa to be exchanged for slaves, these slaves being shipped to the West Indies and exchanged for sugar, rum,etc,which were in turn shipped back to Britain. -
Middle Passage {Slavery}
The Middle Passage is the part of trade where Africans, tightly packed onto ships, were transported across the Atlantic to the West Indies. -
George Whitfield {Colonial America}
an English Anglican cleric who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. The dramatic George Whitefield preaching in the open-air at Leeds in 1749. Although the Great Awakening was a reaction against the Enlightenment, it was also a long term cause of the Revolution. -
Benjamin Franklin {Colonial America}
one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. Franklin was a renowned polymath and a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, freemason, postmaster. -
Quebec {Seven years war/French Indian War}
Québec was located at the most advanced break-in point on the St. Lawrence River. It was the stopping place for ships sailing from Europe; it was also a kind of travelers' terminal for soldiers, tradesmen or settlers hoping to settle in Québec or continue on towards Montreal or to the western part of the country. Québec was also a point of convergence for the fur trade, a basic element in the economy of the colony. -
Deism {The Enlightenment}
a crucial factor in the French Enlightenment. Natural religion was a religion that was in tune with the natural law perceived by Enlightenment thinkers. It believed in the existence of God, simply through common sense. -
Salutary Neglect {Colonial America}
The Navigation Acts were an attempt to end the period of salutary neglect and create a coherent imperial policy. The Acts were poorly enforced, and the implicit policy of neglect continued until the end of the Seven Years War in 1763. -
Period: to
the revolutionary era (war)
tensions between the colonies and Britain grow. The American Revolutionary War, also known as the American War of Independence, was a global war that began as a conflict between Great Britain and her Thirteen Colonies, which declared independence as the United States of America -
Townshend Act {Revolutionary War}
imposed duties on glass, lead, paints, paper and tea imported into the colonies. -
Paul Revere {Boston Massacre}
Paul Revere created his most famous engraving titled the “Bloody Massacre Perpetrated in Kings Street in Boston” just 3 weeks after the Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770. It is regarded by historians as an important document of the pre-revolutionary period. -
East India Company {Boston Tea Party}
The Tea Act: The Catalyst of the Boston Tea Party. The Tea Act, granted the British East India Company Tea a monopoly on tea sales in the American colonies. -
Guerilla Warfare {Revolutionary Era}
A form of irregular warfare in which a small group of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, -
Founding Fathers {Declaration of Independence}
He was an American statesman, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States and the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He later served as the third President of the United States -
Thomas Paine {Common Sense}
Published in 1776, Common Sense challenged the authority of the British government and the royal monarchy. The plain language that Paine used spoke to the common people of America and was the first work to openly ask for independence from Great Britain. -
Massachusetts Constitution
The 1780 Constitution of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, drafted by John Adams, is the world's oldest functioning written constitution. It served as a model for the United States Constitution, which was written in 1787 and became effective in 1789. -
Period: to
the constitution
the basic written set of principles and precedents of federal government in the US, which came into operation in 1789 and has since been modified by twenty-seven amendments. -
Shays Rebellion { The Constitution }
An armed uprising in Massachusetts. Revolutionary War veteran Daniel Shays led four thousand rebels in an uprising against perceived economic and civil rights injustices. -
Anti-Federalists Papers {Constitutional Convention}
Anti-Federalist Papers is the collective name given to works written by the Founding Fathers who were opposed to or concerned with the merits of the United States Constitution of 1787 -
Virginia Plan {Constitutional convention}
A proposal by Virginia delegates for a bicameral legislative branch. The plan was drafted by James Madison while he waited for a quorum to assemble at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. -
Northwest Ordinance
A law passed to regulate the settlement of the Northwest Territory, which eventually was divided into several states of the Middle West. The United States was governed under the Articles of Confederation at the time. -
Education {American Virtue 18th Century}
Education received a boost in priority with the passage of the Northwest Land Ordinance of 1787. Education is not directly mentioned in the constitution because the tenth amendment states have grappled independently with educational issues -
Enlightenment ideals of the 18th century
A range of ideas centered on reason as the primary source of authority and legitimacy—and came to advance ideals like liberty, progress, tolerance, fraternity, constitutional government and separation of church and state. -
Washington's first cabinet {Election of 1788}
Cabinet members are appointed by the president and confirmed by the members of the Senate to become the secretaries of the executive departments: State, Labor, Defense, Interior, Education, Agriculture,etc ... -
Period: to
the new republic
The Declaration of Independence established the foundation for several key aspects of what would eventually become the Republican Form of Government guaranteed to every State by the Constitution for the United States of America -
District of Columbia {capital site}
Like many decisions in American history, the location of the new city was to be a compromise: Alexander Hamilton and northern states wanted the new federal government to assume Revolutionary War debts, and Thomas Jefferson and southern states who wanted the capital placed in a location friendly to slave-holding agricultural interests. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States, during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government. -
Jays Treaty
Representatives of the United States and Great Britain signed Jay's Treaty, which sought to settle outstanding issues between the two countries that had been left unresolved since American independence. -
Pickney's Treaty
Known as the Treaty of San Lorenzo or the Treaty of Madrid, was signed in San Lorenzo de El Escorial on October 27, 1795 and established intentions of friendship between the United States and Spain. -
Election of 1796 {Washington's Farewell Address}
Washington dedicates a large part of his farewell address to discussing foreign relations and the dangers of permanent alliances between the United States and foreign nations, which he views as foreign entanglements. This issue dominated national politics during the French Revolutionary Wars between France and Britain. -
Adams Presidency {XYZ Affair}
The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode in 1797 and 1798, early in the administration of John Adams, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France that led to an undeclared war called the Quasi-War. -
Kentucky Resolutions {States Rights}
The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (or Resolves) were political statements drafted in 1798 and 1799, in which the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures took the position that the federal Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. ... Affirmed the principle of states rights-limiting the federal government to those powers clearly assigned to it by the constitution. -
Period: to
the age of jefferson
the year thomas jefferson became president -
Louisiana Purchase {Jefferson Administration}
Jefferson had authorized Livingston only to purchase New Orleans. The Americans thought that Napoleon might withdraw the offer at any time, preventing the United States from acquiring New Orleans, so they agreed and signed the Louisiana Purchase Treaty. -
Embargo Act of 1807 age of jefferson
A law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. ... In 1806, France passed a law that prohibited trade between neutral parties, like the U.S., and Britain. -
Impressment {age of jefferson}
The impressment of American sailors became a issue for the United States during the Napoleonic Wars. Many British sailors deserted Her Majesty's navy and enlisted in the American merchant marines. In order to retrieve the deserters, British "press gangs" came aboard American ships. However, the British tended to take anyone who could pass as a British solider - unless the sailor could prove their American citizenship. -
Waltham System
The Waltham-Lowell system was a labor and production model employed in the United States, particularly in New England, during the early years of the American textile industry -
Benefits of the war of 1812 age of jefferson
Francis Cabot Lowell had started building a textile industry in the United States. The war helped this industry and others to get on their feet. It did this by shutting off trade with Great Britain for a couple of years. During that time, American manufacturers were able to get their industries well established. This meant that, after the war, they were in better competition to compete with foreign companies. -
Changes in Transportation {Steamboat} americarev
Robert Fulton made the first steam-powered engine to power a steamboat, and in 1807 he demonstrated its use by going from New York City to Albany via the Hudson River. His steamboat was able to carry raw materials across the Atlantic Ocean by the mid 1800's.Transportation was important because people were starting to live in the West. -
changes in agriculture {crank churns}
A butter churn is a device used to make cream into butter. This is done through a physical process, people use a crank to turn a rotating device inside the churn. invented by Alfred Clark. -
Period: to
the american industrial revolution
An early landmark moment in the Industrial Revolution came near the end of the eighteenth century, when Samuel Slater brought new manufacturing technologies from Britain to the United States. -
Adams-Onis Treaty {Florida} age of jefferson
A treaty between the United States and Spain that gave up Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
Panic of 1819 age of jefferson
The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. -
Period: to
cultural changes
The industrial and economic developments of the Industrial Revolution brought significant social changes. Industrialization resulted in an increase in population and the phenomenon of urbanization, as a growing number of people moved to urban centres in search of employment. -
Temperance Movement rev
Temperance movement is a social movement against the consumption of alcoholic beverages. Temperance movements typically criticize alcohol intoxication, promote complete abstinence. -
The Monroe Doctrine age of jefferson
The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas (south and north america)... President James Monroe first stated the doctrine during his seventh annual State of the Union Address to Congress. -
Election of 1824 { andrew jackson }
Jackson's election marked a new direction in American politics. He was the first westerner elected president, indeed, the first president from a state other than Virginia or Massachusetts. He boldly proclaimed himself to be the "CHAMPION OF THE COMMON MAN" and believed that their interests were ignored by the aggressive national economic plans of Clay and Adams. -
Period: to
Jacksonian America {Age of Jackson}
Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837 -
Transcendentalism cc
a philosophical movement that developed in eastern United States. It arose as a reaction to or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. -
Sing Sing Prison cc
Sing Sing Prison followed the “Auburn System” in which prisoners were confined to solitary cells at night and worked silently in “congregant” labor groups during the day. Sing Sing Prison was also the site of the infamous “Death House” where 614 executions by electrocution took place. -
democractic party mascot {jackson}
The origins of the Democratic donkey can be traced to the 1828 presidential campaign of Andrew Jackson. During that race, opponents of Jackson called him a jackass. -
death of andrew jacksons wife
Just after Jackson won the presidential election, Rachel's final downturn in her illness began. Her death devastated Andrew. , Jackson always blamed his political enemies for her death. -
Free-Black Communities rev
The Free Black Community in the Early Republic” examines the activities of newly-freed African Americans in the North as they struggled to forge organizations and institutions to promote their burgeoning communities and to attain equal rights in the face of slavery and racism. -
Joseph Smith cc
He was an American religious leader and founder of Mormonism and the Latter Day Saint movement. the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. He was a controversial figure in American history beloved of his followers and hated by his detractors. Joseph was persecuted much of his adult life and was killed by a mob in Carthage, Illinois, on June 27, 1844. -
Slave Codes {Nat Turner} rev
Slave Codes" Nat Turner was inspired by visions of the Spirit to lead a slave uprising in Virginia on August 22, 1831. ... It was this fear of rebellion that led each colony to pass a series of laws restricting slaves' behaviors. The laws were known as slave codes. -
John C. Calhoun sect
A tall, spare individual, Calhoun was a gifted debater, an original thinker in political theory, and a person of broad learning who was especially well read in philosophy, history, and contemporary economic and social issues. He opposed the admission of California as a free state, and the free-soil provision in the Oregon territorial bill. In his last address to the Senate, he told the disruption of the Union unless the slave states were given and permanent protection. -
New York Female Reform Society cc
The New York Female Moral Reform Society was established in 1834 under the female leadership of Lydia A. Finney, wife of revivalist Charles Finney. -
battle of san jancinto w/e
the Texas militia under Sam Houston launches a surprise attack against the forces of Mexican General Santa Anna along the San Jacinto River. The Mexicans were thoroughly routed, and hundreds were taken prisoner, including General Santa Anna himself. -
Greek Revival cc
An architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States. -
First Police Force rev
In 1838, the Boston Police force was established, with a day police and night watch working independently. New York City followed suit in 1844, becoming the New York City Police Department in 1845. Police departments were now headed by police chiefs who were appointed by political leaders. -
trail of tears {jackson}
a series of forced removals of Native American nations from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States to an area west of the Mississippi River that had been designated as Indian Territory. -
Jacksons spoils system
The practice of appointing loyal members of the party in power to public offices was first referred to as the spoils system under Andrew Jackson. It reached its height between c.1860 and c.1880, and declined after the Civil Service Act of 1883. -
Period: to
westward expansion
Thomas Jefferson believed that the nation's future depended on its westward expansion. In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase took place, doubling the size of the country. By 1840 almost 7 million Americans had migrated westward in hopes of securing land and being prosperous. -
Edgar Allan Poe cc
He was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for short stories and poems that captured the imagination and interest of readers. His imaginative storytelling and tales of mystery and horror gave birth to the modern detective story. -
Election of 1844 w/e
President, James K. Polk, who wanted western expansion to promote slavery into what is now the Southwestern United States. Henry Clay, wanted to maintain the current equilibrium of "free" and "slave" states. -
Manifest Destiny w/e
A period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. -
Panic of 1837 JACKSON
was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down while unemployment went up. Pessimism abounded during the time. -
Mormon Migration w/e
The great Mormon migration of 1846-1847 was but one step in the Mormons' quest for religious freedom and growth. The Mormon religion, later known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. -
Battle of Palo Alto w/e
Before the United States declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor defeated a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto. The battle took place north of the Rio Grande River near present-day Brownsville, Texas. -
Wilmot Proviso w/e
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War. after the war began, President James K. Polk sought the appropriation of $2 million as part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty. -
Free Soil Party w/e
The Free Soil Party, was organized for the 1848 election to oppose further expansion of slavery into the western territories. Much of its support came from disaffected anti-slavery Democrats and Conscience Whigs, including former President Martin Van Buren. -
Seneca Falls Convention cc
The first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman". -
Harriet Tubman sect
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist, humanitarian, and an armed scout and spy for the United States Army during the American Civil War. She escaped slavery to become a leading abolitionist. She led hundreds of enslaved people to freedom along the route of the Underground Railroad. -
California Gold Rush sect
When gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. -
Period: to
sectionalism
As the United States moved closer to civil war, the country divided more and more. Sectionalism became a problem. This is the loyalty to a part of a nation, but not the nation as a whole. Americans saw themselves as Southerners or Northerners. -
Compromise of 1850 sect
Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin sect
The novel features Uncle Tom, an African-American slave whose long-suffering story touched millions. Harriet Beecher Stowe wrote Uncle Tom’s Cabin in reaction to recently tightened fugitive slave laws. The book had a major influence on the way the American public viewed slavery. -
Bleeding Kansas sect
the Kansas-Nebraksa Act overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory and instead, using the principle of popular sovereignty, decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state. -
Fire-eaters sect
A group of radical pro-slavery Southerners in the Antebellum South who urged the separation of Southern states into a new nation, which became the Confederate States of America. The dean of the group was Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina. -
Ulysses S. Grant civ
A United States Army general during the American Civil War and Commanding General at the conclusion of the war. He was elected as the 18th President of the United States in 1868, serving from 1869 to 1877. -
Period: to
the civil war
The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The result of a long-standing controversy over slavery, war broke out in April 1861, when Confederates attacked Fort Sumter. -
Gettysburg Address civ
President Abraham Lincoln was invited to deliver remarks, which later became known as the Gettysburg Address, at the official dedication ceremony for the National Cemetery of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, on the site of one of the bloodiest and most decisive battles of the Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation civ
A presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863. President Abraham Lincoln carefully framed the conflict as concerning the preservation of the Union rather than the abolition of slavery. Although he personally found the practice of slavery abhorrent, he knew that neither Northerners nor the residents of the border slave states would support abolition as a war aim. -
Election of 1864 civ
Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president. Lincoln ran under the National Union banner against his former top Civil War general, the Democratic candidate, George B. McClellan. ... The new political party was formed to accommodate the War Democrats. -
Period: to
Reconstructions
President Lincoln was the leader of the moderate Republicans and wanted to speed up Reconstruction and reunite the nation painlessly and quickly. Lincoln formally began Reconstruction in late 1863 with his Ten percent plan, which went into operation in several states but which Radical Republicans opposed. -
Abraham Lincoln Death civ
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by well-known stage actor John Wilkes Booth on April 14, 1865, in Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. -
Election of 1866 rec
The 1866 elections were a decisive event in the early Reconstruction era, in which President Andrew Johnson faced off against the Radical Republicans in a bitter dispute over whether Reconstruction should be lenient or harsh toward the South. -
KKK rec
The Ku Klux Klan went far to almost every southern state by 1870 and became a vehicle for white southern resistance to the Republican Party’s Reconstruction-era policies aimed at establishing political and economic equality for blacks. -
Horatio Seymour rec
The Compromise of 1876 ended the Reconstruction era. He supported the Union war effort during the Civil War but criticized President Abraham Lincoln's leadership. He won election to another term as governor in 1862 and continued to dislike many of Lincoln's policies. Several delegates at the 1864 Democratic National Convention hoped to nominate Seymour for president, but Seymour declined to seek the nomination. After the war, Seymour supported President Andrew Johnson's policies. -
Panic of 1876 rec
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered a depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 until 1879, and even longer in some countries -
Whiskey Ring Scandal rec
President Ulysses S. Grant used both powers to fire and hire a special prosecutor in 1875, during the Whiskey Ring Scandal. Before the scandal was over, Grant also did something no sitting president had done before, or has done since: He voluntarily testified as a defense witness in a criminal trial. -
Jim Crow rec
In the early 1830s, the white actor Thomas Dartmouth “Daddy” Rice was propelled to stardom for performing minstrel routines as the fictional “Jim Crow,” a caricature of a clumsy, dimwitted black slave. ... As the show's popularity spread, “Jim Crow” became a widely used derogatory term for blacks. Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. -
Compromise of 1877 rec
The Compromise of 1877 effectively ended the Reconstruction era. Southern Democrats’ promises to protect civil and political rights of blacks were not kept, and the end of federal interference in southern affairs led to widespread disenfranchisement of blacks voters. -
Clara Barton civ
Clarissa "Clara" Harlowe Barton was a pioneering nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and patent clerk. The American Red Cross was founded and Barton served as its first president.
