-
476
Dark Ages- Catholic Church
The only universal European institution was the church, and even there a fragmentation of authority was the rule; all the power within the church hierarchy was in the hands of the local bishops. The church basically saw itself as the spiritual community of Christian believers, in exile from God's kingdom, waiting in a hostile world for the day of deliverance. -
Period: 1095 to 1291
The Crusades
The Crusades were, in essence, military expeditions initiated by the medieval church to claim the Holy Lands from Muslim control.The promotion of warfare was during the eleventh century and popes moved from denouncing bloodshed to demanding it in the name of God -
Period: 1200 to
Beginning of Exploration
-
1300
The Black Death - Death
In the 1300s, the "Black Death," as it was called, killed approximately one-third (20 to 30 million) of Europe's population. You can get bubonic plague from the bite of an infected flea or rodent. Within 3 to 7 days of exposure to plague bacteria, you will develop flu-like symptoms such as fever, headache, chills, weakness, and swollen, tender lymph glands such as your tonsils, and spleen. -
1428
The Aztecs - Caste System
The Aztec society traditionally was divided into two social classes. The peasants and the nobility. Nobility was not originally hereditary, although the sons of nobility had access to better resources and education, so it was easier for them to stay nobles. Eventually, this class system took on the aspects of a hereditary system. The Aztec military had an equivalent to military service with a core of professional warriors. -
1453
The Renaissance - Leonardo DaVinci
Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, architect, and inventor.Today he remains best known for his art, including two paintings that remain among the world’s most famous and admired, Mona Lisa and The Last Supper. Art, da Vinci believed, was indisputably connected with science and nature. -
1512
New Spain - Encomidas
A system established by the Spanish during initial colonization efforts undertaken upon the Americas and Philippines. It was also a labor force of indigenous people and force to Catholic religion on the indigenous peoples' population. -
English Colonization - Roanoke
A group of about 115 English settlers arrived on Roanoke Island, off the coast of what is now North Carolina. Later that year, it was decided that John White, governor of the new colony, would sail back to England in order to gather a fresh load of supplies.3 years later, White finally returned to Roanoke.He found no trace of the colony or its inhabitants, and few clues to what might have happened, apart from a single word “Croatoan” carved into a wooden post. -
Period: to
English Colonial Societies
-
New France - French relationship with the Natives
The relationship between the French and the Native American tribes they encountered was a product of the French goals in North America. Unlike the English, the French did not attempt to establish large-scale settlements. In many, but not all, cases, the relationship between the French and the Native tribes was based on mutual gain–the French gained access to natural resources such as beaver pelts and the Natives gained access to high quality European goods. -
Proprietary Colonies
The primary motive for establishing the middle, or mid-Atlantic colonies of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware was to develop profitable trading centers. The Dutch were some of the first to settle in this area. -
Slavery
The roots of slavery in America began with indentured servants. These were people brought over from Britain as laborers. Many of these people agreed to work for seven years in return for their passage to the Americas. Others were in debt and were forced to work as indentured servants to pay their debts. The first slaves were African indentured servants who were forced to be indentured servants for the rest of their lives. -
Development of Colonies Differences by Region - Southern Colonies
The geography and climate impacted the trade and economic activities of Southern Colonies. The Southern Colonies concentrated on agriculture and developed the plantations exporting tobacco, cotton, corn, vegetables, grain, fruit and livestock. The Southern Colonies had the largest slave population who worked on the Slave Plantations. Plantations grew cotton, tobacco, indigo (a purple dye), and other crops. -
Chesapeake Colonies
One of the first proprietary colonies was the Chesapeake colony of Maryland, granted by Charles I to Sir George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore. After his death, it was left to his son Cecilius Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, who actually founded the colony. Lord Baltimore’s purpose for founding Maryland was because he sought the colony as a refuge for English Catholics who were subjected to discrimination in England. -
Triangular Trade
The slave trade began with Portuguese and Spanish, traders taking African slaves to the American colonies they had conquered in the 15th century. For the British slave traders, it was a three-legged journey, called the 'triangular trade': Taking trade goods, such as guns and brandy, to Africa to exchange for slaves. Then taking the slaves on the 'Middle Passage' across the Atlantic to sell in West Indies and North America. -
Caribbean Colonies - Sugar
In only a few years, sugar was being produced in quantity on nearly all of the British-and French Caribbean island. From that point on and sugar cane was the dominant Caribbean crop of the region.The Dutch participated in the plantations they also creating a demand for another valuable asset enslaving Africans obtained in trading posts established along the African coast. -
Glorious Revolution
"The bloodless revolution" or Glorious revolution was a bloodless take over of the English government, led by parliament that put William(ruler of the Netherlands)and Mary(ruler of the Netherlands from the English royal family)in control. -
The Salem Witch Trails
The Salem Witch Trials were a series of witchcraft cases brought before local magistrates in a settlement called Salem which was a part of the Massachusetts Bay colony in the 17th century.
The trials officially began in February of 1692, when the afflicted girls accused the first three victims, Tituba, Sarah Good and Sarah Osborne, of witchcraft and ended in May of 1693, when the remaining victims were released from jail. -
New England Colonies - Quakers
Quakers are members of the Religious Society of Friends, a faith that emerged as a new Christian denomination in England during a period of religious turmoil in the mid-1600's and is practiced today in a variety of forms around the world. To members of this religion, the words "Quaker" and "Friend" mean the same thing. -
Colonial Economies - New England
By the end of the 17th century, New England colonists had tapped into a sprawling Atlantic trade network that connected them to the English homeland as well as the West African slave coast, the Caribbean's plantation islands, and the Iberian Peninsula. Colonists relied upon British and European imports for glass, linens, hardware, machinery, navigational instruments, and paint. -
Period: to
Colonial America
-
The Great Awakening
A evangelizing movement that scared people into becoming religious. It was a reaction to the Enlightenment and changed Colonial American society. It made Christianity deeply personal and gave ordinary people hope, a voice and a sense of self-preservation and redemption. The religious movement also reached the slaves in the south and the Natives were also being converted into this religious American wave. -
The Enlightenment - Georgia
James Oglethorpe was such a thinker. He and a group of charitable investors asked King George for permission to create a utopian experiment for English citizens imprisoned for debt. England's prison population could be decreased, and thousands of individuals could be given a new chance at life. With these lofty goals, Georgia was created. -
French and Indian War - George Washington`s Role
George Washington was an officer in Virginia's militia and earned recognition in America and England for his bravery during the British defeat at the Battle of the Wilderness. By the war's end, he had become a symbol for American colonists of the military prowess of their militia. -
French and Indian War - Fort William Henry
English fort seized and destroyed by the French in July 1757. The fort was important because it gave the holder command of the Hudson River and northern New York. It also protected the two other Lake Champlain forts, St. Frederic and Ticonderoga. The French overwhelmed the British and forced a surrender. The terms of the surrender were that the British could leave peacefully. Despite this victory, however, France had a difficult time gaining the upper hand in the war. -
Period: to
The Revolutionary War
-
Acts of Parliament - Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was the first direct tax to be levied on the American colonies. It was the first serious attempt to assert governmental authority over the 13 colonies.The Stamp Act required various items such as licenses, documents, diplomas and nearly every paper item to be printed on stamped or embossed paper in the American colonies. This meant that the American colonists were obliged to pay a fee on almost every piece of paper used for legal documents. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre began the evening of March 5, 1770, with a small argument between British soldiers and a few colonists outside a house in Boston. The argument began to escalate as more colonists gathered and began to harass and throw sticks and snowballs at Private White. Then the "Red Coats" shot into the crowd killing some of the colonists. -
1st Continental Congress
the First Continental Congress was called to order on September 5th, 1774. 55 colonial representatives, including famous Patriots like John Adams, Samuel Adams, George Washington, and Patrick Henry, from twelve colonies, met in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania to formulate a plan of action. Georgia was the only colony that did not send representatives. -
Battles - Paul Revere`s Midnight Ride
On the night of April 18-19, 1775, when on Joseph Warren’s orders he crossed the Charles River and rode to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were coming through on their way to Concord. Revere got the word to the radical leaders, but a British patrol prevented any further progress. -
Articles of Confederation
This first national "constitution" for the United States was not particularly innovative, and mostly put into written form how the Congress had operated since 1775. Even though the Articles were rather modest in their proposals, they would not be ratified by all the states until 1781. Even this was accomplished largely because the dangers of war demanded greater cooperation. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine first published Common Sense a pamphlet that quickly caught fire and soon turned Common Sense into the best selling book—at that point—in American history. Common Sense tore through the original thirteen colonies with a very clear message: America needs to become independent from Britain. And folks heard his message loud and clear because it was at this exact moment in history that the Americans ramped up their military effort to force the British out of their country. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was originally written by Thomas Jefferson. Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and Jefferson then worked together to make changes to the document. The final draft of the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, but the actual signing of the final document was on August 2, 1776. -
Battles - Battle of Yorktown
The British Army was now surrounded at Yorktown. They were greatly outnumbered by the French and American troops. For eleven days the American forces bombarded the British. Finally, Cornwallis agreed to Washington's terms and the battle was over. -
Period: to
The Constitution
-
Shay`s Rebellion
Shays’ Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. The rebellion was most serious in Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. The rebellion took its name from its symbolic leader, Daniel Shays of Massachusetts, a former captain in the Continental army. -
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was adopted by the Confederation Congress on July 13, 1787. It established a government for the Northwest Territory, outlined the process for admitting a new state to the Union, and guaranteed that newly created states would be equal to the original thirteen states. Considered one of the most important legislative acts of the Confederation Congress, the Northwest Ordinance also protected civil liberties and outlawed slavery in the new territories. -
Constitutional Convention - New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan detailed a legislature of only one house and featured equal representation in which each state had the same number of representatives. The goal was for smaller states to have the same level of power in the legislature as the large states. The New Jersey Plan, like the Virginia Plan, also called for Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches -
Constitutional Convention - Virginia Plan
The Virginia Plan was a plan for a strong National Government that could collect taxes and makes and enforce laws. The Virginia Plan was based on a national and state government system with a Separation of Powers consisting of legislative, executive, and judicial branches. A bicameral legislature (two houses) consisting of the House of Representatives and the Senate would feature proportional representation. -
Constitutional Convention - Connecticut Plan
There were many disputes over the proposals between the large and small states and between the North and the Southern states. The Convention reached a complete deadlock over the issue of representation. Connecticut delegates Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth developed the Connecticut Compromise. The Connecticut Compromise consisted of the idea of proportional representation in the lower house House of Representatives and equal representation of the states in the upper house Senate. -
The Great Debate
There were two sides to the Great Debate: the Federalists and the Anti-Federalists. One of the major issues these two parties debated concerned the inclusion of the Bill of Rights. The Federalists felt that this addition wasn't necessary because they believed that the Constitution as it stood only limited the government, not the people. The Anti- Federalists claimed the Constitution gave the central government too much power and without a Bill of Rights the people would be at risk of oppression. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the name of the first ten amendments found
in the United States United States Constitution. The bill of Rights serves to protect the rights of liberty and property. The bill of rights also guarantees certain of personal freedoms, reserve some powers to the states and the public, and limit the government’s power in judicial and other proceedings. -
Period: to
New Republic
-
Pinckey`s Treaty
Pinckney's Treaty is a treaty between Spain and the United States.It defined the boundaries of the United States with the Spanish colonies and guaranteed the United States navigation rights on the Mississippi River. Thomas Pinckney negotiated the treaty for the United States and Don Manuel de Godoy represented Spain. Among other things, it ended the first phase of the West Florida Controversy, a dispute between the two nations over the boundaries of the Spanish colony of West Florida. -
Jay`s Treaty
John Jay (1745-1829) was the US politician who arranged the 1794 Treaty with the British. It was called the 'Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, Between the King and The United States of America', now popularly referred to as Jay's Treaty. Jay's Treaty eased antagonisms between the countries by settling outstanding border disputes and enabling peaceful trade during the French Revolution which had began in 1792. -
Washington`s Farewell Address
The two most famous statements in the Farewell Address are comments about political parties and foreign alliances. Washington didn’t like the idea of political parties and made that clear in a concluding statement in a passage about factions. He also warned that the United States should stay clear of permanent Alliances with any part of the foreign world.Washington didn’t say that the young nation should be isolationist but to not go back to Britain -
XYZ Affair
France felt that America was supporting Britain. France decided to get back at America. They seized American supply ships bound for Britain. President Adams decided that he was going to try to avoid going to war with France. He sent three men to France to act as diplomats to keep the peace.The X, Y, and Z agents refused to work with the three American men unless they paid them a large sum of money. The three American men turned down the French agents' and reported everything to Congress. -
Kentucky Resolutions
The Kentucky Resolutions were authored in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison respectively and passed by the legislatures of Kentucky. The Kentucky Resolutions argued that the federal government had no authority to exercise power not specifically delegated to it in the Constitution - the Principle of Nullification. -
Period: to
The Age of Jefferson
-
Midnight Judges
Thomas Jefferson was voted as the next President but would not assume office until March in the following year. This enabled President Adams to get things done before the new president and his political party took over. The two men were from opposing political parties. Adams was a Federalist and Jefferson a Democrat-Republican. Congress took the opportunity to pass the Judiciary Act of 1801 to give Adams the power to appoint new judges.This ensured Federalists would have powerful positions -
Lewis and Clark
The Lewis and Clark Expedition consisted of a select group of military men. Led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Second Lieutenant William Clark to explore the US lands obtained in the 1803 Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. The purpose of the expedition was both scientific creating maps and documenting plants and animals and establishing trade and identifying natural resources. -
Sacagawea
Sacagawea was an interpreter and guide for and the only woman member of the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804-1806. She was born somewhere between 1784 and 1788 into the Lehmi band of the Shoshone Indians who lived in the eastern part of the Salmon River area of present-day central Idaho. Her father was chief of her village. Sacajawea's Shoshone name was Boinaiv, which means "Grass Maiden." -
Changes in Transportation - Steamboats
Boats could travel downstream quite easily using the current. Traveling upstream was much more difficult, however. The problem of traveling upstream was solved during the Industrial Revolution by the steam engine. It used steam power to travel upstream. Steamboats were soon used to transport people and goods along rivers throughout the country. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The goal of Embargo Act of 1807 was to stop France and Britain, who were at war, restricting American Trade. The Embargo Act averted war with Britain and France but backfired at home and it was the American people who suffered. The Embargo Act was signed into law on December 22, 1807 and lasted to March 1809 effectively strangling American overseas trade. -
Period: to
Westward Expansion
-
War of 1812 - Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was a secret meeting of Federalist delegates that took place in Hartford, Connecticut between December 15, 1814, and January 5, 1815. The purpose of the Hartford Convention was to express grievances against the administration of President James Madison including his mercantile policies and the War of 1812. -
War of 1812 - Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was the last battle of the War of 1812 and was fought after the Treaty of Ghent was signed. News of the Treaty of Ghent failed to reach all the American forces and General Andrew Jackson scored a Important victory at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815. -
Period: to
The American Industrial Revolution
-
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a settlement reached between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Congress and their opposing views on the extension of slavery into new territories. The legislation, which became known as the Missouri Compromise, admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, retaining the balance between slave and free states. -
Temperance Movement
The Temperance Movement was created to limit/outlaw the consumption/production of alcohol. Many people believed that if they kept living in their immoral ways, they would no longer be blessed by God.However, this wasn't the only reason. Many women were tired of their husbands getting drunk and beating them.Even if they couldn't completely get rid of alcohol, they wanted to at least reduce the consumption by a lot. The Civil War put this issue to the side, but it continued once the war was over. -
Mormons
The Mormon religion was establish by Joseph Smith. He claimed that an angel visited him and told him of ancient Hebrew text that only he was able to understand. He would translate the text and create the Book of Mormon. Smith would set up communities for Mormons in places such as Ohio, Illinois, and Missouri. However, they were heavily criticized by Christians and Smith along with his brother would be murdered in a jail cell by an anti-Mormon mob. -
Period: to
Age of Jackson
-
Period: to
Cultural Changes
-
Changes in Transportation - Canals
In order to make better use of water transportation, canals were built to connect rivers, lakes, and oceans. The most important canal built in the United States was the Erie Canal. The Erie Canal ran 363 miles and connected Lake Erie to the Hudson River and the Atlantic Ocean. It was completed in 1825 and became a source of commerce and travel from the western states -
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (1767-1845), nicknamed the "Old Hickory", was the 7th American President and served in office from 1829-1837. The Presidency of Andrew Jackson spanned the period in United States history that encompasses the events of the Jacksonian Era. President Andrew Jackson represented the Democratic political party which influenced the domestic and foreign policies of his presidency. -
Growing Cities - Slums
Slums and Tenements were new technology and inventions transformed an agriculture and commercial way of life in the 19th century into an industrial society. The Industrial Revolution changed families and lifestyles. Factories drew workers away from their homes and into large cities. These were mostly known as an inferior multi-family housing in highly populated urban areas. This is usually old and heavily occupied by lower class citizens. -
Labor Changes - Lowell MIlls
Lower Mills refers to the many mills that operated in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Francis Cabot Lowell invented the first factory system "where people and machines were all under one roof." A series of mills and factories were built along the Merrimack River by the Boston Manufacturing Company, an organization founded in years prior by the man for whom the resulting city was named. -
Free-Black Communities
"Black Founders: 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. Some of the most vibrant, dynamic, and influential black communities in the United States were in Philadelphia fighting against the white supremacy and oppression of blacks. -
Indian Removal Act of 1830
This law, encouraged by President Jackson, was passed by Congress on 28 May 1830 was prompted by the desire to settle the land but was also due to the discovery of gold. The Indian Removal Act gave the federal government the power to force the relocation of any Native American Indians, living in the east of the country, to territory that was west of the Mississippi River. -
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was the name the Cherokee used to describe to the 1000 mile route, or trail, that they were forced to travel, from their homelands in the Southeastern United States to reservations in present day Oklahoma, as a result of the 1830 Indian Removal Act. -
The Tariff of 1832
The Tariff of 1832 was another protective tariff that was passed on July 14, 1832 to reduced the existing tariffs as remedy for the conflict created by the 1828 tax referred to as the Tariff of Abominations. The remedial effects of the Tariff of 1832 was a compromise but failed to pacify Southerners leading to the Nullification Crisis. -
Nullification Act
The Nullification Crisis of 1832 centered around Southern protests against the series of protective tariffs or taxes that had been introduced to tax all foreign goods in order to boost the sales of US products and protect manufacturers in the North from cheap British goods. The South, being predominantly agricultural, and reliant on the North and foreign countries for manufactured goods, saw the protective tariffs as severely damaging to their economy. -
American Anti-Slavery Society
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglas, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meeting. William Wells Brown was also a freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had 1,350 local charters with around 250,000 members. -
New York Female Reform Society
The New York Female Moral Reform Society(NYFMRS) was established in 1834 under the female leadership of Lydia A. Finney, wife of revivalist Charles Grandison Finney.The NYFMRS was created for the fundamental purpose of preventing prostitution in early 19th century New York.Moral reform became a prominent issue in America during the 1830s and 1840s and many organizations were created during this time to eliminate prostitution and the sexual double standard,and to also encourage sexual abstinence. -
The Election of 1836
The United States presidential election of 1836 was the 13th presidential election, held from Thursday, November 3, to Wednesday, December 7, 1836. As the third consecutive election for the Democratic Party, it put Vice President Martin Van Buren into the White House with 170 electoral votes to 124 electoral votes for William Henry Harrison and other Whigs. The popular vote was won by Buren but only by 26 thousand votes. -
Edgar Allen Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre.He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism is the United States and American literature as a whole,and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story. -
Crank Churn
From the mid-1800s through the 1940's the crank churn was used to churn butter in many households in America One type of crank churn was a barrel churn, a simple device in which the user turned a handle that directly rotated a dasher inside a stabilized barrel. Over time these butter churns changed to work better -
John Calhoun
John C. Calhoun was a prominent U.S. statesman and spokesman for the slave-plantation system of the South. He was from South Carolina and served as vice president under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He opposed the Mexican-American War and the admission of California as a free state and was renowned as a leading voice for those seeking to secure the institution of slavery. -
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was an American empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas", and the founder of Texas, he led the second, and ultimately,the successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825.Born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri, Austin served in the Missouri territorial legislature before moving to Arkansas Territory and later Louisiana.His father, Moses Austin, received an empresario grant from Spain to settle Texas. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is the term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century 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. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. president James K Polk, who believed the United States had a "manifest destiny" to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grand began the fighting, followed by a series of U.S. victories. -
Bear Flag Revolt
During the Bear Flag Revolt, from June to July 1846, a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. The republic was short-lived because soon after the Bear Flag was raised, the U.S. military began occupying California, which went on to join the union in 1850. The Bear Flag became the official state flag in 1911. -
Battle of Palo Alto
On May 8, 1846, shortly before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) 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. Taylor’s victory, along with a series of subsequent victories against the Mexicans, made him a war hero. In 1848, he was elected America’s 12th president. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York and was the first women's convention that discussed and fought for the civil, social, and religious rights of women. The Seneca Falls Convention was the meeting that launched the women's suffrage movement which later ensured the right for women to vote. Their was a total of 300 men and women. Declaration of sentiments and resolutions. Secure rights in economics and voting made the convention a cornerstone in women's rights. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed n February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a territorial dispute involving Texas. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush was ignited by gold nuggets being discovered in the Sacramento Valley. It is considered an important event that shaped American history. Thousands of people traveled to California after word spread that there was gold just waiting to be mined. The population increased dramatically and increased California's economy. In order to help out the mines, businesses popped up to help with things such as food and supplies. However, the mining would decrease as the supply did. -
Chinese Migration
On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in California at Sutter's Mill. By 1849, people were coming to California from all over the world to look for gold. At that time, war, famine, and a poor economy in southeastern China caused many Chinese men to come to America. Most of them hoped to find great wealth and return to China. Chinese immigrants soon found out that many Americans did not welcome them. High monthly taxes were placed on all foreign miners. Chinese had no choice but to pay the tax -
Period: to
Sectionalism
-
Changes in Transportation - Railroads
Between 1849 and 1858 21,000 miles of railroad were built in the United States of America. Just two years later, in 1860, there were more than 30,000 miles of railroad in actual operation and one continuous line of rails ran from New York City to the Mississippi River. -
Greek Revival
Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States in which people started to build and copy Greek style buildings from Ancient Greco-Roman influences. The style was seen as an expression of local nationalism, civic virtue and freedom from the lax detail and frivolity. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. In 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state. As part of the Compromise of 1850; the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. Furthermore, California entered the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah. The boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico was also settled. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soldiers. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. -
Uncle Tom`s Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe who was an abolitionist. This story opened up many of the Northerners eyes to the harsh realities of slavery. It was also one of the causes of the Civil War. It became the best selling book of the 19th century and the 2nd best selling book of the century coming right after the Bible. It also sold successfully in other countries such as Britain. The book came after the tightening of the fugitive slave laws and made Stowe known to Lincoln. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas was the violent period where pro and anti slavery forces clashed while the Kansas territory was being settled. The groups would rush into Kansas while it was being determined if it would become a free or slave state. They would vote and hope their influence would decide the outcome of the state. However, it was seen as fraud because people would come from out of state to vote. Since the opposing groups were in the same state, they would confront each other in violent situations. -
Fire-Eaters
The Fire-eaters were a group of radical pro-slavery Southerns on the Antebellum South who urged the separation of Southern states into a new nation, which became the Confederate States of America. The leader of the group was Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina. The Fire-Eaters demonstrated the high level of sectionalism existing in the U.S. during the 1850s, and they materially contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Trent Affair
The Trent Affair was a diplomatic crisis that took place between the United States and Great Britiain, during the U.S. Civil War. The crisis rupted after the captain of the USS San Jacinto ordered the arrest of two Confederate envoys sailing to Europe aboard a British mail ship, the Trent, in order to seek support for the South in the Civil War. The British were outraged and claimed the seizure of a neutral ship was a violation of international law. -
Northern Cotton Embargo
Cotton diplomacy refers to the diplomatic methods employed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to coerce the United Kingdom and France to support the Confederate war effort by implementing a cotton trade embargo against the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.The Confederacy believed that both the United Kingdom and France, who before the war depended heavily on southern cotton for textile manufacturing, would support the Confederate war effort if the cotton trade were restricted. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War-its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, paved the way for the abolition of slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. -
Clara Barton
Clarissa 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. Nursing education was not very formalized at that time and Clara did not attend nursing school, so she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work at a time when relatively few women worked outside the home. -
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee is most known for his role in the Civil War. However, he was also the Mexican war which distinguished him. He was the commander of the Confederacy and led them during the war. Lee became commander of the Army of Northern Virginia in the year 1861. His greatest victory was the Battle of Chancellorsville. However one of his biggest defeats, aside from his surrender, was in the Battle of Gettysburg. He lost a huge portion of his army in the bloody battle. Lee surrendered in 1865. -
Period: to
The Civil War
-
Ulysses S. Grant
When the Civil War began in April 1861, Grant became a colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteers. Later that summer, President Lincoln made Grant a brigadier general. Grants first major victory came in 1862 when his troops captured Fort Donelson in Tennessee. In July 1863, Grant's forces captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, a Confederate stronghold. During the Civil War, Grant, an aggressive and determined leader, was given command of all the U.S. armies. After the war he became a national hero -
Emancipation Procalmation
When the Civil War began, Abraham Lincoln didn't officially make it about slavery. He said it was about preserving the Union. However, he changed his mind when the Confederacy was trying to get Britain to help them out. Since Britain knew it wasn't technically about slavery, they were willing to help. But once Lincoln officially changed it, they were forced to back off. The Proclamation stated that all slaves in the "rebellious states" were free until the states stopped fighting and rejoined. -
Lincolns 10% Plan
The Ten Percent Plan was conceived by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in order to reunify the North and South after the war. On December 8, 1863 he issued a Proclamation of Amnesty offering pardon to Confederates who would swear to support the Constitution and the Union. The lenient Ten percent Plan first required 10% of seceded state voters take oath of loyalty to Union. Second to create a new state government and third to adopt a new constitution abolishing slavery. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg also known as the turning point in the war was fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863. It's considered the most important battle of the American Civil War. The battle was a Union victory that stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North. More than 50,000 casualties were recorded during the 3-day battle, making it the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War or as others call it, the turning point of the war. -
Freedmen`s Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau was originally created towards the end of the Civil War under President Lincoln's emergency war powers as part of the United States Department of War. The Freedmen's Bureau was established due to pressure and concern of members of the Abolitionist Movement for newly emancipated slaves. The number of newly emancipated slaves totaled 4 million at the end of the Civil War. The Freedman's Bureau provided food, housing and medical aid to Freedmen. -
Black Codes
The Black Codes were laws passed by Democrat-controlled Southern states in 1865 and 1866. They were a series of restrictive laws which were designed to restrict freed blacks' activity and ensure their availibility as a labor force now that slavery had been abolished. Many states required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested as vagrants and fined or forced into unpaid labor. Northern outrage led to Republican Party Reconstruction. -
KKK
The Ku Klux Klan or better known as the KKK is three distinct movements in the U.S. that have advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration and especially in later iterations Nordicism anti-Catholicism and antisemitism. Historically,the KKK used terrorism both physical assault and murder against groups or individuals whom they opposed. All 3 groups have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered extremist. -
Period: to
Reconstruction
-
Scalawags
White southern Republicans, known to their enemies as "scalawags," made up the biggest group of delegates to the Radical Reconstruction-era legislatures. Some scalawags were established planters who thought that whites should recognize blacks' civil and political rights while still retaining control of political and economic life. Many were former Whigs. The majority of scalawags were non-slave holding small farmers as well as merchants and artisans who remained loyal to the Union. -
Black Friday Scandal
The Black Friday Scandal, also known as the Gold Panic and the Fisk/Gould scandal, was an attempt by two speculators, Due to the manipulations of the price of gold plummeted on the New York Gold Exchange on September 24, 1869. Many people were financially ruined and the infamous day was referred to as Black Friday. -
Whiskey Ring Scandal
This scandal involved hundreds of people across the country, including whiskey distillers, IRS agents, and politicians. Federal agents would be paid bribes by whiskey distillers so they could help them escape the taxes put on whiskey. Even though the tax was 70 cents per gallon, they only paid 35, making a huge profit. U.S. Secretary of Treasury Benjamin Bristow brought this scandal to the public's attention and busted people involved. Through trials, over 3 million dollars were recovered.
