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British Troops Burn Down Washington D.C.
The British set fire of the White House during the War of 1812. This was done as retaliation to the attack of the York in Ontario, Canada. President James Madison left the White House prior to meet the generals on the Battlefield as he thought the invasion would have happened. A few days after the British burned the Capitol, the Madisons had to stay at the Octagon House so the White House could be rebuilt. -
Stars & Stripes U.S. Flag
The congress passed the 3rd flag act. It was stated to return the flag back to its original style of 13 alternating stripes of red and white, which represented the 13 original colonies and there would be one star for each new state. -
The Alamo
The Alamo, the site of efforts by a group of fighters for Texans independence from Mexico. Sam Houston, named commanding general of the Texas army stated it was impossible to defend with the small number of troops available. He had a group of volunteers that were at the Alamo who refused to retire. February 23, 1836, a Mexican army arrived from the south and began a siege of the Alamo. Even though Texans were defeated the siege of the Alamo was a symbol of heroic resistance. -
The Oregon Trail
This is one of the largest mass migrations of people in America. There were approximately 350,000 travelers that used the 2000 mile route to reach Willamette Valley, Puget Sound, Utah and California destinations. This journey took 6 months with wagons making 10-20 miles per day. This trail followed the Missouri and Platte Rivers the the Nebraska area. The people traveled in groups with some having leadership to help manage the duties and it allowed them to keep things in more order. -
California Gold Rush
Many people arrived at Sutters Mill in California after gold was found. There was more than 300,000 people that came to this territory. John Sutter was building a sawmill along side the Coloma River. One of his carpenters, James Marshall, found flakes of gold along the bed of the river. They wanted it to be kept a secret but the news spread quickly. There were about 80,000 gold miners in the area after the discovery. There was estimated $2 billion in gold was found. -
First Oil Well Discovered
Investors in the first Oil Company hit oil in the Summer of 1859 by a former railroad conductor with Seneca Oil Company out of Connecticut. This was drilled by Edward Darke, using new technologies to complete the first oil well. The well was 69.5 feet deep. -
Beginning of Civil War
The Civil War was during 1861-1865, fought between the north and south that seceded to form the Confederate States of America. It began due to the long standing controversy over slavery, and just the states rights. The southern states wanted to assert their authority over the federal government. The war began when Ft Sumter in South Carolina was attacked shortly after Lincoln was elected as President. There were more than 3 million men that fought in this war and more than 620,000 died. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation in January, 1863. This was a document that was an attempt to free slaves in the Confederate states. This was looked at as a military action because it would weaken the southern economy by freeing slaves. This was only aimed at freeing the slaves in the South because President Lincoln didn’t have the power to abolish slavery across the entire United States. However the document freed very few slaves because the Union was unable to enforce it. -
Abraham Lincoln Assassinated
It was the evening of April 14, 1865 when Lincoln was attending the comedy show, “Our American Cousin”,at Fords Theater, he was shot. He was shot by John Wilkes Booth and he later escaped on horseback. His assassination came after he gave a speech supporting black men and veterans the right to vote. Booth was in the audience and didn’t like the support Lincoln was showing to the blacks. He shot Lincoln three days later. -
The 14th Amendment to the Constitution
This amendment was ratified on July 9th, 1868. This amendment was pushed by the Republican party with the aim to protect the rights of the freed slaves from being abused. It was used to reinforce the Civil Rights Act of 1866 which stated that all US citizens were treated equally. The amendment is made up of four sections but the first one is the most important. This section offers a guarantee of citizenship to all the people born in the US.