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Oct 11, 1492
Columbus lands in the Americas
Christopher Columbus was an Italian born Spanish explorer. Him and his crew landed in the Americas thinking that they landed in the Indies. -
Oct 12, 1492
The Spanish Empire
Christopher Columbus was inspired the Marco Polo's writing. He was looking for a shorter route to the Indies and instead landed in North America. With his discovery of the New World, Columbus had started a new empire. He later discovered the continent of South America and claimed it for Spain. -
Nov 15, 1534
New France
Jacques Cartier was searching for a water route through the Pacific Ocean. He failed and instead founded present day Canada. He called this land New France. -
Jamestown: The First English Colony
The London Company sent a group of merchants to Virginia to start a colony. They called this colony Jamestown after King James I. 144 settlers came in 3 ships with fur and timber to start a business in Jamestown. -
Starving Time in Jamestown
After Captain John Smith had gone back to England, Jamestown went through a period called Starving Time. The Indians refused to trade with the settlers. The English even had to eat dogs and rats to stay alive. Only 60 of the 500 people in Jamestown survived. -
New Netherland
Dutch merchants had sponsored a voyage for an explorer named Henry Hudson. Hudson found a river full of fish and claimed it for the Netherlands. This was called New Netherland. Soon after, Dutch merchants formed the Dutch West India Company to start a colony in America. -
New York
The English wanted to drive the Dutch out of North America. James, the Duke of York, was given ownership of all Dutch land by his brother, Charles if he could conquer them. The English made a small invasion into the territory. When Peter Stuvesant heard that the gunpowder was damp, he gave the land up and the English renamed the land New York -
France Claims Mississippi River
Robert De Salle had explored the entire length of the Mississipi River. He palnted a flag at the mouth of the river and claimed everything west of the river for France. He called this area Louisiana after King Louis XIV. -
Pennsalvania
William Penn owed debt to his father and went to Pennsalvania as an English Quaker. Pennsalvania became a colony when he settled with all Europeans and English. -
Proclamation of 1763
George III was worried about Native Americans and colonists killing each other. So he drew a line through the Appalachian Mountains. He made settlers stay east of the land and Natives west of it. There was no farmland for the colonists in the east and so they suggested tyranny. -
The Stamp Act
Prime Minister George Grenville proposed a new law in America called The Stamp Act to pay off the large debt in the war. This meant that everytime a colonist would use a piece of paper, he would have to buy a paper. Colonists were angry and protested this violation of their rights. Soon after the British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act. -
The Quartering Act
Soon after the Stamp Act, the British Parliament proposed a new law called the Quartering Act. Colonists had to provide shelter and food for the British troops. This cost money and the colonists were once agian outraged. -
The Townshend Acts
Charles Townshend, a British leader, persuaded the British Parliament to pass on the Townshend Acts. This put a higher tax on everyday items like paper and tea. Colonists boycotted the items after Samuel Adams wrote a letter protesting the taxes. Women especially boycotted and started making things of their own. After Lord North became the new British leader, he repealed act after seeing how much money Britan lost. -
The Tea Act
Lord North was trying to rescue the British East Company and so enforced the Tea Act. There was 17 million pounds of tea sitting in London's warehouses. The tea was so cheap that it gave the British East India Company total control. Still the colonists boycotted the tea. As the colonists coudn't handle their monopoly, some dressed up as Native Americans and got into the British ships in order to dump 90,000 pounds of tea into the sea. -
The Intolerable Acts
Britian was unhappy with the behavior of many of the colonists That is why they passed harsh laws in order to punish them. These were so unreasonable that colonists called these the intolerable acts. Patriots sent a respectful letter to King George to repeal these laws but it didn't work. That is why the patriot formed militias -
Lexington and Concord
Instead of replying to the colonists complaints about his ruling, King George decided to fight them. The fight between the British and the Americans turned into a 7 year war. -
The Siege of Boston
George Washington was leading an army and found out that they only had 39 barrels of gunpowder. He started a rumor that he had 1800 barrels of gunpowder while he begged other colonies for gunpowder. The army brought lots of cannons and many bullets for the future to Ticonderoga. The British were terrified of this and many of them including loyalist left also. -
The Second Continental Congress
The Congress had to decide to command the New England Army. John Adams wanted a continental army where troops from diffferent colinies would fight. He wanted George Washington to lead this army. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
Militiamen marched up Breed's hill and built a fort on top of it. These men were led by Isreal Putnam and he told the men only to fire when they saw the British. When the British came up the hill the Americans fired. In all, over 1000 british troops were killed. -
The Olive Branch Petition
Congress didn't want to fight anymore with Britian so they sent them a petition which requested to stop the fighting. King George recieved the letter and ordered his ministers to bring the traitors to justice. -
The Declaration of Independance
Thomas Jefferson from Virginia was very talented at writing and was appointed by the Continental Congress to draft a declaration to the British stated why they wanted to seperate. -
Battle for New York
The americans and british met in Brooklyn to fight. The british lost 377 men while the americans lost 1,407 men. General Howe was waiting for Washington to surrender and was caught off guard. Washington didn't want to surrender so the army retreated. -
Trenton
On christmas morning Washington's army crossed the deleware river and caught the british and hessian sleeping. Caught by surprise, 900 hessiens were taken by washington's army. -
Battle of Saratoga
Burgoynes army reached saratoga springs and found that there were a whole bunch of militia. Seeing that he was outnumbered he surrenderred. -
Siege of Yorktown
Washington had set a trap for Cornwallis in Virginia. Since washingtons army was moved down south and the french army helped them the british could not be assisted by their navy. The french had blocked up the harbour. -
Treaty of Paris
In paris representatives of both the United states and britain signed a peace treaty. There were three important facts the british had to acknowledge about america.Many loyalists didnt trust the treaty because the patriots treated them badly before. -
Ratification of Articles of Confederation
Congress was please at the fact that the Articles of Confederation gave all Americans a set of laws but there were also many flaws. After adding and changing it up, Congress was finally happy with what was on the AOC and ratified. -
Shays Rebellion
Farmers had a big disadvantage in the war because they could not pay off their debts and taxes. Daniel Shays was the leader of the farm rebellion and closed down courthouses so they could get rid of the debt. -
Constitutional Convention
Shays's Rebellion shocked the Congress and persuaded them to revise the Articles of Confederation. That is why they held a convention looking over the flaws of the AOC. -
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution
After a lot of thinking and questions the Constitution was finally ratified. 38 out of the 50 delegates signed it. -
The Lousiana Purchase
The United States had purchased the Lousiana territory from the French. The price was close to about $15 million. -
Spain Gives Florida to the U.S.
The U.S. was looking to take control of Florida next. Spain was currently ruling the peninsula. Andrew Jackson had made an illegal invasion where he took 1700 troops in order to take control of Florida.Spain was fearful of war, therefore gave Florida to the US. -
Missouri Applies as a Slave State
The Northener opposed this because this would upset the balance between the slave states and the free-states.They were also afraid slavaery was going to spread. -
Oregon Treaty
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The Indian Removal Act
Congress had passed on the Indian Removal Act where they would force Indians in that territory to move someplace else. Some did voluntarily but soem didn't and faced the consequences. -
The Trail of Tears
17,000 Cherokees were forced to move to Georgia from their homes. Many were handcuffed and had to walk an extreme number of miles. This was a real struggle for all the Indians. -
Texas is Annexed
Texas was a country for ten years after gaining independance from Mexico who had control over it for some time. But James K. Polk decided to annex making it the 28th state. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso stated that slavery was not aloud in Mexican Cession. This upset the South because they said Congress had no right to choose where slavaeholders could take their property. -
The Fugitive State Law
This dissatisfied the North because they were not aloud to help the slaves that ran away. Anyone who helpd them or gave them shelter could be jailed -
Abraham Lincoln elected President
This upset the Southerners because Abrham Lincoln was anti-slavery. They were afraid that he was going to abolish slavery in southen states. -
Civil War
The Civil War started when 11 states from the US had seceded due to the disputes over slavery. The battles started when Fort Sumter was bombed by the Confederacy. The Battle of Gettysburg was a truning point in the war. But finally in 1865, Robert E. Lee surrenderd to Ulysses S. Grant.
