-
Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus Discovers the New World
Christopher Columbus sails across the Atlantic ocean to find a new route to Asia for Spain. Instead he comes across the New World where he finds the Taino Indians already living there. -
Apr 28, 1513
La Florida
When Ponce de Leon founded what is now Florida he claimed it as a settlement for Spain and named it La Florida, the flowery. They, the soldiers, lived in pesidos, walled forts, in regions to protect their claims. When they ran into Native Americans they would either try to convert them into Christianity, use them as slaves, or kill them. -
Nov 28, 1519
Cortez arrives in Mexico
Cortez came with 500 Soldiers and horses. There he ran into the Aztecs and their beautiful city. When the Aztecs saw them they were awed, but soon afterwards, with the help of the Netive Americans (who hated the Aztecs), they took over and killed off the Aztecs with the help of smallpox disease and Cortez claimed the land and called it Mexico City. -
Nov 15, 1532
The Spanish Empire
By the early 1532 the Spanish had brought new settlers and horses. Francisco Pizzaro had killed the Inca Empire and conquered their land, which is present day Peru. -
Nov 28, 1532
Pizzaro Conquers Peru
When Pizzaro arrived in what is today Peru he Conquered the Inca's there. It was easy killing them off especailly since most had already died of smallpox disease. Once there were no more Incas the Spanish conquered South America. -
Jamestown: The First English Colony
The Virginia Company from Engalnd came to the New World to establish a colony and to find gold. Instead they lived the first few months starving and dying of mosquitoes and the next starving. Once John Smith Came he put the english settlers to work and the fields and the settlement became more stable. -
New France
The First settlement in New France was founded by Samuel Champlain, when he sailed up the St. Lawrence River, and namaed it Quebec. -
New Netherlands
Henry Hudon Founded New Netherlands when he was trying to sail throug a lake thinking it woould take him across the continent which it didnt. There they built Fort Orange next to what is now New York. -
Proclamation of 1763
After the French and Indian War King George III decided that to keep the colonists and the Natives American's from fighting they would have to live in seperate places. So he created a proclamation in 1763 that said that the colonists would have to live on the east side of the Appalachain Mountains and the Native Americans would have to live on the west. Unfortunetly colonists were already living on the west side of the Appalachains so they had to pack everything and move. -
Stamp Act
At the end of the French and Indian War the British were low on money. To make up for this they taxed the colonists on paper. TH ecolonists thoght this was too mch because the already being taxed on by thieeer own representitives. Patriots formed mobs and called themselves the sons of liberty. They even tried to bury a tax collector after months of protesting Parliment finally repealed the proclamation. The colonist were overjoyed. -
The Quatering Act
After the Stamp Act had failed Parlimetn created the Quarteting Act which said that colonists had to house British soldiers, feed them, and atted to their every need. The New Yorkers protestd the new law and the New York assembly tried to vote agaisnt the law but when the british found out about his the assembly was not allowed to gather up again, making both British and Americans very unhappy. -
The Townshed Act
The British put taxes on British goods like paper, glass, paint, and tea, called the Townshend act. Started by Charles Townshend because of colonists. Americans felt thse were taxes in diguise. The British also decided to keep more British soldiers in the colonies. -
The Tea Act
The British lowered the prices on tea that was sold by the East India Tea because of the American Boycott, but now colonists were only allowed to buy tea form the East India Company. The Colinists started getting upset and worrid that if they controled where they buy htier teathey would start contolling other stuff. So Patriots who called themselves the "Sons of Liberty" dressed up as Native Americans and dumped a lot of tea in the Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
King George got really angrywiht colonist for dumoing the tea into the harborso he created new harsh laws to punish them. An example of this is taking awaythe use of the Boston Harborwhich meant no more shipping or trading for Boston.Other colonies, such as Virginia,felt bad for Massachussets and tried to help them and stand up to them. Delegates fot togetherto write a respectful letter protesting the Intolerable Acts. they also boycotted British. -
Lexington and Concord
The Continental Congress wrote a letter to King George III. The King got angry ordered his troops to attack Boston. The British troops heard the Patriots were hiding gun powder in Concord. On the way the Patriots attakced multiple times and the British retreated. -
The Battle of Bunker Hill
Irael Putman led an army of colonists to the top of Breed's Hill. They made a fort at the top of the hill. Wiliiam Howe led British troops to Breed's Hill to attack.The frist two times they attcked the colonists shot and forced them to retreat. On the third try the colonists ran out of gun powder and fled. One thousand British troops were killed/injured and five hundred colonists were killed/injured. -
The Secong Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress met in Philedalphia. They had to choose would lead the new American army. They choose George Washington. -
The Olive Branch Petitiion
The Olive Branch Petition was a petition to King George III asking for peace. King George did not look at it and instead called them rebels and traitors. This made the colonists angry and made them want to fight! -
Siege of Boston
George Wahington made a very efficient army of untrained colonists. They were runnin out of gun powder with only 36 barrels left. So when the British threatened to attack George Washington spread a rumor saying that they had 1,800 barrels, so when the British heard they stayed away. The colonists eventually got more gun powder and heavy weapons from Ticonderoga along with canons and lead for future bullets. So the British fled, and ran away to Canada. -
The Declaration of Independance
Thomas Jefferson was chosen to write the Declaration of Independance because he had a way with words. This stated that the colonists were no longer under the rule of Britan and showed their reasons of parting.It was signed by 13 representatives from each colony. -
Battle for New York
The American and British armies met in Brooklyn, New York for battle. The americans were inexperienced weren’t as skilled as the british. After two days of fighting the british had lost 377 men, while the americans lost 1407 men. Howe, a british general ordered the british to stop attacking,because he thought that Washington would surrender. But even though Washington knew they should retreat, he wouldn’t back from because he wanted to keep his pride.This caused the british to chase the American -
Trenton
On Christmas day George Washington led his army across the frozen Delaware river to Trenton. Once there, they found the hessians sleeping. They were surprised when Washington attacked without losing a single man from his army. -
Saratoga
The Americans were in starvation and were frozen, they couldn’t get enough food because farmers preferred to sell to the british because they paid in gold. To help out the Americans Washington put Baron Friedrich von Steuben from Persia to train the Americans. He also brought Marquis de Lafayette, who was one of the richest men in Franch and provided warm clothing for the Americans. -
Yorktown
The British were in York Town and France had sent 5,000 troops to the American army in New York, and 3000 troops that arrived in 29 French warships. With the French and Americans working together they set up a trap and surrounded the british. -
Treaty of Paris
The british and the US signed a peace treaty in pairs. The treaty said that three important things: 1. Britain agreed to recognize the United States as an independent country.2.Britain gave up its claims to all land between the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi river, from Canada south to Florida. 3. The United States agreed to return all rights and property taken from loyalists during the war. -
Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was a document with a list of agreements among the states. After a while the delegates saw there were a few flaws in it so they got rid of it and wrote the Constitution instead. -
Shay's Rebellion
When the U.S.changed their currency it wasnt worth as much as britian's currency. There was a money shortage which was especially hard for farmers who had to pay thier debts unless they wanted their farms taken a way. and Daniel Shay led a bunch of farmers into rebellion protesting. After that delegates started listening to what they were saying and decided that it was time to change the Articles of Confederation. -
Constitutional Convention
Delegates met in Philedalphia up to see if they could make a few changes to the Articles of Confederation . nstead they ended up writing a whole new document called the Constituion. -
Ratificaton of the U.S. Constitution
The U.S. Constitutiionstated how the government would be set upa House of Representation which had a number of representatives depending on the population..For representation there were two sides: Senate which was 2 drepresentatives for each states and It was split into 3 branches: legeslative (Senate and House of Representatives), Executive (the President), and Judicial (court). -
Louisiana
The French owned Lousiana once the Spanish gave it back . Since New Orleans is part of Louisiana the American farmers were worried that the French would stop them from trading and making money on their crops. So in 1800 the President, Thomas Jefferson, sent James Monroe to France to offer 7.5 million dollars for Louisana. So when Monroe got there other things were going on. The French were at war with the British and didnt want them to take it so instead they sold it to the US for $15 million. -
Spanish gives Florida to the United States
In 1818 the Spanish were in control of Florida. In Florida there were Seminole (NA) and runaway slaves. Both groups liked to raid Georgia as revenge. So the President, now James Monroe, sent Andrew Jackson to Florida to ask the Spanish would sell them Florida. the Spanish declined which made Jackson angry. He led 1,700 troops to Florida and attcked. The Spanish wanted Jackson imprisoed, intsead Monroe threatened to attack if they didnt leave. From fear of war the Spanish left, signing a treaty. -
Missouri applied for statehood as a slave state.
Northerners were upset because they were afraid that slave states would spread across the Louisiana territory as a part of Missouri was on top of the Mississippi river. It would also mean that they would have more representation at Congress. -
The Indian Removal Act
Many Native Americans lived around the US in five main tribes. They lived along Americans working on farms and growing cotton. Unfortunetly white Americans started getting jealous of the money they were making and wanted them out. So in 1830 President Andrew Jackson created the Indian Removal Act forcing thousands on Native Americans to live in what is today Oklahoma. -
The "Trail of Tears"
When the Indian Removal act was estclished some Native Americans refused to go, which included the Cherokee. Eventually they were forced to go having to walk about 3000km to get there(Indian Territory) and thousands died. There depressing journey is called the Trail of Tears. -
Texas is Annexed
The Spanish held Texas until 1827 when it became an independent country from Spain: Mexico. Americans were not aloud to live there, only one. As the year passed there were 25,000 Americans in Texas illegally. This started war. In the end the Americans won bu tTexas was its own country for 10 years before James K. Polk became President and added Texas as its 28th state. -
The Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso stated that slavery would not be allowed in the Mexican Cession. Southerners were upset about this because the believed Congress had no right to tell them where they could or could not take their property. -
Oregon Country
In 1819 four counties had claimed Oregon: Russia, Spain, Britian, and the US. Russia and Spain were the first to drop out leaving Britian and the US. At first explorers and pioneers were in Oregon until word got out, how wonderful it was and by 1844 1,000 Americans lived there.During this time Polk was President, wanting Oregon was willing to fight Britian for it. Instead a treaty with Britian saying the 49th Paralell would split it in half. That line is today the boderline for the US and Canada -
War with Mexico
President Polk still wanted more land even after aquiring Oregon and Texas. He now wanted California and New Mexico which was ownend by Mexico. After fighting for a while they signed a treaty with Mexico called Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and paid mexivo $15 million for the land. Later in 1853, James Gadsden purchased a strip of land for $10 million. Americans were now happy having their country from "sea to shining sea" but some thought the war and greed were a dark side to Manifest Destiny. -
The Fugitive Slave Law
The Fugitive slave law stated that a runaway slave had no legal rights and anyone who ehlped a slave escape could be jailed. The Southerners were upset about this law because they felt the law didnot do enough to ensure the return of their escaped properties. -
Kansas - Nebraska Act
The Kansas - nebraska act stated that the issue of slavery in those territories would be decided by popular sovereignty. Northerners were upset because they knew it would probably end up as a slave state. -
Civil War
The Civil War started in 1861 and ended in 1865. It started over an argument between the Northern part of the States and the Southern part of the States. The argument was over slavery. The south wanted it, the north did not.In the end the south split off from the Union(northern states) to make their own country: The Confeferacy. this ended up with war. in the end the North won.
