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Period: to
American History
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Britain Taxes
Britain was enabled to be more active and wanted to tax the colonies in America. The Molasses Act had reinforced that molasses would cost six pence per gallon. Although, Britain actually suffered instead of making more money, because it was being sold less by the French. The tax caused a decline in economy until the colonies would buy at the price they wanted. This set the stage for revolt against Britain. This event was chosen because this was a big step towards our independence. -
Stamp Act
The British parliment enforced another act called the Stamp Act. This made the colonists pay taxes on every printed paper they used. The colonists were not so mad at the price, but the standard it set. The colonies were taxed wihout voting on it. They decided that it was unfair to them and they wanted that right of voting on taxes. This also fueled the colonies wanting more independence. -
Continental Congress
Delegates from all states except Georgia had met up at Carpenter's Hall to make the first Continental Congress. This was to show a combined authority to Great Britain. The congress was made up of popular people like George Washington, Richard Henry Lee, Patrick Henry, Edmund Pendleton, Benjamin Harrison, Richard Bland, and at the head of them Peyton Randolph. The colonies once separate decided to become a union and became a congress. This was important as it was the colonies working together. -
Signing the Declaration
In Philadelphia, the declaration was ratified by the colonies that came together into thirteen states. The Declaration was the colonies declaring their independence finally after being fed up with Britain's actions. It states what Britain had done wrong with a list of grievances and stated the rights they had. This is important because this is why America is not controlled by Britain. I chose this because without this document we could have much less freedom and development in our country today. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was an agreement between the thirteen states that served as their first constitution. After much debate it was ratified in 1781.A guiding principle of the Articles was to preserve the independence and sovereignty of the states. The Articles were important as they helped form the right type of government we needed. A not too strict but a not too weak government either. I chose this because without it we could have a terrible government. -
The Constitution
The Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. It was a document showing the independent, sovereign, countries, and it was clear to America’s leaders that to keep the future stabled it required a stronger, more centralized government. This event helped us find our independence and stability in our country. This is also why I chose to write about this document. -
First session of Congress
George Washington was inaugurated on this day and his presidency lasted from April 30, 1789 until March 4, 1797 and was the first president of the US.George Washington was a strong and courageous man and that is why this is a good event to write. -
Washington becomes capital
Washington became the capital in 1790. This is where the white house and capital building is. Congress declared the city of Washington DC, the permanent capital of the US.This is important because this is our capital of the United States. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is a document that was written to put down a law of the land. This document was influenced by the English Bill of Rights and this involved the congress agreeing to all the amendments. I chose this because this document is why we have certain laws like the freedom of speech, to vote and etc. This is also the reason this document is important. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 actually lasted until February of 1815. This was a war over the US and Great Britain over British violations. Britain thought they won and wrote out negotiations but after hearing of their losses they decided to just be peaceful and they signed the Treaty of Ghent. I chose this as I think it shows that the US can stand up to Britain and that Britain underestimates them. -
Slave Insurrection
Nat Turner was a slave that led a rebellion, which was every slave owners fear.He led slaves with knives and killed 51 white people. This led to oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of slaves and stiffened pro slavery, anti abolitionist convictions that persisted in that region until the American Civil War. -
Mexican War
The Mexican War ended in 1848, so it lasted two years. It was a war between America and Mexico starting with the confusion where the boundary of Texas was. Mexican troops had crossed into American land and killed and injured 16 people. Which America took as a call to war. After much fighting, finally, they negotiated that Mexico would give the United States all the territory now included in the states of New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Texas, and western Colorado for $15 million. -
Gold in California
Gold was found in the rivers of Sutter's Mill, California.The news of gold had brought around 300,000 people to California. This gold rush also had foreign people coming over from far away as Europe and China. Although many people went to look for gold only a few were wealthy. This wasn't that good for some people as they were sick or actually ended up with less money than they had to start with. But this helped the population of California. -
Abraham Elected
Lincoln was elected our 16th president in 1860. He was a republican from Illinois and was known as "Honest Abe". He had 180 electoral votes, 18 carried states, 1,865,908 votes, and 39.8%. Abraham was also against slavery and some people didn't like him for that. Although Lincoln was a good man and a great president. -
Civil War
The Civil War lasted from 1861 to 1865. This was a war between the North and South over slavery. When Lincoln became president seven southern states seceded and form the Confederate States of America. Later four more states joined them, and this was because Lincoln was against slavery. This was the costliest and deadliest war fought on American soil. It ended by the Confederates surrendering. This was important because it ended slavery. -
Emancipation of slaves
Lincoln issued a warning that all slaves would be emancipated in any state that did not end its rebellion against the Union by January 1, 1863. The Confederate states did not stop their rebellion and Lincoln's emancipation was signed and took effect on January 1, 1863. This freed 25,000 to 75,000 slaves. This is a big move on slavery and freeing the slaves. -
Reconstruction
Reconstruction lasted through 1865 through 1877. After many bad things in the US people made attempts to redress slavery and to solve the problems with readmission to the Union of the 11 states that had seceded at or before the outbreak of war. After solving these problems the US became closer as they were united States of America. This is important because during the time we got ourselves back up on our feet as a nation. -
Lincoln Assassination
An American tragedy everyone knows is when Lincoln was shot in the back of the head at Ford theater by John Wilkes Booth. After he was shot, he was ran over across the street where he later died at 7:22 am. This was a sad day for everyone as the country still was not fully united again and Lincoln was doing good things for the US. After that president Andrew Johnson took is place as president. -
Transcontinental Railroad
A golden spike was driven in Utah signaling the completion of the first railroad in the United States. The railroad went from one side of the US to the other and this helped out with trade a lot. It was easier and faster for people to get places. This made the railroads boom and peoples' dreams came true. This was important because now that trade and transportation was faster many more things could be carried and better the economy. -
Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone. This was very convenient for people as letters would go slow and take weeks to get to someone, and then they had telegraphs which people would have to code and if you didn't know morse code then you wouldn't be able to read or know it. This you could talk to someone like you were almost face to face. This was long distance too so you could talk to someone far away. I think this was revolutionary technology for its time.
