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Founding of Jamestown
Founded by English adventurers and soldiers, including John Smith and Christopher Newport, Jamestown was established for the purposes of growing tobacco, religious freedom, and a fresh start. The spread of diseases as well as the multiple massacres wiped out entire communities of Native Americans that ultimately destroyed a culture entirely. -
House of Burgesses
When the Virginia Company wanted to encourage English craftsmen to settle in North America, they led the first assembly of elected representatives of English colonists in North America. This established the full influnce of Great Britain on the American colonies. -
Founding of Plymouth Colony and Mayflower Compact
When a group of seperatists sought religious freedom in The New World, they founded a colony that laid the path for American religious freedom. -
Founding of Massachusetts Bay
When the King of England was oppressing Puritans for their religion, they set off to New England to ensure themselves religious freedom. Founded by the owners of the Massachusetts Bay Company, the colony was based on religious freedom but eventually led up to being a religion intolerant settlement that greatly implemented the congregation of church and state. -
Pequot War
After The Pequot Tribe attacked an opposing tribes trade attempt, the English settlers lead an armed conflict against the Pequot. The war killed off about 700 natives as well as initiate conflicts between several indigenous tribes. -
King Philip's War
After the colonists refused to stop buying land and making new settlements, King Philip of the Pokanoket took action and lead an armed conflict against the expanding Puritan population. -
Bacon's Rebellion
When close to a thousand Virginians lead the first rebellion in The American colonies against governor William Berkeley, Jamestown was eventually burned to the ground. This outbreak was the first of many domestic struggles within The United States. -
Salem Witch Trials
In colonial Massachusetts, when a multitude of people displayed signs of witchcraft, a series of court cases and hearings were conducted in a variety of towns across Salem Village. -
French and Indian War
When the colonies of Great Britain and New France engaged in a regional affair over territory, Great Britain and France got involved and escalated the affair into a world-wide conflict. -
Quartering Acts
When 1,500 British troops arrived at New York City in 1765, the colonists refused to comply with the Quartering Act and did not supply housing for the troops. -
Stamp Act
When the British government felt the need to fund their troops stationed in the colonies, they imposed a tax on the colonists. The act required that printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper (produced in London). -
Boston Massacre
After a mob of colonist protestors began throwing objects and verbally harassing a group of British soldiers, they opened fire on the colonists, foreshadowing the outbreak of the American Revolution that would take place five years later. -
Tea Act
After North American colonies were able to smuggle cheap tea, Great Britain passed a tax that would reduce the massive surplus of tea held by British East India Company. This was supposed to convince the colonists to purchase Company tea and to agree on accepting Parliament's right of taxation. -
Boston Tea Party
When the Birtish government passed a tax policy that would control all the tea imprted into the colonies, The Sons of Liberty destroyed and dumped out all the tea of a taxed shipload into the Boston harbor. This sparked a rebellion against Great Britain that would lead to the American Revolution. -
Intolerable Acts
Following the rebellion known as the Boston Tea Party, Great Britain responded with a series of laws that oppressed the American Colonies and further agitated the American Revolution. -
Lexington and Concord
When 700 British troops were sent to destroy colonists military supplies, the situation escalated into the first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War. -
Shay's Rebellion
After a series of higher taxes, imprisonment for debt, and lack of paper money, a congregation of farmers began a rebellion against the government. This uprising drew questions about reforming The Articles Of Confederation, which was later carried out. -
Constitutional Convention
When word got out about the problems of the government (at that time) delegates came together to discuss reform. This meeting eventually resulted in several acts of reform such as; New Jersey Plan, Virginia Plan, Great Compromise, and 3/5 Compromise. -
Judiciary Act of 1789
During the very first session of U.S. congress, the Supreme Court was established to resolve national conflicts. With federal courts in government, people were able to defend themselves in trials instead of automatic punishment. -
The Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a period of religious revival in the United States between 1790 and the 1840s. Characteristics of the Second Great Awakening include widespread conversions, increased church activity, social activism, and the emergence of new Christian denominations. It is considered to have ended with the Civil War. -
Whiskey Rebellion
After farmers who dealt with any form of whiskey started getting taxed extra, farmers and veterans formed a tax protest. Rebels were angry and were fighting against taxation without representation, something the U.S. had fought against in the American Revolution. -
Alien and Sedition Acts
After the French Revolution, four blls were passed by federalists. Opposition to the acts resulted in the Virgina and Kentucky Resolutions. -
Revolution of 1800
After a transfer of powers from the federalists to the democratic-republicans, it changed the outcome of the election and lead to the presidency of Thomas Jefferson. -
Marbury v. Madison
After a U.S. supreme court case in which the U.S. Judicial Review was formed, it defined the separation of checks and balances in the U.S. government. -
Louisiana Purchase
After the U.S. paid 15 million dollars to France, it gained France’s claim to the territory of Louisiana. -
Embargo Act of 1807
Both Britain and France imposed trade restrictions in order to weaken each others' economies. After the Chesapeake Affair, Thomas Jefferson was faced with a decision to make regarding the situation at hand. In the end, he chose an economic option: the Embargo Act of 1807. The United States Congress passed the Embargo Act of 1807, on December 21, 1807, making the Non-Importation Act obsolete. Jefferson continued to support the Embargo Act. He saw it as an alternative to war, and he wanted to keep -
War of 1812
In the War of 1812, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain, in a conflict that would have an immense impact on the young country's future. Causes of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's impressment of American seamen and America's desire to expand its territory. The ratification of the Treaty of Ghent on February 17, 1815, ended the war but left many of the most contentious questions unresolved. -
Election of 1816
The United States presidential election of 1816 came at the end of the two-term presidency of Democratic-Republican James Madison.The previous four years were dominated by the War of 1812. While it had not ended in victory, the peace was nonetheless satisfactory to the American people, and the Democratic-Republicans received the credit for its prosecution. President Madison had adopted such Federalist policies as a national bank and protective tariffs, which would give the Federalists few issues -
Election of 1824
In the presidential election of 1824, no candidate received a majority vote, so it went to the House of Representatives. The House elected John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson, supposedly because Henry Clay (Speaker of the House at the time) convinced them, under the impression that in exchange he would one day be given the position of Secretary of State. As a result, Jacksonians attacked the administration as being corrupt and not on the people's side. -
Election of 1828
The Election of 1828 was a rematch between John Q Adams and Andrew Jackson. It was considered a very dirty race. Andrew Jackson won, and as a result, Jacksonian democracy rose. -
Indian Removal Act of 1830
On May 26, 1830, the Indian Removal Act of 1830 was passed by the Twenty-First Congress of the United states of America. After four months of strong debate, Andrew Jackson signed the bill into law. Land greed was a big reason for the federal government's position on Indian removal. This desire for Indian lands was also abetted by the Indian hating mentality that was peculiar to some American frontiersman. -
Nullification Crisis of 1832
The Nullification Crisis was essentially about the South invalidating a "protective" tariff. This was a time when the Southern economy was in the dumps and the Northern economy was flourishing. -
Dawes Act
In the midst of an "indian problem" congress passed authorization so that the President could divide individual indians into different allotments. This helped the settler-indian conflict by dividing them and defusing aggression between them. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
Two opposing forces that included Major Samuel M. Whitside and tribesman Black Coyote lead to a massacre that punctuated the end of the American Indian Wars. -
Founding of the NAACP
In order “to ensure the political, educational, social, and economic equality of rights of all persons and to eliminate racial hatred and racial discrimination” the NAACP was founded in 1909 by activists and was later joined by white people such as William E. Walling. -
Harlem Renaissance
Throughout the 1920's and 1930's, the "New Negro Movement" was spearheaded by African Americans such as Claude Mckay and Hubert Harrison and changed the cultural condition of African Americans as a whole. -
First Red Scare
When a widespread fear of anarchism and Bolshevism broke out in the early 20th century, political figures such as Mitchell Palmer tried to surpress the sensation. -
Red Summer of 1919
In places such as Chicago, Washington, and Arkasas, a series of race riots broke out usually resulting in a great number of black fatalities. -
Election of 1932
The race was between Herbert Hoover and Franklin Roosevelt during the depression of the 30's. Roosevelt blamed Hoover and his weak policy and favoritism of businesses and corporations for the Great Depression and won by a landslide. -
New Deal
The New Deal was President Roosevelt's response to the stock market crash and depression of the 1930's. It included work programs, housing projects, and regulations on the stock market to restore citizen's faith in the bank system, all of which came out from 1933-1936. It utilized Keysian economics.
