-
Period: 1400 to
European Exploration
Beginning in the 1400s, Europeans began exploring the world in search of gold and land. A famous explorer was Christopher Columbus who claimed the New World in 1492. Unfortunately, he did not find any gold. Much land was discovered at this time, but at the extent of the indigenous people living in those areas. The Europeans began converting many natives to Christianity. They viewed these people as "savages", which made it easier for them to justify the bloodshed and theft of wealth and property. -
Period: to
Slavery
From the 17th century to the late 19th century, slavery was prominent in America. Most of the enslaved people in the US were kidnapped from Africa and forced into indentured servitude in the cotton and tobacco industries. By the mid-19th century, westward expansion and abolitionism caused a debate about slavery that would cause the Civil War. The Union's victory freed the 4 million people enslaved in the nation, but the legacy of slavery continued to influence American history. -
Period: to
Triangular Trade
Britain and its colonies engaged in "triangular trading" in which they shipped goods, resources, and people across the Atlantic Ocean to enrich Great Britain. The ships would start in Europe with manufactured goods and head to Africa. There, the slaves traders would exchange slaves for the manufactured goods. The ship would then head to the Colonies where the slaves were sold to Colonists. The ships would then load up with cash crops such as tobacco or cotton and make their way back to Britain. -
Period: to
Revolutionary War
The war was fought over the Colonies' independence from Great Britain. The British were taxing the Colonists without providing them proper representation, which led to Colonial opposition.The war began in 1775 with the Battles of Lexington and Concord. The final battle was the Battle of Yorktown in 1781, where the British surrendered on October 19. After this battle, negotiations began for the Treaty of Paris which officially ended the war in 1783. -
Declaration of Independence
In 1776, the second Continental Congress came together in Philadelphia to sign the Declaration of Independence. Although Thomas Jefferson is listed as the primary author, other Congress members contributed ideas during its revision. The document was a formal statement of the reasons why Congress voted to declare the 13 colonies to be independent states no longer under British rule. The Declaration states 27 grievances against Britain and King George III. -
Period: to
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the first written constitution of the US. Under these articles, the states remained sovereign and independent, with Congress serving as the last resort on appeal of disputes. The Articles of Confederation named the new nation “The United States of America.” The Central government lacked the ability to regulate commerce or impose taxes. The Articles were considered to be too weak by many and were replaced by the Constitution in 1787. -
Constitution
In 1787, the Constitutional convention met to write a new document that would replace the Articles of Confederation. The document was first signed in 1787, but was not ratified until 1788. In June of 1788, the Constitution was ratified, but was not ratified by all 13 states until 1790. The US Constitution is the world's longest surviving written charter of government. The first 10 Constitutional amendments make up the Bill of Rights, which offer protections of individual liberty and justice. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is made up of the first 10 amendments of the Constitution. It were written to address concerns raised by the Anti-Federalists during the 1787-1788 debates over ratifying the Constitution. The Bill of Rights added specific guarantees of personal liberties and clear limitations in governmental power in judicial proceedings. It also includes a statement that all power not explicitly granted to the federal government by the Constitution are reserved to the people and the states. -
Invention of the Cotton Gin
The Cotton Gin was patented by Eli Whitney in 1794. The Cotton Gin cleaned the cotton by separating the soft cotton fibers from the seeds. Before this invention, cleaning cotton was a very tedious process. Since cotton was now so easy to clean, the production of cotton was revolutionized which resulted in more availability and cheaper cloth. However, another by-product of the invention was the expansion of slavery in the South as more people were needed to pick the cotton. -
Invention of the Steamboat
Robert Fulton was an American inventor living in Britain. His first American steamboat left New York City headed to Albany, which served as the first commercial steamboat service in the world. In 1816, Fulton's monopoly on steam navigation was broken by Henry Miller Shreve of Shreveport, LA. Steamboats became a popular choice for traveling and shipping goods. Due to their speed and ability to drive against the current, the time and expense of shipping was reduced. -
Louisiana Purchase
During the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, the US bought about 828,000 square miles of territory from France, which doubled the size of the nation. The Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The land was purchased for $15 million, or 4 cents an acre. Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the purchase, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency. -
Period: to
Lewis and Clark
The Lewis and Clark Expedition began in 1804, when President Jefferson tasked Meriwether Lewis with exploring lands west of the Mississippi River that comprised the Louisiana Purchase. Lewis chose William Clark as his partner for the mission. The journey lasted over two years. The approximately 8,000-mile journey was considered a huge success and provided new geographic, ecological and social information about previously uncharted areas of North America. -
Period: to
War of 1812
The US declared war on Britain in June of 1812 over British restrictions on US trade and America's desire for expansion. A famous battle of this war was the Battle of New Orleans. The Treaty of Ghent, which ended the War of 1812, was signed on Christmas Eve of 1814. However, this news did not reach the US before another battle occcured. Andrew Jackson famously defeated the British when they attempted to attack New Orleans in early 1815, and is considered one of the biggest battles of the war. -
Period: to
Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was a period of development in the mid to late 18th century that transformed largely rural, agrarian societies in Europe and America into industrialized, urban ones. Goods that were once formed by hand started to become mass produced by machines in factories. This time, which is refered to as the first industrial revolution, was fueled by steam power. The revolution began in Britain but quickly moved to the rest of the world. -
Monroe Doctrine
In a speech to Congress in 1823, President James Monroe warned European powers not to attempt further colonization or to otherwise interfere in the Western Hemisphere. He stated that the United States would view any interference as a potentially hostile act. This later came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine, and this policy principle has become a long standing tenet in American foreign policy. Madison's main principles in the doctrine were designed to signify a break between the US and Europe. -
Period: to
Trail of Tears
In the early 1830's, 125,000 Native Americans lived on millions of acres of land in the Southeastern US–land their ancestors had owned for generations. President Andrew Jackson wanted white settlers to claim and grow cotton on this land, so he forced the Native Americans to leave their homes. They were forced to walk hundreds of miles to a specially designated “Indian territory” across the Mississippi River, which is now Oklahoma. This difficult and deadly journey is known as the Trail of Tears. -
Period: to
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is the idea that the United States is destined by God to expand its dominance and spread democracy and capitalism across the entire continent of North America. The belief drove territorial expansion in 19th century United States and was used to justify the forced removal of Native Americans and other groups from their homes. The rapid expansion of the US intensified the issue of slavery as new states were added to the Union, which led to the Civil War. -
Period: to
Westward Expansion
In the 1850's, there was a movement of settlers moving to the American West. It began with the Louisiana Purchase and was fueled by "manifest destiny", the Oregon Trial, and the Gold Rush. Manifest Destiny is a 19th century belief that American settlers were destined to move and expand the country westward. The Gold Rush of 1849 was one of the most significant events in American history during the early 19th century. During this time, thousands of people moved to California in search of gold. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott v Sandford was a landmark Supreme Court decision. Scott was a slave in Missouri who had been taken into Illinois and Louisiana territory, where slavery was illegal. When he was brought back to Missouri by his owners, he filed a suit for his freedom. Scott claimed that living in free territory made him a free man. The Court stated that the US Constitution did not include citizenship for African Americans, whether they were enslaved or free, therefore they held no Constitutional rights. -
Period: to
Civil War
The Civil War was fought mostly in the Southern US between the Union and the Confederacy. The central cause of the war was slavery, specifically the expansion of slavery into new territories. 7 Southern states declared secession from the US to form the Confederacy. The war ended in 1865 when General Lee of the Confederacy surrendered to General Grant of the Union. The Confederacy collapsed, slavery was abolished, and 4 million salves were freed. President Lincoln was assassinated 5 days later. -
13th Amendment - Abolition of Slavery
“Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.” The Emancipation Proclamation is often thought as the ruling to abolish slavery, however that ruling only applied to the 11 Confederate states. Slavery was not truly abolished until this amendment This amendment is also the first explicit mention of slavery in the constitution. -
14th Amendment - Equal Treatment Under The Law
The 14th Amendment to the US Constitution granted citizenship to anyone born or naturalized in the United States—including former slaves—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” This was the second of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for Black Americans, and it would become the basis for many landmark Supreme Court decisions over the years. -
15th Amendment - Voting Rights for Black Men
The 15th Amendment sought to protect the voting rights of African American men after the Civil War and was adopted into the Constitution in 1870. Despite the amendment, by the late 1870s discriminatory tactics were used to prevent Black citizens from voting, especially in the South. It wasn’t until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that legal barriers, such as reading tests, were outlawed at the state and local levels if they denied Black men their right to vote. -
Period: to
World War I
World War I began with the assassination of the Archduke of Austria. The War began in 1914, but the US did not become involved until 1917. President Wilson stood before Congress in 1917 and requested that the US declare war on Germany for bringing unrestricted submarine warfare into North America, which they promised not to do. The US entered the war as part of the Allied Forces. Due to new military technology and trench warfare, WWI saw new levels of destruction and brutality. -
19th Amendment - Voting Rights for Women
The 19th Amendment granted American women the right to vote, ending almost a century of protest. In 1848, the movement for women’s rights launched on a national level with the Seneca Falls Convention. Following the convention, the demand for the vote became a centerpiece of the women’s rights movement. Despite the passage of the amendment, local laws and other restrictions continued to block women of color from voting. It would take more than 40 years for all women to achieve voting equality. -
Period: to
The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn that the industrialized world has ever seen. The stock market expanded rapidly during the 1920's, but crashed in October of 1929, wiping out millions of investors . People across the country were struggling, so consumer spending went down. As consumer spending decreased, so did industrial output and jobs. By 1933 the Depression hit its lowest point, with 15 million Americans unemployed and nearly half of the banks in the country failed. -
Period: to
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression and they aimed to restore prosperity to Americans. When Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted quickly to stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief to those who were suffering. Over the next eight years, the government instituted a series of experimental New Deal projects and programs, some of which still exist today such as Social Security. -
Period: to
World War II
World War II began in 1939 when Nazi Germany, led by Adolf Hitler, invaded Poland. WWII involved a majority of the world's countries and all of the 'great powers.' Germany, Italy, and Japan joined forces to make the Axis forces. The US became involved when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a US naval base located in Hawaii, in December 1941. This war was especially brutal, about 3% of the world population died and the US dropped 2 atomic bombs on Japan. The Axis powers surrendered in 1945. -
Period: to
Korean War
The Korean War was the first military action of the Cold War. 75,000 North Koreans soldiers marched into South Korea in hopes of reunification. American entered the war in July 1950 on South Korea's behalf. According to America, the war was against international communist forces. They feared this dispute would turn into World War III, so America attempted to form a peace treaty with North Korea. The war ended in July 1953. Korea is still split into North and South -
Brown v Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka was a landmark 1954 Supreme Court case in which the justices ruled unanimously that racial segregation of children in public schools was unconstitutional and violated the 14th amendment. This overturned the Plessy v. Ferguson ruling, which upheld segregation. Brown v. Board of Education was one of the cornerstones of the Civil Rights movement, and helped establish the precedent that “separate but equal” services were not equal at all. -
Period: to
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a conflict between North and South Vietnam. South Vietnam's principal ally was the US. More than 3 million lives were lost in the war, most of those belonging to Vietnamese citizens. The war was very divisive between Americans, even after America withdrew from the war. President Nixon signed the Paris Peace Accords in 1973 and withdrew the US troops. The war officially ended in 1975 when communist forces took control of South Vietnam and the country was unified the next year. -
Period: to
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a Civil Rights protest where African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from 1955 to 1956, and is seen as the first large-scale US demonstration against segregation. The Supreme Court ordered Montgomery to integrate its bus system, and one of the leaders of the boycott, a young pastor named Martin Luther King, Jr., emerged as a prominent leader of the American Civil Rights movement. -
"I Have A Dream" Speech
In 1963, almost 250,000 people gathered at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. where the Baptist preacher and civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. delivered his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech. Organizers of the event had hoped 100,000 people would attend. In the end, more than twice that number came to the nation’s capital for the massive protest march, which was the largest demonstration in U.S. history to that date. -
September 11
On September 11, 2001, 19 al Qaeda militants hijacked four airplanes and carried out attacks on the US. Two planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. A third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the fourth crashed in a field in Pennsylvania after the passengers overtook the hijackers. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks, which led to major US initiatives to combat terrorism as well as US involvement in Iraq.