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Mayflower Compact
Forty one English colonists aboard the Mayflower decided to sign a compact on November 11, 1620. This writing was the framework and foundation of the U.S. government. It was drafted in order to prevent dispute among Puritans and other Pilgrims who traveled aboard the Mayflower, and landed at Plymouth in the beginning days of the colonies. -
Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, thereby doubling the size of the country. This land stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rockies and from Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. The impact to this purchase was new settlements that were made after the Lewis and Clark expedition. -
The Trail of Tears
In the early 1830’s, nearly 125,000 Native American occupied the land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. White settlers were beginning to move west for farm land to grow cotton. In 1825, Andrew Jackson addressed this issue to Congress, and the Indian Removal Act was passed in 1830. The Cherokee were the ones that fought and refused, until they were forced to leave their land to move west of the Mississippi River. The trail in which they traveled was called the Trail of -
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California Gold Rush
As the American colonies were spreading west, the discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in 1848 inspired people to rush over to California for fortune. Thousands of gold miners traveled by sea or land to San Francisco and its surroundings. In 1849, the population of California grew to over 10,000 people, resulting in it becoming a state. During these years of gold rush, over $2 billion worth of metal and gold was extracted from the Sacramento Valley. The people were known as 49ers. -
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The Civil War
Tension was arising in the South over the issue of representation in government and the argument over slavery. As soon as Abraham Lincoln was elected president in 1860, many southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederates. Jefferson Davis was elected president of the Confederate States of America. The starting point of the war was the siege of Fort Sumter in South Carolina. The impact was the abolishment of slavery and the unity of the U.S. -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the crash of the economy that sent Wall Street into a panic. The industry and investments dropped drastically and the lack of enough money led to unemployments. The impact was the change in many lives, and a newfound energy to turn the economy around at the beginning of World War II. -
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World War II
World War II broke out when Aldof Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power to further their ambitions of world domination. After Hitler invaded Poland in September 1939, Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. This was the beginning of World War II. More than 6 million Jews were liked in Nazi camps and is now known as the Holocaust. -
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The Korean War
The Korean War began when about 75,000 soldiers from North Korea poured across the boundary of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the pro-Western Republic of Korea. To America, it was war against an international communism. They feared it might lead to war with Russia and China. -
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Vietnam War
Also a name for the Second Indochina War, the Vietnam War is the time where the U.S. and SEATO joined forces with South Vietnam to overcome the VC and NVA. This was resulted when France claimed Vietnam as its colony. This war was the longest war in U.S. history until Afghanistan. It lead to drafts that put young soldiers in risk. An important outcome was the change of the voting age from 21 to 18. -
Fall of the Berlin Wall
On August 13, 1961, the GDR began building a barbed wire and concrete war between East and West Berlin. It served as a separation of the “fascists” and the growing population moving west. It stood until November 9, 1989 when the head of the East German Communist Party allowed the citizens to cross it whenever they pleased. That night, people began to destroy the wall. It is significant because it represents the Cold War.
