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1500
Columbian Exchange
Was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, and ideas between the Americas and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries, related to European colonization and trade after Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage. The changes in agriculture significantly altered and changed global populations, however, the most significant immediate impact of the Columbian Exchange was the cultural exchanges and the transfer of people between continents. -
Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
The transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly from Africa to the Americas, and then their sale there. The slave trade used mainly the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were Africans from central and western Africa, who had been sold to Western European slave traders, who brought them to the Americas. -
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Pequot War
It was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the English colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their Native American allies. The result was the elimination of the Pequot tribe as a viable polity in what is now Southern New England. -
Bacons Rebellion
An armed rebellion in 1676 by Virginia settlers led by Nathaniel Bacon against the rule of Governor William Berkeley. The colony's dismissive policy as it related to the political challenges of its western frontier, along with other challenges, helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety. -
Pueblo Revolt
Catholicism was forced on them by missionaries who burned their ceremonial pits (kivas), masks, and other sacred objects. This was carefully organized revolt of Pueblo Indians (in league with Apaches), who succeeded in overthrowing Spanish rule in New Mexico for 12 years -
Salem Witch Trials
Began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. By September 1692, the hysteria had begun to abate and public opinion turned against the trials. -
Chickasaw War
These wars were fought between the Chickasaw allied with the British against the French and their allies the Choctaws and Illinois Confederation. French was involved because they wanted the Mississippi river but Chickasaw lived there so they fought back and successfully held their ground. -
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French and Indian War
Also known as the Seven Years’ War, this New World conflict marked another chapter in the long imperial struggle between Britain and France. At the 1763 peace conference, the British received the territories of Canada from France and Florida from Spain, opening the Mississippi Valley to westward expansion. -
The Boston Tea Party
Seeking to boost the troubled East India Company, British Parliament adjusted import duties with the passage of the Tea Act in 1773. This led to protest against taxation. On the night of December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and threw 342 chests of tea overboard. -
Common Sense
A pamphlet written by Thomas Paine in 1775–76 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine wrote moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. In proportion to the population of the colonies at that time, it had the largest sale and circulation of any book published in American history. -
Separation of Powers
A model for the governance of a state. Under this model, a state's government is divided into branches, each with separate and independent powers and areas of responsibility so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with the powers associated with the other branches. The typical division is into three branches: a legislature, an executive, and a judiciary -
Shays Rebellion
A rebellion in central and western Massachusetts, from 1786 to 1787. The rebellion is named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolution who led the farmers. These farmers could not pay their taxes, and they were afraid of going to jail or having their homes taken away from them. -
The Great Compromise
Edmund Randolph of the Virginia delegation proposed the creation of a bicameral legislature. Under his proposal, membership in both houses would be allocated to each state proportional to its population; It was an agreement that both large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that in part defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution -
Northwest Ordinance of 1787
The ordinance created the Northwest Territory, the first organized territory of the United States, from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains, between British North America and the Great Lakes to the north and the Ohio River to the south. It was the response to multiple pressures: the westward expansion of American settlers, violent confrontations with Native Americans, the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation, and the empty treasury of the American government, etch. -
American Imperialism
American imperialism was motivated by four main factors: economic, political, geographic, and cultural. The economic factors were desires to find new markets for trade. By extending colonial power throughout the world, the US would have new trading partners and markets. In addition, the US would be closer to new markets; -
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The Second Great Awakening
Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. It reflected Romanticism characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the super-natural. It rejected the skeptical rationalism and deism of the Enlightenment. -
Louisiana Purchase
In 1800, Napoleon secretly bought Louisiana Territory from Spain later he gave up on an American Empire and wanted funds to conquer Europe so he offered the territory for purchase. President reluctantly agreed to purchasing, it doubled the size of U.S. for 3 cents/ acre. Meriwether and William wired hired to explore the territory. -
Marbury V. Madison
The Supreme Court announced for the first time the principle that a court may declare an act of Congress void if it is inconsistent with the Constitution. William Marbury had been appointed a justice of the peace for the District of Columbia in the final hours of the Adams administration. When James Madison, refused to deliver Marbury’s commission, Marbury, joined by three other similarly situated appointees, petitioned for a writ of mandamus compelling delivery of the commissions. -
War of 1812
An small disappointing armed conflict between the United States and the British Empire. The British restricted the American trade since they feared it was harmful for their war with France and they also wanted to set up an Indian state in the Midwest in order to maintain their influence in the region. -
Missouri Compromise
Tensions began to rise between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions within the U.S. Congress and across the country. The last straw was pulled after Missouri’s 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which threatened to upset the delicate balance between slave states and free states. To keep the peace, Congress orchestrated a two-part compromise( boundary between free and slave regions), granting Missouri’s request but also admitting Maine as a free state. -
Monroe Doctrine
a United States policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823. This doctrine stated that further efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States." and noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. -
Terrif of 1828
Enacted during the presidency of John Quincy Adams, it was labeled the Tariff of Abominations by its southern detractors because of the effects it had on the antebellum Southern economy.was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States designed to protect industry in the northern United States. -
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Temperance Movement
This was an organized campaign to eliminate alcohol consumption, they taught abstinence from alcohol. Women Reformers in particular saw drinking as a threat to family life. This movement had a dramatic impact on the amount of alcohol consumed between the 1830 and the 1860's. -
Manifest Destiny
This was a period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. It was the belief that it was Americans mission to expand their civilization and institutions across the breadth of North America. This expansion would involve not merely territorial aggrandizement but the progress of liberty and individual economic opportunity as well. This movement helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico -
Realism Movement
This movement is recognized as the first modern movement in art, which rejected traditional forms of art, literature, and social organization as outmoded in the wake of the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement. Instead, it sought to portray real/typical contemporary people and situations with truth/accuracy, and not avoiding unpleasant or sordid aspects of life. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
During the secession crisis that followed President Abraham Lincoln’s election in November 1860, many threats were made to Federal troops occupying forts in the South. This battle was the most famous/significant for being the site of the first shots of the Civil War. This battle issued between the Union and Confederacy over the control of Coastal Fort. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Union plan before this battle was to attack Virginia and deal the Confederacy a mortal blow. Federal troops marched from Washington D.C., used the Anaconda plan which was a four phase plan drafted to wear down the Confederacy. -
The Homestead Act of 1862
This act enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Although they could claim land they'd have to agree to farm it for 5 years. -
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Transcontinental Railroad
It was a continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Omaha, Nebraska/Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. During the construction of the railroad Irish and Chinese immigrants were used. -
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Civil War Amendments
After the Civil War, a series of amendments to the constitution were passed dealing with rights for former slaves. The 13th amendment which abolished slavery. The 14th amendment granted citizenship and legal rights to all former slave. Finally the 15th amendment gave all African American men the right to vote. -
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Social Gospel Movement
It applied Christian ethics to social problems, especially issues of social justice such as economic inequality, poverty, alcoholism, crime, racial tensions, slums, unclean environment, child labor, inadequate labor unions, poor schools, and the danger of war. Social Gospel leaders believed the Second Coming could not happen until humankind rid itself of social evils by human effort. -
The Battle of Little Bighorn
This was an armed engagement between pitted federal troops led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer and a band of Lakota Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. Tensions between the two groups had been rising since the discovery of gold on Native American lands. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of US forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. The total U.S. casualty count included 268 dead and 55 severely wounded -
Compromise of 1877
This compromise was made in order to avoid conflict between Northern Republicans and Southern Democrats. This compromise offered that Republicans would get Rutherford Birchard Hayes as President and Democrats would get Union troops removed. After the compromise of 1877, the Reconstruction period officially ended. -
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Gilded Age
The period from the 1870's to the 1900's was called the Gilded Age because it was an era of serious problems masked by a thin layer of gold. This was an era of rapid economic growth, especially in the North and West. The growth of industry and a wave of immigrants marked this period in American history -
Panic of 1893
A serious economic depression in the United States that began in 1893 and ended in 1897. It deeply affected most of the economy, stock prices declined, 500 banks closed, 15,000 businesses failed, and numerous farms ceased operation. It produced political upheaval that led to the realigning election of 1896 and the presidency of William McKinley. -
Plessy V. Ferguson
This rule stemmed from an 1892 incident in which African-American train passenger Homer Plessy refused to sit in a Jim Crow car, breaking a Louisiana law. Plessy’s argument was that his constitutional rights were violated, the Court ruled that a state law that “implies merely a legal distinction” between whites and blacks did not conflict with the 13th and14th Amendments. U.S. Supreme Court case upheld the constitutionality of segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
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Spanish-American War
This war began because the U.S. blamed Spain for the explosion of the USS Maine in Havana Harbor which the Spanish government rejected. Spain then declared war on the United States, and the U.S. Congress voted to go to war against Spain on April 25. U.S. victory in the war produced a peace treaty that compelled the Spanish to relinquish claims on Cuba, and to cede sovereignty over Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines to the United States. -
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Harlem Renaissance
This was a development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. This period is considered a golden age in African American culture, manifesting in literature, music, stage performance and art -
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World War I
World War I began in 1914 and lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). World War I saw unprecedented levels of carnage and destruction. By the time the war was over and the Allied Powers claimed victory, more than 16 million people were dead. -
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Red Scare
World War I, which led many to embrace strong nationalistic and anti-immigrant sympathies; The Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which led many to fear that immigrants, particularly from Russia, southern Europe, and eastern Europe, intended to overthrow the United States government; many in the United States feared recent immigrants and dissidents, particularly those who embraced communist, socialist, or anarchist ideology. -
18th Amendment
Began in the early 1900's, Prohibition was called the Noble Experiment because it was thought to make society moral and it was opposed because bad business and religion reasons. In 1919 the 18th amendment established the prohibition of alcoholic beverages in the United States by declaring illegal the production, transport and sale of alcohol (though not the consumption or private possession). -
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The Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression. The depression started in the United States after a major fall in stock prices that began around September 4, 1929, and became worldwide news with the stock market crash of October 29, 1929 (known as Black Tuesday). The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations; It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. -
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The New Deal
In response to the Great Depression, the New Deal was a series of federal programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted in the United States. Some of these federal programs made from the New Deal included the CCC, the CWA, the FSA, the NIRA, and the SSA. Most programs were enacted at different stages between 1933–38, most programs passed during the first term of the Presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
Brown v. Board of Education decision
The Court’s unanimous decision overturned provisions of the 1896 Plessy v. Ferguson decision, which had allowed for “separate but equal” public facilities, including public schools in the United States. declared it unconstitutional to have separate schools for black and white children as well as declaring it unconstitutional to deny black children equal educational opportunities. This was a turning point in the civil rights movement. -
The Voting Rights Act was passed
Congress passed the Voting Rights Act, which President Lyndon B. Johnson signed into law. It was designed to eliminate legal barriers at the state and local level that prevented African Americans from exercising their right to vote under the 15th Amendment. -
Watergate Scandal
It began when several burglars were arrested in the office of the Democratic National Committee, located in the Watergate complex of buildings in Washington, D.C. The robbery were connected to President Richard Nixon’s reelection campaign. Nixon tried to cover up the crime afterwards and on August 1974, when everything was revealed, Nixon resigned. American politics changed forever, leading many Americans to question their leaders and think more critically about the presidency. -
War Powers Act
A federal law passed by both the House of Representatives and Senate but was vetoed by President Richard Nixon. Congress overrode the veto and enacted the joint resolution into law. It was intended to check the president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. -
Tax Reform Act of 1986
This act was the most massive overhaul of the tax system in decades. It was a law passed by the United States Congress to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate many tax shelters. The act also mandated that capital gains would be taxed at the same rate as ordinary income. -
Berlin Wall was constructed
In an effort to stop refugees attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government of East Germany begins building the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin. Construction of the wall caused a short-term crisis in U.S.-Soviet bloc relations, and the wall itself came to symbolize the Cold War. In the days and weeks to come, construction of a concrete block wall began, the Berlin Wall succeeded in completely sealing off the two sections of Berlin -
September 11, 2001 Terrorist attacks
It all began morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001 with a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States. Two of the planes, American Airlines Flight 11 and United Airlines Flight 175, were crashed into the North and South towers of the World Trade Center complex in New York City, both 110-story towers collapsed. The attacks killed 2,996 people and injured over 6,000 others.
