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1491
America before Columbus
Before the arrival of Europeans, native population in North America developed in a wide variety of social, political, and economic structures based in part on interactions with the environment and each other. -
1492
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange refers to the flow of goods between the Americans, Europe and Africa that followed Columbus's widely advertised "discovery " of the New World. People, animals, plants and disease passed from continent to continent affecting virtually all aspects of the environment in all three. -
Jun 7, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
was agreed upon by the Spanish and the Portuguese to clear up confusion on newly claimed land in the New World. In order make trade more efficient, Portugal attempted to find a direct water route to the India and China. By using a direct water route, Arab merchants, were not able to make a profit off of the European trade merchants. -
1512
Encomienda system established
Under the encomienda system, conquistadors and other leaders received grants of a number of Indians, from whom they could exact "tribute" in the form of gold or labor. The encomienderos were supposed to protect and christianized the Indians granted to them, but they most often use the system to effectively enslave the Indians and take their lands. -
1555
Tobacco arrives in Europe
With tobacco, English settlers finally found a new world commodity that worked well in the Mercantile system. Spanish explorers already had great success with gold and silver finds and the French created a vibrant market for fur in Europe. -
Lost Colony
When John White, appointed by Sir Walter Raleigh as governor of Roanoke Colony, returned to England for more supplies in late 1587, he left behind his wife, his daughter and his infant granddaughter, the first child born to English parents. Upon White’s return he found no trace of his family or the other inhabitants of the abandoned colony. Over the centuries to come, archaeologists, and historians would delve into the mystery of the “Lost Colony” of Roanoke. -
Jamestown, Virginia founded by British
Cause: population growth, unemployment, thirst for profit, and joint stock companies in Britain inspired the Virginia Company to receive a charter and settle in the New World.
People: Captain John Smith, King James 1
Effects: many settlers died due to hunger and disease. Captain John Smith helped secure shaky relations with Pocahontas but this Corporation would not last. Tobacco soon became a major commodity for trade in Virginia. -
Quebec founded by French
Causes: King Louis XIV took interest in overseas colonies after years of war and tormoil. Plus, he wanted to find money and power in the New World.
People: Samuel de Champlain, Huron Indian tribes
Effects: Champlain and the colonists entered into friendly relations with Hurons in order to gain profit from the fur trade. This alliance later proved fateful to the Hurons after the French and Indian War. -
Powhatan Wars
Causes: Lord De La Warr became new governor of VA and started a war between Virginians and Powhatan Indians over land. Powhatans were angry over the spread of disease and the seizures of their land.
People: Lord De La Warr, Powhatan, John Rolfe, Pocahontas
Effects: The 2nd war ended in 1644 and stopped any hope of assimilating or living peacefully with the Powhatan Confederacy, whose numbers were drastically reduced. The wars showed English policy towards Native Americans - cooperation to war -
First slave brought to Jamestown
Causes: Virginia's growing plantation-based economy required labor, and since Native Americans were dying out and indentured servants only served for a short time, Virginians turned to African slaves to provide plantation work.
People: Virginian tobacco growers, African slaves
Effects: Virginia began to rely on slaves to keep their economy successful. Millions of slaves would be sent out to the Americas to work on plantations against their own will for centuries. -
Virginia House of Burgesses established
Causes: The Virginia Company allowed settlers to form an assembly, where members (wealthy adult white males) could vote and discuss issues.
People: Virginia Company, Virginian men with land
Effects: House of Burgesses was one of the first examples of representative self-government in the English colonies. White males with property were able to vote on laws and have a voice politically, foreshadowing America's future democracy. -
Rhode Island founded by Rodger Williams
Causes: Williams was banished from the Bay Colony due to his controversial opinions, such as separation of church and state. He fled to Rhode Island and set up a colony there.
People: Roger Williams, other outcasts from Massachusetts
Effects: Williams established complete freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and simple manhood suffrage. His very liberal ideas inspired William Penn to set up Pennsylvania and would foreshadow America's future religious tolerance and equal rights. -
Pequot War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists of the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. -
Beaver wars
The Beaver Wars, also known as the Iroquois Wars or the French and Iroquois Wars, encompass a series of conflicts fought intermittently during the 17th and 18th centuries in eastern North America. -
French and Indian War
Causes: The French (allied with the Huron) and the English (allied with their colonists and the Iroquois) fought over land and power.
People: George Washington, William Pitt Huron Indians, Iroquois, French, English
Effects: The defeat of the French virtually wiped out the Huron Indians and gave England more land in America. Debt-stricked England ended salutary neglect and began enforcing Navigation Laws, the Proclamation Line, and taxes on the colonists, who began having revolutionary thoughts. -
Stamp Act
Causes: The British ended salutary neglect and began imposing taxes on their colonies, including the Stamp Act.
People: Parliament, Sons + Daughters of Liberty, Stamp Act Congress, Committees of correspondence
Effects: The Sons of Liberty tarred and feathered tax collectors, the Daughters of Liberty urged women to contribute to the patriots, and committees of correspondence helped unite the colonies. Britain ended up repealing the tax, a huge victory for rebellious colonists. -
Boston Tea Party
Causes: Bostonians protested the tax on tea by dressing up as Indians and dumping huge amounts of British tea into Boston Harbor.
People: Bostonians, Charles Townshend
Effects: Through the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts, the British closed down Boston Harbor until Bostonians paid them back for the lost tea. Colonists saw the Intolerable Acts as an abuse of power and turned many colonists onto the patriot side of the stirring Revolution. -
Declaration of Independence
Causes: The Continental Congress met up to give formal reasons for the colonies declaration of independence from Britain, listing all of the King's abuses of their natural rights.
People: Thomas Jefferson
Effects: The Declaration of Independence became the foundation for America's future independent government, which would attempt to protect the natural rights of those they considered American citizens. It also united the patriots together against the British. -
Article of Confederation
Causes: The Articles of Confederation was the independent United States' first constitution, which attempted to give more power to the state governments to avoid another powerful ruler like England.
People: Second Continental Congress, Jefferson
Effects: The Articles created a very weak federal government that couldn't impose taxes on the states and gave too much power to state governments instead. The states were more independent than part of a unified nation, and debt created internal unrest -
Shays Rebellion
Causes: The Massachusetts state government under the Articles taxed and foreclosed the land of poor farmers to repay debt from the Revolution, leading to a rebellion.
People: Daniel Shays, Shaysites, George Washington
Effects: Shay's Rebellion exposed the financial and political problems caused by the Articles. This led to Federalists creating the US Constitution which gave more power to the federal government and aimed to protect the rich from the poor. -
Jay's Treaty
Causes: War between Britain and France caused the US to be stuck in the middle. Federalists wanted to ally with Britain, their biggest trading partner.
People: John Jay, Alexander Hamilton
Effects: The treaty with Britain benefitted Britain much more, since the US had to pay off debts to them and Britain made very loose promises to get rid of their US forts and pay back for impressment. Democratic-Republicans were angry over the treaty because they favored the French. -
Romanticism movement
Romanticism (also the Romantic era or the Romantic period) was an artistic, literary, musical, cultural and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century, and in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. -
Thomas Jefferson became president
Causes: John Adams, representing Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson, representing Democratic-Republicans, ran against each other for the office of President. Jefferson won against Adams.
People: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams
Effects: Called the "Revolution of 1800," this was the world's first peaceful transition of power, from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans. This marked the beginning of the US transforming into a more participatory democracy for the rich and the common man alike. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
This battle was fought in what is now Battle Ground, Indiana, between American forces and Native American. Tecumseh and his brother Tenskwatawa were leaders of a confederacy of Native Americans from various tribes that opposed US expansion into Native territory. As tensions and violence increased, Governor Harrison marched with an army of about 1,000 men to disperse the confederacy's headquarters at Prophetstown, near the confluence of the Tippecanoe and Wabash rivers. -
The War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States, the United Kingdom, and their respective allies.The immediate causes of the War of 1812 were a series of economic sanctions taken by the British and French against the US as part of the Napoleonic Wars and American outrage at the British practice of impressment, especially after the Chesapeake incident of 1807. -
Panic of 1819
These banking policies led to runs on state banks, bank closures, foreclosures and bankruptcies. The Panic of 1819 was the first Important financial crisis in the United States and the terrible effects of the panic resulted in the public loss of confidence in the financial structure -
Transcendentalism movement
Transcendentalism is a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern United States. It arose as a reaction to protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality at the time. -
The Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830. The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Indian tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their lands -
Trails of Tears
The Trail of Tears was a series of forced relocations of Native American peoples from their ancestral homelands in the Southeastern United States, to areas to the west that had been designated as Indian Territory. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was the first women's rights convention. It advertised itself as "a convention to discuss the social, civil, and religious condition and rights of woman -
Realism movement
Realism was an artistic movement that began in France in the 1850s, after the 1848 Revolution. Realists rejected Romanticism, which had dominated French literature and art since the late 18th century. Realism revolted against the exotic subject matter and exaggerated emotionalism and drama of the Romantic movement -
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war that was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. As a result of the long-standing controversy over slavery, war broke out in April 1861, when Confederate forces attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, shortly after U.S. President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated. The nationalists of the Union proclaimed loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States, who advocated for states' rights to expand slavery. -
Homestead Act
Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln on May 20, 1862, the Homestead Act encouraged Western migration by providing settlers 160 acres of public land. In exchange, homesteaders paid a small filing fee and were required to complete five years of continuous residence before receiving ownership of the land. -
Military Reconstruction act
With the Radical Republicans fully in control of Congress after the mid-term elections of 1866, they quickly passed the Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867. These acts divided the south into five military districts -
Tenure of Office Act
The Tenure of Office Act was a United States federal law (in force from 1867 to 1887) that was intended to restrict the power of the President of the United States to remove certain office-holders without the approval of the Senate. The law was enacted on March 3, 1867, over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. -
The Gilded Age
The Gilded age and the Progressive Era are time periods that played an important role in the development of the American society. The Gilded Age is a period of American history between 1870 and 1900. ... By this, he meant that this period was glittering on the surface but corrupt underneath -
The compromise of 1877
Compromise of 1877 was crucial because its what ended the Reconstruction era. ... Compromise of 1877 was also when the Democrats agreed that Hayes would take office. The Republicans agreed to withdraw all federal troops from the South. Hayes promised to appoint at least one southerner to his cabinet. -
The election of 1876
The United States presidential election of 1876 was one of the most disputed presidential elections in American history. Samuel J. Tilden of New York outpolled Ohio's Rutherford B. Hayes in the popular vote, and had 184 electoral votes to Hayes' 165, with 20 votes uncounted. -
Great Railroad Strike
Great Railroad Strike of 1877. The Great Railroad Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, United States after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad (B&O) cut wages for the third time in a year. -
Victorian era
Victorian Britain. ... She reigned for more than 60 years, longer than any other British monarch. Her reign was a period of significant social, economic and technological change, which saw the expansion of Britain's industrial power and of the British empire. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
Approved July 2, 1890, The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. The Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 was the first measure passed by the U.S. Congress to prohibit trusts. -
Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike of 1892 was one of the most bitterly fought industrial disputes in the history of U.S. labor. The Homestead Steel Works, located southeast of Pittsburgh, was an important segment of ^Andrew Carnegie's empire. ... In fact, the Homestead strike was a total defeat for the workers and unionism as a whole. -
Pullman Strike
The conflict began in Pullman, Chicago, on May 11 when nearly 4,000 factory employees of the Pullman Company began a wildcat strike in response to recent reductions in wages. Most factory workers who built Pullman cars lived in the "company town" of Pullman on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. -
The great depression
was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors -
Black Tuesday
The Wall Street Crash of 1929, also known as Black Tuesday, the Great Crash, or the Stock Market Crash of 1929, began on October 24, 1929, and was the most devastating stock market crash in the history -
Dust Bowl
Sometimes the term is used as a time period, for example: ''The Dust Bowl was horrible time in American history.'' ... However, most historians now believe much of the Dust Bowl could have been prevented. See, in the years leading up to the 1930s, farmers had basically over-aerated the soil of the Great Plains. -
The New Deal
By 1932, one of the bleakest years of the Great Depression, at least one-quarter of the American workforce was unemployed. When President Franklin Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to try and stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief to those who were suffering. -
The hundred day March
During the Hundred Days, Congress approved 15 piece of major social and economic legislation designed by a group of presidential advisor known as The Brain Trust. The first hundred days of presidency has since become a precedent by which new elected president are judge on their effort to fulfill their campaign promises. -
The Social Security Act
The Social Security Act of 1935 is one of the most important pieces of legislation in American history. Passed during the depth of the Great Depression, it was an omnibus act, creating a variety of programs to serve many groups of citizens. -
The Wagner act
National Labor Relations Act (1935) ... Also known as the Wagner Act, this bill was signed into law by President Franklin Roosevelt on July 5, 1935. It established the National Labor Relations Board and addressed relations between unions and employers in the private sector. -
China Falls to Communism
The “fall” of mainland China to communism in 1949 led the United States to suspend diplomatic ties with the PRC for decades. The Chinese Communist Party, founded in 1921 in Shanghai, originally existed as a study group working within the confines of the First United Front with the Nationalist Party. -
The Korean War began
The Korean War was a war between North Korea and South Korea. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following a series of clashes along the border -
Rachel Carson published Silent Spring
Silent Spring is an environmental science book by Rachel Carson. The book was published on 27 September 1962 and it documented the adverse effects on the environment of the indiscriminate use of pesticides. ... The result was Silent Spring (1962), which brought environmental concerns to the American public. -
The March on Washington
March on Washington, in full March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, political demonstration held in Washington, D.C., in 1963 by civil rights leaders to protest racial discrimination and to show support for major civil rights legislation that was pending in Congress. -
Salt 1
The first agreements, known as SALT I and SALT II, were signed by the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1972 and 1979, respectively, and were intended to restrain the arms race in strategic (long-range or intercontinental) ballistic missiles armed with nuclear weapons. -
Kent State massacre
The Kent State shootings (also known as the May 4 massacre or the Kent State massacre) were the shootings on May 4, 1970 of unarmed college students by members of the Ohio National Guard at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio during a mass protest against the bombing of Cambodia by United States military forces. Twenty-eight guardsmen fired approximately 67 rounds over a period of 13 seconds, killing four students and wounding nine others, one of whom suffered permanent paralysis. -
Roe v. Wade decision
Roe v. Wade was a landmark 1973 Supreme Court decision that established a woman's legal right to an abortion. The Court ruled, in a 7-2 decision, that a woman's right to choose an abortion was protected by the privacy rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. -
the Berlin wall fell
the Berlin Wall fell after nearly three decades as a barrier dividing the city. The division of Germany and Europe into East and West . The inability of East Germany (and the Eastern Bloc more generally) to retain its population except by force. -
the Persian Gulf war began
Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein ordered the invasion of Kuwait in early Aug. 1990.Arab powers such as Saudi Arabia and Egypt called on the US and Western nations to intervene.Hussein defied United Nations Security Council demands to withdraw from Kuwait by mid Jan.1991,and Persian Gulf War began with a massive Us-led air offensive known as Operation Desert Storm.42 days of relentless attacks.President George H.W. Bush declared a cease-fire on Feb. 28 most Iraqi forces had either surrendered or fled -
soviet union collapse
When the Soviet Union fell, it ended the tenure of a superpower with the resources of more than a dozen countries. fall of the Soviet Union were ethnic conflict, a lack of support for the idea of communism and economic troubles caused by a focus on arms. Despite reform efforts by Mikhail Gorbachev, the then leader of the Soviet Union, the country was never able to reorganize and rebuild. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al-Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against targets in the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, a third plane hit the Pentagon just outside Washington, D.C., and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the 9/11 terrorist attacks -
the US invaded Iraq
The Iraq War was a protracted armed conflict that began with the 2003 invasion of Iraq led by the United States. The invasion regime toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. The invasion consisted of 21 days of major combat operations, in which a combined force of troops from the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and deposed the Baathist government of Saddam Hussein. -
the great recession began
The Great Recession is a term that represents the sharp decline in economic activity during the late 2000s, which is generally considered the largest downturn since the Great Depression -
president Obama was elected
On November 4, 2008, Senator Barack Obama of Illinois was elected president of the United States over Senator John McCain of Arizona. Obama became the 44th president, and the first African American to be elected to that office.
