-
Second Great Awakening Began
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. -
Eli Whitney Patented the Cotton Gin
Cotton Gin was a machine designed to separate the seeds out of cotton dramatically increasing the production time. -
Thomas Jefferson is elected president
-
Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt
A literate enslaved blacksmith who planned a large slave rebellion in the Richmond area -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France. It doubled the size of the United States. -
Marbury v. Madison
Established judicial review. -
Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedition
Expedition across the United States to explore the new Louisiana purchase -
Embargo Act
An act that prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
An encounter between an American and British ship. Led to the Embargo Act of 1807 -
James Madison Elected President
4th President of the United States. Beat Charles Pickney. Wrote Bill of Rights. -
Non-Intercourse Act
This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. Its intent was to damage the economies of the United Kingdom and France. -
Death of Tecumseh
His death marked the end of Indian resistance West of the Mississippi. -
Francis Cabot Lowell Smuggled Memorized Textile Mill Plans From Manchester, England
Francis Cabot Lowell brought memorized plans for a power loom from England. -
Hartford Convention
The convention discussed removing the three-fifths compromise which gave slave states more power in Congress and requiring a two-thirds vote in Congress for the admission of new states, declarations of war, and laws restricting trade. -
Battle of New Orleans
Last major battle of the War of 1812 -
The British Burn Washington DC
British soldiers attacked Washington DC in an attempt to weaken the United States. -
Treaty of Ghent Ratified
Marked the end of the War of 1812 -
End of the War of 1812
The Treaty of Ghent was signed and the War of 1812 ended. -
Beginning of Manifest Destiny
Most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States -
Era of Good Feeling Began
The mood of victory that swept the nation at the end of the War of 1812. False exaltation replaced the bitter political divisions between Federalists and Republicans, between northern and southern states, and between east-coast cities and settlers on the western frontier. -
Rush-Bagot Treaty
Treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes. -
James Monroe Elected President
Strengthened American foreign policy. -
Anglo-American Convention
Established the northern United States border. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
Also known as the Florida Treaty, the United States gains Florida from Spain. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. -
The Panic of 1819
The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy -
Dartmouth College V. Woodward
A case in which the Court argued that the charter to Dartmouth College was a contract between private parties, and that the New Hampshire government's attempt to turn the College into a public institution was unconstitutional under the contract clause. -
Missouri Compromise
In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, the Missouri Compromise was passed in 1820 admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state -
Denmark Vesey Slave Revolt
Never occured. Denmark Vesey was a literate free black man who attempted to plan a slave revolt. -
Monroe Doctrine
A US policy that any intervention by external powers in the politics of the Americas is a potentially hostile act against the US. -
John Quincy Adams Elected President (Corrupt Bargain)
JQA supposedly made a deal with Henry Clay to get himself appointed President after there was no majority leader from the Electoral College. -
Gibbons v. Ogden
A landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce. -
Erie Canal Completed
The canal links the waters of Lake Erie in the west to the Hudson River in the east. -
Charles B. Finney Lead Religious Revivals in Western New York
The burned-over district refers to the western and central regions of New York where religious revivals and the formation of new religious movements of the Second Great Awakening took place. -
Robert Owen Founded the New Harmony Community
Robert Owen, a Welsh industrialist and social reformer, purchased the town in 1825 with the intention of creating a new utopian community and renamed it New Harmony. -
Lyman Beecher Delivered His “Six Sermons on Intemperance”
he delivered and published six sermons on intemperance. They were sent throughout the United States, ran rapidly through many editions in England, and were translated into several languages. -
Tariff of Abominations
Industries in the northern United States were being driven out of business by low-priced imported goods. The South, however, was harmed directly by having to pay higher prices on goods the region did not produce. -
Andrew Jackson Elected President
Incumbent President John Quincy Adams lost to Andrew Jackson. -
Catherine Beecher Published Essays on the Education of Female Teachers
She founded a school for girls in Hartford, Connecticut, aimed at training women to become mothers and teachers. -
Joseph Smith Founded the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints
Initial converts were drawn to the church in part because of the newly published Book of Mormon, a self-described chronicle of indigenous American prophets that Smith said he had translated from golden plates. -
Indian Removal Act
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. -
Trail of Tears Began
The Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and to migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. -
Nullification Crisis Began
The convention declared that the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 were unconstitutional and unenforceable -
Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a brief conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. -
Worcester v. Georgia
All non-Native Americans were indicted in the supreme court for the county of Gwinnett in the state of Georgia for "residing within the limits of the Cherokee nation without a license" -
Creation of the Whig Party in the U.S.
It originally formed in opposition to the policies of President Andrew Jackson and his Democratic Party. -
Andrew Jackson Vetoed the Re-Charter of the Second Bank of the United States
Jackson argued in his veto message that the bank’s charter was unfair because it gave the bank considerable, almost monopolistic, market power, specifically in the markets that moved financial resources around the country and into and out of other nations. -
Treaty of New Echota
It cost three men their lives and provided the legal basis for the Trail of Tears, the forcible removal of the Cherokee Nation from Georgia. -
Transcendental Club’s First Meeting
Met in Cambridge, Massachusetts to discuss the formation of a new club that would eventually lead to the Transcendentalist movement. -
First McGuffey Reader Published
Known for creating the McGuffey Readers, the first widely used textbooks in the U.S. -
John Humphrey Noyes Founded the Oneida Community
He founded the Putney, Oneida, and Wallingford Communities, and is credited with coining the term "complex marriage". -
Texas Declared Independence from Mexico
The formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. -
Battle of the Alamo
Though vastly outnumbered, the Alamo's 200 defenders held out courageously for 13 days before the Mexican invaders finally overpowered them. -
Martin Van Buren Elected President
An American statesman who served as the eighth President of the United States from 1837 to 1841. -
Andrew Jackson Issued Specie Circular
a United States presidential executive order requiring payment for government land to be in gold and silver. -
Panic of 1837
A financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major recession that lasted until the mid-1840s. -
Horace Mann Elected Secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education
Horace Mann, often called the Father of the Common School, used his position to enact major educational reform. -
Ralph Waldo Emerson gave the “Divinity School Address”
The speech Ralph Waldo Emerson gave to the graduating class of Harvard Divinity School. -
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
A treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies. -
Treaty of Wanghia with China
Allowed American citizens to merchandize equally in the five treaty ports. -
James Polk Elected President
James K. Polk, a Democrat, assumed office after defeating Whig Henry Clay in the 1844 presidential election. -
U.S. Annexation of Texas
During his tenure, U.S. President James K. Polk oversaw the greatest territorial expansion of the United States to date. -
Start of the Mexican War
Mexican cavalry attacked a group of U.S. soldiers in the disputed zone under the command of General Zachary Taylor, killing about a dozen. They then laid siege to an American fort along the Rio Grande. -
Bear Flag Revolt
A short-lived independence rebellion precipitated by American settlers in California's Sacramento Valley against Mexican authorities. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory. -
Henry David Thoreau Published Civil Disobedience
Resistance to Civil Government (Civil Disobedience) is an essay by American transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau that was first published in 1849. -
Gold Rush Began in California
Gold was found in California, sparking Westward expansion. -
Commodore Matthew Perry Entered Tokyo Harbor Opening Japan to the U.S.
Sought to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world. -
Gadsden Purchase
A region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States purchased via a treaty signed by a U.S. ambassador to Mexico at that time. -
Kanagawa Treaty
The first treaty between the United States of America and the Tokugawa Shogunate.
