-
Jan 1, 1545
Council of Trent
Height of the Catholic reform in Europe that was created by the Pope. This council defended conventional Catholic teachings and denounced the ideas of Protestants. This reformed the Church administration to combat corruption and encourage participation in religious observances. It brought the modern Roman Catholic Church into existence. -
Charter to North America
James I of England granted a charter authorizing grants of land in Virginia with 2 seperate joint-stock companies. One was based in London and the other in Plymouth. The grant extended south from modern Maine to the Potomca River for Plymouth and for The Virginia Company of London's land ran north from Cape Fear to the Hudson River. Both companies dispatched colonists in 1607 and, the ones who survived, landed shortly after. -
Pequot War
English settlement continued to move farther inland that aroused Indian resistance. Friction grew between the Pequot Indiancs and the new colonies being established until Massachusetts and Connecticut took military action. The English would go to villlages and burn them, cutting off all ways to escape, and killing mostly women and children. The Pequot resistance was crushed within a year and the survivors were taken as captives to pro-English Indians or as slaves to the English themselves. -
Half-Way Covenant
First generation believed thaey had a holy contract with God were they would implement godly rule and in return tehy would ahve their city upon a hill prosper and shielded from corruption. Many of the children, though, weren't joining the elect so in order to keep the Puritan rule going they created a compromise. It allowed children of baptized adults to recieve baptism which allowed them to be a part of the church but not vote or take communion. -
Bacon's Rebellion
The English were pushing further and further towards the Indians and the government refused to protect them. This caused difficulites and eventually a rebellion to take place against the Indians. Since the governor could do next to nothing to stop this violence, he said that any native who was off of there property would not be prtected. This rebellion brought up the long pent-up frustrations of many settlers who didn't feel that they were being protected or thought about. -
Pueblo Revolt
Most Puevlo Indians grew close ties with the Spanish but after a decline in population, food, and trade, they tried to have a religious revival. The Franciscan missionaries wnated to supress this and eventually took military force and after many battles with back and forth vitories, the Spanish overtook the Indians. The Pueblo's never again would rebel. -
Glorious Revolution
This was the bloodless revolution and transition of power in England after many years of fighting. It created a limited monarchy that required to summon Parliament annually, sign all its bills, and respect traditional civil liberties. The crown was given to William and Mary after they supported the revolt against the previous king, James II, who was ruling inadequetly. -
Salem Witchcraft
After a few girls started acting weird many began naming each other as wizards and witches that use sorcery to create evil. Anyone who was merely accused was normally punished for their crimes, which couldn't be proven. After about 3 years the trials came to a close as many thought it wasn't bringing justice to anyone. More than 200 people were accused of witchcraft and 20 were sent to there graves. -
Competition in North America
After a generation of peace, Britian, France, and Spain all heightened imperial ambitions in North America. The competed in expanding their territorial claims, while intensifying trade/warfare with natives, and finding new lands for settlement. The Indians welcomed some developments and despised others depending on how they believed they would be effected overall. -
Britian Creates Georgia
Britain created Georgia with sponsers intended for ti to be a refuge for bankrupt yet honest debtors. Georgia was ensured to be succesfful and was one of the only settlements to be directly subsidized by the British government. It exported expensive commodities like wine and silk after purchasing the land from the Creek Indians -
7 Years War in America
Britons/Virginian's were ambushed by French, Canadians, and Inidans at Fort Duquesne in Ohio. There was a continuence of battles taking place at ports, even though the 7 years war was over, it had only begun for America. French resistance didn't end until 1760 with the surrendure of Montreal to the British -
7 Years War
George II led this war which was fought mostly by Great Britain and France. It was fought do to the growth in power of Prussia and most of the battles were held in Europe. It ended witht he treaty of Paris and was a decided win for Great Britain since they gained many lands from France. -
Writs of Assitance
This was baisically a search warrant for officials to look through ships and buildings that could be smuggling in goods. The document required no evidence of suspicion to look through items, and therefore many though it to be unconstitutional. Many ships were destroyed and not repayed for which caused for even more problems in American ports. -
Sugar Act
The goal of this Act was to raise revenues to ofset the military expenses in America. This was the beginning of many taxes imposed on North America by Britain in hope to earn back the money that was spent on protecting the settlers. Many argued that these taxes were unlawful and that they were being taxed without any representation in parliament. This became a major turning point in the ideas of settlers to leave Britain. -
Boston Massacre
An agry crowd gathered outside of a guard post for a Boston customs house. They were protesting a guards abusive treatment while he was trying to collect debt from a British officer. Suddenly, shots rang out and 4 Bostonians were killed, and 7 were wounded. This began the spark and eventually a reason for the American Revolution. -
First Continental Congress
A meeting was held in Philadelphia with people from every colony except Georgia that consisted of the most prominent politicians. They came together to try and defend the colonis' rights from British taxes. The council that was appointed didn't end up doing much but they did summarize a set of principles for parliament and the king. -
Common Sense
This was a publication by Thomas Paine that consisted of work by Ben Franklin, politics, and plain speaking for everyone to understand. It showed the untapped power of America by living under a monarchy and proving that it needed change. It was printed in several languages and it is the best seller in American history. It broke any last allegiance to Britain and allowed America to fight for its independence. -
Declaring Independence
The Second Continental Congress declared its independence and the creation of the United States of America. They also had a written document, the Declaration of Independence, for England writeen by 5 writers, headed by Thomas Jefferson, that was meant for King George III. The document followed England's own Bill of Rights and also took ideas from well known writers like Thomas Paine and John Locke. -
Peace Talks
The idea of peace between the English and America came at last after years of fighting. The upper hand had shifted to the US and many back in Britain thought it might be better to finally leave this war, since England was at war with numerous countries all at once. This drove loyalists and slaves into exile in Canada and created the boarders for the US -
Shay's Rebellion
Since some were not happy with the power to secure trading in the North there was a rebellion beginning in Massachusets that had little bloodshed, were disperesed, and never threathened anarchy. They wanted a stronger central government that could protect them, but this rebellion almost tore the US apart. They eventually proposed new amendements to the Article of Confederation as teh Congress held a meeting in Philadelphia. -
Northwest Ordinance
As the US was creating its own country, they set new ideals in place. This set in place the steps for creation and admission of new states into the US. It decided that the area north of the Ohio River was the Northwest territory and provided outlines for its later division as states. It forbade slavery in these areas while they were still territories but allowed for the opportunity after statehood. -
Federal Constitution Ratified
The Constitution was ratified to create a stronger central form of government that many were opposed to after being ruled by a monarchy. The federalists of this time wanted a strong government while the anti-federalists were against the idea. It was thought that the government was only focused on city dwellers who could provide profit which is why much of the south was against the idea. Overall the Constitution was accepted and provided a better, more stable government. -
Beginning of Presidency
The first steps to presidency went bery slow, but as George Washington took office he laid out what the job intailed, as it had a lot of suspicion at first. Washington was the best guy for the job as he was trusted and respected by Americans. He reassured the nation that he was above favoritism and conflicts of interest. He set the term of presidency to 2 terms consisting of 4 years each. -
Creating Public Credit
After creating a lot of debt in 1789 Hamilton decided to create a repor ton how to reduce the national debt that was building. It reported $54 million in debt where most of that was owed to Americans and the rest was to foreigners. He recommended giving out stock for people to buy in order to pay back all of this debt. He also recommended paying back the state debts remaining from the Revolution and to sell federal lands. -
Adams Takes Presidency
As the 2nd President of the United States, this was the first bloodless transition of power. It was a symbole of what the US was hoping to accomplish in breaking away from England. The presidency was between Jefferson and Adams, with Adams winning by only 3 electoral votes, and Jefferson became Vice President since he had the 2nd highest number of votes. -
Marshall Courts
John Marshall, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, made great strides in the court system and strengthened the national government which was extremely important in upholding American ideals. He decided that it was the courts job to see if something was constitutional or not but the presidents job to uphold there standings in Marbury v. Madison. He also proved what powers the state and the government had in McCulloch v. Maryland. He even showed what power business have in Gibbons v. Ogden. -
Louisiana Purchase
Thomas Jefferson, the 3rd President of the US, bought land further west to allow for further settlements for Americans. France needed money for its wars in Europe and wanted to get out of the threat that was North America and quickly wanted to sell this land. It was sold for $15 million and gave the US many important ports that they had been wanting for a while to create more profit. -
War of 1812
Madison discovered that war was inevitable with hard pressed Americans who felt they needed to be protected by the British navy. They had kept English ships in American waters for a while now, they had been violating the neutral rights, they had also been talking with Indians more, and the British policiy was damaging America's economy. They stopped fighting after the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. -
Monroe Doctrine
This was enacted by President James Monroe and had 3 key principles: the US would not be included in European wars unless they had reason to be involved; that the American continents were no longer places for colonization for Europe; and any attempt at colonization by Europe would be seen as an "unfriendly act". This set the tone for the US and showed its preeminent position in the New World. -
Andrew Jackson
After being voted into office on a slim vote, he rotated all of the office voters and gave the positions to his friends which were called the Kitchen Cabinet. He vetoed the Federal Banks new charter since he didn't support it and eventually watched it fail. He ended up creating Pet Banks in the states after taking federal money out of the national bank which was the opposite of what he wanted. He ended up not be relected and was criticized for using too much power over the states.
