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1450
Age Of Discovery
After Columbus discovered the Americas, European powers completed to explore and exploit the resources of the New World. Causes for the age of Exploration were Gold, Glory, and God. The result transformed societies of Europe and the Americas Forever. -
1492
Spanish Colonization
Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in the Americas of Christopher Columbus in 1492. He had been searching for a new route to the Asian Indies and was convinced he had found it. Columbus was made governor of the new territories and made several more journeys across the Atlantic Ocean. -
1500
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange, or Grand Exchange, was the widespread transfer of animals, plants, culture, human populations, communicable diseases, technology and ideas between the American and Afro-Eurasian hemispheres in the 15th and 16th centuries, after Christopher Columbus' 1492 voyage. -
1534
French Colonization
The French colonization of the Americas began in the 16th century, and continued on into the following centuries as France established a colonial empire in the Western Hemisphere. France founded colonies in much of eastern North America, on a number of Caribbean islands, and in South America -
1558
Mercantilism
Mercantilism was an economic theory and practice, dominant in Europe from the 16th to the 18th century, that promoted governmental regulation of a nation's economy for the purpose of augmenting state power at the expense of rival national powers. It was the economic counterpart of political absolutism or absolute -
Dutch Colonization
Dutch and English Colonization in New England. Although the Netherlands only controlled the Hudson River Valley from 1609 until 1664, in that short time, Dutch entrepreneurs established New Netherland, a series of trading posts, towns, and forts up and down the Hudson River that laid the groundwork for towns that still exist today. -
Indentured Servants
Indentured servitude was a labor system in which people paid for their passage to the New World by working for an employer for a fixed term of years. It was widely employed in the 18th century in the British colonies in North America and elsewhere. It was a way for the poor in Britain and the German states to obtain passage to the American colonies. -
Bacons Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion in 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, refusing to allow Bacon to be a part of his fur trade with the Indians, helped to motivate a popular uprising against Berkeley, who had failed to address the demands of the colonists regarding their safety. -
Enlightment
European politics, philosophy, science and communications were radically reoriented during the course of the “long 18th century” as part of a movement referred to by its participants as the Age of Reason, or simply the Enlightenment. Enlightenment thinkers in Britain, in France and throughout Europe questioned traditional authority and embraced the notion that humanity could be improved through rational change. -
Salem Witch Trails
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts. The trials resulted in the executions of twenty people, fourteen of them women, and all but one by hanging. Five others died in prison. -
Quakers
The state of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn, as a safe place for Quakers to live and practice their faith. Quakers have been a significant part of the movements for the abolition of slavery, to promote equal rights for women, and peace. -
Great Awakening
The term Great Awakening can refer to several periods of religious revival in American religious history. Historians and theologians identify three or four waves of increased religious enthusiasm occurring between the early 18th century and the late 19th century. -
Separation of Powers
In order to avoid potential tyranny from a King, the Founding Fathers agreed to separate the new government into three distinct branches. ◦This idea came from the Enlightenment thinker baron de Montesquieu. (at right) ◦Legislative Branch = make laws ◦Executive Branch = enforce laws ◦Judicial Branch = interpret laws -
Land Ordinance of 1785
Stated that disputed land the Old Northwest was to be equally divided into townships and sold for federal income ◦ set up guidelines for funding education ◦ ended confusing legal disagreements over land -
Shays’s Rebellion
◦ Farmers in western MA (many veterans) were angered at state for calling in all debts owed and seizing land. ◦ Many farmers imprisoned for failure to pay ◦ Daniel Shays led charge to violently protest these taxes, foreclosures and imprisonments -
The Great Compromise
Proposed bicameral legislature to appease both sides ◦Senate – EQUAL representation; 2 per state ◦House of Representatives – based on population ◦Also divided power between federal and state governments (system known as Federalism -
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival movement during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. It was past its peak by the late 1850s. -
Alien and Sedition Acts
Early political fighting between the D-R’s and the Federalists led to the enactment of the Alien and Sedition Acts in the late 1790s. ◦These laws were passed by a Federalist–controlled Congress in an attempt to limit political support for Thomas Jefferson and his party. -
The Whiskey Rebellion
◦ In order to pay back Revolutionary War debt, Washington passed a series of taxes. ◦ One tax in particular hit farmers in Western Pennsylvania hard. ◦ These farmers used excess crop to produce whiskey which they also used as currency. ◦ To protest the new taxes, the farmers led a revolt against tax collectors in the area. -
Bill of Rights
Only after Anti-Federalists were promised an individual “Bill of Rights” did they support ratification of the Constitution. ◦Bill of Rights – first 10 Amendments; composed by James Madison ◦Intended to protect individuals and states from a strong central government and give them certain specified rights -
Cotton Gin
The cotton gin is a machine designed to remove cotton from its seeds. The process uses a small screen and pulling hooks to force the cotton through the screen. It was invented by Eli Whitney, one of the many inventions that was created during the American Industrial Revolution. The cotton gin had an enormous impact on the cotton industry and the economies of the South and, indeed, all of America. It also changed the face of the slave trade--for the worse. -
Lousiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million -
Triangular Trade
Triangular trade or triangle trade is a historical term indicating trade among three ports or regions. Triangular trade usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. Triangular trade thus provides a method for rectifying trade imbalances between the above regions. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a military conflict between the United States and Great Britain. As a colony of Great Britain, Canada was swept up in the War of 1812 and was invaded a number of times by the Americans. -
Tariff of 1816
The Tariff of 1816 (also known as the Dallas tariff) is notable as the first tariff passed by Congress with an explicit function of protecting U.S. manufactured items from foreign competition. Prior to the War of 1812, tariffs had primarily served to raise revenues to operate the national government. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a U.S. foreign policy regarding European countries in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. -
Railroads
The development of railroads was one of the most important phenomena of the Industrial Revolution. With their formation, construction and operation, they brought profound social, economic and political change to a country only 50 years old -
Mexican American War
The Mexican–American War, also known as the Mexican War and in Mexico the American intervention in Mexico, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and the United Mexican States from 1846 to 1848. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress in September 1850, which defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War (1846–1848 -
Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
Dred Scott v. Sanford
Dred Scott v. Sandford, otherwise known as the Dred Scott Decision, was a case decided by the Supreme Court of the United States in 1857 and seen as a landmark decision in the debate surrounding the constitutionality and legality of slavery. -
Rise of big Business
The late nineteenth century saw the rise of "big business" in important areas of economic activity. ("Big" is never defined precisely, but the quantitative term is popularly used to connote something important.) Big business firms were institutions that used management to control economic activity -
Civil War
The American Civil War was fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The result of a long-standing controversy over slavery, war broke out in April 1861, when Confederates attacked Fort Sumter in South Carolina, shortly after President Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated. The nationalists of the Union proclaimed loyalty to the U.S. Constitution. They faced secessionists of the Confederate States of America, who advocated for states' rights to expand slavery. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Acts were several United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. In the United States, this originally consisted of grants totaling 160 acres (65 hectares, or one-quarter section) of unappropriated federal land within the boundaries of the public land states. -
Gilded Age
The Gilded Age in United States history is the late 19th century, from the 1870s to about 1900. The term was coined by writer Mark Twain in The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today (1873), which satirized an era of serious social problems masked by a thin gold gilding. The early half of the Gilded Age roughly coincided with the middle portion of the Victorian era in Britain and Belle Époque in France. -
John D. Rockefeller
John D. Rockefeller, in full John Davison Rockefeller (born July 8, 1839, Richford, New York, U.S.—died May 23, 1937, Ormond Beach, Florida), American industrialist and philanthropist, founder of the Standard Oil Company, which dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. -
Second Wave Immigratoion
Immigration & Migration in the Industrial Age, 1870-1930. A second wave of immigration to the United States occurred from 1870 to WWI. After the war, immigration continued until seriously diminished by legal restrictions in the United States and the Great Depression. -
Battle of Little BigHorn
Was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of US forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War of 1876. It took place on June 25–26, 1876, along the Little Bighorn River in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory.[11] -
The Rise of thr City
The industrialization of the late nineteenth century brought on rapid urbanization. The increasing factory businesses created many job opportunities in cities, and people began to flock from rural, farm areas, to large urban locations. Minorities and immigrants added to these numbers. Factory jobs were the only jobs some immigrants could get, and as more came to the cities to work, the larger the urbanization process became. -
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States, from the 1890s to 1920s. The main objective of the Progressive movement was eliminating corruption in government. -
Organized Labor Movement
an organized effort on the part of workers to improve their economic and social status by united action through the medium of labor unions. the activities of labor unions to further the cause of organized labor. -
Monoply
the exclusive possession or control of the supply or trade in a commodity or service. -
Red Scare
Red Scare took hold in the United States. A nationwide fear of communists, socialists, anarchists, and other dissidents suddenly grabbed the American psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist bombings. -
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, originating in the United States. It was the longest, deepest, and most widespread depression of the 20th century. In the 21st century, the Great Depression is commonly used as an example of how far the world's economy can decline. -
New Deal
The New Deal was a series of domestic programs enacted in the United States between 1933 and 1938, and a few that came later. They included both laws passed by Congress as well as presidential executive orders during the first term of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. -
WWII
World War II, also known as the Second World War, was a global war that lasted from 1939 to 1945, although related conflicts began earlier. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries including all of the great powers eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis. It was the most widespread war in history. -
Holocaust
The Holocaust, also referred to as the Shoah, was a genocide during World War II in which Adolf Hitler's Nazi Germany, aided by its collaborators, systematically murdered some six million European Jews, around two-thirds of the Jewish population of Europe. -
The Korean War Begins
The Korean war was between North Korea and South Korea. North Korea invades South Korea following a series of clashes along the border. The United Nations came to aid South Korea. -
The Berlin Wall constructed
The Berlin Wall was a barrier constructed by the German Democratic Republic starting on August 13 1961, that completely cut off west berlin from surrounding east Germany and from east berlin. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis was a 13 day confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union concerning American ballistic missiles deployment in Italy and Turkey. -
The Great Society
The Great Society was a set of domestic programs in the United States launched by Democratic President Lyndon B. Johnson. The main goal was the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. . -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
The civil rights act of 1964 is a landmark civil rights and US labor laws in the US that outlaws discrimination on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. -
The Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution
The gulf of Tonkin resolution was a joint resolution that The US congress passed in response of the gulf of Tonkin incident. -
MLK Assassinated
MLK was an American clergyman and civil rights leader who was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee on Thursday, April 4, 1968 at the age of 39. -
War Powers Act
The Wars Powers Act was a federal law intended to check the Presidents power to commit the US to an armed conflict without the consent of the US congress. -
Camp David Accords
Camp David Accords was a secret 12 day negotiation at Camp David.it was a peace treaty between Egypt and Israel. -
SALT II
SALT II was a series of talks between THE US and Soviets which sought to curtail the manufacture of nuclear weapons. -
Tax reform act of 1986
The US congress passed the tax reform act of 1986 to simplify the income tax code, broaden the tax base and eliminate many tax shelters. -
9/11
On September 11, 2001 a group associated with Al Qaeda hijacked 4 planes and two of them were flown into the world trade center. This tragic event killed 3000 people and triggered a war on terrorism. -
The US invaded Iraq
The Iraq war was a protracted armed conflict that began in 2003 with the invasion of Iraq led by the US. The invasion regime toppled the government of Saddam Hussein. -
The Great Recession
The Great Recession is now generally acknowledged to be the most devastating global economic crisis since the Great Depression. More than 7.5 million jobs were lost and the unemployment rate doubled. -
Barack Obama
Obama was the 44th President of the United States of America and was the first African American to assume this position.
