-
1492
Columbian Exchange
The Columbian exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries. -
Jamestown settlement
Jamestown was a settlement in Virginia in 1607 and was the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. -
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was an assembly of elected representatives from Virginia that met. This was the first democratically elected legislative body in North America. -
Mayflower
The Mayflower was an English ship that transported the first English Puritans from England to the Americas in 1620. -
Massachusetts Bay Colony
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a mostly Puritan colony located near modern-day Boston, it quickly became the largest colony of the time. -
Trade and Navigation Acts
These acts were passed by Parliament for the colonies that restricted colonial trade to England and decreasing dependence on foreign imported goods. This was a way for Britian to control the colonies, they could only export goods on English ships. -
Period: to
King Williams War
King William's War was an armed conflict between England and France in North America over the fur trade. -
Period: to
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War was a conflict between England, Spain, Portugal, and France for control of the continent. -
Period: to
Enlightenment
The Age of Enlightenment was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 17th to 19th centuries. -
Period: to
The Great Awakening
The Great Awakening was a religious revival that impacted the English colonies in America during the 1730s and 1740s. -
French and Indian War began
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict that was a part of the Seven Years' War, where Great Britian fought with France. The colonies of British America fought against those of New France. -
Period: to
Industrial revolution
The Industrial Revolution was the transition to new manufacturing processes in Europe and the United States. -
Stamp Act
This was the first internal tax on American colonists by the British Parliament, to help pay for the cost of the Seven Years War. It was a tax on stamps as well as required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a street fight between a patriot mob, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign by speech-writers to fuel the revolt against British rule. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political and mercantile protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts, to protest British Parliament's tax on tea. They threw large amounts of tea from a British ship into the sea. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act was a tax on all tea shipped to the colonies, implemented by Parliament. It was to help British East India Company, who was struggling financially. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea Party as punishment. -
American Revolution began
After shots were fired in Lexington & Concord, the fighting between Britian andn the colonies began. -
2nd Continental Congress
Delegates from each of the 13 colonies except for Georgia, met in Philadelphia as the First Continental Congress to organize colonial resistance to Parliament's Coercive Acts. -
Declaration of Independence signed
The Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, explaining why they wanted independence and declared war. All 13 colonies signed the Declaration to sever all ties with Britian. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was the United States' first constitution, it created a national government composed of a Congress. It was later ratified in 1781. -
Treaty of Paris signed
The Treaty of Paris was signed in Paris by representatives of King George III and representatives of the United States of America, ended the American Revolutionary War. -
Constitution was ratified
In 1788 the Constitution was ratified to replace the Articles of Confederation it became the official framework of the government of the United States. -
Washington became president
Washington was the first president of the United States, setting the two term precedent as well as establishing the first presidential cabinet. -
Period: to
2nd Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. It sparked a number of reform movements. -
Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights is the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution, defining American's rights in relation to the government. -
French Revolution began
Inspired by the American Revolution the French Revolution was a period of time in France when the people overthrew the monarchy and took control of the government. -
Jays Treaty
Thsi was the treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted war, and resolved issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783. -
Period: to
Agricultural Revolution
The Agricultural Revolution was a period of technological improvement and increased crop productivity. -
Louisiana Purchase
The US purchased the Louisinana territory from France in 1803 for for fifteen million dollars.The United States gained a total of 828,000 sq mi. -
Lewis and Clark start expedition
This was the first expedition to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. -
War of 1812
This was a conflict fought between the United States and Great Britain over British violations of U.S. maritime rights. There were also small conflicts with Native Americans and British soldiers on the northwestern border of the U.S. -
Period: to
Manifest Destiny
Manifest destiny was the belief that US settlers were destined to expand across North America. -
Period: to
Era of Good Feelings
The Era of Good Feelings was a period of national purpose and a desire for unity among Americans in the aftermath of the War of 1812. -
Tariff of 1816
This was the first tariff passed by Congress with an explicit function of protecting U.S. manufactured items from overseas competition. -
National Park Service created
This was created as an agency of the United States federal government to manage all national parks, and many national monuments. -
Florida Purchase
John Quincy Adams signed of the Florida Purchase Treaty, which gave the US Florida, as it had become a burden to Spain. -
Panic of 1819
This was the first financial crisis in the United States due to the end of years of warfare between France and Great Britain, U.S. made products were no longer in such great demand. -
Missouri Compromise
This admitted Maine to the United States as a free state, and Missouri as a slave state to maintain the balance of power between North and South in the United States Senate. -
Monroe Doctrine
This was an American policy that opposed European colonialism in the Americas. -
Tariff of Abominations
This was a protective tariff passed by the Congress, designed to protect industry in the Northern United States. -
Indian Removal Act
The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River. This initiated The Trail of Tears. -
Bank War
The campaign begun by President Andrew Jackson in 1833 to destroy the Second Bank of the United States. It resulted in the shutdown of the Bank and its replacement by state banks. -
Texas annexation
The United States annexed Texas in 1845 from the Mexican American war and it became the 28th state. -
Mexican War began
The Mexican-American War was the first U.S. armed conflict fought on foreign soil, it was due to disputes over American citizens migrating westward. -
Oregon Treaty
This agreement set the boundary between the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel west of the Rocky Mountains. -
Fugitive Slave Act passed
This was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. -
Compromise of 1850
This was five separate bills passed by Congress that defused political differences between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican–American War. -
Panic of 1857
This was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. -
Dred Scott decision
The Dred Scott decision was the Supreme Court's ruling, that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle a slave to their freedom. -
SC succeeds
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. It was declared as a result of the refusal of free states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts. -
Period: to
Gilded Age
The Gilded Age was an era of rapid economic growth, however, things looked and seemed much better than they actually were. -
Civil War began
The war began when the Confederates bombarded Union soldiers at Fort Sumter, South Carolina in 1861. -
Succession of GA/AL/FL/LA/TX/MS
After SC succeeded from the United States Georgia, Alabama, Louisiana. Texas, and Mississippi followed. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by US President Abraham Lincoln that declared all slaves free. -
Transcontinental railroad started
This was a train route across the United States, finished in 1869. The Union Pacific built from the east, and the Central Pacific built from the west. The two lines met in Utah. -
Homestead Act
This was a significant event in the westward expansion of the United States. It granted 160 acres of free land to claimants, it allowed nearly any man or woman a "fair chance." -
Lincoln assassination
Near the end of the Civil War, Lincoln ws assassinated as part of a larger conspiracy intended by Booth to revive the Confederate. Andrew Johnson then became president. -
Period: to
Reconstruction
The Reconstruction era was the period of time after the Civil War of rebuilding of the South and it becoming a part of the Union again. -
Military sent into South
After the Civil War the military was sent into the South in order to protect recently freed slaves. This was a period of time where conditions were best for African Americans, after the military was pulled out conditions got worse. -
Credit Moblier Scandal
Teh Credit Moblier Scandal was a two-part fraud by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Credit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the eastern portion of the First Transcontinental Railroad.They sold or gave shares in this construction to influential congressmen. -
14th Amendment passed
The Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution was one of the Reconstruction Amendments. It granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans, including them under the umbrella phrase “all persons born or naturalized in the United States.” -
15th Amendment passed
The Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "race, color, or previous condition of servitude." -
Rockafeller uses horizontal integration
Rockefeller used horizontal integration to build the Standard Oil empire by making agreements with railroads, and buying other oil companies to eliminate competition. -
Carnegie used vertical integration
Carnegie Steel in 1875 became the dominant steel supplier in the U.S. through a vertically-integrated manufacturing process that incorporated the latest technological innovation. -
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten deal, informally arranged among U.S. Congressmen that resulted in the federal government pulling the last troops out of the South, and formally ending the Reconstruction Era. -
Immigration Act of 1882
This was the first general immigration law", it created the guidelines of exclusion through the creation of a new category of inadmissible aliens. -
ICC created
This was the government's first regulatory agency. The initial purpose of the ICC was to control railroads and their unfair business practices. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was the first Federal act that outlawed monopolistic business practices. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was the first significant law restricting immigration into the United States. It prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers. -
Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 was a national economic crisis due to the collapse of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. The panic disrupted the stock market. -
City Beautiful Movement
The City Beautiful Movement was a part of Urban Development in the Guilded Age. One of the biggest results of the movement in Central Park. -
Pullman Strike
The Pullman Strike was a nationwide railroad strike in the United States. It was a turning point for US labor law. -
Period: to
Progressive Era
The Progressive Era was a period of widespread social activism and political reform across the United States. -
Spanish-American war began
The Spanish-American War was conflict between the US and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. -
Hawaii annexation
Due ot nationalism from the Spanish-American War, the United States annexed Hawaii in 1898 -
US gains Phillipenes, Guam, Puerto Rico
The US gained the Phillipenes, Guam, and Puerto Rico from the Spanish American War. -
Period: to
Phillipene-American War
The Philippine American War was a prolonged period of revolution as the Phillipenes wanted to be an independent country and not a US territory. -
China Open Door Policy
The Open Door policy was a statement of principles initiated by the United States. It called for protection of equal privileges for all countries trading with China. -
Platt Amendment
The Platt amendment was added onto the Cuban Independence to allow the US to have a military base in Cuba. -
16th Amendment passed
The Sixteenth Amendment to the Constitution allows Congress to implement an income tax. -
Henry Ford created assembly line
This was the first moving assembly line for the mass production of an entire automobile. It allowed vehicles to be produced less expensively for both the consumer and the company. -
Federal Reserve Act
This act created the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States -
Panama Canal completed
The Panama Canal is a constructed waterway that connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans across the Isthmus of Panama. -
US enters WW1
Germany resumed unrestricted submarine warfare in 1917, so the U.S. joined The Allies to fight in World War I. -
Espionage and Sedition Acts passed
This made it a federal offense to use "disloyal, profane, scurrilous, or abusive language" about the Constitution, the government, the American uniform, or the flag. -
Zimmerman telegraph intercepted
The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the Germany that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico by Mexico attacking the US, however the US intercepted the note. -
Period: to
Committee of Public Information used
The Committee on Public Information was an independent agency of the government of the United States created to influence public opinion to support US participation in World War I. -
19th Amendment passed
The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. -
Red Scare
The Red Scare was widespread fear of the potential rise of communism. -
Period: to
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was an intellectual, social, and artistic explosion centered in Harlem, Manhattan, New York City. -
Kellog-Briand pact
The Kellogg–Briand Pact was an international agreement in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve disputes or conflicts that did not end up working. -
Stock Market Crash
The Stock Market crash of 1929 was a cause of the Great Depression. It was caused by agricultural overproducing and a lack of diversification in industry. -
New Deal introduced
The New Deal was Roosevelt's series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations. It addresssed relief, reform, and recovery from the Great Depression. -
Great Depression ended
The stock market began to recover more than 10 years later and the US got involved in WW2 and warfare production began. -
Pearl Harbor attacked
The attack on Pearl Harbor was a surprise, military strike by the Japanese on the United States against the naval base. It began the US's involvement in WW2. -
US enters WW2
The US got involved in WW@ in December of 1941 after Pearl Harbor. The US joined forces with the Allies. -
D-Day
D-Day was when Allied forces launched a combined naval, air and land assault on Nazi-occupied France. -
Nagasaki atomic bomb
On August 9th, 1945 the uS dropped a second atomic bomb on the city of Nagasaki to end WW2. -
War in the pacific ended
Japan formally surrendered to the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union on September 2, 1945. -
United Nations created
The United Nations is an international organization founded in 1945 after the WW2 by 51 countries, it maintainins international peace and security. -
Hiroshima atomic bomb
On August 6th, 1945 the US dropped an atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima to end WW2.