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Period: 1491 to
Periods 1/2: 1491-1763
Native America, European Exploration, Colonization -
1492
Christopher Columbus arrives in North America
Christopher Columbus arrives in North America during an expedition funded by Spain. He then created the Colombian Exchange which was an exchange of goods, people, disease, and ideas between Europe, Africa, and the Americas. -
1565
St. Augustine
St. Augustine was the first Spanish settlement in the New World. St. Augustine was used by Spain to protect shipping lanes and valuables traveling back and forth on ships. -
Jamestown
Jamestown was the first successful English colony in the future US, settled in Virginia. -
House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was established and became the first representative element of the future US government. The addition of the House of Burgesses transformed the Virgnia General Assemby into a bicameral institution. -
First Africans brought to America
The first Africans were brought to America initially as indentured servants in order to increase labor supply. -
Plymouth
Plymouth was the first English settlement created in Massachusetts by Separatists who sought to create a religiously pure society. -
Trade and Navigation Acts
The Trade and Navigation Acts were established to control the colonies trading practices. The acts established rules like goods from the colonies must be carried on English ships, certain commodities can only be sent to England, and colonies are forbidden from manufacturing certain goods. -
The Great Awakening (beginning)
The Great Awakening was a period of religious revival in which priests focused their sermons on hell and punishments for sinful people. This created religious division between Old Lights who stayed with traditional values, and New Lights who's values evolved with the movement. -
French and Indian War Begins
The French and Indian War began in the colonies when French settlers encroached on land claimed by the British. -
End of Salutary Neglect
After the end of the French and Indian war, Britain started attempting to enforce stricter rules and supervise the colonies more carefully. -
Period: to
Period 3:1763-1800
American Revolution, the Confederal Era, and the Early Federal Period -
Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was an act passed by British Parliament that placed a tax on sugar in order to pay of the French and Indian War debt. -
Currency Act
The Currency Act was an act passed by British Parliament that stated the colonies could not print their own money. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was an act passed by British Parliament that placed a tax on all printed goods. -
Quartering Act
The Quartering Act was an act passed by British Parliament that stated that towns have to pay for the quartering of British troops. -
Sons of Liberty
The Sons of Liberty was a secret revolutionary organization that was formed to fight taxation by the British government. -
Declaratory Act
The Declaratory Act was an act passed by British Parliament that stated Parliament could pass any law in the future regarding the colonies. -
Townshend Acts
The Townshend acts were a series of acts passed by British Parliament which taxed lead, glass, tea, paper, and paint. -
Boston Massacre
An incident where British soldiers shot at and killed several colonist while being harassed by a mob in Boston. Five men were killed and six were injured. -
Boston Tea Party
The Sons of Liberty protested the Tea Act by dumping tea from three tea ships into the Boston Harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts were disciplinary laws passed by British Parliament to punish colonists in Massachusetts for their resistance in the Boston Tea Party by shutting down Boston ports and the Massachusetts government. -
The Second Continental Congress
A meeting with representatives from the thirteen colonies to united as one in order to fight the American Revolutionary War. During the Second Continental Congress George Washington was appointed as head of the colonial army and war strategies were discussed. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written and signed in order to inform Britain of what they had done and what the thirteen colonies were fighting for. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris was signed by both Britain and the US to end the Revolutionary War by recognizing the independence of the US and giving the US all the land east of the Mississippi. -
The Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention was held with delegates from each state in order to decide how America was going to be governed and revise the Articles of Confederation. -
The Bill of Rights
The first Ten Amendments also known as the Bill of Rights, were ratified by three-fourths of the state legislatures. The Bill of Rights consists of the most important rights that are granted to citizens of the US. -
Switches to Democratic-Republic
The power control in the federal government switched from federalist to democratic-republicans in the 1800 presidential election. -
Period: to
Period 4 Part 1:1800-1824
The Second Great Awakening, Era of Good Feelings, rise and fall of political parties -
Marbury vs Madison
Marbury vs Madison was a US Supreme Court case that established the principal of judicial review meaning the Supreme Court can deem acts of the President and legislation as unconstitutional. -
Orders in Council
The Orders in Council where passed by Britain and stated that all trade with Europe must go through Britain first. -
Embargo of 1807
The Embargo 1807 was a trade embargo passed by Thomas Jefferson that cut off US trade with the rest of the world. This embargo resulted in both political parties disliking Thomas Jefferson because they did not agree with the embargo. -
Non-Intercourse Act
In the tail end of Thomas Jefferson's presidency, he replaced the Embargo Act of 1807 with the Non-Intercourse Act of 1809 which lifted all embargoes on American trade but places embargoes on specifically British and French ports. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 started as a result of conflict between the US and Britain. After the War of 1812, the US reopened trade with Britain and peace was achieved between the US and Britain. Also as a result of the war, the Natives power dramatically decreased and they were not able to fight of Americans expanding into the Northwest. -
Commercial Convention
The Commercial Convention reopened trade between the US and Britain after the conflict resulting in the War of 1812. After this convention, the US was able to trade peacefully with Britain. -
The Era of Good Feelings
The Era of Good Feelings was a ten year period following the War of 1812 in which Americans desired to be united as a country, were very proud to be part of America, and believed American was superior to all other countries. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was that sought to maintain the balance of power between free and slave states in America by admitting Maine to the United States as a free state at the same time Missouri was being admitted as a slave state. -
The Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a foreign policy proclaimed during James Monroe's presidency which stated the US would not interfere in European conflicts, the US would not interfere in any previously existing colonies in the Americas, future colonization by European powers in the Americas is not allowed, and the US would oppress all attempts at further colonization in the Americas. -
Period: to
Period 4 Part 2: 1824-1848
Expansion, Nationalism, build up to the Civil War -
Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of Abominations was the third protective tariff passed by congress in protect the manufacturing in the north by increasing the price of foreign manufactured goods. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson which authorized the negotiation with Native American tribes to get them to move west of the Mississippi River. -
The Bank War
The Bank War refers to the conflict between President Andrew Jackson and the Second Bank of the US which was attempting to be rechartered. As a result of the Bank War, the Second Bank of the US was shut down and replaced by state banks. -
The Compromise Tariff
The Compromise Tariff agreed that tariff rates would gradually reduce the tariff rate every year for the next ten years. -
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 occurred because lots of Americans were trying to exchange greenbacks at the same time and it caused many banks to close down. -
Nancy Jackson
Nancy Jackson was an enslaved person that was transferred from Georgia to Connecticut and then sued her owners for her freedom since she was in a free state. She was successful and was considered a free person following the trial. -
The Amistad Revolt
The Amistad Revolt was an event where a slaves who were being transported of a slave ship overthrew the crew and as a result weren't sold into slavery. -
Period: to
Period 5: 1844-1877
The Civil War, Reconstruction, Civil Rights Acts -
The Oregon Treaty
The Oregon Treaty set a boundary on the 49th parallel to split the territory between the United States and Canada. The US gained the land below the 49th parallel and Britain gained the land north of the boundary in Canada. -
US offers to buy Cuba from Spain
The United States offered to buy Cuba from Spain in 1848 and when they refused, they offered again in 1854 and stated that if Spain refused again they would invade Cuba and take it by force. -
The End of the Mexican-American War
After the US won the Mexican-American War as a result of a dispute over Texas territory. As a result of winning the Mexican-American war, the US gained Texas, territory in New Mexico, and some territory in California. -
The Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas Nebraska Act was passed in 1854 and stated that people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide if they wanted to be a slave state or a free state. -
Dred Scott vs Stanford
Dred Scott was an enslaved African-American who unsuccessfully sued his owners for his freedom since had been living in Illinois for an extended period of time in which slavery was illegal. -
The Start of the Civil War
The Civil War began at Fort Sumter after a long lasting disagreement between the Northern and Southern states over slavery. The southern/confederate states started the war after the US government refused to recognize their right to secede from the Union. -
The Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by president Abraham Lincoln and stated that all enslaved persons in rebellious states are freed. -
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act was passed by president Abraham Lincoln and provided all settlers with 160 acres of public land in order to encourage westward migration. -
13th Amendment
The thirteenth amendment was passed by president Abraham Lincoln and abolished slavery in the US. -
Black Codes
Black Codes were laws passed mostly in the southern states with the intent of restricting African-American's freedoms. -
Period: to
Period 6:1865-1898
The Gilded Age, Industrialization, Big Industries, Immigration -
The Civil Rights Acts
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 stated that all US citizens are equally protected by the law and that all persons born in the US are granted citizenship. -
Reconstruction Act
The Reconstruction Act laid out the steps for what the Confederate states had to do in order to be readmitted to the Union. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment was passed by Andrew Johnson and provided former slaves with US citizenship. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment was passed by president Andrew Johnson and granted African-American men the right to vote. -
The Enforcement Acts
The Enforcement Acts were passed to protect African-American's right to vote, serve on juries, hold office, and receive equal protection under the law by making it illegal to discriminated against a person because of race. -
Creation of Sharecropping
Sharecropping was created in the early 1870s in which a land owner would rent a piece of their land to a tenant in exchange for a certain percentage of their profit. Landowners would take advantage of tenant farmers by forcing them to sign very harsh contracts that only benefited them. -
The Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was the first global depression as a result of a drop in demand for American farm products, over-building in the railroad industry, and multiple bank failures. -
The Resumption Act
The Resumption Act required the government redeem all paper currency in gold and withdraw the circulation of greenbacks with the intent of shirting American currency away from paper. -
The Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten deal that settled the dispute of the 1876 election by making Rutherford Hayes president and ending the Reconstruction era in the south. -
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was when railroad workers went on strike and would not allow any trains to roll until since the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad had cut their wages multiple times that year. -
The Bland Allison Act
The Bland Allison Act stated that the US Treasury was required to buy a certain amount of silver and circulate it into the economy as silver dollars. The Bill was vetoed by Rutherford Hayes. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was an act that prevented Chinese immigrants from entering the US for ten years and preventing Chinese immigrants who were already in the US from becoming citizens. -
The Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act was passed to regulate the railroad industry and rid of monopolistic practices by stating that railroad companies had to change to fair rates. -
The Dawes Severalty Act
The Dawes Severalty act was an attempt at assimilating Native Americans into the American society by enforcing reservation division by dividing up Native American land into family plots. -
The Sherman Antitrust Act
The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed with the intent of outlawing all monopolistic practices within big businesses in the US. This was the first attempt by Congress at trustbusting. -
The Battle of Wounded Knee
The Battle of Wounded Knee occurred when US soldiers witnessed the Sioux Native Americans practicing the Sun Dance which had previously been banned as a result of ending native culture and encouraging American culture. The US soldiers killed around 300 Sioux people and this was the last known major conflict between Native American and the US government. -
Opening of Ellis Island
Ellis Island was opened as an immigration station in order to process the mass amounts of immigrants entering the US. -
The Homestead Strike
The Homestead Strike was a dispute between the Carnegie Steel Company and many of its workers who went on strike and were fired as a result. The governor of Pennsylvania called the state militia to go and force people to begin working again and as a result the workers received even harsher treatment with hours increasing from eight to twelve hours a day. -
The Panic of 1893
The Panic of 1893 started as a result of the collapse of two big businesses in the US, The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad and the National Cordage Company. The collapse of these two businesses cause major panic within the stock market. -
The Pullman Strike
Following the Panic of 1893, George Pullman increased hours and cut wages for his railroad workers which resulted in a widespread railroad strike. The US government got an injunction in federal court in order to end the strike. -
Plessy vs Ferguson
The Plessy vs Furguson case stated that racial segregation is constitutional, as long as facilities as equal. This case established the "separate but equal" doctrine in areas with lost of racial segregation even though the separate facilities were rarely equal. -
Annexation of Hawaii
The United States wanted Hawaii to be part of the US so they didn't have to pay the tariff so there was an American led rebellion in Hawaii which resulted in the Annexation of Hawaii. -
Beginning of the Spanish-American War
The Spanish-American war was a result of a conflict between Spain and the US because Cuba and Puerto Rico were fighting for independence after many failed attempts. -
The Treaty of Paris 1898
The 1898 Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American war and forced Spain to give up their power over Cuba, Puerto Rico,Guam, and the Philippines which ceased their colonial territory in the Americas. -
Period: to
Period 7 Part 1: 1898-1918
Imperialism, Progressive Era, Women's movement, World War 1 -
The Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy was put into place by the US and stated that all countries had free trade opportunities with China. -
Trust Busting
In 1900, Teddy Roosevelt began the process of trust busting in which he would distinguish the good monopolies from the bad and break up all the bad monopolies in the US. -
The Elkins Act
The Elkins Act stated that railroads are not allowed to give rebates to big businesses in order to help break up monopolistic practices. -
The US Forest Conservation Act
Teddy Roosevelt set aside 200 million acres of land for national forests through the US Forest Conservation Act in order to conserve the land. -
The Meat Inspection Act
The Meat Inspection Act stated that any meat the crosses state boundaries must be inspected by the federal government in order to protect the people from bad meat. -
16th Amendment
The 16th amendment stated that the federal government has the authority to collect an income tax from Americans. -
17th Amendment
The 17th amendment gives voters the power to directly elect state senators to office. -
The Clayton Anti-Trust Act
The Clayton Anti-trust act strengthened the effects of the Sherman Anti-trust Act by shutting down even more monopolies. -
Beginning of WW1
The immediate cause of WW1 was the assassination of Archduke Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian national group. The US initially declared neutrality so they could continue trading with both sides. -
The Zimmerman Note
The Zimmerman Note was a message sent to Mexico from Germany which stated that if Mexico attacked the US, Germany would give Mexico back their land that they lost during the Mexican-American War. The US intercepts the note and joins WW1 on the Allies side as a result. -
The Spanish Flu outbreak
The Spanish Flu was an unusually deadly form of the flu which infected 500 million people over a three year period causing a major population dip. -
The Armistice
The Armistice ended all fighting for WW1 between the Allies and the Central Powers (mostly Germany). -
Period: to
Period 7 Part 2: 1918-1945
The Great Depression, World War 2, build up to Civil Rights Movement, reform movements. -
The Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the peace treaty that brought an end to WW1. The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to take the blame for the war and pay 33 billion dollars in reparations, along with giving up their colonies and reducing the size of their military. -
The Red Scare
The Red Scare occurred when Attorney General Mitchell Palmer sent out agents to raid the homes of people that were suspected of communism. -
The 18th Amendment
The 18th amendment was passed in 1919 and prohibited the manufacturing, selling, and transportation of alcoholic beverages in the United States. The 18th Amendment was repealed in 1933. -
The 19th Amendment
The 19th Amendment was passed in 1919 and granted the right to vote to all American Women -
The Emergency Immigration Quota Act
The Emergency Immigration Quota act used the 1910 census and stated that countries were only allowed three percent of the people already living in the US to come each year to America. -
The Beginning of the Great Depression
The Great Depression occurred because of the major dips in the stock market known as Black Thursday and Black Tuesday, along with chronic depressions in other industries. -
The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was a period of very intense Dust storms in the southern plains. The Dust Bowl occurred as a result of poor farming practices, severe drought, and extremely high temperatures. -
The Scottsboro Boys
The Scottsboro boys were nine African-American boys who were wrongly accused of raping two white women on a train and eight of them were sentenced to death. Their death sentences were overturned. -
The First New Deal
The New Deal was created by Franklin D. Roosevelt and offered many programs to help people that were suffering from the affects of the Great Depression. -
The National Housing Act
The National Housing Act created the Federal Housing Authority which encouraged people to buy homes by giving out low interest loans in order to help boost the economy. -
The Hatch Act
The Hatch act stated that federal government employees cannot participate in political campaigns or activity during work hours or as a representative of the organization. -
The Start of WWII
World War 2 began in 1939 as a result of aggressive dictators, disunion amount major powers, dissatisfaction with the Treaty of Versailles, and many more. The US initially declared neutrality. -
The Attack on Pearl Harbor
Japan Attacked the United States at Pearl Harbor and destroyed and damaged the majority of the Pacific Fleet. After the Attack on Pearl Harbor the US joined the fight in WW2 with the Allies. -
The Holocaust
The Holocaust was a genocide of European Jews in which the Nazis murdered approximately six million jewish people. The Holocaust lasted from 1941 until the end of world war 2 in 1945. -
Germany Surrenders
In May of 1945, Germany surrendered to the Allies which officially ended the war in Europe. -
The Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The US decided to drop two atomic bombs on Japan, one in Hiroshima and one in Nagasaki. Japan surrendered after the dropping of the atomic bombs, ending world war 2.