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Period: 1491 to
Period 1/2
This period encompasses the "discovery" of America, the efforts to colonization, and the eventual establishment of the 13 colonies of England. -
1492
Columbus Sails for America
Christopher Columbus set sail to find a new route to India for trade, but instead went across the Atlantic Ocean and "discovered" new continents. -
Roanoke Colony
Roanoke Colony was the effort of Sir Walter Raleigh to create the first English colony in the United States. Sadly, the colony "disappeared", and it was under very mysterious circumstances which no one knows the extent of to this day. -
Jamestown
The first permanent English settlement - established in 1607. Created by a joint-stock company, along the James River. -
Slavery Adressed
In 1650, the status of black people in the US changed from indentured servitude to slavery. This was due to the slave trade monopoly being broken up which allowed for more cheap slaves to be bought. -
Dominion of New England
King James II sent Edmund Andros to be in charge of all of New England, which resulted in a lot of limitations of colonists rights, due to Andros's less desirable qualities -
Stono Uprising
In 1739, a group of slaves tried to escape South Carolina to free Spanish Florida. This led to escalated tensions between the United States and Spain. -
George Whitfield Preaching Tour
During the Great Awakening, a sweeping religious revival that took place in the 1720s-40s, a preacher by the name of George Whitfield toured the south spreading "New Light" ideals to great crowds. -
Regulator Movement
The Regulator movement was the battle for representation between the rural backcountry (the poor), and the developed tidewater (the rich). -
End of French-Indian War
The colonies and England both felt as if they had done the brunt of the work, so, therefore, tensions arose, and British military personnel was sent to the colonies, which made things even worse. -
End of Salutary Neglect
After the culmination of the French-Indian War, England had a large amount of debt which needed to be paid off, which caused the end of salutary neglect, leading to more tensions to arise. -
Period: to
Period 3
This period covers the American Revolution, the Articles of Confederation, and the creation of the constitution. -
Sugar Act
This act enabled a tax on molasses and other similar objects, with the purpose of alleviating war debt off England. It led to numerous colonial protests because colonists believed parliament didn't have the right to tax them. -
Currency Act
This Act forced colonies to use British currency and barred them from printing paper money, also making the colonies pay all of their taxes in specie (gold or silver). -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was a British tax on all printed goods which affected all colonists, leading to a more unified form of aggravation. It specifically led to the creation of the Sons of Liberty, a resistance colonial group, and Non-Importation Agreements, or boycotting of British goods. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the murder of 5 colonists by British soldiers as a result of a small skirmish which got out of hand. This event helped solidify colonial resentment towards England. -
Tea Act
The Tea Act, an act which forced colonists to buy from the British-East India company, shut down lots of colonial tea manufactures, which upset many colonies, not just Boston. This led to the Boston Tea party, which in turn led to the Intolerable (or coercive) Acts. -
Intolerable/Coercive Acts
The Intolerable Acts were a response to the Boston Tea Party whose purpose was to punish Boston. The targetting of Boston led to a lot of support from other colonies, and a couple of declarations/resolves which, while still claiming subservience to the King, called the Acts unconstitutional. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of 12 delegates from 12/13 colonies to discuss how they would respond to the Intolerable Acts. -
Paul Revere's Ride
Paul Revere rode from Charlestown to Lexington alerting the citizens and minutemen that the English were coming to take control of the Colonial militia established in Concord. -
Battle of Lexington
This skirmish between the colonial minutemen and English resulted in 8 colonists and laid the roots for the start of the battles. It is unclear which side started the Battle, but it is clear that both sides took up arms against each other. -
Decleration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was the colonies' article which stated their freedom from England. It was adopted by the colonies of July 4th and symbolized the start of the American Revolution. -
US-France Alliance
After the United States proved its prowess in the War some, France decided to ally with them. This marked a great advantage for the colonies, as France's manpower was a crucial helping factor. -
Article of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, the United State's first governing documents, were ratified during the Revolution. They were written in 1777 but were fully ratified in 1781. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris ended the war, and England finally recognized the United States as an independent entity. The United States finally had become its own country. -
The Constitution
The Constitution replaced the Articles of Confederation as the United State's articles of government. They were created after long debates between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists, which ended with a compromise. -
George Washington Presidency (2nd Term)
George Washington, the United States first president, set the bar high for the role of president. He established the two-term precedent and many other influential practices. He is the first to lead the US into a new era of independence. -
Period: to
Period 4 part 1
This period centers around president Jefferson and his plans, the War of 1812, the Era of Good Feelings, and hemispherical expansion. -
Thoams Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated as the third president of the United States. He was a crucial individual with a very distinct set of views. -
Marbury v Madison
This important court case established the principle of judicial review, also known as allowing the judiciary to determine if something is constitutional. -
Louisiana Purchase
The US bought a whole chunk of land from France for an extremely low price, known as the Louisiana territory. It almost doubled the size of the US. -
Lewis and Clark
Two explorers, Lewis and Clark, set out under orders from Jefferson, to explore the west and find a route to the Atlantic Ocean. -
Embargo of 1807
In 1807, Thomas Jefferson sought to stop British Impressment by stopping trade with the whole world, as he thought it would be a tactical move. In reality, it backfired on him and decreased his support. -
Macons Bill no. 2
This bill introduced an offer of peace to both France and England, while the promise of attacking the other at the same time. It allowed the United States to slightly get manipulated. -
War of 1812
This war was between the US and England over impressment of US soldiers. It resulted in a sort of stalemate though, with neither side beneficing more. -
Treaty of Ghent
This Treaty officially ended the War of 1812. It was signed in the neutral city of Ghent. -
MuCulloch v Maryland
This landmark Supreme Court Case decided that it was in fact constitutional for the United States to establish a national scale Bank. -
Missouri Compromise
The compromise was an attempt to maintain the balance between slave and free states. Maine becomes a free state while Missouri becomes a slave state. -
Gibbons v Ogden
This supreme court case decided that it was constitutional for the federal government to regulate interstate commerce. It was decided under the Marshall court. -
Period: to
Period 4 part 2
This period was about Jacksonian Democracy, Nullification, Manifest Destiny, the creation of the Whig Party, and generally just other progressions in American life. -
Indian Removal Act
This Act allowed Native Americans to be forcibly removed off of their lands and relocated to other, less desirable, locations. It was signed into law by President Jackson -
Nat Turner Rebellion
In 1831, free African-American Nat Turner led the largest slave uprising in history. Turner was eventually tried and killed for his crimes. -
Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney's version of the cotton gin made it much easier and efficient to produce cotton, and also made it more profitable. This led to a massive increase in demand for slave labor. -
Texas Independence
Texas declared its independence from Mexico. This led to many conflicts surrounding its sovereignty, including the Battle of the Alamo. -
Trail of Tears
Over 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from their tribal lands in Georgia to reservations in Oklahoma. More than 4,000 died along the terribly hard and strenuous trip. -
William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison, the ninth president of the US, only served one month in office, after which he died from typhoid fever. He was succeeded by John Tyler. -
Period: to
Period 5
This period manifests around the buildup to the civil war, the civil war itself, and then reconstruction after it. -
Oregon Treaty
The US annexes Oregon after the Oregon Treaty, which set the US-Canada boundary to the 49th parallel. -
Wilmot Proviso
This was a proposal to ban slavery in territory gained by the impending Mexican-American war, but was exposed and thus unsuccessful. It fueled the debate over slavery. -
Mexican War
The United States declared war on Mexico to gain California and other southwest territories. It was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo. -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman escapes and begins an influential role in the underground railroad operation helping many other slaves escape and find freedom. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 sought to still some slavery problems by introducing new slave and free states, and also new methods of determining if a state will be either. -
Gadsden Purchase
This purchase was when the US bought some border territory from Mexico for $10 million, completing the south-west portion of the United States as we know it today. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and established new territories - Kansa and Nebraska - to be decided slave or not by popular sovereignty. It heightened the slave debate tensions. -
Dred Scott v Sanford
This landmark Supreme Court Case decided that Congress could NOT ban slavery and defended the constitutionality of it. The decision was made under the, as discovered in historical retrospect, very racist Roger Taney court. -
Panic of 1857
This economic recession was due to the overexpansion of railroads and only hit the North. The South took it as "God's endorsement of slavery". -
Lincoln v Douglas
The debates for the Senate seat in Illinois between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas brought Lincoln to a national level, and, even though he did not win, his ideologies still resounded across the north. -
Secession
Most of the south seceded after the resulting win for Lincoln in 1860. South Carolina led the way, followed by Florida, Georgia, and Alabama in 1860, and others later. -
The War Begins
Despite numerous attempts at peace, the war was inevitable. It began with Ft. Sumter, which the COnfederacy attacked and won over, and led to a contest over border states. -
Antietam Battle
This was the bloodiest single day in US history, with over 20,000 dying. It was in the East of the US. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act promoted westward expansion, giving 160 acres to any family which moved west and found profit after 5 years. -
Emancipation Proclomation
This proclamation by Lincoln freed all slaves in "rebellious" slaves. It was right after the battle of Gettysburg, and 3 years into the war. -
Period: to
Period 6
This period is when the Guilded Age happened which signified a lot of corruption and big businesses, and also the birth of many progressive reform movements. -
Military/Radical Reconstruction
This was congresses go at reconstruction, and it was a lot more strict and forceful than Johnsons, requiring the south to split into 5 zones and have a general placed to look over each. It was done to protect black rights and make the south humiliated. -
Credit Mobilier Scandal (Period 6)
This was an act of fraud commited by the Central Pacific railroad company. It split into two companies and drove up both stocks ending with a profit of 43 million. -
Transcontinental Railroad Completion (Period 6)
The Transcontininetal Railroad had different paths and was built by two different companies, the Union Pacific and Central Pacific. It helped make the US more "connected". -
Fifteenth Amendment (Period 5)
This Amendment gave all black men the right to vote and was passed under President Grant. It was heavily ignored and averted in the South after 1877. -
Panic of 1873 (Period 6)
This recession was caused by the federal government stating that no banks could exchange paper money for gold. It brought about questions about money policy and value. -
Compromise of 1877 (Period 5)
This compromise sought to fix the controversy of the 1876 election and did so by establishing Rutherford B Hayes as president with the change that Military Reconstruction is now over. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a formal restriction of chinese immigrants. It stated that there were to be no Chinese immigrants in the US, and was fueled by a public dislike of Chinese workers. -
Pendleton Act
The pendleton act mad government jobs more presitgious by limiting spoils system jobs (you had to pass certain tests to prove your adequacy). -
Wabash Case
This case decided that only the federal government could regulate interstate trade. It was decided in response to the Munn v Illinois case, and led to the Interstate Commerce Act of 1887. -
Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act was created by the federal govt. to regulate railroads, and did so by saying they had to charge fair rates, which were determined by the Interstate Commerce Commision. This was a problem because the ICC was filled with former railway-workers who set high rates. -
Ocala Demands
The Ocala demands were a set of ideas promoted by a farmer alliance which ended up having some state-wide effects and the creation of the Populist party in 1891. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
After the US banned the natives sun dance and many continued, the US killed 200 of the participants. The marked the end of armed native american resitance. -
Shift in Immigration
In the year 1890, there was a change in where the majority of immigrants came from, with more New Immigrants now (Asia + South/East Europe) than Old Immigrants (Northern and Western Europe). -
Pullman Strike
The pullman strike was a strike on Pullman carts, led by Eugene Debs, which layed grounwork for Progressive movements down the line and established Debs as a major strike leader. -
Wilmington Massacre
This was a violent oppresion of black voters in Wilimington, who were the majority, by white conservatives, "redshirts", resulting in many African-Americans leaving Wilmington. -
Period: to
Period 7 part 1
This period revolves around the end of the Guided Age, the progressive presidents, and World War One. -
1900 Election
The Election of 1900 was between McKinley and Bryan, and when Mckinley (R) won, Theodore Roosevelt was made his vice president so his career would die, since v.p. was not influential in that time. -
McKinley Assasination
President McKinley was assasinated in 1901, which resulted in Teddy Roosevelt become president, which is exactly who the Republicans did not want to happen. -
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
This treaty severed the Clayton-Bulward Treaty (which had stated that the panama canal would be a joint project between US and England) since England wasn't ready to commit fully. -
Anthracite Coal Strike
Miners went on strike, and when the federal government was contacted to do something by the owners, it suprisingly sided with the workers. -
Developments of Professional Organizations
These resulted from the emphasis on Efficiency and Professionalism, and some where the Bar Exams for lawyers, and more specifically the creation of the National Education Association. -
Hetch Hetchy Debate
After the San Fransisco earthquake, the city needed more water and wanted to get it by building a dam in the Hetch Hetchy valley, but found lots of opposition from preservationist John Muir. This led to a long back and forth of debating. -
Election of 1908
After William H. Taft won the election there was a lot of debating, and the Republican Party began to split through his time, primarily into progreesives and normal. The big pushing factors were how Taft dealt with the Tariff, Ballinger-Pinchot Controversey, and Insurgent/Progressive Revolt. -
Payne-Aldridge Tariff
This tariff lowered it from 46% to 40%, and, although initially Taft claimed he would drasitcally lower the tariff, he signed it since he was unsure if he could get it to go lower. This angered progressives, and they were even more upset when Taft attempted to defend himself. -
Ballinger-Pinchot Controversey
This was a series of argument between the Seceretary of Interior (Ballinger) and the Head of Forest Service (Pinchot) over land being sold, which, when Taft told them to stop and they didn't, resulted in Pinchot being fired. Since all progressives loved Pinchot, they began to dislike Taft even more. -
Insurgent/Progressive Revolt
The Progressive Revolt was when Progressive's reached their breaking points after Taft picked no side in an argument between progressives wanting to undermine Joe Cannon's authority and he , the speaker of the House, looking to Taft for support. -
1912 Election
This was TR vs Taft vs Wilson. Wilson won by letting the others fight while he established his policies and principles. (New Freedom Platform) -
Assasination of Archduke Ferdinand
The murder of Ferdinand kicked off World War One after the serbs killed him. War was declared by Austria-Hungary in July of 1914, with allies and central powers being formed. -
Philipines Peace
Ever since the US had won the Philipines in the Spanish-American War, there had been rebellion. In 1915, the fighting stopped and the US began to give back control to the Phillipines gradually. -
Zimmerman Telegram
This was a note from Germany to Mexico where Germany encouraged Mexico to ally with them and attack the US. When it was intercepted and expsosed, it led to a lot of public support for the war and was one of the final straws to the US entering the war. -
Treaty of Versailles (Period 7 part 1)
This was the treaty which ended the war, and was pretty harsh on Germany, forcing them to de-militarize and de-industrialize and pay 33 billion in reparations. It also ended up creating the Leauge of Nations, pushed by Wilson, which the US ironicall was never a part of after a failed Ratification fight. -
Period: to
Period 7 part 2
This period orbits around the corrupt 1920s, the Stock Market Crash and Great Depression, and World War Two. -
Prohibition
In 1919, when the 18th amendment was passed, prohibition was made legal, and then implemented by the volstead act. It led to more organized crime and mafia, and was shortly counteracted. -
19th Amendment
The 19th amendment granted women the right to vote nationally. It was pushed for by women's right advocate Susan B. Anthony. -
Emergency Immigration Quota Act
This quota act resulted from the large prescene of nativist ideaologies in the US, and stated that only 3% of each country's new immigrants from 1910 could enter the US. It was expanded upon by the later National Origins Act. -
Teapot Dome Scandal
This scandal exposed how corrupt the 1920's politics were. Albert Fall, and official of the government, sold US Navy land rich with oil out to private companies. -
National Origins Act
This quoata further limited immigration as initially established by the Emergency Quota. It went from using the 1910 census to the 1890 census, and from 3% acceptance of that number to 2%. It was done so since 1890 was just before the wave of new immigrants. -
Kellogg-Briand Pact
The Kellog-Briand Pact was a ridiculous pact signed my a surprising majority of countries which literall outlawed war. It was a little bit stupid since there was no way to enforce it, and it created a false sense of security. -
The Stock Market Crash
On black tuesday, there was a major dip in the US stock market which resulted in its closing for the weekend. When it reopened, it crashed almost immediatley on Black Tuesday. Everyone simaltaneously tried to sell their stock, which led to the Great Depression. -
Election of 1932
Herbert Hoover did a very bad job with the early years of the Depression and then had a very negative running campaign, so henceforth FDR won in a mandate on his "New Deal" platform. -
Banking and Revenue Great Depression Fix
Since nobody trusted the banks, FDR conducted a bank holiday where he had people examine how fit banks were and close them if they weren't. He also had prohibiton removed by the 21st amendment to raise revenue, and passed the Glass-Stegall act which ensured money in banks. -
Farm Problems 1933
Farms and rural areas were often hit hardest by the Great Depression. For farms, the Agricultural Adjustment Act payed farmers to produce less, but was at an unlucky time in the harvest which made many destroy their fields. It was declared unconstitutional. -
Results of the New Deal
After 1937, the new deal had kind of run its course. It left some positive effects - Labor/Industry balance, and conservation - and also some negative - the US debt doubled. It also redefined the general function of government in an individual and society's existance. -
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a peace vision statement between FDR and Winston CHurchill of England which showed that the US wasn't really neutral and sided more with the Allies. -
Pearl Harbor
The attack on Pearl Harbor was conducted by Japan resulting in a majority of the US pacific fleet being destroyed. It was a major mistake from Japan because it led to the US entering the War on the side of the Allies (and kind of them getting absolutley obliterated by nuclear bombs). -
Yalta Conference
This meeting between FDR, Stalin, and Churchill layed out some post-war provisions, and showed Churchills dislike and distrust of Stalin. Nevertheless, the USSR was promised land. -
Victory of WWI in Europe
On May 7, 1945, the USSR stormed Berlin with the help of some US troops and captured it. Hitler and many other higher-up Nazis committed suicide. Germany surrendered unconditionally.
