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Period: 1491 to
Period 1/2: 1491-1763
Native America, European Exploration, colonization -
1492
Discovery of America
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus encountered the Americas, continents which were virtually unknown in Europe. -
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas was a treaty between Portugal and Spain which was decided to divide up all the land in the Americas between the two of them. -
1519
Hernan Cortes invades Mexico
Hernan Cortes invaded Mexico in 1519 and conquered the Aztec Empire. -
1532
Francisco Pizarro invades Peru
Francisco Pizarro invaded Peru in 1532 and wiped out the Inca empire with a small force of men. -
1555
Tobacco in Europe
With tobacco, English settlers finally found a New World commodity that worked well in the mercantile system. -
1565
St. Augustine
St. Augustine was the first permanent settlement set up by the Spanish in the new world. -
Jamestown
Jamestown was the first successful English colony in the future U.S settled in Virginia. -
Plymouth
Plymouth was the first settlement created in Massachusetts by separatists who south to create a religiously pure society. -
Rhode Island
After being banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for his religious views Roger Williams founded Rhode Island as a place of religious freedom. -
French and Indian War begins
The French and Indian war began in the colonies when french settlers encroached on land claimed by the British. -
Period: to
Period 3: 1763-1800
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Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 was an Act of the Parliament of Britain which imposed a direct tax on the colonies. -
Sons of Liberty formed
The Sons of Liberty formed as a direct response of the stamp act and they would work to have it repealed. -
Townshend acts
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British government on the American colonies. -
Townshend acts repealed
The British parliament repealed the Townshend acts on all but tea. -
Boston massacre
British soldiers shot and killed several people while being harassed by a mob in Boston. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston. -
Intolerable acts
The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest. -
Battle of Concord
English troops sent to confiscate weapons in Concord. They were confronted by minutemen. -
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written by Thomas Jefferson and it Provides a principle of individual liberty and grievances against Britain -
Ratification of the US. constitution
US. constitution ratified by the states. -
First President
Washington sworn in as first president. Served two terms. -
Establishment of first national bank
Government assumed all national debt and took citizens debt saying they would pay it back. -
Whiskey rebellion
This was a tax protest on the taxing of whiskey. This occurred during Washington's presidency. -
Thomas Jefferson elected president
This was the first non-federalist president in America. -
Convention of 1800
The convention of 1800 ended the Quasi-War. -
Period: to
Period 4 part 1: 1800-1824
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Judiciary act
The Judiciary Act of 1801 expanded federal jurisdiction. -
Louisiana purchase
Jefferson purchases Louisiana Territory from France. -
Marbury vs Madison
U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States. -
Lewis and Clark exploration
The first expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. -
Embargo act
It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The battle of Tippecanoe lasted approximately one day with the United States securing victory. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a conflict fought between the United States and the United Kingdom. -
Seminole wars
General Jackson concluded that it was necessary for the United States to invade Spanish territory and forcibly take control of Pensacola. -
Dartmouth College vs. Woodword
New Hampshire had violated the contract clause in its attempt to install a new board of trustees for Dartmouth College. -
Gibbon v. Ogden
The ruling gives Congress authority to regulate interstate commerce. -
Period: to
Period 4 part 2: 1824-1848
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Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of 1828 was a protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States. -
Indian removal act
The law authorized the president to negotiate with southern Native American tribes for their removal to federal territory. -
Force Bill
The Force Bill was a law passed by Congress that temporarily gave the President of the United States the power to use the U.S. military. -
Whig Party
The Whigs were one of the two major political parties in the United States during the 1800ś. -
Battle of the Alamo
The Mexicans won the battle, killing all of the Texan soldiers inside the fort. -
Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States. -
Trail of tears
The Trail of Tears was the forced relocation of approximately 60,000 Native Americans. -
James K. Polk
Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in the election of 1844. -
Period: to
Period 5: 1844-1877
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US. annexes Texas
The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. -
Walker Tariff
The Walker Tariff was a set of tariff rates adopted by the United States in 1846. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consisted of five laws passed that dealt with the issue of slavery. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 allowed popular sovereignty in the Kansas and Nebraska territories. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
The Supreme Court ruled that Americans of African descent, whether free or slave, were not American citizens. -
Secession of South Carolina
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. -
Election of 1860
Abraham Lincoln had received more popular votes in the United States than any of the other candidates. -
Civil War
The Civil War was a war between the Northern States and the Southern States over state’s rights. -
Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter South Carolina is the location where Confederate forces fired the first shots of the Civil War. -
Battle of Gettysburg
This battle was fought in Pennsylvania in 1863 and ended in a major victory for the North and is considered the turning point of the war. -
Emancipation proclamation
The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states are, and henceforward shall be free. -
Reconstruction era
The Reconstruction era was the period after the American Civil War from 1865 to 1877. -
13th Amendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery permanently in the United States. -
Homestead act
The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land. -
Period: to
Period 6:1 1865-1898
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Civil Rights act
This act declared blacks to be citizens and forbid the states to discriminate between citizens because of race or color. -
14th Amendment
The amendment stated that there would be equal protection to all under the law. -
15th Amendment
The 15th amendment stated that all men had the right to vote, that included black men as well. -
Treaty of Fort Laramie
The treaty was to bring peace between the whites and the Sioux who agreed to settle within the Black Hills reservation in the Dakota Territory. -
Andrew Johnson impeached
Andrew Johnson became the first American president to be impeached. -
Transcontinental Railroad completed
The transcontinental railroad had been a dream for people living in the American West. -
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America. -
Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an unwritten deal that settled the intensely disputed 1876 presidential election. -
Dawes Severalty act
The government called for the distribution of Indian reservation land among individual Native Americans. -
The Great Railroad strike
The Great Railroad strike was after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut wages for the third time in a year. -
Chinese exclusion act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the first immigration law that excluded an entire ethnic group. -
Hay market square incident
Hay market square incident occurred when a labor protest rally near Chicago's Hay market Square turned into a riot after someone threw a bomb at police. -
1890 Census
It determined the resident population of the United States to be 62,979,766. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. -
Spanish American War
The Spanish–American War was an armed conflict between Spain and the United States in 1898. -
Period: to
Period 7 part 1: 1898-1918
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President McKinley assassinated
During his presidency, McKinley led the nation to victory in the Spanish American War. -
Drago doctrine
The doctrine that states cannot employ force in order to recover debts incurred by other states. -
Ford motor company formed
Henry Ford built his first experimental car in a workshop behind his home in Detroit in 1896. -
Big Stick Diplomacy
President Theodore Roosevelt’s foreign policy: "speak softly and carry a big stick; you will go far." -
Wright Brothers
The Wright brothers were two Americans credited with inventing and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. -
Harley Davidson motor company formed
Harley Davidson was one of two major American motorcycle manufacturers to survive the Great Depression, along with Indian. -
FBI established
The Federal Bureau of Investigation is the domestic intelligence and security service of the United States. -
William Howard Taft
William Howard Taft becomes the 27th President of the United States. -
Mann Elkins act
The Mann Elkins Act was a 1910 United States federal law that was among the Progressive era reforms. -
16th Amendment
The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes. -
FTC created
The Federal Trade Commissions principal mission is the enforcement of civil U.S. antitrust law. -
Clayton Antitrust act
The Clayton Antitrust Act was much more effective than the earlier Sherman Antitrust Act and gave the government more power. -
World War 1 begins
World War I began in 1914 after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and lasted until 1918. -
Lusitania sunk
The sinking of the ocean liner RMS Lusitania occurred on Friday, 7 May 1915 during the First World War -
Zimmerman telegram
The Zimmerman Telegram proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico. -
World War 1 ends
On 4 November, the Austro-Hungarian empire agreed to the Armistice of Villa Giusti. -
Period: to
period 7 part 2:1918-1945
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Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles forced Germany to accept full blame for World War I. -
Stock Market crash
The Stock Market Crash of 1929 marked the beginning of the Great Depression. -
Munich Pact signed
The Munich Pact showed that the other European nations were acting powerlessly and desperately trying to avoid a war. -
German invasion of Poland
Germany's invasion of Poland was the final step leading to World War II. -
Pearl Harbor attack
The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor drew the United States into World War II. -
Atlantic charter
The Atlantic Charter was a statement issued in August of 1941 that set out American and British goals for the period following the end of World War II. -
Battle of Midway
The Battle of Midway was a turning point in the war in the Pacific. -
Battle of Stalingrad
The Battle of Stalingrad was one of the largest and bloodiest battles in history. -
Tehran Conference
The Tehran Conference was a strategy meeting of Joseph Stalin, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Winston Churchill. -
D-Day
U.S. Forces stormed the beaches of Normandy, France. -
Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge was the last major German offensive attack of World War II. -
V-E Day
V-E Day marks the end of World War II in Europe. -
Potsdam Conference
The Potsdam Conference was the last of the Big Three meetings during World War II. -
Nuclear Bomb dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki
The nuclear bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki took the lives of millions of innocent citizens. -
Yalta Conference
The Yalta Conference was a meeting between the three major leaders of the Allies: FDR, Churchill, and Stalin.