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Period: 1491 to
Age of Exploration (P 1/2)
Everyone had to get a piece of the new continents and islands. Everyone. It was almost an obligation. -
1492
New World discovered (Columbus' Misadventures)
Columbus accidentally discovers an entire new landmass shortly after landing in the Bahamas whilst trying to chart a new India trade route.
Without this, who knows how long the world would have taken to find this place otherwise. The vikings obviously weren't talking. -
1497
John Cabot Expedition
Henry the 7th of England had heard of the new area and commissioned John Cabot to go check it out. This is the earliest known expedition of coastal North America by Europeans -
1513
Ponce De Leon Expedition
Led the first exploration of Florida. He later went on to become the first governor of Puerto Rico. -
1518
Hernando Cortes Expedition
Started by joining an expedition to Cuba, but returned later to explore Mexico in the name of Spain. -
The colony of Roanoke Island, NC is established
Sir Walter Raleigh along with a small group invest in founding a permanent settlement in the New World -
Roanoke Colony Disappears
Their leader, John White, is called back to England to do a few things. When he returns, the colony just isn't there. -
Jamestown Founded
After the Roanoke incident, people were reluctant to try again, but this time, it succeeded. -
Massachusetts Bay Colony founded
We all know the story with the "first thanksgiving". A bunch of people sail over on the Mayflower, things go extremely wrong, life is terrible, and then the natives bail them out. -
Trade and Navigation Acts
This was the first attempt at a taxation system that pertained to merchants. -
Period: to
French and Indian War
The reason most of what happens in period 3 happens. -
French and Indian War ends
One of many treaties of Paris, the clock is set for the revolution. -
Period: to
Period 3
Every country has to start somewhere. -
Stamp Act
The first tax placed on the colonies after the French and Indian War. -
Sons of Liberty founded
The unofficial start to the revolution. People had strong opinions about the new tax, and tensions reach a breaking point. -
Boston Massacre
A riot ensues and nearby soldiers open fire. The incident is heavily publicized by Paul Revere to gain more support. -
Boston Tea Party
Bunch of dudes dress up in really bad native costumes and dump an entire fleet's shipment of tea into the Boston harbor -
1st Continental Congress meets
Delegates from all over come to discuss their plans for countering the next set of taxes. George Washington is among them. -
Coercive/Intolerable Acts passed
Britain reacted exactly how you would expect them to after someone messes with the sanctity of their tea. -
2nd Continental Congress meets
Delegates return once again to discuss full, open rebellion. -
Shot heard round the world
Somebody (no one knows for sure who) fires the first shot of the Revolutionary War. -
Battle of Lexington/Concord
The first major conflict of the revolution. The british went to try to secure the armories to keep the colonists from arming themselves. It didn't work. -
Declaration of Independence signed
It is official. A formal announcement of everything they hated about England in one letter. -
Battle of Saratoga
The turning point of the revolution. The patriots finally began winning some battles. -
Battle of Yorktown (Cornwallis' surrender)
The official end to the American Revolution. The USA was now a country! -
Washington's Inauguration
Washington becomes the first ever US president. -
Period: to
4 P1
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Louisiana Purchase
The united states bought a huge chunk of land from France called the Louisiana Territory -
Marbury Vs Madison
The first important supreme court case. Established judicial review as a power for the judicial branch. -
Lewis and Clarke Expedition
Two men were tasked with the project of exploring the new land of the Louisiana Purchase and reporting back interesting finds. -
James Madison elected
A huge victory for the Democratic-Republicans, this was the first step in the Federalists' eventual collapse. -
Slave Trade abolished
The "Unfortunate Institution" was finally brought to an end by Thomas Jefferson. -
Fletcher v Peck
Supreme Court decision that set the precedent that the Court can declare state laws unconstitutional. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
One of many conflicts with the natives over land and settlement issues -
War of 1812
The british were messing with american shipping, and things escalated. -
Treaty of Ghent signed
Another helpful move on Henry Clay's part, he negotiated the formal end to the war of 1812. -
Missouri Compromise
Congress as usual was having trouble getting along long enough to actually run the country. A man named Henry Clay steps in and offers a compromise. -
First tied election
The vote was so close the election was declared a draw and John Quincy Adams was chosen by the House as instructed by the 12th Amendment. -
Period: to
4 p2
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Andrew Jackson elected president
This guy's presidency was a mess. Name a Native American related incident, and this guy probably had a hand in it somewhere. -
Indian Removal Act
Just one of many heinous escapades attributed to the Jackson presidency, this act allowed for the forced relocation of native tribes. -
Trail of Tears
Part of the application of the Indian Removal Act, this was the nasty walk that coupled the removal. -
Bank War
Not an actual shooting war, but more of an ideological one due to Jackson's disapproval of the national bank -
Andrew Jackson reelected
Somehow he managed to scrape by in a reelection. -
Worcester V Georgia
Supreme court case that decided (despite being largely ignored in practice) that the court had the power to enforce native rights, overriding a Georgia law. -
Trail of Tears finally stopped
It took several years, but the government decided that marching natives off their ancestral land was probably a bad thing. -
James K. Polk elected president
This president has some impressive things to his name, such as gaining Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona into the union. -
Period: to
P 5
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Texas becomes a state
After the Mexican-American war, the victorious USA decided to officially welcome Texas into the Union. -
Period: to
Mexican-American War
Both the US and Mexico claimed Texas for their own and things got ugly fast. -
Mexican Cession
Another slice of Mexico, but this one they just gave to the US -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty that both ended the Mexican-American war and how the US gained the Mexican Cession. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin published
Someone wrote a book, and it got famous -
Gadsden purchase
A small bit of mexico purchased for $10 million (in that day's money) that became part of New Mexico and Arizona -
Dred Scott V Sanford
Supreme Court case that set up the long-lasting (but not permanent) Separate-but-equal policy. -
Period: to
Lincoln / Douglas debates
a series of debates that usually resulted in the two candidates civilly waiting their turn to speak and then insulting each other to smithereens. -
Abraham Lincoln elected as the 16th president
Lincoln won the debates and soon after, the election. The only problem was, the South had a surprise in store... -
Battle of Fort Sumter
The confederate soldiers saw a Union supply ship and thought it was a warship. all that happened was that they accidentally caused the bloodiest war in American History. -
Period: to
American Civil War
the south had decided that it didn't like the north anymore, so they seceded. Didn't win, but they certainly tried. -
Robert E. Lee surrenders
The last battle wasn't very climactic. Lee realized that they were going to lose and cut his losses. -
Lincoln Assassination
Lincoln just wanted to see a play, but John Wilkes Booth decided to ruin the president's day. -
Period: to
P 6 (the Gilded Age)
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Period: to
Reconstruction
the measures taken by DC to ensure that the South behaved. -
Andrew Johnson Impeachment
The first president to be impeached, the sentiment involved with it has led some historians to believe that it was a partisan fabrication because congress didn't like him. I guess we'll never know for sure. -
Ulysses S. Grant elected president
The man was a general, and war hero candidates for some reason have a better chance at winning. -
John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
the first of a line of really lousy events... -
15th amendment
The new constitutional amendment was drafted and quickly ratified, adding the provision that rights will not be violated on the basis of race or "previous condition of servitude". -
Georgia Readmitted into the Union
the last confederate state was eligible to rejoin the Union, officially dissolving the Confederate States of America. -
Yellowstone National Park established
The first national park, President Grant founded the area at the urging of environmentalists. -
Rutherford B. Hayes elected president
this election was weird, as it involved a compromise and the sating of the south with cabinet access. -
Pullman Strike
Workers got tired of being pushed around by their employers, so they started unionizing. This was one of such measures taken by the unions. -
Panama Canal Started
people wanted a way to get to the pacific without going all the way around South America, so the US decided to dig a big hole in the smallest stretch of land they could find. Panama. -
James Garfield elected president
214-155 electoral votes, but scrapes by with around 7k votes ahead for the popular vote. -
Garfield assassinated
A guy walks up to him and shoots him, but it takes 2 months for the resulting infection to kill him. -
Grover Cleveland elected president
Another president in the era jokingly called the "Era of forgettable presidents" since they all looked more or less the same. Cleveland is also the only president to serve non-consecutive terms. -
Haymarket Square Incident
Started over a strike that went badly wrong. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
Another incident involving the area called Wounded Knee. -
Period: to
P7 P1
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William McKinley reelected president
Famous for having extreme ups and downs throughout his administration. -
Construction of the first NY subway system begins
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McKinley Assassination
Protection of the president in those days was absolutely terrible. The guy just walked up to McKinley and shot him. -
First Flight
William and Orville Wright make the first successful airplane and get it off the ground at Kitty Hawk, NC -
Henry Ford invents the Model T car
One of the first successful cars ever built, it became widely popular and Ford got very wealthy from it. -
NAACP formed
Despite the North's victories in the Civil War, tensions were still high among the different populations in the south, where lynchings were common. Therefore, people got together to do something about it. -
Titanic Sinks
Another story that everyone probably knows about by this point. Unsinkable boat sinks anyway and a bunch of rich people escape on the weirdly inadequate amounts of lifeboats available while everyone else has to swim for it. -
Woodrow Wilson elected president
The president who got the US through WWI relatively unscathed. -
16th Amendment
this said that Congress could collect an income tax -
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) founded
This organization (as the name suggests) oversees the enforcement of regulations related to trade and trade practices. -
Period: to
World War 1 / WWI / The Great War
Archduke Ferdinand is assassinated, resulting in a snowball of secret alliances declaring war on each other and then things got messier and messier. -
Pancho Villa starts his crazines
a group of mercenaries from Mexico, led by a man named Pancho Villa, hop the border and mess with a small town in the state of New Mexico, much to the government's chagrin, who was never able to bust him. -
Zimmerman Note -- America enters the war
British Intelligence intercepts a letter to the Mexican government from Germany, which asked Mexico to provoke America into its own separate war so that they would be too busy to help the Allies. The US reacted as one would expect, to say the least. -
Russian Revolution / First Red Scare
Communists overthrew the Russian Government, and people got paranoid that it could happen again elsewhere... -
Spanish Flu breaks out
Too soon? Eh. One of the worst pandemics of such kind gets bad fast. -
Period: to
P7 P2
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League of Nations Established
Although the US didn't join, it was US president Woodrow Wilson who came up with the idea. -
Prohibition / 18th Amendment
The banning of the sale or production of alcoholic drinks...officially. Not many people ever listened to it though. -
Warren G. Harding elected president
This president has had some scandals that history won't soon forget -
Period: to
Teapot Dome scandal
A scandal in the administration of Harding, this bribery issue took a little while to resolve -
The Jazz Singer premiers
The first "talkie" ever made, this was the first motion picture that had sound instead of some dude playing the piano. -
Herbert Hoover elected president
The president widely regarded as the worst, due to his lousy response to the collapsing US economy. -
Period: to
Great Depression
The US economy went down the toilet and life wasn't great until FDR came along -
Hawley-Smoot Tariff
Jacked the import tax up to over 50% -
Dust Bowl
as if economic collapse wasn't enough, overfarming in the midwest caused a huge dust storm to cover the area, causing even more problems. -
FDR elected president
the president that not only got the economy working again, he also led the US thru WW2. He is also the only president to be elected to 4 terms in office -
New Deal begins
the series of programs that FDR put into place to rescue the economy. -
Hindenburg Disaster
a blimp called the Hindenburg explodes without warning -
"War of the Worlds" broadcasted
a radio drama that was organized to sound like it was legitimate news reports, stating the the Earth was getting invaded from mars. To avoid mass panic, as they had done it so well, they announced that it was all a joke soon afterwards. The provided picture is from a Tom Cruise movie adaptation of the story. -
Period: to
World War 2 / WWII
once again, planet earth starts a total war with itself. This time thanks to a certain Adolf Hitler in Germany. -
Pearl Harbor attacked
Japan had the idea to bomb the US naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. It was kind of smart at first, tactics-wise, but they regretted doing that immensely later. They got to find out what getting nuked feels like-- twice.
