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1491
Period 1: Early contact
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1492
European discovery of the New World
Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, sailing for Spain’s Ferdinand and Isabella, accidently discovered the New World. Columbus had set out to find a route west to Asia from Europe, and, upon landing in the present-day Bahamas, he at first believed he had reached the Indies. Columbus’s discovery made him a celebrated hero upon his return to Europe. He would make three more journeys across the Atlantic—in 1493, 1498, and 1502 -
Feb 2, 1492
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange refers to the flow of goods between the Americas, Europe, and Africa that followed Columbus’s widely advertised “discovery” of the New World. People, animals, plants, and disease passed from continent to continent affecting virtually all aspects of the environment in all three. -
1512
encomienda system established
Under the encomienda system, conquistadors and other leaders (encomenderos) received grants of a number of Indians, from whom they could exact “tribute” in the form of gold or labor. The encomenderos were supposed to protect and Christianize the Indians granted to them, but they most often used the system to effectively enslave the Indians and take their lands. -
1517
Religious battles in the New World
According to historian Peter Mancall, “It is impossible to overstate the significance of religious strife in post-Reformation Europe.” When Ferdinand and Isabella had completed the Reconquista of Spain (1492) they turned their attention to the winning of souls in the New World. After Martin Luther, a German monk, sparked the Protestant Reformation in 1517, the newly Protestant kingdoms of northern Europe were equally committed to combatting the expansion of Catholicism -
1525
The rise of the Atlantic slave trade
The first record of a slave trade voyage direct from Africa to the Americas is for a ship that landed in Santo Domingo, on the island Española (Hispaniola), in 1525. -
1555
Tobacco arrives in Europe
With tobacco, English settlers finally found a New World commodity that worked well in the mercantile system. Spanish explorers already had great success with gold and silver finds and the French created a vibrant market for furs in Europe -
Unit 2
Europeans and American Indians maneuvered and fought for dominance, control, and security in North America, and distinctive colonial and native societies emerged -
Jamestown, Virginia, founded
The first English colonists wanted gold and silver. Instead they found sickness and disease. This 1622 letter from Jamestown colonist Sebastian Brandt to Henry Hovener, a Dutch merchant living in London, is devoted to requesting supplies for a colony still unable survive on its own. Brandt, who likely arrived in 1619 in a wave of 1,200 immigrants, writes, “I am now in good health, but my brother and my wyfe are dead aboute a yeare pass’d.” -
New Amsterdam
The Dutch colonization of New Netherland (which included parts of present-day New York, Delaware, New Jersey, and Connecticut) began in the 1620s. From the outset, New Netherland was a multiethnic, multireligious society. -
Anne Hutchinson banished
Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) was an English-born Massachusetts Puritan who organized religious meetings for women and challenged the political authority of the clergy. As a result, Hutchinson was tried in 1637 for “traducing the ministers” of the church. John Winthrop, the governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony, served as both prosecutor and judge in her trial. Banished from Massachusetts, Hutchinson eventually settled on Long -
King Phillips War
Metacomet, the Wampanoag leader called “Philip” by the English, led a war against New England settlers who wanted to subject the native New England population to colonial control. Historian Jill Lepore notes: “When Philip himself was killed in August of 1676 over half of all the English towns in New England had been destroyed. In fact, in proportion to population, King Philip’s War was the most fatal war in American history.” -
The Pueblo Revolt
In what is present-day New Mexico, the Pueblo peoples, led by Popé, coordinated an uprising against the Spanish at dozens of settlements scattered across hundreds of miles. The Indians destroyed buildings and churches and killed more than 400 Spaniards. They burned Sante Fe and drove the Spanish back to El Paso. While the Pueblo Revolt was the most successful effort by American Indians to drive out European settlers from their lands, the Spanish were back in twelve years -
The Middle Passage
In 1725 Stephen Bayard reported that of “30 [negroes] dyed in the passage” on a seventeen-week voyage to New York due to a shortage of food. Four-fifths of the people brought to the New World between 1492 and 1820 were from Africa and enslaved -
Indentured servitude
Colonial Americans engaged in many forms of unfree labor, with great numbers of youths moving away from their families to become servants or apprentices. The terms of their service were spelled out in contracts called indentures, legal agreements that were entered into by the child’s parent(s) and the child’s new master. In November 1742, John Reid Jr. of New Jersey bound himself to Robert Livingston Jr., a member of a prominent New York family, to learn the merchant trade. -
Period 3
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The French and Indian War
Half a century of conflict between Britain and France over North America culminated in the French and Indian War—the Seven Years’ War in Europe. Unlike previous Anglo-French wars, which were outgrowths of European conflicts, this one began with colonial initiatives. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 “preserved to the said Indians” the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and ordered white settlers “there forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements,” forbade white settlement, and restricted commerce with the American Indians to traders licensed by the British government, requiring settlers ” Power over westward expansion was now in the hands of British officials -
The Sugar Act
To maintain the army and repay war debts, Parliament decided to impose duties on colonial trade. It passed the Sugar Act, a law that imposed duties on foreign wines, coffee, textiles, and indigo imported into the colonies, and that also expanded the customs service -
The Stamp Act
Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years’ War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. It was a direct tax imposed by the British government, without the approval of the colonial legislatures, and was payable in hard-to-obtain British sterling, rather than colonial currency. -
The Boston Massacre
By the beginning of 1770, there were 4,000 British soldiers in Boston, a city with 15,000 inhabitants, and tensions were running high. On the evening of March 5, crowds of day laborers, apprentices, and merchant sailors began to pelt British soldiers with snowballs and rocks. A shot rang out, and then several soldiers fired their weapons. -
The Tea Act
To save the East India Company from bankruptcy, Parliament implemented the Tea Act, authorizing the company to sell a huge tea surplus directly to the public without payment of duty. The action outraged established tea merchants and effectively gave a monopoly to the East India Company. -
Intolerable Acts
British Parliament enacted the Port Act in reprisal for the Boston Tea Party in March 1774. The first of the “Intolerable Acts,” the Port Act closed Boston harbor to all shipping until payment for the destroyed tea was made. -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
The American Revolutionary War began with the “shot heard ’round the world.” At the battles of Lexington and Concord, seventy-three British troops were killed and 200 were wounded or missing in action. -
The Declaration of Independence
On July 2, 1776, Congress declared independence from Great Britain and two days later adopted the Declaration of Independence. Copies of the Declaration were then sent out to the new "Free and Independent States" to print and distribute. -
Valley Forge
The American army claimed a major victory of the war at Saratoga when Continental forces trapped British General John Burgoyne’s army in October 1777. But just months later the situation took a turn for the worse. Washington made camp for the winter at Valley Forge where his army suffered incredible hardship through the winter, facing disease, cold, hunger, and lack of supplies. In this circular letter -
Articles of Confederation
The Second Continental Congress named a committee to draft a document, the Articles of Confederation, to define the relationship among the thirteen new states. The members worked from June 1776 until November 1777, when they sent a draft to the states for ratification. On December 16, 1777, Virginia became the first state to ratify the Articles of Confederation. Maryland was the last, holding out until March 1, 1781. -
UNIT 4 - Thomas Jeferson Elected
In 1800, the nation had a choice between John Adams, the incumbent, and Thomas Jefferson, the vice president. Adams had lost support through his attempt to remain neutral in the French-British conflict and through the passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts. After six days and 36 ballots, the House of Representatives elected Thomas Jefferson the third president of the United States. -
The Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson, fearing that a French colonial empire in North America would block American expansion, sent negotiators to France with instructions to purchase New Orleans and as much of the Gulf Coast as they could for $10 million. The subsequent 1803 Louisiana Purchase more than doubled the size of the United States. -
Embargo of 1807
In an attempt to avert war, the United States imposed an embargo on foreign trade. The embargo was an unpopular and costly failure. It hurt the American economy far more than the British or French and resulted in widespread smuggling and unemployment. -
War of 1812
The United States declared war against Britain in 1812 over interference with American shipping and impressment of American seamen -
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30' N. except in Missouri, which was admitted to the Union as a slave state while Maine (until then part of Massachusetts) was admitted as a free state -
Andrew Jackson elected president
Democrat Andrew Jackson defeated incumbent John Quincy Adams to win the presidential election of 1828. -
Indian Removal Act
President Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which authorized aggressive efforts to open Indian lands to whites and promised financial compensation to Indian tribes that agreed to resettle on lands west of the Mississippi River. -
Nullification Crisis
South Carolina, with the support of Vice President John C. Calhoun, in protest of federal protective tariffs, adopted an Ordinance of Nullification declaring the tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void in the state. President Jackson charged that the state was “on the brink of insurrection and treason.” He sent federal military forces to Charleston, but the crisis was resolved with the passage of Henry Clay’s compromise tariff bill in 1833 -
MANIFEST DESTINY UNIT 5
Texas was admitted to the Union as a slave state in 1845. “Manifest Destiny” or the idea that the United States had a special right and duty to spread its democratic system from coast to coast, was a crucial theme used to justify the Mexican-Amercan War that followed hard on annexation. -
Mexican American War
In 1846 President Polk sent a US representative to the Mexican government to make an offer to buy California and parts of New Mexico as well as to settle disputed territory claims in Texas. In exchange for this land he offered $25–$30 million and an additional $3 million in debt relief owed to American citizens by Mexico. The Mexican government refused to meet with the representative. -
Compromise of 1850
Congress adopted the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California to the Union as a free state without forbidding slavery in other territories acquired from Mexico -
Fugitive Slave Law
Congress passed the Fugitive Slave Act as part of the Compromise of 1850. The law forced northerners to cooperate in returning runaway slaves to the South -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Southern members of Congress demanded that Douglas add a clause that specifically repealed the Missouri Compromise, which had prohibited slavery north of latitude 36°30' north. Instead, the status of slavery in the region would be decided by a vote of the region’s settlers. In its final form, Douglas’s bill created two territories (Kansas and Nebraska) and declared the Missouri Compromise “inoperative and void.” -
Dread Scott decision
In 1846, Dred Scott, held as a slave in Missouri, sued for his freedom arguing that he had lived for four years in Illinois, a free state, and Wisconsin, a free territory. By a vote of 7 to 2, the Court ruled that Dred Scott had no right to sue in federal court because African Americans, enslaved or free, were not citizens; that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional; and that Congress had no right to exclude slavery from the territories. -
Emancipaction Proclamation
“all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State . . . in rebellion against the United States . . . thenceforward and forever free.” Slaves in loyal areas (including the Border States) were not freed by the proclamation, as Lincoln believed that he only had the power to issue the proclamation as a war measure. Lincoln also used the proclamation to announce his intention to recruit African Americans into the military -
Ulysses S. Grant elected president
Ulysses S. Grant was elected the eighteenth president of the United States of America, receiving 214 of 294 electoral votes -
Transcontinental Road Completed (Unit6) GLIDED AGE
The first transcontinental railroad was completed when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met. Chinese and European laborers were recruited to help lay 1800 miles of track. The costs of financing the project were too great to be borne by one group of investors. -
The Battle Of Little Bighorn
In the war against western Sioux, General George Custer and more than two hundred of his men died along Montana’s Little Bighorn River at the hands of Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. -
Indian Appropriations Act
In the late nineteenth century, Indian policy began to place a growing emphasis on erasing a distinctive American Indian identity. To weaken the authority of tribal leaders, Congress passed the Indian Appropriation Act, which ended the practice of treating tribes as independent, sovereign nations. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was the nation’s first law to ban immigration by race or nationality. The act, which was renewed and enforced until 1943, banned Chinese immigration for ten years and prohibited the Chinese from becoming citizens. The Act didn’t stop anti-Chinese violence—Seattle and Tacoma, Washington, and Rock Springs, Wyoming, were rocked by devastating riots in 1885 and 1886. -
Standardized Oil Trust organized
John D. Rockefeller created Standard Oil Trust by trading stockholders’ shares for trust certificates. The trust was designed to allow Rockefeller and other Standard Oil stockholders to get around state laws prohibiting one company from owning stock in another. -
Interstate Commerce Act
Congress passed the Interstate Commerce Act in 1887, making the railroads the first industry subject to federal regulation. Congress passed the law largely in response to public demand and pressure from farmers and populist groups. -
"The Gospel of Wealth"
Andrew Carnegie published his essay “The Gospel of Wealth” in May 1889. In it, Carnegie asserted the benefits and responsibilities of wealth, calling on the wealthy to consider “the most beneficial result for the community.” One of Carnegie’s first forays was a massive program to build public libraries. A total of 2,509 Carnegie libraries were built between 1883 and 1929. The Carnegie Foundation continues to distribute his fortune to philanthropic causes. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act (Unit 7) Mass Culture
The act declares that “[e]very contract, combination in the form of trust or otherwise, or conspiracy, in restraint of trade or commerce among the several States, or with foreign nations, is declared to be illegal.” Part Two further makes it a felony to monopolize or attempt to monopolize any aspect of interstate trade or commerce. -
Spanish American War
Cubans began to fight for their independence from Spain in 1895. Newspaper publishers like William Randolph Hearst and Joseph Pulitzer worked up war fever among the public with reports of Spanish atrocities against Cuban rebels. On February 15, 1898 an explosion sank the USS Maine in Havana harbor. A naval court of inquiry blamed the explosion on a mine, further inflaming public sentiment against Spain. -
Annexation of Phili, Puertto Rico, and Guam
In the 1898 Treaty of Paris, which ended the Spanish-American War, Spain ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the United States. The conflict precipitated in the Philippines was officially ended in 1902, but fighting continued for several more years. -
Assassination of William McKinley
President William McKinley was shot twice by Leon Czolgosz, the anarchist son of Polish immigrants. McKinley died eight days later on September 14, 1901. He was succeeded by Vice President Theodore Roosevelt. -
Start of Panama Canal
American construction began on the Panama Canal. It took ten years and $352 million dollars to complete. The canal opened in 1914. During the building of the canal, begun under the French in 1879, more than 26,000 workers, many West Indian, died from construction accidents and yellow fever and other diseases. -
Roosevelt Corollary
President Roosevelt announced the Roosevelt Corollary, which extended the Monroe Doctrine and asserted the right of the United States to police the Caribbean. -
WWI
The Great War began when Austria, assured of Germany’s support, declared war against Serbia, and Russia mobilized on Serbia’s side. President Woodrow Wilson issued a declaration of American neutrality in the European war. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was signed, ending World War I, imposing harsh surrender terms on Germany, creating territorial mandates, and arranging the creation of the League of Nations. Congress, concerned about conceding individual power in order to become a member of the League of Nations, refused to ratify it. Wilson had been the driving force behind the League of Nations, and while the other signatories of the treaty embraced the League, American isolationism quashed enthusiasm for it at home. -
Truman Doctrine (Unit 8) Prosperity & Global Responsibility
On March 12, 1947, the President announced the Truman Doctrine, a policy plan to keep Communism from spreading to politically unstable countries. -
Marshall Plan (European Recovery Program)
Fearing that poverty and other conditions created by World War II might make Europe vulnerable to Communism, the American government donated about thirteen billion dollars into Western Europe to provide help and stabilize countries through the Marshall Plan. -
Berlin Airlift
As American and Soviet forces occupying Germany clashed over punishment and rehabilitation plans for the country, the Soviets cut off access to Berlin. The United States and Great Britain dropped food and supplies into West Berlin by air. -
China Falls To Communism
A Day That Shook The World: Mao's communists take over in China. On 1 October 1949, China's communist party, led by Mao Zedong, finally prevailed against the Nationalists and assumed power -
NSC-68
The National Security Council issued in 1950 the classified report NSC-68, the report emphasized the need for an American commitment to fighting Communism globally, not just in Europe, and pointed to military intervention as the most effective form of containment. -
Brown vs Board Of Education
In the case of Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court struck down the Plessy v. Ferguson “separate but equal” decision when it ruled that segregation of public school children based on race was unconstitutional. -
Warsaw Pact
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was established in 1949 as an alliance among Western European and North American nations with the goal of containing communism. In 1955, eight Communist Bloc countries signed the Warsaw Pact, a “Treaty of Friendship, Co-operation and Mutual Assistance,” to form a mutual defense coalition. Force comparisons became the centerpiece of the Cold War. -
Interstate & Defense Highways ACT (Signed Into Law)
Congress passed the Federal Highway Act in 1956, allocating $32 billion to build 41,000 miles of interstate highways. Highways were important not only because of Americans’ growing dependence on automobiles but also as a national defense measure, creating a nationwide transportation network for the US military. -
Sputnik Is Launched
Created by the Soviet Union, Sputnik I became the first satellite launched into space in October 1957. It was followed by Sputnik II a month later. The launch of the two satellites marked the beginning of the space race as a high stakes competition with national security implications between the United States and the Soviet Union. The Soviets’ success in launching the satellites also prompted the US to increase federal spending on education and technology advances. -
The Berlin Wall Is Constructed
Soviet and East German troops began building the Berlin Wall to close off the western part of city after shutting down checkpoints. -
Cuban Missile Crisis
President Kennedy learned of Soviet plans for missile installation in Cuba and announced a blockade of Cuba to prevent more missiles from entering the country. In the following days, Kennedy and Khrushchev exchanged messages under mutual threat of nuclear war. On October 28, Khrushchev agreed to halt missile work in Cuba, and Kennedy promised to withdraw missiles from Turkey. The agreement put an end to the crisis and averted an escalation to major nuclear conflict. -
Civil Rights Act
President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VII of the act banned discrimination based on sex, race, color, religion, or national origin. -
Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution
Congress authorized the United States to “take all necessary measures to repel” attacks on American forces in Vietnam. -
SALT I
In 1972 President Richard Nixon and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the Strategic Arms Limitation Agreement, a treaty limiting nuclear weapons and anti ballistic missile systems. -
WAR POWERS ACT
Congress passed the War Powers Act over President Nixon’s veto in 1973. The resolution required the president to inform Congress of overseas troop deployment within forty-eight hours and to withdraw troops not authorized by Congress within sixty days, thereby limiting the president’s ability to involve the United States in wars. -
SALT II Treaty
President Jimmy Carter and Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev signed the second Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty, which would have limited the number of strategic nuclear missiles in each country. Congress never approved the treaty. -
Election of Ronald Reagan(Unit 9) Modern America*
Republican Ronald Reagan defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter for the presidency. Reagan’s campaign was aided by the poor economy and Carter’s failure to put a successful end to the Iranian hostage crisis. -
Reaganomics
Major tax reform bill based on “supply-side economics,” cutting taxes and regulations. The act implemented an across-the-board tax cut for individuals, reduced the maximum income tax rate, lowered capital gains and estate taxes, and expanded individual retirement accounts. The Tax Reform Act of 1986 extended these changes. -
Strategic Defense Initiative
New project for developing the technology to create ballistic missile defenses that could intercept and destroy enemy missiles. -
Iran-Contra hearings
Members of the CIA and the National Security Council, including several top-level Reagan advisers, were tried and found guilty of violating the Boland Amendment and other federal laws in order to support and arm the anti-Communist rebel Contras in Nicaragua without Congress’s knowledge. Though Reagan claimed no direct involvement in a secret plan to arm the Contras using profits made from arms sold to Iran, the Iran-Contra affair blemished the President’s administration. -
The Fall Of The Berlin Wall
Built as a divider between East and West Berlin by the Communist East German government in 1961, the Berlin Wall was torn down to widespread celebration on November 9, 1989. The destruction of the wall signified the fall of the “Iron Curtain” and symbolized the end of the Cold War. -
Persian Gulf War (90-91)
After Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein, invaded Kuwait in August 1990, President Bush headed a coalition to set a deadline for Iraqi withdrawal. When Iraq failed to leave Kuwait, the US-led coalition began a series of air attacks on Iraq and Iraqi-controlled regions of Kuwait on January 17, 1991. A ground assault began on February 23, and Kuwait was liberated on February 28, with Iraq accepting the conditions of a UN resolution for a ceasefire.
