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Nov 8, 1492
Columbus lands in the New World
Christopher Colombus left Spain trying to find India but instead landed in the americas. He claimed the land for Spain and took over. He treated most of the natives as slaves. -
Nov 10, 1492
The Spanish Empire
Columbus was the first spanish explorer to claim land in the New World. Cortes in 1519 and Pizzaro in 1532 and other explorers follow him claiming the land as they go. -
Nov 10, 1534
New France
Jaques Cartier set out from france to find an all water route to North america. He failed to find the passage but found Canada and claimed it for France he named it New France. -
The lost colony of roanoke
Sir Walter Raleigh tried to start a colony on roanoke island but failed. He sent a second group of colonists but they arrived at a bad time it was too late in the season to pant crops. Their leader went back to england to get supplies but was delayed by 3 years. When they came back the colonists had disapeared. Carved on the door was the word CROTOAN. It's meaning remains a mystery to this day. -
Jamestown: The First English Colony.
John Cabot set out from England. He landed in Newfoundland and claimed the land for England and founded Jamestown. Unfortunatly Jamestown was infested by disease carrying mosquitos and unfriendly natives. -
New Netherland
Henry Hudson wwas exploring further along the coast of north america for the Netherlands. He discovered a river that was named in his honor "the hudson river". Later colonists came and setteled along the river. -
The Starving Time
John Smith had returned to England after being injured. The following winter was the worst ever in Jamestown it was known as the "the starving time" -
Maryland - First law guaranteeing religious rights in america.
When more settlers arrived in Maryland,Leonard saw tht Catholics would always be outnumbered in the colony. So to protect their rights he helped pass Americas first law guaranteeing religious liberty. -
New Netherland Becomes New York
The English wanted to drive the Dutch out of North America. James, the brother of the king of england organized a small invasion and the Dutch took fleet. -
Proclamation of 1763
After the french and indian war, they couldn't afford to fight so king Goerge the 3ird drew a line through the appalaichian moutains to seperate them from the indians and to prevent them from fighting. The colonist were fruturated by this decision most of them had already settled there and there was less land to farm on. The British ignore their complaints and keep sending troops to watch over the colonists. -
The stamp act
Great Britain wants colonists to purchase a stamp for every piece of paper purchased. They do this because of financial problems. They have to pay for their safety and to pay off the debt left from the French and Indian war. The colonists sensed tyranny, they argued and protested,refused to buy stamps. They even burried the stamp collecters alive and attacked their homes. The british government canceled the stamp act after months of protesting. -
The Quartering Act.
This law ordered the colonists to provide the british troops with quarters (housing). They also had to provide the soldiers with candels, fire, bedding, clothing,salt, viniger, beer, and cider. The colonists thought that it made no sens to house soldiers that just took up space in the colonies. They protested and said that it was just as bad as the stamp act. The British refused to put funds on salt and viniger but put them in the rest. Tempers rised between the two sides of the atlantic. -
The Townshend Acts.
Since the colonists were behaving so badly, Townshend believed that the British soldiers should stay in the colonies. The colonists now have to pay taxes on imported goods from england to be able to pay for the soldiers being there. The colonists boycotted all of the british goods. Finally the British agreed to repeal the Townshend duties except on tea. -
The Tea Act
The tea act was an attempt to rescue the British east India trading from going bankrupt. It lowered the cost of tea. It gave the company complete control over tea sales in all of the colonies. Colonists weren't fooled by this act. They saw that it was just another attempt to tax them without their consent. They took actions, 50 men dressed up as Mohawk Indians boarded the three ships and dumped all the tea overboard. -
The Intolerable Acts
There were three acts in the intolerable acts. The first one was that the British were going to close the harbour until all the tea was paid for. The second one was that the British placed under their control the government of Massachusetts. The third one was that any British soldier accused of murder would be tried in Brittan. After this the colonies started to unite. Bostonians refused to pay for all the tea. The other colonies sent them food so they wouldn’t starve. 50 Leaders met for the Fir -
Lexington & Concord
The British came to know that the colonists were hidding large amounts of gunpowder near Concord. General Gage ordered his troops to march there that night. The colonists also had spies and warned the others that the British were comming. Minutemen met them in the early morning and a shot rang out from where nobody knows and the soldiers started to fire. By then the colonists had hidden the gunpowder and weapons. the colonists outraged by this met them in battle again and won. -
The Second Continental Congress
At the second continental congress John Adams and George washington proposed that they creat a continental army. To lead this army John adams nominated George Washington. -
The Battle of Bunker Hill
Meanwhile Minuteman lead by Israel Putnam made a fortified fort at the top of the hill. This worried the British who ordered an immediate attack lead by William Howe. The minute man fiered and won over the British twice, but the third time they had run out of gun powder and pulled back. This battle was short but very bloody. Both sides knew that the war had begun. -
The Olive Branch Petition
Many colonists hoped for on KIng George. The congress sent a petition to the King asking to end the quarreling. BUt by the time the petition reached London the King had already ordered the ministers to bring the TRAITORS to justice. Many of the colonists minds were changed by this. They now all wanted to be independant. -
The Siege of Boston (The British Abandon Boston)
George Washington took control over his new army. But found out that they had no gunpowder. The begged the other colonies for gunpowder while telling the British that they had so much they didn't know what to do with it. They got there gunpowder but still didn't have good weapons. They get them from Fort Ticonderoga. Boston was then put under a seige. The British abandonned Boston. But everyone knew that this was still only the begining. -
The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson wrote the declaration saying that they had been treated unjustly and that they deserve their freedom. Th congress met to debate about their independance and they decided that they wanted it. They proofread the declaration and corrected a couple mistakes. They sent it off on the 4 of july. -
Battle for New York
The American and British armies met to fight in Brooklin, New York. The Americains were defeated they were inexperienced and had lost too many men. They had to retreat. This was the first off many battles where they were defeated by the British. -
Trenton
George Washington read the remains of his army the Crisis. Later he planned an attack on the British troops camped in Trenton for the winter. Washington and his men crossed the Delewhare river. When they arrived in Trenton they found the British army sleeping off their christmas dinner, They were forced to surrender. The Americans took prisoners. -
Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
They needed to get 9 votes out of the 13 states
· The votes were even between National government or State government
Only two states persuaded the others to ratifie the Articles of confederation.Two wealthy states didn’t agree to ratify.The Bill of Rights (rights that protect the citizen’s individual’s rights) and the series of eighty- five articles printed on the Newspaper in New York. -
Saratoga
George washington revised his war strategy and decided that he would try to avoid large battles and instead tire the British out. He played hide and seek with General Howe killing his men here and there. Whikst the British were sending more troops from Canada with Burgoyne. When his troops finally reached Saratoga the city was swarming with militia. The British were outnumbered and defeated. The tables had turned and the French had joined the Americans in battle. -
Yorktown
General Cornwalis' troops tired of all the marching retreated to Yorktown for a rest. But a trap was waiting for them as soon as they had settled in. 5, 000 french troops blocked the chesapeak bay from which the British were supposed to get their supplies from and their only way to escape. The British surrendered. -
Treaty of Paris
Representatives of the US and the British met in Paris to sign a treaty. The British agreed to recognize †he US as an independant countrie, they had to giv up all their claims on land too. The US agreed to return all property and rights taken away from the loyalists during the war. -
Shay's Rebellion
The shay's rebelion was an armed uprising in Massachusets led by Daniel Shays. Farmers were unhappy because the government said that they had to pay back their debts from the revolution. They thought this was unjust because they fed the soldiers and now they are asking them to pay them back. -
Constitutional Convention
Was a big meating between the states representatives to discuss the problems of the US like them government. They intended only to revise the Articles of Confederation.But they ended up creating a new government rather than fixing the existing one. -
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution
The US constitution is the new articles of confederation. It replaced it. The delegates only tried to modifie it but ended up starting all over again. This document contains the supreme laws of the US. -
The Indian Removal Act
President wanted to remove Indians from the US, their homeland and move them to a territory made for them in the west. The conngress ratified the Indian removal act which allowed him to do this. Some of the Indian tribes agreed to move but some wouldn't let them take their homes away from them that easily. THis often led the tribes to death. -
The Louisiana Purchase
Napolean was going to make the Louisiana territory a big farm industry for the slaves in the Caribbean. But the slaves took over so napolean had no use for the big territory. So when the US asked them if they could only have a city in Louisiana they just sold them the whole territory for 15 million dollars. Many people argued that adding this big part of land would be to big for them to govern but the farmers were over joyed. -
Spain gives Florida to the U.S.
Florida at that time wasn't part of the US and many people weren't happy about that. Indians raided the farms there and slaves fled there. Andrew Jackson to Florida to put an end to the raids, he was told not to invade to Florida whilst doing this. He did it anyways and he took over. Knowing that they couuldn't win a war against the US the Spanish sold it to them for 5 million dollars. The US agreed to respect their long term claim over Texas. -
Missouri comprimise: Northerners
One issue that upset the north was when Missouri applied as a slave state. Most of missouri was above the ohio river so the northerners were scared that slavery might spread to the north. It also upset them because the balance between free state and slave states was uneeven so the votes in congress would be more on the slave states side. -
The "Trail of Tears"
17,000 cherokee Indians were dragged out of their houses annd forced to walk over 9000 miles to Oklahoma the new Indian territory. Over 4000 Cherokee indians died during the long road to the west. Those who survived remember it as the "Trail of Tears". -
Texas is annexed
Stephen Austin went to Texas he agreed that any settler who decide to settle in the land claimed by Mexicao had to follow it's rule. The Americans who lived ther got fed up with this rule and attacked the Mexicans. Before the US annexed Texas it was an independant country for ten years. -
Oregon Treaty
President Polk wanted to annex all of the oregon territory but that meant dealing with the British since they owned it at that time. The US didn't want to risk war with the British. So they created a treatydeciding that Oregon would be split at the 49th parallel. -
War with Mexico
After Texas was annexed and handed over to the US the US declared war agaisnt the Mexico. After many battles the US signed a treaty wtih Mexico of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which let Mexico give up more then half its territory to the US. -
The fugitive slave law: Northerners
The fugitive slave law was a law passed by congress in the year of 1850. This law allowed slave owners to go to and retreive their runaway slaves in the north and take thhem back. The northerners opposed to this law because they wanted the slaves to be free. They thought the southerners would just claim every african american person as theirs and soon they will own every african american They thought it was unfair. -
John Brown's raid: southerners
In 1859 John Brown thought it was time to take action on the slavery issue in the US. He organized to take hold of the arsenal at Harpes Ferry, Virgina where the south stored all of their weapons. He planned to arm every slave so they could fight and have a slave rebellion. Even though John was caught and hanged the south still feared that, that event might have given the slaves hope. They feared they might rebel. -
Abraham Licoln elected presitdent: southerners
In 1860 Abraham Licoln was elected as president. The southerners were upset because my Licoln didn't want slavery in the US. They were afraid that he might abolish it completly. -
Civil War
The civil war started because of disputes between the north and the south of the US. The north wanted to abolish alvery when the south wantd to keep it. Comprimises had been made to keep both sides of the US happy but soon it became harder and harder. Comprimises were now impossible to make when president Lincoln was elected and the south suceeded. The south attacked first in 1846. The south lost the war in 1365 and became part of the US once again.
