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Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of the war between Great Britain and the thirteen colonies. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress was a convention of delegates from the Thirteen Colonies that started meeting on May 10, 1775, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, soon after warfare in the American Revolutionary War had begun. The second Congress managed the colonial war effort, and moved quickly towards independence, adopting the United States Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776 -
Battle at Bunker Hill
The Battle of Bunker Hill took place on June 17, 1775, mostly on and around Breed's Hill, during the Siege of Boston early in the American Revolutionary War. The battle is named after the adjacent Bunker Hill, and is occasionally referred to as the "Battle of Breed's Hill." -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was made by the Continental Congress in July 1775 in an attempt to avoid a full-blown war with Great Britain. The petition affirmed American loyalty to Great Britain and entreated the king to prevent further conflict. In August 1775 the colonies were formally declared in rebellion by the Proclamation of Rebellion, and the petition was rejected, even though it was received by the king before declaring the colonists traitors. -
Common Sense
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine. It was first published anonymously on January 10, 1776, at the beginning of the American Revolution. Common Sense, was signed, "Written by an Englishman", and it became an immediate success. Common Sense presented the American colonists with an argument for freedom from British rule at a time when the question of seeking independence was still undecided. Paine wrote and reasoned in a style that common people understood. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which says that the thirteen American colonies, were independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Battle of Saratoga
The Battles of Saratoga, September 19 and October 7, 1777, decided the fate of British General John Burgoyne's army in the American War of Independence and are generally used as a turning point in the war. The battles were fought eighteen days apart on the same ground, 9 miles south of Saratoga, New York. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, was an agreement among the 13 founding states that established the United States of America as a confederation of sovereign states and served as its first constitution. -
Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown, on October 19, 1781, was a decisive victory by a combined force of troops led by General George Washington and French Army troops led by the Comte de Rochambeau over a British Army commanded by Lieutenant General Lord Cornwallis. The culmination of the Yorktown campaign, it was the last major land battle of the American Revolutionary War, as the surrender by Cornwallis of his army made the British government to negotiate an end to the conflict. -
Treaty of Paris 1783
The Treaty of Paris, signed on September 3, 1783, ended the American Revolutionary War between Great Britain on one side and the United States of America and its allies on the other. -
Shay’s Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion was an armed uprising that took place in 1786 and 1787. The rebellion was named after Daniel Shays, a veteran of the American Revolutionary War and one of the rebel leaders. The rebellion started on August 29, 1786. It was precipitated mostly by harsh debt collectors to veterans, and the fact that there wasn’t enough money after the war. -
Constitutional Convention
(May 25 to September 17, 1787) Took place in 1787. It was in the State Houes located in Philadelphia. The same place where the Declaration of Independence was signed 11 years before. For 4 months 55 delegates from several states met to frame a constitution. They wanted it to last into “remote furutity.” -
Northwest Ordinance 1787
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United States, passed July 13, 1787. The primary effect of the ordinance was the creation of the Northwest Territory as the first organized territory of the United States out of the region south of the Great Lakes, north and west of the Ohio River, and east of the Mississippi River. -
Judiciary Act 1789
Signed by President Washington on September 24, 1789. The act established the structure and jurisdiction of the federal court system and created the position of attorney general. -
Second Great Awakening
Was a protestant revival movement in the early 19th century. The Second Great Awakening expressed Arminian theology, by which every person could be saved through revivals, repentance, and conversion. It enrolled millions of new members in existing evangelical denominations and led to the formation of new denominations. Many converts believed that the Awakening heralded a new millennial age. -
Chisholm v. Georgia,
(1793), is considered the first United States Supreme Court case of significance and impact. In 1792 in South Carolina, Alexander Chisholm, the executor of the estate of Robert Farquhar, attempted to sue the state of Georgiain the Supreme Court over payments due him for goods that Farquhar had supplied Georgia during the American Revolutionary War. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion, less commonly known as the Whiskey Insurrection, was a resistance movement in the western part of the United States in the 1790s, during the presidency of George Washington. The conflict was rooted in western dissatisfaction with various policies of the eastern-based national government. (July 17,1794) -
XYZ Affair -
An insult to the American delegation when they were supposed to be meeting French foreign minister, Talleyrand, but instead they were sent 3 officials Adams called "X,Y, and Z" that demanded $250,000 as a bribe to see Talleyrand. -
Alien and Sedition Acts-
The Alien and Sedition Acts were four bills passed in 1798 by the Federalists in the 5th United States Congress in the aftermath of the French Revolution and during an undeclared naval war with France, later known as the Quasi-War. They were signed into law by President John Adams. Opposition to them resulted in the highly controversial Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions, authored by James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. -
Revolution of 1800-
In the United States Presidential election of 1800, sometimes referred to as the "Revolution of 1800," Vice President Thomas Jefferson defeated incumbent president John Adams. The election was a realigning election that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican Party rule and the eventual demise of the Federalist Party in the First Party System. -
Marbury v. Madison
Marbury v. Madison was a United States Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government. (Feb. 11, 1803) -
Louisiana Purchase-
Louisiana purchase was the purchase of the Louisiana territory from Napoleon in 1803 under Jefferson. (April 30, 1803) -
Embargo Act 1807-
A stop on all international trade in order to pressure England and France to remove strict commercial trading policy’s. -
Non-Intercourse
This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. The intent was to damage the economies of the United Kingdom and France. Like its predecessor, the Embargo Act, it was mostly ineffective, and contributed to the coming of the War of 1812 -
Fletcher v. Peck
The first case in which the Supreme Court ruled a state law unconstitutional, the decision also helped create a growing precedent for the sanctity of legal contracts, and hinted that Native Americans did not hold title to their own lands -
Macon's Bill Number 2,
Macon's Bill Number 2,which became law in the United States on May 1, 1810, was intended to motivate Britain and France to stop seizing American vessels during the Napoleonic Wars. The law lifted all embargoes with Britain and France (for three months) -
Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent, signed on December 24,1814, in Ghent (modern-day Belgium),this was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. Because of the era's slow communications it took weeks for news of the peace treaty to reach the United States; the Battle of New Orleans was fought after it was signed. -
Second Bank of the United States
The Second Bank of the United States (BUS) served as the nation's federally authorized central bank during its 20-year charter from February 1817 to January 1836. The efforts to renew the Bank's charter put the institution at the center of the general election of 1832, in which BUS president Nicholas Biddle and pro-Bank National Republicans clashed with the "hard-money” Andrew Jackson administration and eastern banking interests in the Bank War. -
Dartmouth College v. Woodward,
- The case arose when the president of Dartmouth College was deposed by its trustees, leading to the New Hampshire legislature attempting to force the college to become a public institution
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McColluch v. Maryland
The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. -
Johnson v. McIntosh
a decision of the U.S. Supreme Court that held that private citizens could not purchase lands from Native Americans -
Gibbons v. Ogden
(1824),was a landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce was granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the United States Constitution. -
Election of 1824
In the United States presidential election of 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 9, 1825, after the election was divided by the House of Representatives. -
Election of 1828
The United States presidential election of 1828 featured a rematch between John Quincy Adams, now incumbent President, and Andrew Jackson. As incumbent Vice President John C. Calhoun had sided with the Jacksonians, the National Republicans led by Adams, chose Richard Rush as Adams' running mate. -
Indian Removal Act 1830
Authorized the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within state borders. It is where the “Trail of Tears” came from. Estimated that about 4,000 cherokees died. -
Nullification Crisis 1832
The Nullification Crisis was a sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by South Carolina's 1832 Ordinance of Nullification. -
Texas Independence
Texas Independence Day is the celebration of the adoption of the Texas Declaration of Independence on March 2, 1836. With this document, settlers in Mexican Texas officially broke from Mexico, creating the Republic of Texas. -
Webster-Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies. It resolved a dispute over the location of the Maine–New Brunswick border, established the border between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods. -
Election of 1844
Election of 1844 In the United States presidential election of 1844, Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on foreign policy, with Polk favoring the annexation of Texas and Clay opposed. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican–American War, was an armed conflict between the United States of America and Mexico from 1846 to 1848 which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas Revolution. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso, would have banned slavery in any territory to be acquired from Mexico in the Mexican War. Congressman David Wilmot first introduced the Proviso in the United States House of Representatives It passed the House but failed in the Senate, where the South had greater representation, more than once. In 1848, an attempt to make it part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo also failed. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe, is the peace treaty, largely dictated by the United States to the interim government of a militarily occupied Mexico City, that ended the Mexican–American War on 2 February 1848. With the defeat of its army and the fall of the capital, Mexico surrendered to the United States and made deals to end the war. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden is a 29,670-square- region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that was purchased by the United States in a treaty signed by James Gadsden, the American ambassador to Mexico at the time, on December 30, 1853. -
Ostend Manifesto
The Ostend Manifesto was a document written in 1854 that described the rationale for the United States to purchase Cuba from Spain while implying that the U.S. should declare war if Spain refused. -
Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. The financial crisis which began in the autumn of 1857 was the world's first world-wide economic crisis -
Lincoln Elected president: November 1860
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South Carolina Secedes
December 1860, when the news of Lincoln was elected they seceded. -
Ft. Sumter
April 1861, Lincoln decided to give Ft. Sumter, but wanted the south to attack first -
Bull Run (1st)
July 21, 1861, Gen. McDownell leads his troops against Gen. Johnstons troops in an attempt to crush the rebels and go on to Richmond, but the south wins as Union troops flee back. -
Monitor vs. Merrimac
March 1862, first extreme battle that ends in a draw. -
Bull Run 2
August 1862, McClellan is replaced by Gen. Pope and Lee and Stonewall Jackson defeat Union troops at Manassas, and Pope is then replaced by McClellan -
Emancipation Proclimation
September 23, 1862: States that slavery is illegal in rebel states, but not including border states. -
Frederickburg
December 1862, Gen. Burnside attacks Lee’s position and looses many troops. -
Gettysburg
July 1863, Largest battle, lasted over three days causing Lee to retreat -
Lee Surrenders
April 9, 1865, Lee doesn’t want anymore suffering so he surrenders. -
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase was the acquisition of the Alaska territory by the United States from the Russian Empire in the year 1867 by a treaty made by the Senate. Russia, fearing a war with Britain that would allow the British to seize Alaska, wanted to sell. Its major role had been forcing Native Alaskans to hunt for furs for them, along with missionary work to convert them. -
Grant Elected President
Nov 3, 1868, Republican Ulysses S. Grant defeats Democrat Horatio Seymour and is elected president of the United States. -
Panic of 1873
Sep 18, 1873, The collapse of Jay Cooke and Company, a Philadelphia investment bank, triggers a nationwide financial panic that leads to a broader economic depression which lasts until 1879. -
Railroad Strike of 1877
Jul 16, 1877, Brakemen and firemen from the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad go on strike at Camden Junction, Maryland, that shut down thousands of miles of track throughout the northeastern United States. -
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal is a 51 mi ship canal in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Work on the canal, which began in 1881, was completed in 1914, making it no longer necessary for ships to sail the lengthy Cape Horn route around the southernmost tip of South America or to navigate the dangerous waters of the Strait of Magellan. -
Dawes Act
Passed by Congress in 1887, it authorized the President survey Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. The Dawes Act was to stimulate assimilation of Indians into American society. The act also provided that the government would purchase Indian land "excess" to that needed for allotment and open it up for settlement by non-Indians. -
Gentlemen’s Agreement
A gentlemen's agreement is an informal agreement between two or more parties. It is typically oral, though may be written, or simply understood as part of an unspoken agreement by convention or through mutually beneficial etiquette. The essence of a gentlemen's agreement is that it relies upon the honor of the parties for its fulfillment, rather than being in any way enforceable. It is, therefore, distinct from a legal agreement or contract, which can be enforced if necessa -
Wounded Knee Massacre
- The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on December 29, 1890, near Wounded Knee Creek in South Dakota, USA. It was the last battle in the American Indian wars; it was against 500 troops and 120 Native American men and 230 civilian women and children. An estimate of 300 Native Americans died and 25 troops.
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Homestead Steel Strike
Jun 30, 1892, Henry Frick, Chairman of the Board of Carnegie Steel and plant manager at Carnegie's Homestead steel plant, shuts down the factory and locks out its employees when negotiations with representatives from the Amalgamated Association of Steel and Iron Workers break down. -
Battle at Homestead Steel
Jul 6, 1892, Two barges filled with armed Pinkerton Detectives attempt to land at Homestead to guard Carnegie's steel plant. Striking steel workers prevent the barges from landing. During the fourteen-hour battle, seven steel workers and three detectives are killed -
Pullman Strike
May 11, 1894, Workers employed at the Pullman Company, outside of Chicago, go on strike when the company's owner, George Pullman, refuses to reduce rents in the company housing to match announced wage cuts. -
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States, effectively the result of American intervention in the ongoing Cuban War of Independence. American attacks on Spain's Pacific possessions led to involvement in the Philippine Revolution and ultimately to the Philippine–American War. -
U.S.S. Maine
The Maine is best known for its enormous loss in Havana Harbor on the evening of 15 February 1898. Sent to protect U.S. interests during the Cuban revolt against Spain, it exploded suddenly without warning and sank quickly, killing nearly three quarters of its crew. The cause and responsibility for it’s sinking remained unclear after a board of inquiry. Nevertheless, popular opinion in the U.S., fanned by inflammatory articles printed in the "Yellow Press" blamed Spain. -
Teller Amendment
The Teller Amendment was an amendment to a joint resolution of the United States Congress, enacted on April 20, 1898, in reply to President William McKinley's War Message. It placed a condition of the United States military in Cuba. According to the clause, the U.S. could not annex Cuba but only leave "control of the island to its people." -
Open Door Policy
The Open Door Policy is a concept in foreign affairs, which usually refers to the policy in 1899 allowing multiple Imperial powers access to China, with none of them in control of that country. -
Election of 1900
The United States presidential election of 1900 was a re-match of the 1896 race between Republican President William McKinley and his Democratic challenger, William Jennings Bryan. The return of economic prosperity and recent victory in the Spanish–American War helped McKinley to score a decisive victory. -
Platt Amendment
The Platt Amendment of 1903 was an amendment to a joint resolution of the United States Congress, replacing the earlier Teller Amendment. It stipulated the conditions for the withdrawal of United States troops remaining in Cuba at the end of the Spanish-American War and defined the terms of Cuban-U.S. relations until the 1934 Treaty of Relations. -
Roosevelt Corollary
The Roosevelt Corollary is a corollary to the Monroe Doctrine that was articulated by President Theodore Roosevelt in his State of the Union Address in 1904. The corollary states that the United States will intervene in conflicts between European Nations and Latin American countries to enforce legitimate claims of the European powers, rather than having the Europeans press their claims directly. -
Election of 1908
The United States presidential election of 1908 was held on November 3, 1908. Popular incumbent President Theodore Roosevelt, persuaded the Republican Party to nominate William Howard Taft, to become his successor. Having badly lost the 1904 election with a conservative candidate, the Democratic Party turned to two-time nominee William Jennings Bryan, who had been defeated in 1896 and 1900 by Republican William McKinley -
Founding of the NAACP
The Race Riot of 1908 in Abraham Lincoln's hometown of Springfield, Illinois had highlighted the urgent need for an effective civil rights organization in the U.S. This event is often cited as the catalyst for the formation of the NAACP. Mary White Ovington, journalist William English Walling and Henry Moskowitz met in New York City in January 1909 and the NAACP was made. -
Mexican Civil War
The Mexican Revolution was a major armed struggle that started in 1910, with an uprising led by Francisco I. Madero against longtime autocrat Porfirio Díaz, and until around 1920. Over time the Revolution changed from a revolt against the established order to a multi-sided civil war. This armed conflict is often categorized as the most important sociopolitical event in Mexico and one of the greatest upheavals of the 20th century. -
Election of 1912
The United States presidential election of 1912 was a rare four-way contest. Incumbent President William Howard Taft was renominated by the Republican Party with the support of its conservative wing. After former President Theodore Roosevelt failed to receive the Republican nomination, he called his own convention and created the Progressive Party. It nominated Roosevelt and ran candidates for other offices in major states. -
Jones Act
The Jones Law, of August 29, 1916, was an act passed by the United States Congress which replaced the Philippine Organic Act of 1902. The Jones Law acted like a constitution for the Philippines until 1934 when the Tydings–McDuffie Act provided for self-government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines and for Filipino independence from the US after a period of ten years. -
First Red Scare
- In American history, the First Red Scare of 1919–1920 was marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism andanarchism. Concerns over the effects of radical political agitation in American society and alleged spread in theAmerican labor movement fueled the paranoia that defined the period.
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Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned the 1920s and 1930s. At the time, it was known as the "New Negro Movement", named after the 1925 anthology by Alain Locke -
Election of 1932
- The United States presidential election of 1932 took place in the midst of the Great Depression that had ruined the promise of the incumbent President Herbert Hoover to bring about a new era of prosperity.
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New Deal
The economic measures introduced by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1933 to counteract the effects of the Great Depression. -
Attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki-
The atomic bombings of the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan were conducted by the United States during the final stages of World War II in 1945. These two events represent the only use of nuclear weapons in war to date. -
Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine was a policy set forth by the U.S. President Harry Truman in a speech on March 12, 1947 stating that the U.S. would support Greece and Turkey with economic and military aid to prevent their falling into the Soviet sphere -
Creation of NATO 1949
created to protect America along with 11 other nations but the Soviets created Warsaw to counter -
Fall of China to Communism
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Korean War
The Korean War 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953) was a war between the Republic of Korea and the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. It was primarily the result of the political division of Korea by an agreement of the victorious Allies at the conclusion of the Pacific War at the end of World War II. -
Election of 1952
The United States presidential election of 1952 took place in an era when Cold Wartension between the United States and the Soviet Union was escalating rapidly -
Boxer Rebellion
The Boxer Rebellion, was a pro-nationalist movement by the Righteous Harmony Society in China between 1898 and 1901, opposing foreign imperialism and Christianity. The uprising took place in response to foreign "spheres of influence" in China, with grievances ranging from opium traders, political invasion, economic manipulation, to missionary evangelism -
Election of 1816
The United States presidential election of 1816 came at the end of the two-term presidency of Democratic- Republican James Madison. -
Red Summer
Red Summer describes the race riots that occurred in more than three dozen cities in the United States during the summer and early autumn of 1919. In most instances, whites attacked African Americans.
