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English colony at Jamestown Virginia
JamestownOne hundred members of the Virginia Company founded the first English Sttlement in North America. The one hundred members left England in December and landed on a narrow peninsula in the James River in May 1607. They planned to search for silver and gold in the New World. -
First Africans brought to North America
African AmericanSlaves were first brought to the New World so that they could help with the production of crops like tabacco. They used slaves because they were cheaper than their alternative which was to actually pay people to do the work. It was practiced extensively throughout the 17th and 18th centuries. -
Pilgrims land at Plymouth
After more than two months at sea, the Pilgrims finally landed on the New England Coasline. Afterwards, the Pilgrims crossed Cape Cod Bay and they began to settle at Plymouth. -
Salem Witch Trials
Began when four girls claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a result, they made a special court convened in Salem. The first convicted witch was Bridget Bishop. -
French and Indian War
AKA: Seven Years War
France's expansion into the Ohio River resulted in conflict with the British Colonies. A series of battles led to the official war in 1756. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers went to support their guards who were being pressured and pressed by a heckling crowd. Three people were killed instantaneously and two people later died of wounds. The officer in charge was arrested for manslaughter. -
Boston Tea Party
This event was a protest against unjust taxation. On December 6, 1773 The Sons Of Liberty, along with their leader, Samuel Adams, threw 342 chests of British tea overboard. Resulted in pushing the two sides closer to war. -
The Declaration of Independence
In June, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and Benjamin Franklin were given the task of writing up a formal statement of the colonies intentions. It was formally adopted on July 4th, 1776. That day was later celebrated as the birth of American Independence. -
Treaty Of Paris
Ended the Revolutionary War between the United States and Great Britain. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Laurens were assigned to negotiate the treaty. However, the major part of the actual negotiations were conducted by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay. -
Shay's Rebellion
Thsi protest was named after its leader, Daniel Shay, a former captain in the Continental Army. The protests of American farmers against excessive state and local tax collections and judgements for debt. -
Constitution Ratified
After several months of debate, the U.S. constitution was signed by 38 of the 41 delegates present at the end of the constitutional convention. The new constitution had a new system of checks and balances. The new constitution did not become binding until it was ratified by nine of the thirteen states. -
Whiskey Rebellion
AKA: Whiskey Insurection
This event was a tax protest in the United States. It as during the presidency of George Washington. -
Lewis & Clark Expedition
[Lewis and Clark](http://www.nationalgeographic.com/lewisandclark/)Thomas Jefferson sent Lewis and Clark to find new water routes across North America and to explore the unmapped areas of the West. -
War of 1812
Causes of this war included the British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's impressment of American seamen and America's desire to expand its territoty, Many celerated the war of 1812 as a "second war of independence". -
Missouri Compromise
When Missourit requested to join the Union as a slave state it threatened to upset the balance between slave and free states. As a result, Congress decided to admit Missouri as a slave state but they also admitted Maine as a free state. In addition, they fassed an amendment that drew an imaginary line across the former Louisiana Territory established a boundary for the slave and free states. -
Trail of Tears
125,000 Native Americans used to reside on millions of acres of land of land in Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, and Florida. By the end of the decade the ferderal government forced them to leave and walk thousands of miles o a designared "Indian Territory". This journey is known as the Trail of Tears. -
Texan Independence
During the Texas Revolution, a group of American Texans meet at Washington-on-the-Brazos and declared the independence of Texas from Mexico. In addition, the Tesans adopred a constitution that protected the practice of free slavery. -
Mexican American War
First armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. A conflict on the Rio Grande border started the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. By the end of the war, Mexico had lost about one-thir of its territory. -
Gold Rush in California
When people first discovered gold nuggets in California, it sparked one of the most significant events to shape American history, As the news spread, thousands of pospective gold miners by sea or overland to the surrounding area, -
Compromise of 1850
Mexican-American war problems were resolved in the Compormise of 1850. It consisted of laws admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico terrirories with the question of slavery in each to be determined. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
A bill that mandated "popular soveraignity" amon states. It allowed settlers of a territory to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new state's borders. -
Abraham Lincoln elected President
Abraham Lincoln, a Kentucky born lawyer and former Whig representative to Congress, was the first Republican to win presidency. He only received 40 percent of the popular vote but handily defeated the three other candidates. -
Civil War
Fought between the North and South parts of the United States. Was a war fought to determine the survival of the Union for independece of the Confederacy. -
Transcontinental Railroad completed
The presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads met in Promontory, Utah and drove a ceremonial last spike into a rail line that connects their railroads. -
Reconstruction Ends
Throughout the reconstruction, newly enfranchised blacks gained a voice in government for the first time in American history, winning election to southern state legislatures and even to the U.S. Congress. The Republicans had quietly given up their fight for racial equality. Hayes withdrew the last federal troops from the south and boyonet backed republican governments collapsed.