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Period: 1400 to
European Exploration
The main reasons for exploration were gold, glory, and God. In 1492, Christopher Columbus was one of the first big explorers from Europe, backed by Spain. The main countries that explored were Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Britain. This period encompassed exploration throughout all of the Americas. -
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Slavery
Most slaves were taken from Africa and forced into slavery in the American colonies and in other places of the world. In America, slavery continued to grow throughout the 1700s and 1800s, particularly in the southern part of the United States. Starting around the 1830s a movement to abolish slavery grew. Slaves in America were freed on September 22, 1862, when Abraham Lincoln officially enacted the Emancipation Proclamation. -
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Triangular Trade
The triangular trade was trade between the Americas, Europe, and Africa. Europe traded manufactured goods to Africa who sent kidnapped Africans to the Americas who then sent raw materials to Europe. The trip from Africa to the Americas was called The Middle Passage and it was a brutal trip for the slaves. The triangular trade was not a specific route, but an idea of how economics worked during this time period. -
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Revolutionary War
The first battle in this war was the Battle at Lexington and Concord. It occurred after a buildup of growing tensions over the colony's lack of representation in the British government combined with heavy taxation. The turning point of the war was the Battle of Saratoga in 1777. In 1783 the war was formally ended when both Britain and the newly minted United States of America signed The Treaty of Paris. -
Declaration of Independence
On July 4, 1776, the 13 colonies officially announced that they were declaring their independence from Great Britain. Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and John Adams wrote the document together, though Jefferson gets the majority of the credit. The call to independence came after years of disharmony between the colonies and Great Britain over the colonies being taxed without having any representation in the government. -
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Articles of Confederation
The Articles is the first constitution of the United States. It created a land, where all the colonies were independent of each other and the congress had no real power. Since the government could not give taxes, a Constitutional Convention was formed so a new Constitution could be written. -
Constitution
The Constitution is the document that contains the laws that govern the United States of America. It was written in 1787 as a replacement for the failed Articles of Confederation. During the convention, there were debates over the number of representatives in the legislature and the representation of slaves in the colony's population. In order to get the Constitution ratified, a Bill of Rights had to be added, which were the first 10 amendments to the Constitution. -
Bill of Rights
The first 10 amendments to the Constitution. The first amendment covers freedom of speech, religion, press, and assembly. The second is freedom to bear arms, the third prohibits quartering of soldiers, and the fourth prohibits unreasonable search and seizure. The fifth requires a trial by peers, the sixth a speedy trial, the seventh, the right to trial by jury in civil cases, and the eighth no cruel or unusual punishment. The ninth protects the people and the tenth gives power to the states. -
Invention of the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invented the Cotton Gin, which sped up the removal of cotton seeds. It helped grow cotton into one of the biggest exports in the world. This gave Southern slave owners a justification for keeping slaves and helped keep slavery around for a lot longer than it otherwise might have. -
Invention of the Steamboat
Robert Fulton built the first steamboat. The boats changed the way that people traveled along rivers. Because it was easier to travel the river, exploration, and settlement to new places opened and grew. -
Louisiana Purchase
The United States bought 828,000 square miles from France. This more than doubled the United States territory and gave the U.S. claim to the majority of what would become the present-day United States. They bought the territory for less than three cents an acre, which was a bargain price. 9 years after that purchase, Louisiana became the first ratified state from that territory. -
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Lewis and Clark
After the Louisiana Purchase, President Jefferson sent Merriwether Lewis and William Clark to explore this new territory. They traveled for over two years and dealt with lots of harsh experiences. Along the journey, they met Sacagawea, a Shoshone Indian who helped guide them along their journey. This journey helped the U.S. explore the west, which they eventually settled in. -
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War of 1812
This war occurred between the United States and Great Britain. The war was caused by Great Britain restricting U.S. trade and the United States need to expand its borders. After a hard-fought war, the United States prevailed and the war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. -
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Industrial Revolution
This was a change from a more agricultural-based economy to a manufacturing-based one. Britain was the epicenter of this movement and it spread from there to other parts of the world. New materials, energy sources, machines, and systems were created to make manufacturing faster, easier, and cheaper for all. These manufacturing changes also lead to changes in other areas such as economics and agriculture. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine laid the foundation of U.S. foreign policy for years. Monroe believed that the U.S. should not engage in foreign affairs and he closed the Western Hemisphere to more colonization. This doctrine became a “sphere of influence” and gave the U.S. power to intervene with other colonies in the Western Hemisphere. -
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Trail of Tears
Tens of thousands of Indians were moved from their ancestral home to a new territory. Many of the Indians who went on the trip did not survive the long journey. The new territory was supposed to stay theirs forever but eventually, it too was taken away when Oklahoma became a state. -
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Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was the idea that the United States was destined by God to explore and settle in the western United States. Once the Louisiana Purchase occurred, the United States had lots of new lands that needed to be settled on. The phrase was first coined by a writer in The Democratic Review. This term led to the acquiring of Oregon, and eventually parts of California, Arizona, Colorado, and other states through The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
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Westward Movement
This movement started after the first American colonies were created. During the 1850s, after the Louisiana Purchase, this movement ramped up as people tried to settle in the new land. As the gold rush and the Civil War happened, most of the west became completely settled; all except for the Great Plains area. -
Dred Scott Decision
In this case, Dred Scott, a slave, who resided in a free state, fought against the fact that he could never be a citizen. The Supreme Court declared the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional. This decision fueled the fire between the North and the South and led the
The United States closer to civil war. It is regarded as one of the worst decisions the Supreme Court had ever made. -
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Civil War
The Civil War occurred after decades of tension between the North and the South finally reached a breaking point. The war occurred over differences on the topics of slavery, states' rights, and westward expansion. When Abraham Lincoln was elected president, seven states in the South seceded and became the Confederate States of America. Eventually, four more states joined them which lead to the deadliest war that has ever been fought on American soil. -
13th Amendment - Abolition of Slavery
The 13th Amendment was the first of the three amendments ratified after the Civil War. This amendment outlawed both slavery and involuntary servitude. It also gave Congress the power to enforce this amendment using legislation which they did with The Civil Rights Act of 1866, which ended the black codes, that were happening in the South. -
14th Amendment - Equal Treatment Under the Law
This amendment made all people born or naturalized in the United States, citizens of the country. It also gave these citizens equal protection under the law. It also gave the government the right to punish states that violate people's right to vote by taking away their representation in the government. This amendment is important because it backed many Supreme Court decisions that occurred after the amendment was passed. -
15th Amendment - Voting Rights for Black Men
This was the last of the three amendments passed as a result of The Civil War. It was passed in order to protect the voting rights of all men in the United States. However, voting practices still prohibited many Black citizens from voting until the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was passed. -
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World War I
This war began as a response to the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. In this war, the Central Powers (Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) fought against the Allied Powers (Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan, and the United States). This war was marked by trench warfare and millions died. The Treaty of Versailles ended the war and the Allied Powers won. -
19th Amendment - Voting Rights for Women
This amendment granted women the right to vote. The movement for women’s suffrage officially started during the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. After this convention, the women’s suffrage movement continued to build momentum. Once the Amendment was passed, it took 60 years for every state to ratify it, with Mississippi being the last state to do so in 1984. -
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Great Depression
The Great Depression started after the stock market crashed in 1929. As a result of this, people stopped spending money and investing in businesses, and the economy plummeted. When Franklin D. Roosevelt was elected to office, he was tasked with fixing this depression, which he did by calling a bank holiday so Congress could pass legislation and giving “fireside chats” where he informed the American people of what was going on in their country. The Great Depression with the onset of World War II. -
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New Deal
The New Deal was a set of programs and reforms that President Roosevelt created to help America with the effects of the Great Depression. Some of these reforms were the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Works Progress Administration, and the Tennessee Valley Authority. This New Deal was given in two parts, the first New Deal and the Second New Deal. When the Great Depression ended, many of the New Deal programs died. -
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World War II
Economic and political instability in Germany after the First World War led to the rise of Adolph Hitler and the Nazi Party. When Hitler invaded Poland, Britain and France declared war, which is when the war officially began. Between 45-60 million people dies, 6 million of which were Jews who were murdered in Nazi concentration camps. When the US landed atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Japanese government surrendered and the war was over. -
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Korean War
The Korean War began when soldiers from North Korea invaded South Korea. The United States entered the war, fighting on the side of South Korea. Both sides fought along the 38th parallel, and no side officially won. In 1953, the war ended and about 5 million people had lost their lives. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
This was a Supreme Court case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of students in schools was unconstitutional. This case helped establish the belief that separate is inherently unequal. This ruling led to a huge Civil Rights fight between the Black children trying to get an education and the white people who refused to let them. The ruling on this case is still used today as people fight for access to equal education for all. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The catalyst of this event was Rosa Parks was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery Alabama. In protest, African Americans, and many white allies refused to ride the bus, preferring to walk instead. This event led to the emergence of a very prominent leader: Martin Luther King Jr. In 1956, it was ruled that segregated buses were unconstitutional and the boycott was ended. -
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Vietnam War
This war occurred between the northern part and the southern part of Vietnam. The United States stood with South Vietnam, though the country’s involvement in the war was a hotly debated topic. In 1973, the United States signed a peace treaty with North Vietnam, though both North and South Vietnam continued to fight. -
"I Have a Dream" Speech
This speech was given by Martin Luther King Jr. during the March on Washington. In this speech, Martin Luther details the future he sees for America, in which all people are seen as equal. This speech became a pivotal moment in the Civil Rights movement as it defined what people hoped to achieve from their fight. -
September 11
On Tuesday, September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four planes and started what would become one of the blackest days in the history of the United States. Two planes rain into the twin towers in New York City, one was headed for the Pentagon, and the last crashed in Pennsylvania before reaching its destination. As a result of this attack, nationalistic pride rose as did security around the U.S.