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Jamestown
This little town in Virginia was the first successful town set up in the so called “New World.” From what information can be found, Jamestown was founded by a group of males at one point or another. However, later on the leader of Jamestown seemed to become a man named John Smith. -
Plymouth Colony
The Plymouth Colony was formed by them Pilgrim folk when they first arrived in Plymouth Roc, which is in Massachusetts. This settlement was founded by a group of Puritans. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was a document made right before the people on board the ship, the Mayflower, got off and went to their new home. This document was pretty much setting up a small government so chaos wouldn’t break loose in their town. -
Massachusetts Bay
Like the Plymouth Colony this area was founded by the Puritans, a wealthy man named John Winthrop seeming to be the one in charge. From what I can tell, this colony grew rather quickly, religion seeming to be the min belief on it since the churches grew rapidly. -
Pequot War
Apparently this war had great consequences. This was the first conflict between the colonists in New England and the Pequot tribe. It was nice of them to name this war after the people they were fighting, isn’t it? -
King Philip’s War
A conflict between colonists and Native Americans, also referred to as the Metacom’s War because Metacom was close to the guy’s who was killed real name. Started when the Europeans stuck their noses where they shouldn’t be and ended up getting attacked by Native Americans or whatever. In the end of all this conflict Kind Philip’s head ended up on a stick in town, because showing everyone that you beheaded a high power in the Native Americans was really necessary to them. -
Bacon’s Rebellion
This rebellion with an awesome name wasn’t really that awesome. It was led by a man who was named Nathaniel Bacon who led two unapproved yet successful attacks on the Native Americans in the area since they had been attacking them. From what I believe the Native Americans they attacked weren’t all hostile, either. -
Salem Witch Trials
Some crazy religious towns were convinced that there was some witchcraft going on where they lived, thus assuming people to be witches. So, because of this assumption several people ended up being hung because of their witchy powers. -
Quartering Act
Great Britain thought it would be an absolutely splendid idea to require colonists to house members of their army in their homes since they were protecting them and all. However, the colonists didn’t seem to agree with this idea, not wanting these strangers in their homes. -
Stamp Act
This act put taxes on certain items that colonists needed to buy and stuff and it made them very angry because they were a strong group of independent colonists who don’t need no taxes. -
Boston Massacre
This event was the result of idiotic colonists thinking it would be a good idea to taunt some armed redcoats. Due to feeling threatened, the redcoats ended up killing three colonists in self-defense and injuring eight, two of which were to die later. -
Tea Act
This act made it to where the colonies could only purchase tea from Great Britain. But, thankfully for the colonists this tea was now a lot cheaper than tea that they were purchasing before. However, because the colonists are never satisfied with anything and are all overgrown babies they complained. -
Boston Tea Party
Colonists were all ticked about the Tea Act that had just passed despite it making the tea cheaper for them, so a group of people who I believe to be part of the “sons of liberty” or whatever dressed up as Indians and through a whole shipment of tea off the side of the boat. -
Intolerable Acts
These acts were a series of acts that Parliament passed and, of course like all the other acts, made the colonies angry and complain. -
Lexington and Concord
The first battles of the American Revolution, these battles are where the term “shot heard ‘round the world” comes from. No one knows who fired first at these battles, so very spooky and mysterious. -
Declaration of Independence
A document written by Thomas Jefferson that pretty much told Great Britain that the colonies didn’t want to be part of them anymore and that they were all independent now. Originally had something about slaves written in it, but it got removed from it. -
Shay's Rebellion
Series of protests by farmers in America (massachusetts) during 1786-87 because of tax and debt laws. -
Constitutional Convention
The meeting of state delegates in 1787 in Philadelphia called to revise the Articles of Confederation. It instead designed a new plan of government, the US Constitution. -
Marbury v. Madison
The 1803 case in which Chief Justice John Marshall and his associates first asserted the right of the Supreme Court to determine the meaning of the U.S. Constitution. The decision established the Court's power of judicial review over acts of Congress, (the Judiciary Act of 1789). -
Judiciary Act 1789
In 1789 Congress passed this Act which created the federal-court system. The act managed to quiet popular apprehensions by establishing in each state a federal district court that operated according to local procedures. -
Whiskey Rebellion
In 1794, farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. In October, 1794, the army, led by Washington, put down the rebellion. The incident showed that the new government under the Constitution could react swiftly and effectively to such a problem, in contrast to the inability of the government under the Articles of Confederation to deal with Shay' -
Alien and Sedition Acts
Acts passed by federalists giving the government power to imprison or deport foreign citizens and prosecute critics of the government. -
Revolution of 1800
Jefferson's election changed the direction of the government from Federalist to Democratic- Republican, so it was called a peaceful "revolution." -
Second Great Awakening
A series of religious revivals starting in 1801, based on Methodism and Baptism. Stressed a religious philosophy of salvation through good deeds and tolerance for all Protestant sects. The revivals attracted women, Blacks, and Native Americans. -
Louisiana Purchase
The United States purchased the Louisiana Territory from France at a price of $15 million, or approximately four cents an acre. The ratification of the Louisiana Purchase treaty by the Senate on October 20, 1803, doubled the size of the United States and opened up the continent to its westward expansion. -
Embargo Act 1807
This Act stopped all trade between America and any other country. The goal was to get Britain and France, who were fighting each other at the time, to stop restricting American trade. The Act backfired, and the American people suffered. The Act was ended in 1809 because it wasn’t doin’ anyone no good. -
War of 1812
War between the U.S. and Great Britain which lasted until 1814, ending with the Treaty of Ghent and a renewed sense of American nationalism. -
Election of 1816
Election when Rufus King (federalist candidate) was brutally defeated by Monroe. Rufus King was a strong advocate for the abolition of slavery. His loss signified the 'death' of the federalist party. -
Election of 1824
This event is where Henry Clay goes to try and convince John Quincy Adams to make a deal that if he becomes President this term then Clay would be it next term. Then in the end Henry Clay never became president. -
Election of 1828
It was an election between John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. Most historians say it marked the beginning of Modern American Politics. -
Indian Removal Act
This was an act that made Native Americans move all the way across the country and made them face a series of obstacles on the way. Many, many Native Americans perished on the journey. -
Nullification Crisis
Southerners favored freedom of trade and believed in the authority of states over the federal government. Southerners declared federal protective tariffs null and void. -
Texas Independence
Texas beat them Mexicans in the Texas Revolution, thus winning their rightful independence from them. This independence refers to when a Texas Declaration of Independence was made, that being when Texas officially broke off from Mexico’s owned land and became their own thing. -
Dawes Act
An act that removed Indian land from tribal possesion, redivided it, and distributed it among individual Indian families. Designed to break tribal mentalities and promote individualism. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
In December 1890, Army troops captured some of Sitting Bull's followers and took them to a camp. 300 Sioux men, women, and children were killed -
Founding of the NAACP
1910 by W.E.B. DuBois; total equality for blacks; National Association for the Advancement of Colored People -
Red Summer
A series of 1919 race riots in 25 cities, with several Americans, both black and white, killed and numerous others injured. While they occurred across the country, the worst was in Chicago, where, when one white killed a black who strayed into a "white-only" swimming area, and riots developed between both groups. -
First Red Scare
The social fear of communism taking hold in the United States. Lead to violence against socialists, anarchists, and radicals. -
Harlem Renaissance
a period in the 1920s when African-American achievements in art and music and literature flourished -
Election of 1932
the Republican nominee Herbert Hoover and the Democratic nominee Franklin D. Roosevelt. The Republican platform included higher tariffs, keeping the gold standard, and continuation of Hoover policies. The Democratic platform included the repeal of prohibition, a 25% cut in government spending, unemployment aid, and a "new deal" for America. Roosevelt won with 472 electoral votes and all but 6 states. His victory paved the way for his "New Deal' policies and optimism in the country "nothing to fe -
New Deal
The historic period (1933-1940) in the U.S. during which President Franklin Roosevelt's economic policies were implemented -
Attack on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
During the final stages of World War II in 1945, the United States conducted two atomic bombings against these cities in Japan. This followed the ignoring of an ultimatum by Japanese officials and much debate in America. The two cities were almost completely destroyed, and within 10 days, Japan had surrendered. -
Truman Doctrine
First established in 1947 after Britain no longer could afford to provide anti-communist aid to Greece and Turkey, it pledged to provide U.S. military and economic aid to any nation threatened by communism. -
NATO
The “NATO” is an national security organization that formed as a pact between 12 countries in 1949. It set up a mutual defense between the countries and agreed that if anybody attacked a single country that was a part of NATO, they attacked the entire organization. It became both defensive and offensive in through their military. -
Fall of China to Communism
Mainland China was taken over by communist by 1949, and the only place left to go for Chiang and his forced was Taiwan. Chiang continued to get support from the US, however Mao Ze-Dong already ruled Beijing, bringing to fruition the “People’s Republic of China”. Mao Ze-Dongs’ leadership of which was only recognized by the US 30 years later. Stalin and Mao signed the Sino-Soviet pact in 1950. -
Korean War
This conflict marked the first military action of the cold war when North Korean troops invaded the Soviet occupied South Korean territory, and U.S forces soon intervened on South Korea’s behalf. More than being about the specific country of Korea, it was thought of as a war against the concept of communism itself. -
Election of 1952
A race between Dwight D. Eisenhower for the republicans and Adlai Stevenson for the democrats. Eisenhower won in a landslide.
