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Jan 1, 1000
Leif Eriksson and the Vikings reach North America
Although Columbus thought he was the first person to reach America, that is not at all true. The vikings reached America at ca. year 1000, and there are even theories that China and Ireland also reached America before Columbus did. -
Oct 12, 1492
Columbus arrives in America
Italian explorer, navigator and colonizer Christopher Columbus arrives in America, in what today is known as Bahamas. He quickly claimed the land as Spanish. -
Period: Oct 12, 1492 to
Columbian exchange
The Columbian exchange refers to trading between the New and Old world, starting right after Columbus arrived in America. The trading included/includes plants, foods and even deseases. -
Oct 15, 1492
Columbus tries tobacco
The Indies gave Columbus tobacco leaves as a gift, and soon after, they brought it to Europe. -
Oct 26, 1492
Assimilate, Relocate or Genocide
Right from the beginning, the Indies had three choices:
1. Assimilate: Adapt to the American culture
2. Relocate: Even though they adapted, they could risk being relocated, far away from their homes
3. Genocide: Many tribes chose to fight, but they all lost, and thousands of Indies lost their lives due to war, starvation and disease -
Jan 1, 1552
Las Casas: the Devastation of the Indies
Spanjard Las Casas was against the way Columbus treated the Indies, and whote the Devastation of the Indies to explain how he treated them -
Settlers arrive in Jamestown
Young, British men who were looking for gold arrived in Jamestown on the 13th of May 1607 -
Indentures slaves to Virginia
The first Africans came to Virginia in 1619 as indentured slaves. They were treated like other slaves, but had the opportunity to work their way to freedom -
First Thanksgiving
The First Thanksgiving was in 1621, and it was the Puritans who celebrated it after their first harvest. They even included the Indies in this celebration -
Massachussetts Bay becomes a colony
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A large group of Puritan settlers arrives in Massachussetts
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John Locke writes "A Letter Concerning Toleration"
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Charles de Montesquieu: The Spirit of the Laws
Before the Constitution was written, Montesquieu wrote that a government shall consist of the legislative, executive and judicial branch -
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French and Indian war
It was faught between the colonies of British America and New France -
War debt and taxes
After the French and Indian War, Britain owed a lot of debt to France. They therefore thought it would be appropriate to put taxes on the colonists, for instance on tea and sugar -
Royal Proclamation of 1763
It was written by King George III and it followed the French and Indian War, and forbade all settlement past a line along the Appalachian Mountains. -
The American Revolution starts
This is not the same as the Revolutionary war. The revolution was started because many of the colonists wated to be an independent country -
Boston Massacre
A group of Patriots against Brirtish soldiers. They were angry about the presence of British soldiers -
Tea Act
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American Revolutionary War
The war was fought for America's independence, escpecially the North colonies, who had declared themselves independent from Britain -
Thomas Paine writes Common Sense
In Common Sense, Thomas Paine argues for American Independence. It is known as one of the influences for the Constitution -
Declaration of Independence
This marked the United States as independent -
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In Massachussetts, only Christians were allowed to hold public office
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Battle of Saratoga
America won, and this was a huge victory in the war of becoming an independent country -
Thomas Jefferson on equality for people of all religions
Thomas Jefferson, one of the Founding Fathers and the third president of the United States, drafted a written statement to guarantee legal equality for citizens of all religions -
Articles of the Constitution
The three first articles of the Constitution states how the government will be formed: by the legislative, executive and judicial branch. The legislative branch makes the laws, the executive branch enforces the laws, and the judicial branch explains the laws. -
First 10 Amendments of the Constitution
The first ten Amendments of the Constitution states the rights of the people, which include freedom of speach and religion, the right to bear arms and the right to refuse to be searched by police -
Civil War amendments
Some of the Amendments were written in response to the acts put on the Acts britain put on America, for instance the Quartering Act, which forced people to house soldiers. Amendment III states that people have the right to refuse to house soldiers -
Thomas Jefferson sends letter to Charles Thompson
In the letter, he thanked his friend for sending a copy of his newly summary of the Gospels. This shows friendship between people who had different religious beliefs -
Chief Sharitarish's letter to President Monroe
Sharitartish wrote a humble letter to President Monroe, simply asking him to leave the Indies alone, a letter who did not do much for their cause. -
Andrew Jackson's Seventh Annual Message to Congress
Andrew Jackson, the 7th president of the United States, portrays the Indian Removal Act as a peaceful and neccessary thing that will benefit all parts -
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Trail of tears
The Trail of tears are the removal of the Cherokees, that forced them to abandon their land east of Mississippi River, and move to today's Oklahoma. It was the Cherokees who called it the Trail of Tears. -
Rhode Island's voting rights
Rhode Island would only let landowners and their sons vote -
John Brown's army: Hayward Shepherd
Shepherd was a free black man who was a part of John Brown's army. On 16th of October, they raided Harpers Ferry, a small town in West Virginia. They attacked several buildings, hoping that they could use the captured weapons to initiate a slave uprising in the South. Shepherd got shot and died from the injuries. -
Slavery becomes illegal
The 13th amendment abolishes slavery -
Buffalo Skulls
In order to extinct the Indies, they tried killing off the Bisons, who were their source of food. This picture shows roughly 180,000 Bison skulls, that was used as fertilizer. They were hunted almost to extinct, and by 1880, there were only a few hundred left. -
John Burnett's Story of the Removal of the Cherokees
John Burnett, a soldier who was a part of the Removal, told a very different story than Andrew Jackson. Burnett tells about how the Indies were brutally forced out of their homes, and many of them were killed along the way. Burnett was known by the Indies as one of the only soldiers who were nice to them. -
"Kill the Indian, and save the man" Capt. Richard H.Pratt
A paper written by Captain Richard H.Pratt explains the way he felt about the indies, that "a good Indie is a dead Indie" -
Peter Pan's racism
Peter Pan came our first in 1904, but that is several hundred years after Columbus came to America. Still, Peter Pan portays the Indies as stupid people who only spoke using words as "Ugh". -
Sacco and Vancetti
On May 31, 1921, Nicola Sacco, a 32-year-old shoemaker, and Bartolomeo Vanzetti, a 29-year-old fish peddler, went on trial for murder in Boston. A year prior, a payroller had been killed, and three weeks later Sacco and Vanzetti were charged. Many Americans thought that the charges were only because of their foreign background and radical beliefs. -
Columbus Day first made an official holiday
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Stagecoach
Stagecoach, a movie from 1939, explains how people looked at the Indies on that time. The Indies are in Stagecoach portrayed as savages, who are after killing the very innocent stagecoach who is trying to get across the prairie. -
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Coca Cola poses as Fanta during WWII
They supported the Nazis, but to save their own brand, Cola posed as Fanta orange in order to make money but still look innocent -
Kennedy gets elected to President
He had trouble getting elected because he was catholic. People were worried that he would care more about the Pope than the people of the U.S. -
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Americans are taking less vacation days
In 2000, the average American took 20,9 vacation days. In 2013, that number had sunk to 16 days. This costs U.S. businesses 224 billion dollars a year. Several businesses, for instance Rand Corporation and Full Contact Inc., has now chosen to give employees paid vacations, Other corporations, like Hubspot, has chosen to have an unlimited vacation policy. Several corporations are also using the "Use it or lose it" policy, to make their workers take out vacation instead of saving it. -
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Americans taking less vacation days
In 2000, the average American took 20,9 days of vacation days. In 2013, the number had sunk to 16 vacation days per worker -
57 U.S. corporations fined for trading with enemies
In only one week, 57 U.S. corporations were fined for trading with official U.S. enemies, including terrorists. This shows how far corporations are willing to go for money -
President Obama paying respect to previous politicians
President Obama states that the government should respect and support all religions during a speech, and by doing that, he paid respect to a vision politicians have had for over two centuries -
19,6% are non-believers
The number has risen since 2007, where 15,3% were non-believers -
More money; less empathy?
Several studies show that there is a clear connection between money and empathy. The study shows that people with more money have less empathy and vice versa. -
McCutcheon vs. FEC
Supreme Court issued a ruling that struck down the aggregate limits on how much an individual can contribute during a two year period to all federal candidates, parties and political action combined. -
People not taking vacation costs corporations $224 Billion
