-
Massacre at Mystic
A pre-dawn attack on Mystic Fort that left 500 adults and children of the Pequot tribe dead, the Mystic Massacre was the first defeat of the Pequot people by the English in the Pequot War, a three-year war instigated by the Puritans to seize the tribe's traditional land. This was a major turning point in the Pequot war as it enraged the settlers that the warriors would kill civilians and led to increased support for the Pequot War among colonists. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
the victory of a seasoned U.S. expeditionary force under Major General William Henry Harrison over Shawnee Indians led by Tecumseh's brother Laulewasikau (Tenskwatawa), known as the Prophet. The defeat at Tippecanoe prompted Tecumseh to ally his remaining forces with Great Britain during the War of 1812, where they would play an integral role in the British military success in the Great Lakes region in the coming years. -
The Scalp Act
legalized the taking of scalps for money, paid by the Pennsylvania government. The Scalp Act was passed as a means to get rid of Delaware once and for all. By the 1700s, the times were changing, unpredictably and rapidly, for the people who lived along the Susquehanna River. This was important because it showed the true extent that the government would get rid of the Indians. -
The Boston Tea party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest at griffin’s wharf in boston massachusetts where 342 chest of tea that had been imported by the British east India company were dumped into the harbor. This event is important to the Colonial Period because it's the first major act of defiance to British rule over the colonists. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
This event had marked the start of the American War of Independence. This war had convinced many Americans that they should take up arms and support the cause of independence. -
The Declaration of Independence is Signed
The Declaration of independence informed the public of the provisions of the proposed new government. The Declaration had allowed people to have a right to choose their own goverment for the first time. -
Article of Confederation are Ratified
The Articles were signed by Congress and sent to the individual states for ratification after being debated for 16 months. The Articles created a loose confederation of sovereign states and a weak central government and left most of the power with the state governments. -
The Battle of Yorktown
Franco-American land and sea campaign entrapped a major British army on a peninsula at Yorktown and forced it to surrender. This had virtually ended military operations and marked the last major battle of the American Revolution. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
an agreement made in 1787 by the delegates of the Constitutional Convention saying that three-fifths of a state's slave population would count towards its total population, a number which was used for determining representation in Congress and the tax obligations of each state. it increased the political power of the slave owners in Congress and, therefore, contributed to the continuation and expansion of slavery. -
Presidential Inauguration of George Washington
This inauguration allowed the executive branch of the United States government to officially began operations under the new frame of government. Washingtons first words as President set the tone for his Presidency and the entire country. He had to assure the nation and the world of his determination to make the American experiment a success. -
Washington’s Farewell Address
In Washington's Farewell Address he warned that the forces of geographical sectionalism, political factionalism, and interference by foreign powers in the nation's domestic affairs threatened the stability of the Republic. The address was intended to serve as a guide to future statecraft for the American public. -
The Death of George Washington
George Washington died of a throat infection on December 14,1799. His death reflected certain traditions and was perceived as a crisis. The polictical leaders used his death to start creating natinal duty during this time of sorrow. -
Election Day, 1800
Thomas Jefferson defeated John Adams by seventy-three to sixty-five electoral votes in the presidential election. This election marked the first peaceful change of executive party in the US. It had also confirmed the role of the electorate in choosing the American president. -
Marbury vs. Madison
Marbury vs. Madison was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review. This was a very important event that established power for the fedral courts for the first time. -
The Missouri Compromise
a law that tried to address growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery. By passing the law, the U.S. Congress admitted Missouri to the Union as a state that allowed slavery, and Maine as a free state. It maintained a delicate balance between free and slave states. On the single most divisive issue of the day, the U.S. Senate was equally divided. If the slavery question could be settled politically, any such settlement would have to happen in the Senate. -
Trail of Tears
as part of Andrew Jackson's Indian removal policy, the Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. culminated in the implementation of the Indian Removal Act of 1830, which mandated the removal of all American Indian tribes east of the Mississippi River to lands in the West -
Indian Removal Act
the Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. This was important because this set the beginning steps of the colonization of the West. -
Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner was an enslaved man who led a rebellion against enslaved people on August 21, 1831. His action set off a massacre of up to 200 Black people and a new wave of oppressive legislation prohibiting the education, movement, and assembly of enslaved people. The rebellion also stiffened pro-slavery, and anti-abolitionist convictions that persisted in that region until the American Civil War in 1861. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
Dred Scott Decision
The Dred Scott decision was the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on March 6, 1857, that having lived in a free state and territory did not entitle an enslaved person, Dred Scott, to his freedom. In essence, the decision argued that, as someone's property, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court. upheld slavery in United States territories denied the legality of black citizenship in America and declared the Missouri Compromise to be unconstitutional. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." The Emancipation Proclamation confirmed their insistence that the war for the Union must become a war for freedom. It added moral force to the Union's cause and strengthened the Union both militarily and politically. -
13th Amendment
provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." The 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, ratified in 1865 in the aftermath of the Civil War, abolished slavery in the United States. -
The Ku Klux Klan is Established
The Ku Klux Klan had a long history of violence and is the oldest and most infamous of American hate groups. The group was led by the Confederate cavalry general, Nathan Bedford Forrest, who sought to end this through excessive violence and intimidation the KKK returned to national prominence in the 1920s to direct its hatred against African Americans, Catholics, Jews, etc. -
14th Amendment
granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States—including formerly enslaved people—and guaranteed all citizens “equal protection of the laws.” One of three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery The Fourteenth Amendment forbids the states from depriving any person of “life, liberty, or property, without due process of law” and from denying anyone equal protection under the law. -
John D. Rockefeller Creates Standard Oil
Controlled 90% of U.S. refineries and pipelines. Critics accused Rockefeller of engaging in unethical practices, such as predatory pricing and colluding with railroads to eliminate his competitors in order to gain a monopoly in the industry. -
15th Amendment
guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” The 15th Amendment, which sought to protect the voting rights of Black men after the Civil War, was adopted into the U.S. Constitution in 1870. Despite the amendment, within a few years, numerous discriminatory practices were used to prevent Black citizens from exercising their right to vote, especially in the South. -
Alexander Graham Bell Patents the Telephone
Alexander Graham Bell receives a patent for his revolutionary new invention of the telephone. He worked in London with his father, Melville Bell, who developed Visible Speech, a written system used to teach speaking to the deaf that revolutionized communication as we know it. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
marked the most decisive Native American victory and the worst U.S. Army defeat in the long Plains Indian War. The demise of Custer and his men outraged many white Americans and confirmed their image of the Indians as wild and bloodthirsty. proved to be the height of Native American power during the 19th century. It was also the worst U.S. Army defeat during the Plains Wars. -
The Great Oklahoma Land Race
The Oklahoma Land Run led to the creation of Oklahoma Territory under the Organic Act of 1890 and ultimately to the formation of the forty-sixth state of the Union, Oklahoma, in 1907. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
the slaughter of approximately 150–300 Lakota Indians by United States Army troops in the area of Wounded Knee Creek in southwestern South Dakota. The massacre was the climax of the U.S. Army's late 19th-century efforts to repress the Plains Indians. marked the definitive end of Indian resistance to the encroachments of white settlers. -
Ellis Island Opens to Process Immigrants
Ellis Island is a historical site that opened in 1892 as an immigration station. it served for more than 60 years until it closed in 1954. Many government workers, as well as detained immigrants, kept Ellis Island running so new arrivals could make their way into America. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Supreme Court decision that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation under the “separate but equal” doctrine. it essentially established the constitutionality of racial segregation. As a controlling legal precedent, it prevented constitutional challenges to racial segregation for more than half a century until it was finally overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court in Brownv. -
J.P. Morgan Founds U.S. Steel
Morgan financed the creation of the Federal Steel Company, which he quickly merged with Carnegie Steel Company and renamed United States Steel. The transaction for Carnegie Steel Company cost Morgan a cool $480 Million, more than the entire United States Federal Budget. -
Teddy Roosevelt Becomes President of the United States
Theodore Roosevelt's presidency started with the assassination of President William McKinley and ended on March 4, 1909. He remains the youngest person to become president of the United States. He was a leader of the progressive movement and championed his "Square Deal" domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs. -
Ford Motor Company is Founded
Ford is a family and an automotive company that spans the globe and has shared ideas. Ford designs, manufactures, markets, and services a full line of cars, trucks, sport utility vehicles, and electrified vehicles. The company provides vehicle-related financing and leasing services. Ford markets its products under Ford and Lincoln brand names. -
Ida Tarbell Publishes Her Article About Standard Oil
Tarbell brought the company's shady dealings to light, and the federal government sued Standard Oil. The Supreme Court ordered Standard Oil's breakup in 1911, but only after narrowly defining an illegal monopoly. -
Angel Island Opens to Process Immigrants
Angel Island was a major entry to the U.S. for Asians and other immigrants coming from the west. The Immigration Station opened for partial operation on the northern neck of the island, later called China Cove. -
The 16th Amendment is Passed
The Congress shall have the power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration. played a central role in building up the powerful American federal government of the twentieth century -
The Empire State Building Opens
The world's most magnificent skyscraper, it's a living piece of New York history and an instantly recognizable symbol of city culture today. Standing at 102 stories and 1,454 feet at its pinnacle, the Empire State Building was the tallest building in the world for nearly 40 years after its completion.