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1400
Prehistory
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1492
Christopher Columbus Sails the Ocean Blue
Christopher Columbus thought that if he traveled around the world by sea, he would eventually get to the East Indies. He wasn't wrong but he did make one drastic mistake. The world was much smaller than he thought. He ended up finding landing in the Bahamas where he met a group of Native Americans and named them Indians. (Remember, he had thought he had landed in the East Indies, so he considered them as Indians.) The led to the discovery of the Americas and created a lot of change in the world. -
Jamestown
Jamestown was the first founded English settlement. This was the settlement that ended up starting the whole colonization of America. -
Plymouth
The first group of Puritans and a mix of other people arrive and create Plymouth. These people are called the Pilgrims as they were the ones who left because of the king, James I. They befriend the local Native Americans at the time and have the first Thanksgiving. Later, disaster strikes and the fragile balance between the Native Americans and the Pilgrims is broken. -
Stamp Tax
The Stamp Act was created by the King George of England. It said that every American Citizen had to buy a stamp and put it on any form of paper sold. This could be cards, books, flyers, etc. -
Period: to 1576
King Philip's War
Massasoit signed a peace treaty with the Pilgrims that lasted until Massasoit dies. His son, King Philip, ends up taking command and starts a war with the Pilgrims. The war started because somehow, an English man ends up killing a Native American. He ends up losing with the Pilgrims keeping all the land they had and gaining more territory. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was during the time when England had taken off all the taxes on all the goods except for tea. This made people mad and in Boston, a group of people dressed up as Indians, invaded a British ship and threw all the tea into the water. -
Boston Massacre
A group of Patriots antagonized British soldiers. A British soldier had fired, and this ended up killing a group of unarmed people. It was one of the leading causes that lead to the American Revolution. -
1st Continental Congress
This was when people of the 13 colonies finally came together and decided to be considered one people, Americans. During this meeting, they decided they wanted to try to gain free rights without fighting England. -
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Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War made the foundations of the United States. During this time, American citizens fought for their freedom against the English. Eventually, they succeed and planted the rest of the foundations of the United States with the U.S Constitution. -
Battle of Lexington & Concord
The first fight of the American Revolution. We don't know who fired the first shot, but it was called The Shot Heard Round the World. The Militia leader Issac Davis dies in this fight. -
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson writes the Declaration of Independence which says that all men are created equal. It separates the New England colonies from England although it does not end the Revolutionary War. -
United States Constitution signed
This was the first step to creating the American government. The Constitution states the basic rights each person has and shows the basis of what the U.S government is like and its three branches. -
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Lewis & Clark Expedition
Lewis and Clark explore the Louisiana Purchase. With this, the find over 200 species of birds and many other creatures. They create relationships with the Native Americans and help later pioneers by giving them maps and knowledge of the terrain. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was an agreement that said that Missouri would become a slave state while Maine would become a free state. This settled the tensions between the South and North for a while but would change 30 years later when the Kansas-Nebraska Act is passed. -
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Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was one of the most shameful acts of America. We drove out the Cherokee tribes from their native lands over to areas they are not familiar with. It showed just how much the English settlers hated the Native Americans or how much greed they had. -
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Mexican War
A war that happened because of the idea called "Manifest Destiny". This idea made people in the U.S fight in Mexican territory to gain as much territory as they could. -
Gold Rush begins
The Gold Rush happened in California. It was a time when people would flock to the west so that they could get gold and make a fortune. The reason it happened was because of a person name Wilson Marshall. Marshall had found gold in a river which was located in California. This caused in uproar in the east which made people come west. This caused a huge growth in population. -
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Labor Unions Started
In the late 1800s, labor unions started to pop up. This is because of how unethical the business owners were to their laborers. Effectively, the laborers were slaves. So, the Unions were created to help laborers fight back. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This was an act that created Kansas and Nebraska as states. This set the United States into chaos as it broke the fragile balance between the states. It was bound to happen, ya know? -
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American Civil War
An important time period as it had completely reformed America. It had started from a simple act of the South wanting to split off from the North. The president knew that if that was to happen, the United States would end up completely destroyed. So, they went to war. This caused a huge amount of bloodshed and was called the first modern war. This is because we had modern technology but historic tactics. This caused quite a bit more bloodshed. After the war it caused the Reformation. -
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Homesteading the plains
After the Homesteading act was passed, people started to settle in the great plains. Because of this, a lot of change and innovation happened to farming. Barbed wire was invented because of the herds of cows that cowboys would lead on the great plains. The first form of tractors, called a reaper, was created to help grow crops on the great plains. A lot of other things happened during this time but I can't cover all of it. -
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Reformation
This was the time period after the Civil War. This time was when the North and South were trying to reconnect, and many major things happened during this time. People were trying to fight for the rights of the slaves and women in America. For the slaves, the Emancipation Proclamation set the setting for the fight to get rights for all men. Women would go on strikes and go on campions during this time to fight for their rights. During this time, people also brought the South into the loop again. -
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Cattle drives in Great Plains
Cattle started to be driven by cowboys across the great plains to bring food and furs to the settlers and their settlements. This caused great change. Nearly all of the native bison had been killed and the cattle took their place. -
Alaska Purchased
Russia gave Alaska to the U.S because of where it was placed. It wasn't a great place to live as it was cold and it was hard to get supplies there. The purchase had been postponed during the Civil War as there were things in America that were making it hard for the treaty to get passed. Finally, in 1867, Alaska was purchased and created the 49th state. -
First transcontinental railroad
This railroad was created by many individual laborers. It was known for the Chinese immigrants who worked in the mountains with very little pay and was also known for how fast travel became. When it was finished, a six-month journey from New York to California now took 6 days. This caused the settling of the west and plains to skyrocket, and towns even started having trouble naming streets! They instead just called them numbers and letters. -
Suez Canal opens
The Suez Canal helped open up trade routes in Europe and Asia. -
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Massive immigration to America
A huge amount of different people migrates over to the U.S. This is a period of change and a period of different cultures. -
Carnegie builds steel mill
Carnegie becomes famous for his steel factories. It becomes a monopoly that will lower the prices of steel but create bad lives for laborers. -
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Plains Wars
The Native Americans that lived in the Plains were starting to get kicked out. Chief Joseph wanted to keep his people in their land and because of this, it started a war. The plains war ended with the Plains Indians surrendering but, a stray shot ended up getting 200 of them killed. -
First telephone conversation--Alexander Graham Bell
This is the first time anyone in the world has ever spoken to some one from far away. In fact, at the time, this is the first world record for the longest (in terms of distance) conversation. It will lead to a new era that makes the world seem rather small. -
Edison invents electric light bulb
This invention spreads light to the world. It makes life a lot easier and cheaper as you have longer days. It also makes parents anxious as they are constantly living in fear of walls. (Children love sticking their fingers in outlets.) This also creates a time where electricity becomes more prominent in life. Later, computers, laptops and cell phones will become just as common as candles were during that time. -
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Electricity for Cities
During this timespan electricity becomes more widespread. What else do you want me to say? : | ? -
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Jim Crow Laws created
These laws were passed to diminish the powers of the prior slaves. -
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Progressive Era
A time period of progression in the U.S. It created ideas about the everyday workmen and businessmen that wasn't thought of before. Mainly, these things were about how unfair the life of a workman is compared to a business owner. -
The Panic of 1893
AHHH! The economy went wild as inflation and deflation started to rise and fall like the tides of the ocean. This period was a time of economic crisis for both the city dwellers and the country people. -
Hawaii becomes U.S. possesion
Hawaii was originally Polynesian territory until disaster struck, and missionaries arrived. Terrible things happened to the Natives but eventually, it became the 50th U.S state after many tears and bloodshed. -
Spanish-American War
Because of a "newspaper war", Americans wanted the Spanish to abandon their influence on the Americas. When Cuba started fighting for their freedom, the U.S started to want to start a war. A war did happen when people suspected the Maine (a ship) to be blown up by Spanish intentions. -
U.S. gains control of Puerto Rico, Philippine Islands and other Pacific islands
What to say...well...it's America...expansion seems likely. The U.S expands all over the place creating mass change, introducing religions, foods, cultures from islands around the world. A lot happens. -
United States has become a world power
What did you expect?! It is the United States... and now, it finally shows that it is powerful enough to be a force against the world. Trade, military force, etc. It has it all. -
U.S. takes over Panama Canal construction
After the French gave up on creating a Canal through Panama, Theodore Rosevelt decided to continue. This was considered one of the greatest achievements of his time and led to trade routes being more accessible and cost efficient. -
Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
Roosevelt creates a lot of changes in the U.S government. He was considered the first modern president. During his presidency, he created the Panama Canal, he created the square deal, and helped unite the states. -
AIRPLANE!!! Wright brothers make first airplane flight.
A tremendous achievement of mankind. It led to the first step of traversing the skies and stars. -
CARS!!! Henry Ford builds cars on assembly line
The first person to mass produce cars and to give their workers an actually good pay. He makes a fortune and so do his workers. His workers also become his customers which made this time period an era of consumers and owners. -
U.S opens Panama Canal
This opens up the west coast and the east coast of the U.S to trade between each other. -
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World War 1
Starting off as a simple war for territory, it wasn't that big of a deal until it just kept going on and on and you get the point. The reason it was terrible was kind of like what happened to the Civil War. We had all of this new technology that we can use that made the war much deadlier than they needed to be. -
Russian Revolution
There were two revolutions in Russia that were separated by only months. The eventual outcome was the Soviet Union. -
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World-Wide Depression
Everyone became depressed for some reason. No, stock market prices dropped so low that people started owing money to people. This caused people to sell their houses and belongings and started to affect the world. After the stock market crashed, the banks followed because they didn't have enough material to give back when someone tried to deposit their money. -
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World War 2
Oh boy. This is considered one of the worst wars ever. The war started because of Adolf Hitler in Germany. Germany had become a dictatorship under Hitler and Hitler started to do some nasty stuff to people. Germany's goal of world domination ended when America joined the war. -
First atomic bomb exploded
The Atomic Bomb was created to finish off World War 2 and it achieved its goal. It ended up going down in history as one of the worst moments ever recorded as it caused so many people to die. Whole family chains were wiped out. -
Cold War Begins
Imagine a school fight with two people just staring at each other calling each other names without a single punch ever taking place. That was the Cold War. It had started because someone had leaked knowledge about the Nuclear Bomb to Russia so both the U.S.A and Russia were threatening each other with essentially, destroying the world. -
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Korean War
A war that took place in North and South Korea. It was about ideologies on how they should run the country. The U.S ended up getting involved and it became a huge disaster. In the end about 2.5 million people died. -
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American Civil Rights Movement
This movement was to give rights to the colored races of America. This movement drastically changed the way people viewed each other and still view each other. It also gave freedoms to most colored people but, there is still more things that need to be improved before everyone is equal. -
Cuban Revolution
Cuba revolted and became a communist country. Russia helped Cuba and put up secret missile bases that started the Cuban Missile Crisis. AHHH! -
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Vietnam War
A war that started because of political conflict from the Communist North Vietnam and its allies and South Vietnam with the U.S as its ally. There was a heavy cost in human casualties causing disruptions in Vietnam's agriculture business and industry. However, they did come out a potent military power in Asia. -
Terrorists attack American landmarks
Al-Qaeda decides to attack America by striking the twin towers with two airplanes that they hijacked and hit the Pentagon. Another landed in a farm in Pennsylvania but we suspected it was going to hit the White House. -
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Iraq War
A war that started because the U.S thought that Iraq had bombs and was planning to use them for evil purposes. Turns out they didn't. -
Election of President Barack Obama
The first black President ever to be elected, it showed the change our country has been going through. It was also a tough election, but Barack still got the total votes by a 7% difference.