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Oct 11, 1492
Christopher Columbus descovered the New World
On October 11th Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World. Once they landed on the shore many Natives gathered. The Natives brought many riches to give to the sailors. Soon after a few days some of the Natives were made laborers. Many caught European diseases and some died while working under harsh conditions. Because the Natives didn't have any built-in resistance to the European diseases, tens of thousands died. -
British Colonies
Jamestown, Virginia was founded on May 13th of 1607. It became the first English colony in the Americas. It strugled until settlers began to grow tobacco to ship to Europe. They hired indentured servants to work on these plantations. Indentured servents are people who agree to work for a few years in return they got a free trip to America. Other settlers were members of a Protestant group. Their hope was to make the English church more pure, this group was called to Puritans. -
Resistance and Rebellion in the Colonies
The Stamp Act of 1765 was put in place so that colonists had to pay more taxes to the British. The colonists boycotted and the British repealed the Stamp Act but them put in place other laws that raised taxes. Tension grew in Boston, there was a massacre of people which was later called the Boston Massacre. The British then romoved all of the taxes but one. -
Independance War
There were two sides whcih was almost divided evenly between those who favored independence and those who supported the British. Those who favored independence were named the Patriots, and those who favored the British were called the Loyalists. March of 1776 the British army reteated from Boston and seized New York City. The British was defeated, in 1781 the British decided to movve the war effort to Yorktown, Virginia. The British soon surendured, and peace treatys were made. -
A New Nation, Confederation, and Constitution
The first government in the United States was established by the Articles of Confederation. There were voters who elected delegates to the Congress. The Congress was the National Government. The Articles gave the Congress certain powers. The Congress made new houses and a new coart system for the people. The people who favored it were called the Federalists and the ones who did not favor it were called the Antifederalists. The Congress also added to the Bill of Rights. -
The Jeffersonian Era
The Jefferson Era was a time when Thomas Jefferson won a close election as president. Jefferson expanded American territory. He bought the Louisiana Territory from France and the land that stretched from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The war against Great Britain led Americans to develp their own industries. Also after this war for years the Americans felt a strong national pride. -
The Market Revolution
The Market Revolution is a time when people increasingly bought good rather than make what they needed. There were new inventions that helped fuel economic growth such as: the telephone, steam-powered ships, and railroads. These three things helped America connect to the rest of the United States. There was a rise of factories, workers, and immigrant workers. -
The Jackson Era
When Andrew Jackson was prestident from March 4th, 1829 to March 4th, 1837. His style made him very popular with the common people. 7 years before Jackson was president the Congress passed the Indian Removal Act. This Act forced Native Americans out of their land in the Southeast. The Supreme Court then ruled it unconstitutional, Jackson defied the Court. There were some conflicts while Jackson was president but he quickly compromised and solved those problems. -
Railroads
Railroads became a huge part of American life. They were not only there to provide transportation to food, but to humans as well. The only problem was that building railroads was a difficult and dangerous work. Many of the workers were immigrants. By 1888 mor than 2,000 railroad workers had died, while another 20,000 had been injured. The workers were paid very little. But the Railroads were used to help link the Nation. -
The Seneca Falls, "Declaration of Sentiments"
The Seneca Falls, "Declaration of Sentiments", was writen on July 19th, 1848. This was a declaration that women wrote to try to get their point across to the men. They believed that they deservied to have the same rights as the men, but the men did not believe in this. In this declaration they state how the men are treating them and how they want to have their rights just like everyone else. -
Expansion of Industry
The expansion of industry was a big thing for America. Feul, iron, and steel became a huge part of work. There were vast changes in technology like iron was used to turn into steel. Steel began to be used in railroads, farm tools like the plow and reaper, to make cans for food, to make a new bridge, and to make skyscrapers. Thomas Edison made the Incandescent light and also began to organize power plants. -
Politics of Slavery
Slavery in the 1800's was a big part of daily life. The North and South disagreed strongly over slavery. The debates focused mainly on the slavery in territories that wanted to become slaves. The Congress made a compromise which allowed California to become a free state. This compromise also included to Fugitive Slave Act. Which allowed harsh steps to be taken against the slaves who ran away. A lot of the Northerners did not like this Act. -
The Civil War
The civil War began when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter a Union fort in Charleston, South Carolina. At the time Abraham Lincoln was president. Lincoln issued a call for troops to fight to help restore the Union. Then four more Southern states seceded. As the war continued, Northern troops pushed deeper into the South. The Civil War ended with the Confederacy surrenered at Appomattox. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 was an Act that offered cheap land to farmers. This attracted more than 400,000 from 1862 to 1900. Several thousand of them were African Americans. Others were immigrants from Germany and Scandinavia. The reason that the Homestead Act was brought about was because after the Civil War ended, the Plains attracted tens of thousands of white settlers who wanted to own land. Many of them though went to Colorado to mine the gold. -
The Reconstruction
President Lincoln during the Civil devised a plan for Reconstruction. This would be a period of rebuilding the nation and readmitting the Southern states to the nation. Andrew Johnson who succeeded Lincoln as presidennt had a similar plan. Except some of the Republicans thought it to be to easy on the South. The Reconstruction affected the African-Americans in every way. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
The Battle of Little Big Horn was in 1876. This battle started because in 1874, Colonel George Armstrong Custer reported that the Black Hills held gold. There was a new gold rush that began, and the government offered to buy the land. Then the Sioux refused to give the land, and the army moved in. Custer and his soliders were all killed in battle. But within months the army defeated the Sioux. -
The Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was an Act that was set and stone into place on May 6th of 1882. This Act was directed towards the Chinese. Also this Act was based soley on their race and the "Native-borns" fear of them. This Act banned the entry to ALL Chinese immigrants. Unless they were students, merchants, tourists, teachers, or government officials. -
The AFL
The AFL stands for The American Federation of Labor. This group was started on December 8th of 1886. They were made to fight for the work rights that they thought that they deserved. They ended up winning. They won higher wages and shorter work weeks for its members and for the skilled workers. -
The Dawes Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 was an Act that tried to force the assimilation of Native Americans into white culture. The reservations were broken up. But some of the land was given to each adult family head for farming. Except this policy failed because the Native Americans were cheated out of the best land. -
Americanization Movement
The Americanization Movement was a huge movement to try to get the immigrants more assimilated to the "white" culture. this Movement was all about the Social Welfare of everything. This movement was also designed to assimilate the immigrants into not only the "white" culture but to assimilate people of a wide ranging culture into the "dominat cultue".
