Individual Actions in American History

  • Peace Treaty Ended The Revolutionary War

    This is significant in American history because on this day, the treaty ended the Revolutionary War between Great Britain and the United States, recognized American independence and established borders for the new nation.
  • Ratification of The Constitution

    This event detailed a four-stage ratification process: (1) submission of the Constitution to the Confederation Congress, (2) transmission of the Constitution by Congress to the state legislatures, (3) election of delegates to conventions in each state to consider the Constitution, and (4) ratification by the conventions of at least nine of the thirteen states. This is significant because the ratification process encouraged Americans to look at themselves as a nation instead of individuals.
  • Treaty with Britain sets 49th parallel

    The Oregon Treaty set the U.S. and British North American border at the 49th parallel with the exception of Vancouver Island, which was kept in its entirety by the British.
  • Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise was an agreement passed in 1820 between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. It prohibited slavery in the former Louisiana Territory north of the parallel 36°30′ north except within the boundaries of the proposed state of Missouri. Prior to the agreement, the House of Representatives had refused to accept this compromise, and a conference committee was appointed.
  • Monroe Doctrine

    The Monroe Doctrine is a policy of the United States introduced on December 2, 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression requiring U.S. intervention. The Doctrine noted that the United States would neither interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries.
  • Republican Party formed for abolition of slavery

    The Republican Party was founded solely on the issue of the abolition of slavery. It was under a Republican president, Abraham Lincoln, that slavery was abolished and civil rights established for African Americans. In the Emancipation Proclamation Lincoln announced the end of slavery. However, it took the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution, to complete the abolition.
  • Conferderates surrendered the Civil War under leadership of General Robert E. Lee

    This is what most consider to be the end of the Civil War. The terms, proposed in an exchange of notes the previous day, were honorable: Surrendered officers and their troops were to be paroled and prohibited from taking up arms until properly exchanged, and arms and supplies were to be given over as captured property. After Lee had read the terms and added an omitted word, he ordered his aide to write a letter of acceptance. This done, at about 3:45 p.m. the generals exchanged documents.
  • Lincoln Assassinated

    On thisday, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated in Ford's Theatre by a man of the name John Wilkes Booth in Washington D.C. This was significant because it took place a few days after the confederacy had surrendered and the Union had won the Civil War.
  • Reconstruction in old South

    Post Civil War reconstruction had begun after the four years of war the people had just seen.