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Founding of Jamestown
National Event: -
French and Indian War
Background
International Event:
Also known as the Seven Years' War, the French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France, which eventually ended with the Treaty of Paris. As a result of the war, Great Britain gained enormous territorial gains in North America. -
Industrial Revolution begins in England
International Event:
The Industrial Revolution, which took place from the 18th to 19th centuries, was a period during which mainly rural societies in Europe became industrial and urban. Prior to the Industrial Revolution, manufacturing was often done in people’s homes, using hand tools or basic machines. Industrialization marked a shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. -
Stamp Act is approved by Congress
National Event:
An act of the British Parliament that exacted revenue from the American colonies by imposing a stamp duty. The tax was implimented on newspapers and legal and commercial documents. -
Repeal of Stamp Act
National Event:
Colonial opposition led to the act's repeal and helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the British royalty. Despite this, Parliment passed the Declaratory Act, asserting its right to tax the colonists, which brought outrage to the communities. -
Townshend Acts
National Event:
Townshend Acts originated by Charles Townshend was passed shortly after the repeal of the Stamp Act. They were designed to collect revenue from the colonists in America by putting customs duties on imports of glass, lead, paints, paper, and tea. -
Boston Massacre
National Event:
The Boston Massacre was the result of the British presence in the communities. It resultled in the murder of 5 citizens, and was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since British forces first arrived in Massachusetts. -
Boston Tea Party
National Event:
The Boston Tea Party was an act of rebellion from the American colonial defiance. It served as a protest against taxation and influenced a shift in resistance. As a result, 90,000 pounds of tea were dumped into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
International Event:
The Intolerable Acts were the series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament after the Boston Tea party. They were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in throwing a large tea shipment into Boston harbor. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
National Event:
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were the result of the tensions that had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. With these battles, the colonists proved that they could stand against one of the greatest armies in the world at the time. -
Signing of the Declaration of Independence
Transcript of Declaration
National Event:
The most significant effort put into the Declaration was made by Jefferson, who drafted and wrote the largest portion of it. The Declaration of Independence made history in democracy as the first formal statement by a nation’s people asserting their right to choose their own government. -
Signing of Treaty of Paris
International Event:
The Treaty of Paris was a negotiaton between the United States and Great Britain. It resulted in the end of the Revolutionary War and recognized American independence. -
Signing of the Constitution
National Event:
The Constitution protected certain basic rights for its citizens and established America’s national government and fundamental laws. In 1791, the Bill of Rights would be an additional 10 amendments to the Constitution. -
Abolishment of Monarchy in France
International Event:
In Revolutionary France, the Legislative Assembly voted to abolish the monarchy and establish the First Republic. The measure came one year after King Louis XVI reluctantly approved a new constitution that stripped him of much of his power. -
XYZ Affair
Background
John Quincy Adams Event:
The XYZ Affair was a political and diplomatic episode, involving a confrontation between the United States and Republican France. Tentions were built as "the XYZ dispatchs provoked a frenzy of war fever and violent anti-French demonstrations" (Unger 113). This led to an undeclared war called the Quasi-War. -
The War of 1812
International Event:
The War of 1812 was a military conflict, lasting for two and a half years, fought by the United States of America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies, and its North American Indian allies. -
Treaty of Ghent
John Quincy Adams Event:
The Treaty of Ghent was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It "called for a release of all prisoners and restoration of all conquered territories" (Unger 174). However, "the only triumph at Ghent...was an end to the war and establishment of peace between the two nations" (175). -
Signing of the Adams-Onís Treaty
John Qunicy Adams Event:
The Adams–Onís Treaty, also known as the "Transcontinental Treaty, defined the western limits of the Lousiana Territory, with the Spanish ceding all claims to the Pacific Northwest" (Unger 209). In other words, it was a treaty between the United States and Spain that gave Florida to the U.S. and set out a boundary between the U.S. and New Spain, now known as Mexico. -
Monroe Doctrine
John Quincy Adams Event:
As secretary of state under James Monroe, Adams played a key role in determining the president's foreign policy, including the famous Monroe Doctrine. It was a principle of US policy stating that any intervention by external powers in the politics of the United States is a potentially hostile act against the US. It was thought that "Monroe's new 'doctrine' drew universal acclaim across America" (Unger 219). -
John Quincy Adams gets elected to be President of the United States
Background
John Quincy Adams Event:
In his presidential win, the House of Representative elected John Quincy Adams as the sixth President of the United States after the electoral college failed to produce a winner. In his polital career, he is best known for his work with the Monroe Doctrine and the Treaty of Ghent. -
Erie Canal Completed
John Quincy Adams Event:
The Erie Canal was completed while Adams was in office. It linked the Great Lakes to East Coast which in turn created an easy transport of products such as grain, whiskey and farm produce to Eastern markets. -
Indian Removal Act
John Quincy Adams Event:
The Indian Removal Act was during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. The law authorized Jackson to negotiate with southern Indian tribes regarding their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River. In exchange, their ancestral homelands would be stripped from them. -
Mexican American War
John Quincy Adams Event:
Ending on February 2nd, 1848, the Mexican American war was fought between the U.S. and Mexico. The war was initiated by Mexico and resulted in Mexico's defeat and the loss of approximately half of its national territory in the north. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
National Event:
