Social Studies Timeline

  • 13,000 BCE

    First Humans to Enter North America

    The first humans to enter North America were able to live off of the land they settled on. This was beneficial to the people to come because they would have some resources that these people had.
  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus lands

    "Columbus didn't “discover” America — he never set foot in North America. During four separate trips that started with the one in 1492, Columbus landed on various Caribbean islands that are now the Bahamas as well as the island later called Hispaniola. He also explored the Central and South American coasts." www.washingtonpost.com
  • May 20, 1506

    Christopher Colombus

    Colombus was an Italian explorer, he was able to complete four voyages during his life.
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    Mercantilism

    Mercantilism is the belief in the benefits of profitable trading; commercialism. Mercantilism is a national economic policy designed to maximize the trade of a nation and, historically, to maximize the accumulation of gold and silver.
  • Jamestown

    The founding of Jamestown, America's first permanent colony, was in Virginia in 1607.
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    The Navigation Acts of 1651

    The Navigation Acts of 1651 was aimed primarily at the Dutch, required all trade between England and the colonies to be carried in English or colonial vessels, resulting in the Anglo-Dutch War in 1652.
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    The Enlightenment

    The Enlightenment was a period of time when politics, philosophy, science, and communication were reoriented and improved during which they changed for the most part.
  • Benjamin Franklin

    Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United Staes, he was also an American polymath.
  • George Washington

    The first U.S president who served as a founding father, an American statesmen, and a soldier during his life.
  • Thomas Jefferson

    Thomas Jefferson was a Founding Father who was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence. He was also the third president of the United States.
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    French and Indian War

    "The French and Indian War comprised the North American theater of the worldwide Seven Years' War of 1756–63. It pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France." - Wikipedia
  • The Proclamation of 1763

    "The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains." - Wikipedia
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    Stamp Act

    The Stamp Act was meeting held consisting of representatives from some of the Britsh colonies, which helped encourage the revolutionary movement against the Crown.
  • Andrew Jackson

    Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and stateasman who served and the seventh president of the United States.
  • Lewis and Clark

    Lewis and Clark went on the Lewis and Clark expedition and explored new lands to settle.
  • Boston Massacre

    The Boston Massacre was a tragic event when 5 men were shot during a protest about taxes.
  • Boston Tea Party

    The Boston Tea Party was an act of rebellion against the taxes that had to be paid for tea, a group of men disguised as indians got onto a ship in the middle of the night and threw hundreds of boxes of tea off into the water below.
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    American Revolution

    The American Revolution occurred because the 13 colonies wanted independence from Great Britain.
  • Deceleration of Independence

    The Declaration of Independence was a law that quoted that the 13 colonies were able to control their own colony without paying Great Britain with taxes.
  • United States Constitution Signed

    This was the same place the Declaration of Independence was signed. The Constitution was written during the Philadelphia Convention
  • Louisiana Purchase

    The purchase was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million.
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    Westward Expansion

    In 1803 the Louisiana Purchase took place, doubling the size of the country. By 1840 almost 7 million Americans had migrated westward in hopes of securing land and being prosperous.
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    Lewis and Clark Expedition

    The Lewis and Clark Expedition was kind of like Westward Expansion, they traveled in search of new territory and places to settle.
  • Abraham Lincoln

    Lincoln was an American statesman and a lawyer who served as the sixteenth president of the United States, he was assassinated by John W. Booth during his term.
  • Fredrick Douglass

    Douglass was an African-American social reformer, abolitonist, orator, writer, and statesman.
  • Jacksonian Democracy

    Jacksonian democracy was a 18th-century political philosophy in the United States that espoused greater democracy for the common man as that term was then defined.
  • The Election of 1828

    The Election of 1828 was the 11th Presidential Election that took place in the U.S, Andrew Jackson won the election.
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    Abolitionist Movement

    The abolitionist movement was a social and political push for the immediate emancipation of all slaves and the end of racial discrimination and segregation.
  • Indian Removal Act

    The Indian Removal Act was signed by President Andrew Jackson on May 28th, 1830. The law authorized that Southern Indian Tribes had to move westward to become "protected".
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    The Mexican American War

    The Mexican American War was a war in which America and Mexico battled over land that had been infiltrated, America was to win and would be able to keep the land.
  • Compromise of 1850

    As part of the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished.
  • Dred Scott Decision

    that a slave (Dred Scott) who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not thereby entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States.
  • Dred Scott

    Scott was a black man who was a very important step towards freedom for slaves, he fought in the Dred Scott case to free his family after traveling to a free state with his owner but not being set free.
  • Election of 1860

    The election of 1860 was the nineteenth presidential election to select the Vice President and President for the United States.
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    The Civil War

    The Civil war was fought by the North and the South over slavery, the North was able to win the battle, which led to the end of segregation.
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    Era of Reform

    The Era of Reform was a widespread social activism and political reform across the United States.
  • Manifest Destiny

    The 19th-century belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was justified and inevitable.