-
France claimed to own Canada and Louisiana
-
Seven Years War
Known as the French and Indian War -
Peace of Paris
Put end to the Seven Years War -
Stamp Act
To raise money for the defense of the colonies. -
Stamp Act Congress
9 colonies met in NY in opposition to the Stamp Act -
"Boston Massacre"
A confrontation between British soldiers and people from the mob. -
Boston Tea Party
A group of Massachusetts' colonists boarded British merchant ships in Boston and threw 342 cases of tea into the sea. -
First Continental Congress
A group of colonial leaders came together in Philadelphia to oppose what they saw as British oppression. -
American War of Independence
It started in the village of Lexington between British soldiers and Minutemen. -
Declaration of Independence
Written by Thomas Jefferson who also named the colonies the United States of America. -
British army trapped
After months of being close to losing the war, the American army trapped British soldiers and sent them back to England. -
Alliance with France
Benjamin Franklin asked Louis XVI (king of France) to sign an alliance with them. -
Treaty of Paris
Britain officially recognized its former colonies as an independent nation. -
Loyalty to their own state
The first problem that faced the new US was how to join together these little countries into one united nation which was causing them serious problems. -
Constitutional Convention
In order to survive each state sent delegates to this meeting in Philadelphia to talk about changes in the Articles of Confederation. -
First President
George Washington was elected as the first President of the United States. -
Bill of Rights
This is the name that received ten amendments about the rights and freedoms of individual citizens which were added to The Constitution. -
Chiefe Justice of the Supreme Court
John Adams appointed John Marshall as the new head of the Supreme Court. -
The war of 1812
Between 1803 and 1815 Britain and France were at war. Britains stopped American ships and seized their cargoes and also took seamen off and forced them to serve in the British navy. -
Purchase of Louisiana
Louisiana belonged to France which ruler was Napoleon who was about to go war and needed money so he sold Louisiana to the US. -
Expedition to explore Louisiana
This expedition was led by Lewis and Clark. The explorers set off up Missouri by boat, carrying goods to trade with Amerindians along the way. -
Congress banned slave ships coming from Africa.
-
American Congress declared war on Britain
British navy soon gained complete control of the coastal waters of US and blocked American ports. -
Treaty of Peace
Despite US and Britain signed a treaty, two weeks later, British forces attacked the city of New Orleans. -
The Missouri Compromise
It was decided that slavery would be permitted in Missouri and Arkansas but banned in lands to the west and north of Missouri. -
Indian Removal Act
As land was becoming scarcer, the US government passed a law that said all Indians living east of the Mississippi River would be moved west to a place called Indian Territory. -
The Trail of Tears
The Cherokees were driven from their home (between the state of Georgia and the Mississippi River) and forced to march hundreds of miles to what is now the state of Oklahoma. (4000 Amerindians were dead). -
Texas
In 1836 Texas became independent from Mexico and in 1845 it was annexed to the US. -
War with Mexico
Between 1846 and 1848 the US and Mexico were at war. -
The Manifest Destiny
Mexican territories were annexed (California, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Colorado). -
Gold diggers
A group of workmen discovered gold in California. In the next 20 years, gold discoveries attract people to Nevada, Colorado, Montana, Wyoming and the Dakota Country. -
California Admitted to the US as a Free State
Congress decided that California was admitted to the US as a free state and people in Utah and New Mexico could decide whether to own slaves or not. -
Fugitive Slave Act
It made it easier for southerners to capture slaves who had escaped from their masters. The law called for severe penalties to those who assisted these black people. Slave owners offered rewards (“bounties”) for the return of runaway slaves. This lead to the emergence of “bounty hunters”, who made their living by hunting down fugitive slaves. -
Congress ended the Missouri Compromise
Congress ended the Missouri Compromise and let Kansas decide whether to own slaves or not. A race for the control of Kansas began: there was so much killing and violence that the state started to be called “bleeding Kansas”. Neither side won the struggle. -
The beginning of The Civil War.
▸ 1861. Confederate forces opened fire in Fort Sumter, South Carolina, which was occupied by United States (the Union)’s troops. -
Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the US.
Republican, anti-slavery -
Secession
Eleven southern states announced that they were now an independent nation: The Confederate States of America. Confederacy: Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, Mississippi, Virginia, Texas, Tennessee, Oklahoma, along with the provisional governments of Maryland, Kentucky, and Missouri -
1862
The Union captured New Orleans (Louisiana)1862 -
The Emancipation Proclamation
. It was passed by Lincoln and declared that all slaves living in the Confederacy were to make free. This changed the focus of the war from secession to protecting slavery. -
Homestead Act
It offered free farms in the West to families of settlers. They had to move and live on it for 5 years and the land became thiers. -
The Gettysburg Address
I was given by Lincoln, became more famous than the battle because it expressed certain principles of the democratic government. -
Confederate forces marched into Gettysburg
Pennsylvania, but found the Union blocking their way. Union forces won and the Confederacy would never recover from this defeat. This was the biggest battle ever fought in the US. -
1864
The Union marched into Georgia, and occupied Savannah. Then they marched to North and South Carolina, burning and destroying everything they encountered in the way. They wanted to reach Richmond, Virginia (the Confederacy’s capital). -
13th Amendment
It abolished slavery -
1865
The Confederacy surrendered in Appomattox -
1865
President Lincoln was assassinated in Washington. He was succeeded by Andrew Johnson, his vice president. -
Civil Rights Act
Despite opposition from the President. It also set up the Freedmen’s Bureau. Both were intended to ensure black people’s rights in the South. -
Reconstruction Act
This placed all-white governments in the South under military rule. They would be able to elect their government again only if they accepted the 14th Amendment. -
14th Amendment to Constitution
It gave blacks the right to citizenships, including the right to vote. All former Confederates except Tennessee refused to accept it. The 14th Amendment was the foundation of the 1950s’ Civil Rights Movement -
The Fort Laramie Treaty
It declared that large areas within the Missouri River and the Rocky Mountains belonged to the Sioux. -
The first railroad
The Central Pacific and the Union Pacific lines met at Promontory Point in Utah. -
1870
All southern states had “Reconstruction” governments. Most were made up of blacks, some northerners and some southerners. -
1874
American soldiers found gold in the Black Hills, sacred to the Sioux. The Sioux refused to sell the Black Hills, but the government ignored them, broke the treaty and allowed prospectors and miners to enter the Black Hills. -
1877
Congress withdrew federal troops from the South. Black people were more and more treated as “second class citizens” and robbed of their right to vote. -
1880s
The Great Plains had been divided into states and territories, occupied by farmers, ranchers and shepherds. -
Drovers or Cowboys
Texas cattle owners hired drovers or cowboys to drive their cattle to the railroads. By 1881, the grass of the Great Plains was earning the US as much money as the gold mines of its western mountains. -
Inventors and Industries
From this year and so on, the industries of the US were bigger and more important than the farmlands.
