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1401
Age of Discovery
Historical period between the 15th and 18th century during which Europeans made contact and sought to explore and colonize the "New World". -
1492
Columbian Exchange
Exchange of goods, ideas, diseases, and people between the Americas, Africa, and Europe. -
Pocahontas
She was the daughter of Powhatan, the paramount chief of a network of tributary tribal nations in the Tidewater region of Virginia. -
Jamestown
First permanent English settlement located in Virginia and led through the starving time by John Smith. It became successful after tobacco was established as a cash crop. -
King Philip's War
It was war between the Native American tribes of New England and British colonists. This was the result of tension caused by encroaching settlers. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Virginian rebellion of frontiersmen sparked by governor Berkeley's refusal to retaliate for a series of brutal Indian attacks on frontier settlements. They killed Indians, chased Berkeley from Jamestown, and set fire to Jamestown. -
Salem Witch Trials
Outbreak of witchcraft accusations in a Puritan village marked by an atmosphere of fear, hysteria and stress from encroaching settlers without Puritanical viewpoints. -
Boston Massacre
British soldiers fired into a crowd of colonists who were teasing and taunting them. -
Boston Tea Party
Incident in which 342 chests of tea belonging to the British East India Company were thrown from ships into Boston Harbor by American patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians. -
Battle of Trenton
AKA the "Crossing of the Delaware". It was a surprise on the Hessians on Christmas Day led by George Washington. -
Articles of Confederation
This document was the nation's first constitution. The document was limited because states held most of the power and federal government was weak. -
The Federalist Papers
A series of articles written in New York newspapers as a source of propaganda for a stronger central government; the articles, written by Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, and James Madison. -
The Constitution
The foundation of our country's national government. Establishes a government with direct authority over all citizens, it defines the powers of the national government, and it establishes protection for the rights of states and of every individual. -
Whiskey Rebellion
Farmers in Pennsylvania rebelled against Hamilton's excise tax on whiskey, and several federal officers were killed in the riots caused by their attempts to serve arrest warrants on the offenders. -
"First Wave" Immigration
Irish came in multitudes during the Potato Famine, a time when Ireland's main food source completely became rotten. Because the Irish did not come the U.S. with enough money to buy land, they mostly remained in the northeastern port cities. -
Second Great Awakening
A series of religious revivals peaking in 1820's, that resulted in Methodism and Baptism becoming the largest denominations in US. -
Indian Removal Act
Authorized Andrew Jackson to negotiate land-exchange treaties with tribes living east of the Mississippi. -
Neoclassical
Style of art and architecture that emerged in the late 18th century. -
Trail of Tears
The tragic journey of the Cherokee people from their home land to reservation in Oklahoma. More than 4,000 of them died due to colds and starvation. -
Telegraph
Long distance communication that worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Organized by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott, first women's rights convention in American History. Declared "all men and women are created equal". -
Pinkertons
One of the largest private law enforcement organization. Trained agents to be hired to infiltrate unions and to act as guards to keep strikers and suspected unionists out of factories. -
Ten Percent Plan
A state could be reintegrated into the Union when 10 percent of the 1860 vote count from that state had taken an oath of allegiance to the US. -
13th Amendment
Outlawed slavery and other forms of involuntary servitude. -
Freedmen's Bureau
Temporary agency created after the Civil War, worked to provide food and medical care, to help the freedmen to resettle, to ensure justice for the freedmen. -
National Labor Union
The first large-scale U.S. union. It was founded to organize skilled and unskilled laborers, farmers, and factory workers. -
Civil Rights Act
Declared blacks to be citizens and forbade the states to discriminate between citizen because of race or color, in cases where these rights were violated, federal troops would be used for enforcement. -
Reconstruction Act
Act placing Southern states under military rule and barring former supporters of the Confederacy from voting. -
14th Amendment
Granted citizenship to blacks with no interference in their civil and political rights, all citizens were guaranteed the right to vote, citizenship would be the same in all states. -
Knights of Labor
Promoted the social and cultural uplift of the workingman, rejected socialism and radicalism, demanded the eight-hour day, and promoted the producers ethic of republicanism. -
15th Amendment
Stated no American could be denied the right to vote on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
Haymarket Affair
After the police fired into the crowd, the workers met and rallied in Haymarket Square to protest police brutality. A bomb exploded, killing or injuring many of the police. -
Homestead Strike
Steelworker strike near Pittsburgh against the Carnegie Steel Company. Ten workers were killed in a riot when "scab" labor was brought in to force an end to the strike. -
Pullman Strike
This was a nonviolent strike which brought about a shut down of western railroads. It was ended by the president due to the interference with the mail system, and brought a bad image upon unions. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Established the doctrine of "separate but equal" that upheld Jim Crow laws in the South. -
Great Depression
Severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930's, originating in the United States. -
Civilian Conservation Corps
This was public work relief program that operated from 1933 to 1942 in the United States for unemployed, unmarried, men from relief families as part of the New Deal. -
Second New Deal
A new set of programs in the spring of 1935 including additional banking reforms, new tax laws, new relief programs. -
Social Security Act
The act passed by FDR that provided for immediate relief for poor elderly. -
Court-Packing Bill
FDR tried to appoint supreme court officials to make the supreme court more democratic in order to pass more bills. -
Neutrality Act
Originally designed to avoid American involvement in World War II by preventing loans to those countries taking part in the conflict but, they were later modified in 1939 to allow aid to Great Britain and other Allied nations. -
John Steinbeck, Grapes of Wrath
Novel about a struggling farm family during the Great Depression. Showed the violence and exploitation that migrant farm workers faced in America. -
Iran-Contra Affair
US political scandal in which the National Security Council became involved in secret weapons transactions and other activities that either were prohibited by the U.S. Congress or violated the stated public policy of the government -
Tiananmen Square
The location of a huge demonstration for democratic rights that occurred in 1989; brutally put down by Chinese government -
Persian Gulf War
International conflict that was triggered by Iraq's invasion of Kuwait on August 2, 1990. Egypt and several other Arab nations joined the anti-Iraq coalition and contributed forces to the military buildup, known as Operation Desert Shield. -
Impeachment of Bill Clinton
Associated with the scandal of his affair and cover up from the Lewinsky affair. Which caused him to get impeached for perjury. -
9/11
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States. -
Hurricane Katrina
Brutal natural disaster in gulf coast in 2005. Caused an uproar due to slow response and aid to devastated New Orleans -
2008 Election
Historic in nature due to high voter turn out of youth and minority groups as well as resulting in election of the first African American president, Barack Obama.
