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1800 BCE
Maya Caste System
The Maya Caste System was a social structure that the Maya Empire set for political organization. It was divided into four levels and your status was usually depended on your hereditary. At the top of the Caste System were rulers, each city had a ruling family and they a life in luxury. Next were Nobles and priest who were the only ones that read and write. After them were the merchants and craftsmen who either lived as nobles or peasants. Lastly were Peasants and slaves who struggled in living. -
476
Rome Fall Of the Empire
The Fall of the Roman Empire was the result of many problem that weaken its empire until it's fall in 476 AD. The main factors leading to the fall were invasions of Barbarian tribes, financial troubles, over reliance on slave labor, rise of Eastern Empire, Government corruption, and the arrival of the Huns. These problems weaken the Roman Empire Leading to the last western part to be overthrown by the Germanic leader Odoacer, who was the first Barbarian to rule in Rome. -
1129
The Crusades Templars
The Crusades Templar were originally a group of knights who protected christian pilgrims travelling to the Holy Land against attack from brigands and Saracen pirates. They would wear a distinctive uniform - white tunics with an eight-pointed blood-red cross. They believed in being obedient and pledged to be ready to die for their faith. Over time they gradually become a Catholic military order that fought during the Crusades when the Holy land was lost to the Muslims. -
1325
Aztecs Human Sacrifices
Human Sacrifice was a ritual that started in the second millennium BCE that the Aztec adopted and would offer these sacrifices to their gods. They believed that their gods and the universe needed to regenerate through sacrifices and the release of a divine sparks from bodies of humans, plants, animals. They would chose victims that lived a certain godly life to sacrifice each month. They would also sacrifice enemy's of the Aztecs that were captured in war and imprisoned. -
1346
The Black Death
The Black Death was a disastrous mortal disease that spread through Europe in the years 1346- 1353. It was an epidemic of bubonic plague that was said to come from central Asia where rats carried infected fleas on ships fleeing to Europe. This disease killed one-third of the European population which was about 20 million people. The disease caused fevers, headaches, weakness, and swollen tender lymph nodes. This fatal disease caused two-thirds of victims to die within 3 to 4 day of symptoms. -
Apr 15, 1452
Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci was a painter, sculptor, architect, inventor, engineer and draftsman during the era of the Renaissance. He is known as one of the most talented individual who influenced many inventions and artworks. He is best known for two of his paintings Mona Lisa and The last Supper that are one the world's most famous and admired. He also allowed inventions such as the bicycle, helicopter, and airplane to exist with his ideas he wrote down. His mind was seen as unorthodox for that time. -
1492
The Columbian Exchange Disease
The Columbian Exchange connected the Old World to the New World allowing them to trade goods within each other. However, along with carrying goods they also brought new diseases to both the eastern and western hemisphere. Many died on both sides with the introduction of this new diseases due to the lack of immunity. Although some Europeans died it affected the Native American the most decimating their population by large numbers and causing them to move west to move away from European diseases. -
Cheasapeake Colonies Virignia Tobacco
John Rolfe, a colonist from Jamestown, was the first colonist to grow tobacco in America. He Arrived in Virginia with tobacco seeds procured on an earlier voyage to Trinidad, and in 1612 he harvested his crop for sale on the European market. Many plantations were built in rivers of Virginia and they began to develop the growth of tobacco and distribute this cash crop. The Tobacco economy made Virginia grow in wealth it embedded in a cycle of leaf demand, slave labor, and global commerce. -
John Locke
John Locke was an English philosopher of the Age of Reason and early Age of Enlightenment. His ideas had a huge influence on the development of Epistemology and Political Philosophy, and he is widely seen as one of the most influential early Enlightenment thinkers. The French Enlightenment drew heavily on his ideas, as did the Founding Fathers of the American Revolution. He contributed to classical republicanism and liberal theory reflected on Declaration of independence. -
New England colonies
The New England Colonies Were the north part of the 13 colonies which included Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire. The New England Colonies had poor rocky soil that was difficult to farm and unsuitable for crops. Their climate was the coldest out of the three regions with short summers and long cold winter. Their was no religious freedom as the the Puritans did not tolerate other forms of religion. The colonist based their economy on fishing, whaling, and shipbuilding. -
Sir Isaac Newton
Sir Isaac Newton had a huge impact on the Enlightenment. Not only did he create calculus but he also described universal gravitation and the three laws of motion. His theory on universal gravitation also helped to prove heliocentrism, the model of Earth and other planets orbiting the sun. This disproved many religious and traditional beliefs. Newton ideas about the universe became one of the seeds for Enlightenment ideology and has become very influential in the Enlightenment era. -
Quakers
The Quaker Movement also know as The Religious Society of Friends was founded in England in The 17th Century by George Fox. He and other early Quakers were persecuted in England for their certain beliefs and ideas. They rejected religious ceremonies, didn't have official clergy and believed in spiritual equality for men and women. With the persecution in England Quakers missionaries arrived in America mid 1650's. Quakers moved to a land given to William Penn which later became Pennsylvania. -
Caribbeans colonies sugar
In the late 17th century and throughout the 18th century, sugar cane and producing sugar for European markets defined the economic, political, demographic and cultural of Caribbean region. In the 18th century Sugar plantation made commercial links between the Caribbean, Europe and Africa know as the Atlantic triangle trade. Slaves brought from Africa were brought for harsh labor to produce sugar and other goods.The Caribbeans produced 80 to 90 percent of the sugar consumed in Western Europe. -
James II
James II took the throne in 1685 Because the support of the Tories had enabled Charles II to prevent James being excluded because of his roman Catholicism. James II wanted to secure toleration for Catholics and reconvert England to Catholicism. James Tried to woo the Whigs and Dissenters and to harm Tories merely resulted in the opposition of both. Leading nobleman had invited William of Orange on 30 June 1688 to save England from popery and slavery that James II enforced. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch Trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As a wave of emotion spread throughout Massachusetts, a special court was made in Salem to hear the cases. Bridget Bishop was the first to be convicted and hanged while some more 150 more men, women and children were accused over several months. Public opinion began to turn against the trial. -
John Edwards
John Edwards was an American Revivalist preacher, philosopher, and Congregationalist Protestant theologian. He and his followers distinguished themselves from other Congregationalist as "New Lights" as opposed to "Old Lights". Edwards is on of Americas most important and original philosophical Theologians. Edwards played a huge role in the First Great Awakening, and oversaw some of the first revivals in 1733-35 at his church in Northampton, Massachusetts. -
Acts of Union 1707
The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament: the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by England and Union with England Act passed by Scotland. They put into place the Treaty of Union that had been agreed on 22 July 1706. England and Scotland were separated with the same monarch and the Treaty united them into one Kingdom by the name of Great Britain. This act also changed the England flag from the original white with red cross and added white stripes and blue background. -
American Enlightenment
The American Enlightenment was a time of intellectual ideas in the Thirteen colonies in the period 1714-1818. It led to the American Revolution, and the making of the American Republic. The American Enlightenment was influenced by the 18th century European Enlightenment and its own American philosophy. It Applied scientific reasoning to politics, science, and religion: promoted religious tolerance. It restored literature, arts, and music back to study in college. -
Seven Year War George Washington role
George Washington's military experience began in the French and Indian War with a commission as a major in the militia of the British Province of Virginia. In 1753 he was sent as an ambassador from the British crown to the French officials and Indians far north in Erie, Pennsylvania. He and some of his men, accompanied by Indian allies, ambushed a French scouting party. This act of aggression is seen as one of the first military steps leading to the global Seven Years War. -
The Treaty of Paris 1763
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the French and Indian War/Seven Years war between Great Britain and France, as well as their allies. In terms of treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there. Great Britain gained much more of France's land in North America. Great Britain also agreed to protect Roman Catholicism in the New world. It was signed in Paris on February 10, 1763. -
Revenue/Sugar Act
The Revenue/Sugar Act was a law passed by the Parliament of Great Britain on April 5, 1764 designed to raise revenue from the American colonist. The Act set a tax on sugar and molasses imported into the colonies which impacted the manufacture of rum in New England. It Reduce the rate of tax on molasses from six pence to three pence per gallon which ensured the new tax could be collected by increased British military controls. Affected Colonist lead to issue of taxation without representative. -
Triangle Trade
The Triangle Trade was a trade system that was three-sided involving voyages from England to Africa, African to the Americas and The Americas back to England. The trade fell into Three categories the raw material and natural resources in the colonies that went to Europe. Then they were Manufactured products from Europe that traveled to Africa. From Africa their were slaves that travel to the Americas to do labor required to get the raw materials and natural resources. -
The Atlantic Slave Trade
The Atlantic Slave Trade involved the transportation by slave traders of enslaved African people, mainly from Africa to Americas, and then their sale there. This trade used the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage during the 16th to 19th centuries. Most slaves were from central and western Africa, who had been sold by other Africans to Europeans where they came to America. The Americas economies were dependent on labor for the production of crops and other goods. -
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was an American attorney, planter, and well known for his declaration to the Second Virginia Convention in 1775 " Give me liberty, or give me death!" He is one of the Foundling Father and served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia. Henry served a crucial role in the overthrow of the royally appointed Virginia leadership and was elected governor many times. He believed that once the war had been won a strong central authority was no longer needed. -
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was and American silversmith, industrialist, and Patriot in the American Revolution. Hes was known for his midnight ride to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Revere established and prominent Boston Silversmith. He had helped organize an intelligence and alarm system to keep watch on the British military. He served as a Massachusetts militia officer and played a big role in the American Revolution. -
Prohibitory Act
The Prohibitory Act of 1775 was passed as a measure of retaliation by Great Britain against the Rebellion going on in the 13 colonies, which became known as the American Revolutionary War. It declared and provided fro a naval blockade against American ports. All manner of trade and commerce was prohibited and if any ship was found trading they will be forfeited to his Majesty. The goal of the Act was to destroy the American economy by prohibiting trade with any country. -
Founding Fathers
The Founding Fathers were men of the Thirteen Colonies in North America who led the American Revolution against the authority of the British in word, deed and contributed to the establishment of the United States of America. There are seven figures as the key Founding Fathers: John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and George Washington. All of these men held important roles in the early government of the United States. -
Battle of Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga was a turning point in the American Revolution. On September 19th, British General John Burgoyne achieved a small, but expensive victory over American forces. Burgoyne again attacked the Americans at Bemis Heights on October 7th but was defeated and retreated. He surrendered and the American victory convinced the French government to see the colonist's cause and enter the war as their ally. -
Treaty of Paris 1783
The Treaty of Paris signed in Paris by representatives of King George III and representatives of the United States of America ended the American Revolutionary War and gave America its independence. The Treaty set boundaries between the British in North America and the United State which allowed for western expansion of America. The three American Negotiator were John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, and John Jay they made points about national interest that guaranteed a good future for U.S. -
Shays Rebellion
The Shays Rebellion was a uprising in Massachusetts between 1786 and 1787. Daniel Shays, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, led four thousand rebels, mostly farmers, against perceived economic and civil rights injustices. In 1787, the rebels marched on an Armory at Springfield in an failed attempt to take weapons and overthrow the government. This rebellion proved that the Articles of Confederation need to be replaced which lead to the calling of the U.S. constitutional convention. -
New Jersey Plan
The New Jersey Plan was a plan for the structure of the United States Government offered by William Paterson at the Constitutional Convention. The plan was created in response to the Virginia Plan, which call for two houses of Congress, both elected with apportionment according to population. The goal was for smaller states to have the same level of power in the legislature as the large states. The New Jersey Plan called for Separation of Powers of legislative, executive, and judicial branches. -
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance was an act of the United States that created the Northwest Territory from lands beyond the Appalachian Mountains. west of the Alleghenies, west of Ohio river, and and east to the Mississippi River. It made a method for adding new states to the Union from the territory, and gave a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory. The Northwest Ordinance made out a plan that was used as the country expanded to the west. -
Connecticut Plan
The Connecticut Plan was offered by Roger Sherman and Oliver Ellsworth, was a agreement that both large and small states reached during the Constitutional Convention of 1787 that defined the legislative structure and representation that each state would have under the United States Constitution. It consisted of bicameral legislature, proportional representation of the states in the lower house, but required the upper house to be equal between the states. -
The Federalist
The Federalist were supporters of the constitution and believe in a strong national government.They were on of the first two political parties in the United States.They believed the constitution was required in order to safe guard the liberty and independence that the American Revolution had created. Federalist policies called for a national bank, tariffs, and good relations with Great Britain. Some important federalist people were John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison. -
Anti-Federalism
The Anti-Federalists were against ratification of the Constitution and they wanted to establish a weak central government with strong state governments. They believed in the support of many small farmers and small landowners. They supported the debtor elements who felt that strong state legislatures were more sympathetic to them than a strong central government. Important leaders that were Anti- Federalist include George Mason, Richard Henry Lee, Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. -
The Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was a tax protest in the United States that began during George Washington presidency. The tax was the first tax on domestic product by the new federal government and its purpose was to generate revenue to pay for Revolutionary War. The tax was placed on all spirits and farmers who used the whiskey resisted leading to violent protest. The Whiskey Rebellion was stopped by George Washington and this demonstrated that the new national government could stop violent resistance. -
The Bill of Rights
The Bill of Rights are the first 10 amendments to the United States Constitution. It was Proposed following the fight over the ratification of the U.S. Constitution and it was made to address objections Anti-Federalist had. The Bill of Rights added to constitution surety of personal freedoms and rights making limitations on the government. The ideas of the bill of rights came from Virginia Declaration of Rights and the English Bill of Rights 1689, and even the earlier documents of Magna Carta. -
Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney in 1794 he did this so farmers could make cotton farming profitable. This machine quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, allowing for much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The cotton gin increased the profitable business, a massive growth in the production of cotton in the south. As a result, the region depended on plantations and slavery, with plantation agriculture becoming the largest sector of its economy. -
Jay's Treaty
The Jay's Treaty was a treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted war, resolved problems remaining fro the the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and made ten years of trade between the United States and Britain. The Treaty was designed by Alexander Hamilton and supported by President at the time George Washington. This Treaty angered France and divided Americans leading to the making of the pro-Treaty Federalists and the Anti-Treaty Republicans. -
Pinckney's Treaty
The Pinckney's Treaty was signed in San Lorenzo de El Excorial to establish friendship between the United States and Spain. It also defined the border between U.S. and Spanish Florida, and guaranteed the navigation rights on Mississippi River for U.S. This agreement closed the border dispute between the two nations in the region. Thomas Pinckney negotiated the treaty for the United States and Don Manuel de Godoy represented Spain. It was ratified by Spain on April 25, 1796. -
Alien and Sedition Act
The Alien and Sedition Acts were 4 bills passed by the Federalist and signed into law by President John Adams. This act made it harder for an immigrant to become a citizen, allowed the president to imprison and deport non-citizens who were dangerous, and punish those who making bad statements that were critical of the federal government. The Federalist argued that the bills strengthened national security during the unsaid war with France. the last was seen as a violation to the first Amendment. -
Kentucky Resolution
The Kentucky Resolutions were political statement that the Kentucky and Virginia legislatures thought the Alien and Sedition Act were unconstitutional. The resolution argued that the states had the right to declare unconstitutional acts of Congress that were not authorized by the Constitution. They argued for states rights and strict consturctionism of the Constitution. The Resolution was written by Vice President Thomas Jefferson and James Madison secretly in 1798. -
Marbury vs Madison
Marbury vs Madison is a case by the United States Supreme Court which forms the basis of the judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. the decision helped define boundaries between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government. The case was caused when Marbury had been appointed a justice of peace in final hours of Adams administration but Madison and Jefferson refused to deliver Marbury's commission. -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first American expedition to cross what is now the western region of the United States. It began near St. Louis, made its way westward, passing through continental divide to reach the Pacific coast. The expedition involved U.S. army volunteers under the command of Captain Meriwether Lewis and close friend William Clark. President Thomas Jefferson ordered the expedition right after the Louisiana Purchase to explore and to map the new acquired territory. -
Sacagawea
Sacagawea was a Lemhi Shoshone woman who helped to the Lewis and Clark Expedition in achieving the mission to explore the Louisiana Territory. Sacagawea traveled with the expedition from North Dakota to the Pacific Ocean, and helped establish cultural contacts with native populations by translating. She also contributed with the survival of the men in the expedition with her knowledge of nature keeping them alive. She became so important in the expedition that she is on today's one dollar coin. -
Steamboats
The Steamboat was Scotsman James Watt patented an improved version of the steam engine many tried to build it functionally but failed. Until American inventor Robert Fulton turn his talents to the steamboat. His achievements in making steamboats a commercial is why he is known as the father of steam navigation. allowed commerce and travel both upstream and down, and encouraged trade by lowering costs and saving time. By 1830, steamboats dominated American river transportation. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson which prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. The Neutrality of the United States was tested during the Napoleonic Wars between Britain and France. So Jefferson concluded that if the U.S. stopped all trade with both nations, they would be forced by economic necessity to respect American neutral rights. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 the United States took on Great Britain in a conflict that would have an immense impact on the U.S. future. The Cause of the war included British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's impressment of American seamen and America's desire to expand its territory. The United States suffered many defeats fro British including the burning of Washington, D.C. The Ratification of the Treaty of Ghent ended the war and many thought it was a second war of independence. -
Greek Revival
The Greek Revival dominated american architecture during the period 1818-1850. It was the first truly national style in the United States, found in all regions of the country. The popularity of the style was due to strong associations with classical tradition and democracy. The Greek Revival was very adaptable, and permeated all levels of building, from high to low. Greek Revival architecture took a different course in a number of countries, lasting until the Civil War in America. -
Panic of 1819
The Panic of 1819 was the first major financial crisis in the United States followed by a collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. The Panic made transition of the nation from its colonial economy with Europe toward an independent economy, increasingly distinguish by the financial and industrial imperatives of central bank monetary policy, making it possible to boom and bust cycles. The cause of the misery was towards the credit policies by the Second Bank of the United States. -
Adams-Onis Treaty
The Adams-Onis Treaty was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and made borders between the U.S. and New Spain. It settled a border fight between the two countries and was considered a win of America. The treaty established the boundary of U.S. territory and claims through the Rocky Mountains and west to the Pacific Ocean, for the a total of 5,000,000. It came in the midst of increasing tensions related to Spain's territorial boundaries. -
Yeoman Farmers
The Yeoman Farmers owned farm and worked it primarily with family labor remains the realization of the ideas American: honest, virtuous, hardworking, and independent. These same values made yeomen farmers central to the republican vision of the new nation. Because family farmers didn't use large numbers of other laborers and because they owned their own property, they were seen as the best kinds of citizens to have political influence in a republic. Most of these people were consider peasants. -
Charles Grandison Finney
Charles Grandison Finney was an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great Awakening in the U.S.. He is known as The Father of Modern Revivalism. Finney was best known as an innovative revivalist in upstate New York and Manhattan, an opponent of Old School Presbyterian theology, an advocate of Christian perfectionism, and a religious writer. his religious views led him to promote social reforms, such as abolition of slavery and equal education for women and African Americans. -
Mormons
In the early 19th century, Joseph Smith, a New England farmer`s, saw a vision narrative of these events reports that God and Jesus Christ appeared to him Which led him to start Mormonism. The Missouri Mormons had settled in a town called Far West in the northern part of the state, following their expulsion from Independence. Mobs hurt the Mormons. Twenty Mormons, including several children, were slain in the Massacre at Haun`s Mill. So nearly 15,000 Mormons retreated to Illinois away for others. -
Davy Crockett
David "Davy" Crockett was a 19th-century American folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, and politician. He is commonly know as a popular culture by the epithet "King of the Wild Frontier". He represented Tennessee in the U.S. House of Representatives and served in the Texas Revolution. He was elected to the U.S. Congress where he opposed many of the policies of President Andrew Jackson like the Indian Removal Act. Crockett became famous during his lifetime for exploits popularized by stage plays. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a United States policy opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823. It stated that efforts by European nations to take control of any independent state in North and South America would be viewed as unfriendly disposition toward the United States. It also noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the concerns of of Europe. President James Monroe first stated the doctrine in 1823. -
John C. Calhoun
John Caldwell Calhoun was an American statesman and political from South Carolina, and the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for defending slavery and for the idea of minority rights in politics, which he did in defending white Southern from Northern threats. He began his political career as nationalist, modernizer, and belief of a strong national government and protective tariffs. Calhoun was responsible for establishing the Second Bank of America. -
Railroads
Steam railroads began to appear in the United States around 1830, and dominated the continental transportation system by the 1850's. By 1860 there were roughly 31,000 miles of track in the country, concentrated in the Northeast but also in the South and Midwest. The Railroad began with Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and flourished until the Panic of 1873. Most railroads were up north while the south had few which became a huge factor during civil war. The railroads also helped make trade easier. -
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist, dark romantic, and short story writer. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, the only judge involved in the Salem witch trials who never repented of his actions. Nathaniel later added a w to make his name Hawthorne in order to hide this relation. Hawthorne's writing centers on New England, works with moral metaphors with anti-Puritan inspiration. -
Spoils System
In politics and government, a spoils system is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government civil service jobs to its supporters, friends and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an reason to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are given the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. The term was derived from the phrase to the victor belongs the spoils by William L. Marcy. -
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of Congress. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the common man, against a corrupt aristocracy, and to preserve the Union. Jackson was in Democratic Party politics and was responsible for the donkey mascot. -
Fur Traders
Further exploration of North America, making legends of dozens of men, as well as the great fur trading companies such as John Jacob Astor’s American Fur Company, Hudson’s Bay Company and dozens of others. However, by the late 1700’s, the fur trade began to decline as fur-bearing animals became increasingly scarce. In the 1830’s, the demand for beaver dropped when European manufacturers began to use silk instead of felt for hats. By 1870, most fur-trading activity had ended. -
Slave Codes
The Slave codes was caused by fear of rebellion that led each to pass a series of laws restricting slaves' behaviors. Slaves were not allowed to own property of their own. They were not allowed to assemble without the presence of a white person. Slaves that lived off the plantation were subject to special curfews. It was illegal to teach a slave to read or write. With each new rebellion, the slave codes became ever more strict, further abridging the already limited rights of African Americans . -
Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion
Nat Turner's Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia during August 1831. It was led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, the largest and deadliest slave uprising in U.S. history. The rebellion was put down in a few days, but Turner survived in hiding for more than two months afterwards. He was later found and killed which put fear into slaves but also sparked others to do the same. Many laws were passed to protect whites from slaves. -
The Tariff of 1832
The Tariff of 1832 was a protectionist tariff in the United States. It was Enacted under Andrew Jackson's presidency, it was largely written by former President John Quincy Adams. It reduced the existing tariffs to remedy the conflict created by the tariff of 1828, but it was still unsatisfactory by some in the South, especially in South Carolina. South Carolinian opposition to this tariff and its predecessor, the Tariff of Abominations, caused the Nullification Crisis. -
Henry Clay
Henry Clay was a American lawyer and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. After serving three non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives, Clay helped elect John Quincy Adams as president, and Adams appointed Clay as Secretary of State. He ran for the presidency and unsuccessfully sought his party's nomination. Clay work on defining the issues, proposing nationalistic solutions, and creating the Whig Party. -
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS)
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meetings. William Wells Brown was also a freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had 1,350 local charters with around 250,000 members. The American Anti-Slavery Society hoped to convince both white Southerners and Northerners of slavery's inhumanity. -
Battle of Goliad
The Battle of Goliad was the second skirmish of the Texas Revolution. In the early-morning hours Texas settlers attacked the Mexican Army soldiers garrisoned at Presidio La Bahía, a fort near the Mexican Texas settlement of Goliad. La Bahía lay halfway between the only other large garrison of Mexican soldiers and the then-important Texas port of Copano. The fight only lasted a was day and was a victory for Texans. -
Thomas Roderick Dew
Thomas Roderick Dew was an American educator and writer. He was the thirteenth president of The College of William & Mary from 1836 until his death in 1846. Dew was well respected in the South; his widely distributed writings helped to confirm pro-slavery public opinion. His work has been compared to that of the southern surgeon and medical authority Samuel A. Cartwright, who defended slavery and advocated the beating of slaves who absconded from their duties or became idle. -
Battle of San jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto was the decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texan Army engaged and defeated General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna's Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes. Santa Anna, the President of Mexico, was captured the following day and held as a prisoner of war. Three weeks later, he signed the treaty that dictated that the Mexican army leave the region, paving the way for the Republic of Texas to become an independent country. -
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was a forced removals of Native American nations from their homelands in the Southeastern U.S. to west the Mississippi River that had been given as Indian land. The forced relocation were carried out by government following the Indian Removal Act in 1830. The Natives suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation and more than four thousand died before reaching to the land. The removal included members of the Cherokee, Muscogee, Seminole, Chickasaw, and Choctaw nations. -
Frederick Douglass
Frederick Douglass was a African-American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman. After escaping from slavery in Maryland, he became a national leader of the abolitionist movement in Massachusetts and New York, gaining note for his good antislavery writings.He was described by abolitionists as a living counter-example that slaves lacked the intellectual capacity to function as citizens. Northern at the time found it hard to believe that such a great orator had been a slave. -
Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail is a historic 2,000-mile trail used by American pioneers living in the Great Plains in the 19th century. The emigrants traveled by wagon in search of fertile land in Oregon's Willamette Valley. Over 400,000 people travel West to start a new life and claim new land along the Oregon Trail. The trail was arduous and snaked through Missouri and present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and finally into Oregon. -
Telegraph
Developed in the 1830's and 1840's by Samuel Morse and other inventors, the telegraph revolutionized long-distance communication.It worked by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations. In 1844, Morse sent his first telegraph message, from Washington, D.C., to Baltimore, Maryland; by 1866, a telegraph line had been laid across the Atlantic Ocean from the U.S. to Europe. The telegraph lad the groundwork for the communications and also helped the north during civil war. -
James K. Polk
James Knox Polk was an American politician served as the 11th President of the United States. He previously was elected the 13th Speaker of the House of Representatives and Governor of Tennessee . As a admirer of Andrew Jackson, Polk was a member of the Democratic Party, an advocate of Jacksonian democracy and Manifest Destiny. During his presidency the United States expanded significantly with the annexation of the Republic of Texas, the Oregon Treaty, and the close of the Mexican-American War. -
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was an American empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas" he led the second successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region. Austin served in the Missouri territorial legislature before moving to Arkansas Territory and later Louisiana. His father, Moses Austin, received an grant from Spain to settle Texas. After Moses Austin's death, Stephen Austin won recognition of the grant from the newly-independent state of Mexico. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad.The sudden influx of immigration and gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy, and California became one of the few American states to go directly to statehood without first being a territory, in the Compromise of 1850. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The war had begun almost two years earlier over a territorial dispute involving Texas. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as America’s southern boundary. -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was an American abolitionist, and an armed spy for the United States Army during the American Civil War. Born into slavery, Tubman escaped and made some thirteen missions to rescue about seventy enslaved people, family and friends using the network of antislavery activists and safe houses known as the Underground Railroad. She later helped abolitionist John Brown recruit men for his raid on Harpers Ferry, and was an active participant in the struggle for women's suffrage. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. California requested permission to enter the Union as a free state, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. Senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. The Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. -
Fugitive slave act
The Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress , as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soilers. The Act was one of the most controversial elements of the 1850 compromise and heightened Northern fears of a slave power conspiracy. It required that all escaped slaves were, upon capture, to be returned to their masters and that officials and citizens of free states had to cooperate in this law. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. Published in 1852, the novel groundwork for the Civil War. Stowe, a teacher at Hartford Female Seminary and an active abolitionist, featured the character of Uncle Tom, a long-suffering black slave around who's the stories of other characters revolve. The novel depicts the reality of slavery while also asserting that Christian love can overcome something as destructive as enslavement of fellow human beings. -
Harpers Ferry
John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown to start an armed slave revolt by taking over a U.S. arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. Brown's party of 22 was defeated by U.S. Marines. Colonel Robert E. Lee was in overall command of the operation to retake the arsenal. John Brown had originally asked Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass to join him in his raid, but Tubman was prevented by illness, and Douglass declined, as he believed Brown's plan would fail. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War—its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, paved the way for the abolition of slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy -
George McClellan
George Brinton McClellan was an American soldier, civil engineer, railroad executive, and politician. McClellan served with distinction during the Mexican–American War and later left the Army to work in railroads until the Civil War. Early in the war, McClellan was appointed to the rank of major general and played an important role in raising a well-trained and organized army, which would become the Army of the Potomac in the Eastern Theater as general-in-chief of the Union Army. -
Twenty Negro Law
The Twenty Negro Law was a piece of legislation enacted by the Confederate Congress during the American Civil War. The law said one white man for every twenty slaves owned on a Confederate plantation, or for two or more plantations within five miles of each other had twenty or more slaves. Passed as part of the Second Conscription Act in 1862.The law addressed Confederate fears of a slave rebellion due to so many white men being absent from home, as they were fighting in the Confederate army -
Robert E.Lee
Robert Edward Leewas an American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War until his surrender in 1865. Lee was an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. He served throughout the United States, distinguished himself during the Mexican–American War, and served as Superintendent of the United States Military Academy. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was a presidential proclamation and order issued by President Abraham Lincoln. It changed the legal status of more than 3 million enslaved people in the areas of the South from slave to free. As soon as a slave escaped the control of the Confederate government, by running away or through advances of federal troops, the slave became legally free. Ultimately, the rebel surrender liberated and resulted in the proclamation's application to all of the designated slaves. -
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln, one of the best-known in America history. It was delivered by Lincoln during the Civil War as dedication to Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, four and a half months after the Union armies defeated those of the Confederacy at the Battle of Gettysburg. In just over two minutes, Lincoln said the principles of human equality good by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle. -
Lincoln's Ten percent plan
Lincoln’s plan for Reconstruction included the Ten-Percent Plan, which specified that a southern state could be comeback into the Union if 10 percent of its voters swore an oath the Union. Voters could then elect to draft revised state constitutions and establish new state governments. All southerners except for Confederate army officers and government officials would be granted a full pardon. Lincoln guaranteed southerners that he would protect their private property, though not their slaves. -
Wade-Davis Bill
The Wade–Davis Bill of 1864 was a bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland. The bill made re-admittance to the Union for former Confederate states in each Southern state to take the oath to the effect they had never in the past supported the Confederacy. The bill passed Congress but was vetoed by Lincoln. The Radical Republicans were outraged that Lincoln did not sign the bill. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
Appomattox Court House
The town of Appomattox Court House, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his Army of Northern Virginia to Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Days earlier, Lee had abandoned the Confederate capital of Richmond and the city of Petersburg; his goal was to rally the remnants of his beleaguered troops, meet Confederate reinforcements in North Carolina and resume fighting. But the resulting Battle of Appomattox Court House effectively brought the four-year Civil War to an end. -
John Wilkes Booth
John Wilkes Booth was an American actor and assassin, who murdered President Abraham Lincoln at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C. Booth was a member of the prominent 19th-century Booth theatrical family from Maryland and, by the 1860s, was a well-known actor. He was also a Confederate sympathizer, vehement in his hatredof Lincoln, and strongly opposed to the abolition of slavery in the United States. -
The Ku Klux Klan (kkk)
The Klan flourished in the Southern United States in the late 1860s, then died out by the early 1870s. It sought to overthrow the Republican state governments in the South during the Reconstruction Era, especially by using violence against African American leaders. With numerous chapters across the South, it was suppressed through federal law enforcement. Members made their own, often colorful, costumes: robes, masks and conical hats, designed to be terrifying and to hide their identities. -
Black Friday Scandal
On September 24, 1869, the U.S. financial sector descended into chaos after rebel speculators Jay Gould and Jim Fisk attempted to corner the nation’s gold market. The robber barons hoped to make a mint by driving the price of gold into the stratosphere they built a network of corruption that extended from Wall Street and the New York City government all the way to the family of President Ulysses S. Grant. The conspiracy finally unraveled on what became known as Black Friday. -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote by declaring that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.The promise of the 15th Amendment would not be fully realized for almost a century. Southern states were able to effectively disenfranchise African Americans. -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States. These laws continued to be enforced until 1965. They mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America, starting in 1896 with a "separate but equal" status for African Americans in railroad cars. This principle was extended to public facilities and transportation, including segregated cars on interstate trains and, later, buses.
