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Jamestown Settlement
Jamestown was the first sucessful colony in the 13 original colonies. Most of the colonists were looking for gold, but they didn't find any, instead they found "Brown Gold" (Tobacco). -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was the first case of colonial self-government. It was drafted by the pilgrims who crossed the Atlantic aboard the Mayflower. -
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Massachusetts Bay Colony
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Puritan Settlement in Massachusetts
The Puritans wanted to create a new model society for the world to see, hence they created "a city upon a hill."
The Puritans were persecuted by the Anglicans in Britain, they wanted to create a colony where they would be free to practice their religion -
Roger Williams founds Providence
Williams had been banished from Massachusetts for "new and dangerous opinions" calling for religious and political freedoms, including separation of church and state, not granted under the Puritan rules. Providence then becomes a haven for many other colonists fleeing religious intolerance. -
Anne Hutchinson is banished from Massachusett
For nonconformist religious views that advocate personal revelation over the role of the clergy. She then traveled with her family to Rhode Island. -
Triangular trade
A pattern of colonial commerce in which slaves were bought on the African Gold Coast with New England rum and then traded in the West Indies for sugar or molasses, which was brought back to New England to be manufactured into rum. -
Navigation Acts
Was a series of laws of Parliament, that attempted to restrict English ships the right to carry goods to and from England and its colonies. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was the result of discontent among backcountry farmers who had taken the law into their own hands against government corruption and oppression. Many Virginians were debtors. Borrowing on the strength of paper money was stopped by the British Government, leading to more discontent against the merchant classes. Many of the supporters of the rebellion were indentured servants and slaves, who were a majority of Virginia's population -
Great Awakening
This religious revival stressed emotion, emphasized, individuality, and challenged traditional church control. -
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The French and Indian War
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Alexander Hamilton
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Industrial Revolution
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Treaty of Paris of 1763
The French and Indian War, ended with the Treaty of Paris. Under the treaty, France gave Great Britain all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. The Spanish gave up east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba. -
The Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 forbade settlers from settling past a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. The purpose of the proclamation was to organize Great Britain's new North American empire and to stabilize relations with Native North Americans through regulation of trade, settlement, and land purchases on the western frontier -
Sugar Act
Was passed by the English Parliament to offset the war debt brought on by the French and Indian War and to help pay for the expenses of running the colonies and newly acquired territories. This act increased the duties on imported sugar and other items such as textiles, coffee, wines and indigo. It doubled the duties on foreign goods reshipped from England to the colonies and also forbids the import of foreign rum and French wines. -
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American Revolution
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Stamp Act
A tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. The money collected by the Stamp Act was to be used to help pay the costs of defending and protecting the American frontier near the Appalachian Mountains. -
Quartering Acts
The Quartering Act of 1765 required the colonies to house British soldiers in barracks provided by the colonies. -
Townshend Acts
It imposed a new series of taxes on the colonists to offset the costs of administering and protecting the American colonies. Items taxed included imports such as paper, tea, glass, lead and paints. The Act also established a colonial board of customs commissioners in Boston. -
Boston Massacre
Occured as a mob harassed British soldiers who then fire their muskets pointblank into the crowd, killing three instantly, mortally wounded two others and injuring six. After the incident, the new Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, at the insistence of Sam Adams, withdrew British troops out of Boston to nearby harbor islands. The captain of the British soldiers, Thomas Preston, is then arrested along with eight of his men and charged with murder. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party occured as colonial activists disguised themselves as Mohawk Indians then board the ships and dump all containers of tea into the harbor. -
Intolerable Acts
Was a series of punitive laws passed by the British Parliament, relating to Massachusetts after the Boston Tea party. -
Second Continental Congress
The Second Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia, with John Hancock elected as its president. On May 15, the Congress places the colonies in a state of defense. On June 15, the Congress unanimously votes to appoint George Washington general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army. -
Battle of Concord and Lexington
The first shots starting the revolution were fired at Lexington, Massachusetts. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage sent 700 soldiers to destroy guns and ammunition the colonists had stored in the town of Concord, just outside of Boston. They also planned to arrest Samuel Adams and John Hancock, two of the key leaders of the patriot movement. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
The first major fight between British and American troops. American troops are dug in along the high ground of Breed's Hill, and are attacked by a frontal assault of over 2000 British soldiers who storm up the hill. The Americans let loose a deadly volley of rifle fire and halt the British advance. the Americans run out of ammunition and are left only with bayonets and stones to defend themselves. The British succeed in taking the hill, but at a loss of half their force. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Continental Congress adopts the Olive Branch Petition which expresses hope for a reconciliation with Britain, appealing directly to the King for help in achieving this. In August, King George III issues a proclamation declaring the Americans to be in a state of open rebellion. -
Common Sense
Is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine that inspired people in the Thirteen Colonies to declare and fight for independence from Great Britain. -
Declaration of Independence
Was a statement which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Battle of Princeton
Was a battle in which General George Washington's revolutionary forces defeated British forces near Princeton, New Jersey. -
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Henry Clay
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Battle of Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga resulted in a major victory for the colonists. The battle was the turning point of the war, because the victory encouraged the French to join the war against Great Britain. -
The Articles of Confederation
Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation as the government of the new United States of America, pending ratification by the individual states. Under the Articles, Congress is the sole authority of the new national government. -
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Valley Forge
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Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown was the last great battle of the American Revolutionary War. It is where the British Army surrendered and the British government began to consider a peace treaty. -
Treaty of Paris of 1783
The Treaty recognized American independence, established borders for the new nation, and formally ended the Revolutionary War. -
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Shay's Rebellion
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Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention of May 1787 was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, where delegates from 12 of the 13 states were present. The state of Rhode Island refused to send a delegate because it was afraid of losing its states' rights. The delegates worked for 4 months behind closed doors of the State House to draft a new document known later as the Constitution. -
The Great Compromise
The Great Compromise was an agreement made among the delegates to the Constitutional Convention that the American government would have two houses in Congress: the Senate where each state has two Senators, and the House of Representatives where each state has a number of Representatives based on population. -
Northwest Ordinance
Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance which establishes formal procedures for transforming territories into states. It provides for the eventual establishment of three to five states in the area north of the Ohio River, to be considered equal with the original 13. The Ordinance includes a Bill of Rights that guarantees freedom of religion, the right to trial by jury, public education and a ban on slavery in the Northwest. -
The Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The Constitution originally consisted of seven Articles. -
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French Revolution
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President George Washington
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Jefferson Republicans
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Whiskey Rebellion
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The Bill of Rights
The first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, to protect certain rights of citizens. -
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Federalists
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Cotton gin
Eli Whitney designed and constructed the cotton gin, a machine that automated the separation of cottonseed from the short-staple cotton fiber. -
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President John Adams
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Chief Justice John Marshall
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President Thomas Jefferson
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Marbury v. Madison
Was a landmark United States Supreme Court case in which the Court formed the basis for the exercise of judicial review in the United States under Article III of the Constitution. The landmark decision helped define the boundary between the constitutionally separate executive and judicial branches of the American form of government. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase (1803) 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 dollars. -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
The huge part of the land west of the Mississippi River (which Jefferson had acquired through the Louisiana Purchase) was unexplored, and needed to be examined first before it could be settled. President Jefferson decided to send an exploratory expedition west so he appointed his own private secretary, Meriwether Lewis as a Commander in charge of the expedition, and Lewis invited his former superior officer from the Army, William Clark, to be his Co-commander. -
Embargo Act of 1807
Law passed by Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson in 1807. This law stopped all trade between America and any other country. The goal was to get Britain and France, who were fighting each other at the time, to stop restricting American trade. The Act backfired, and the American people suffered. The Act was ended in 1809. -
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President James Madison
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War of 1812
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Battle of New Orleans
American victory in a battle that never had to happen. American forces under General Andrew Jackson defeated British forces on January 8, 1815, several weeks after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, which had officially ended the war. Neither group of troops had gotten the news by the time the battle began. This battle is also interesting in that the British lost more than 700 dead and 1,400 injured while the Americans lost only 8 dead and 13 wounded. -
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Era of Good Feelings
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President James Monroe
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Missouri Compromise
In the years leading up to the Missouri Compromise of 1820, tensions began to rise between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions within the U.S. Congress and across the country. They reached a boiling point after Missouri’s 1819 request for admission to the Union as a slave state, which threatened to upset the delicate balance between slave states and free states. To keep the peace, Congress orchestrated a two-part compromise, granting Missouri’s request but also admitting Maine as a free state. -
Monroe Doctrine
It stated that further efforts by European nations to colonize land or interfere with states in North or South America would be viewed as acts of aggression, requiring U.S. intervention. -
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National Republicans
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Corrupt Bargain
In the 1824 U.S. presidential election, no candidate received a majority of the electoral votes. Andrew Jackson led with 99 votes, followed by John Quincy Adams with 84, William Harris Crawford with 41 and Henry Clay with 37. Under the 12th Amendment procedure, the House of Representatives had to choose a president from the top three candidates. Clay, thus out of the race, threw his support to Adams, who was elected by the House. Adams in turn named Clay his Secretary of State. -
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President John Quincy Adams
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Democratic Party
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Tariff of 1828
Was a protective tariff designed to protect industry in the northern United States. It was labeled the Tariff of Abominations by its southern detractors because of the effects it had on the antebellum Southern economy. -
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President Andrew Jackson
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Indian Removal Act
Was a law that was passed during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. The act authorized him to negotiate with the Native Americans in the Southern United States for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands. -
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Whig Party
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President Martin Van Buren
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Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was the relocation and movement of Native Americans, from their homelands to Indian Territory in the Western United States. Many Native Americans suffered from exposure, disease, and starvation while en route to their destinations, and many died. -
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President William Henry Harrison
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President John Tyler
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President James K. Polk
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Texas Annexation
In 1845, the United States of America annexed the Republic of Texas and admitted it to the Union as the 28th state. Since declaring their independence from the Republic of Mexico in 1836, the vast majority of Texas citizens favored the annexation of the Lone Star Republic by the United States. -
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Mexican-American War
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Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
Was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Because of the era's lack of telecommunications, it took weeks for news of the peace treaty to reach the United States. An American army under Andrew Jackson won the Battle of New Orleans.The Treaty of Ghent was not in effect until it was ratified by the U.S. Senate. -
Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession is the piece of land that makes up California, Nevada, Arizona, and part of New Mexico. This land was given to the US in 1848 as part of the terms of the Treaty of Guadelupe Hidalgo, the treaty that ended the Mexican-American War. -
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President Zachary Taylor
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President Millard Fillmore
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Compromise of 1850
Was a series of bills aimed at resolving the territorial and slavery controversies arising from the Mexican-American War. -California entered the Union as a free state. -New Mexico and Utah would have popular sovereignty. -The Republic of Texas gave up land claims -The slave trade was abolished in the District of Columbia. -The Fugitive Slave Act made any federal official who did not arrest a runaway slave liable to pay a fine. -
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President Franklin Pierce
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Republican Party
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Bleeding Kansas
When the U.S. was debating whether or not to abolish slavery, Kansas was about to become a state. The government decided to give Kansas popular sovereignty. People disagreed and a mini civil war broke out all across Kansas. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
It created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska, opening new lands for settlement, and had the effect of repealing the Missouri Compromise of 1820 by allowing white male settlers in those territories to determine through popular sovereignty whether they would allow slavery within each territory. -
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President James Buchanan
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Dred Scott
Dred Scott was a slave. His owner took him outside the south and through states that did not allow slavery. These states had rules that any enslaved person brought into the state became free. Dred Scott sued to try to win his freedom. The Supreme Court ruled the Missouri Compromise unconstitutional, and that Dred Scott didn't have the right to sue, because he wasn't a citizen. -
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry
Abolitionist John Brown lead a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia, in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. -
Confederate States of America
Was a government set up in 1861 by seven slave states that had declared their secession from the United States following the November 1860 election of Abraham Lincoln. -
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President Abraham Lincoln
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Battle of Fort Sumter
The Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the American Civil War. The intense Confederate artillery bombardment of Major Robert Anderson’s small Union garrison in the unfinished fort in the harbor at Charleston, South Carolina, had been preceded by months of siege-like conditions. -
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Civil War
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Battle of Antietam
Was the first major battle in the American Civil War to take place on Union soil. It is the bloodiest single-day battle in American history, with a combined tally of dead, wounded, and missing at 22,717. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Free the slaves only in the Confederate States of America to disrupt the Confederacy's economy. -
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality espoused by the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom", hat would bring true equality to all of its citizens. Lincoln also redefined the Civil War as a struggle not just for the Union, but also for the principle of human equality. -
13th Amendment
Abolition of slavery -
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President Andrew Johnson
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14th Amendment
Requires that states give all people qual protection under the law. -
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President Ulysses S. Grant
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15th Amendment
Prohibits denying voting rights because of race. -
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President Rutherford B. Hayes
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James A. Garfield
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Chester A. Arthur
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Grover Cleveland
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Benjamin Harrison
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Grover Cleveland
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William McKinley
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Spanish-American War
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Theodore Roosevelt
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16th Amendment
Allows the federal government to collect an income tax from all Americans. -
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire
The Triangle Shirtwaist Company factory in New York City burned, killing 145 workers. It was an industrial disaster. Most of the victims died as a result of neglected safety features and locked doors within the factory building. The disaster led to the development of a series of laws that would improve the working conditions such as safety. -
Panama Canal open for business
Is an artificial waterway cut through the Isthmus of Panama to provide a shortcut between the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. -
John F. Kennedy Speech
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Blockade around Cuba
