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English Colony at Jamestown Virginia
English investors called their company the Virginia Company and started plans to bulid a colony in the Americas.
Virginia Company sent about 100 colonist to Virginia, a region discovered and named by Raleigh two decades earlier. Colonist started a settlement about 60 miles from the mouth of James River. -
First Africans brought to North America
One stormy day in August of 1619 a Dutch manof-war with about 20 Africans on board entered port at the English colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Little is known of these newly arrived people: the first Africans to set foot on the North American continent. At this time the slave trade between Africa and the English colonies had not yet been established, and it is unlikely that the 20 or so newcomers became slaves upon their arrival. They were perhaps considered indentured servants, who worked under -
Pilgrims land at Plymouth
One group of Separatist, those who came to be called Pilgrims, decided to make a new home in North America, where they hoped they would be free to worship as they desired.A group of roughly 100 Pilgrams sailed to New England on the Mayflower. -
Salem Witch Trials
Several girls and young women in Salem, Massachusetts, claimed that the devil had taken control of them. Trails were held to determine if the accused townspeople really witches. As a resullt of this, the Massachusetts authorites ordered twenty men and women to be executed. After a few months the community regained its balance, and the trails and hangings came to a stop. -
French and Indian War
1754-1763
The Seven Years’ War , forming a chapter in the imperial struggle between Britain and France called the Second Hundred Years’ War. In the early 1750s, France’s expansion into the Ohio River valley repeatedly brought it into conflict with the claims of the British colonies, especially Virginia. In 1756 the British formally declared war (marking the official beginning of the Seven Years’ War), but their new commander in America. -
Boston Massacre
The evening of 1770, a small but unruly crowd threatened a squad of British soldiers. The soldiers opened fire on the crowd, leaving five colonist dead or dying in the snow. Among the victims, Africans American Crispus Attucks fell first. -
Boston Tea Party
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Raid on three British ships in Boston Harbor, which Boston colonists, disguised as Indians, threw the contents of several hundred chests of tea into the harbor as a protest against British taxes on tea and against the monopoly granted the East India Company. -
The Declaration of Independence
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The statement adopted by the Continental Congress meeting at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania , which announced that the thirteen American colonies. -
Revolutionary War Ends (Treaty of Paris)
negotiated between the United States and Great Britain, ended the revolutionary war and recognized American independence. The Continental Congress named a five-member commission to Negotiate a treaty–John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, John Jay, Thomas Jefferson, and Henry Laurens. Laurens, however, was captured by a British warship and held in the Tower of London until the end of the war, and Jefferson did not leave the United States in time to take part in the negotiations. Thus, they were conducte -
Shay's Rebellion
In the following years the war, merchants, and wealthy people who had loaded money to the states began to demand their money back. They pressed the impoverished states to pass high taxes in order to collect the money to pay off the debts -
Constitution Ratified
The first real test for ratification occurred in Massachusetts, where the fully recorded debates reveal that the recommendation for a bill of rights proved to be a remedy for the logjam in the ratifying convention. New Hampshire became the ninth state to approve the Constitution in June, but the key States of Virginia and New York were locked in bitter debates. Their failure to ratify would reduce the new union by two large, populated, and wealthy states -
Whiskey Rebellion
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In western Pennsylvania and other frontier areas, many people refused to pay the tax on whiskey.Whiskey was a critical importance to the economy. Not only was it a traditional beverage but it was also one of the only products that farmers could make out of corn that could be transported to market without spoiling. -
Lewis & Clark Expedition
1804-1806
Began during the spring of 1804, there were expedition's goals were to search for river routes to the western ocean, make contact with the Native Americans .living in the territory and to collect information about the region's natural resources.
The expedition reached the Pacific Ocean late in 1805 and returned east by September 1806.
This journey lasted two years and four months, was successful in filling in many of the details of the vast lands to the west. -
War of 1812
June 18, 1812 to February 18, 1815
In June 1812, President Madison sent a message urging Congress to declare war against the British. Madison argued that the British had not only encouraged the Indians to attack American settlers but had also interfered with the U.S. shipping. Later on, Congress approved Madison's call for war -
Missouri Compromise
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Allowed missouri to enter the union as a slave state with the provision that no more slave states could come in above the 30 latitude line. -
Trail of Tears
Cherokees: man , women , and children, most bare foot, began 116 day forced march westwardfor about one-thousand miles to Oklahoma Territory. One out of every four Cherokees died of cold or disease, due to the troops not allowing them to pause to rest.This was a nightmare lived in real life for the 15,000 Cherokees -
Texan Independence
When the fight between the Mexican troops and the Texans there was more than 180 Texan lay dead.The rebels formally declared the founding of an independent Republic of Texas. -
Mexican American War (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)
1846-1848
Polk sent more than 3,000 American troops under General Zachary Taylor into the disputed area of southern Texas. Mexcians troops engaged in a skirmish with Taylor's forces in late April . Several Americans were killed.Later on the war started.With the defeat of its troops and the fall of the country's capital, the Mexican government sought peace. The Treat of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848. -
Gold Rush in California
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James Wilson Marshall, a carpenter originally from New Jersey, found flakes of gold in the American River at the base of the Sierra Nevada Mountains near Coloma, California.
The discovery of gold nuggets in the Sacramento Valley in early 1848 sparked the Gold Rush, arguably one of the most significant events to shape American history during the first half of the 19th century -
Compromise of 1850
U.S gained new territory
Califorina allowed to enter into the union as a free state which upset the balnace the free and slave states. -
Kansas Nebraska Act
Overturn the slavery restrictions of the Missour Compromise by introducing the concept of popular sovereighty whcih meant territories that were previously restricted from slavery could now vote on weather or not to become a slave state. -
Abraham Lincoln elected President
On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party. He was the first president from the Republican Party. -
Civil War
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April 12, 1861 - April 9, 1865
The first shots fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, in April signaled the begininng of the nation's Civil War. War that was between the Union states of the North and the Confederate states of the South. The Union somehow managed to win over the Confederate states. -
Transcontinental Railroad completed
A golden spike was driven at Promontory, Utah, signaling the completion of the first transcontinental railroad in the United States -
Reconstruction Ends
Democrats agreed to let Hayes become president in exchange for a complete withdrawal of federal troops from the South. Republicans agreed, and shortly after Hayes was sworn in as president, he ordered the remaining federal troops to vacate South Carolina and Louisiana.
