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Sep 30, 1400
Spanish Exploration
The Spanish started to seek into finding new land, and so they found the "New World". Many came to find riches, and those riches were found by trading with the natives; they usually traded jewelry or weaponry. However, the natives were taken in as slaves, along with Africans. -
Period: Sep 30, 1400 to
Exploration to the Turn of the Century
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Religious Ideas
After many Europeans came to settle in the New World, there became trouble when dealing with religious interference from England, whom had claimed the New World land as their's. Puritans, such as John Winthrop, left England and helped colonists win over the interference. Because of this, the colonists started forming their own goals, like: servicing God, seek for new homes under a civil and ecclesiatical government, and obeying the words that God has given. -
Taxation
Britian tried to find new ways to get money from the New World, since King George needed to pay debts from the French and Indian War. King George passed the the Sugar Act (1764) and the Stamp Act (1765). -
Rebellion
Many of the colonists boycotted the British goods in order to protest against the taxation put among them. Lots of the English became angry with this, and lead to a mob, which is now known as the Boston Massacre. The colonists also rebelled by dumping British tea into the Boston Harbor. Massachusetts got punished by the Parliament by having the Intolerable Acts passed in 1774. -
Independence
Many colonists wanted independence from Britain (Patriots) and others wanted to continue to depend on Britain (Loyalists). Many slaves chose to fight on the Patriot side, even though the British had offered to give freedom to them. The French eventually helped out the Americans, which caused them to win the war in 1781. -
New Constitution
The United States started to form due to the Articles of Confederation. Other releases, such as the Northwest Ordinance allowed new states to be formed in the north-western territories. -
New Nation and New Political Parties
A new Constitution was made, which allowed to shift the nation in change. Many leaders were in different sorts of departments in branches of government. There were many debates on how to control the economy. Alexander Hamilton wanted a strong centeral goverment that depended a national bank. Thomas Jefferson thought differently; he wanted the economy to depend on farming. This disagreement lead to the nation's first two political parties. -
Nationalism
Nationalism appeared to be devotion for a country, but Americans became greedy and wanted to expand territories to the Northern parts of Mexico. Mexico didn't want to give up their land, so it resulted in a war.Nationalists also kicked Indian's out of their land as another result of Nationalism. However, may new states became part of America, such as: California, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. -
Market Revolution
The Market Revolution allowed new consumer goods to come into stock and easier ways to transport and communicate. Since transportation was advanced with upgrades such as the steam boat, railroads, and national roads, the consumer goods could be shipped faster which made more profit and then lead to the making of new goods. Some of the new goods lead to new ways to communicate from inventions like the telegraph. -
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a result of the social reforms made in the early 1800s. This movement encouraged emotional and individual conversion when approaching the subject of religion. Many slaves at the time involved with this movement.Other slaves such as Fredrick Douglas and Nat Turner, ran away from their slave owners and spoke of the harsh ways slaves were treated, which encouraged this movement more. Because of this, a social reform was released to abolished slavery. -
Breakup of the United States
Differences about the view of slavery caused the North and the South to split. The North was con-slavery due to their disuse for them because of their technological and industrial advances. The South was pro-slavery because they weren't advanced and needed to depend on the slaves to make money.Due to attempts such as the Dred Scott decesion (which defined slaves as property protected by the Constitution) situations and disagreements worsened, which lead to Civil War that took place in the 1860s. -
Industrial Age
Steel became heavily used in rainroads, farm toons, and cans for perserving food. Steel allowed the Age of the Railroads to come into place, allowing over 200,000 miles of rail lines to be made, but caused over 2,000 workers to die and 20,000 workers to get injured. The railraods linked the nation, but caused a monopoly to occur, which often caused unfairity to workers and consumers. -
Civil War Consequences
The North won the Civil War in 1865, but the war's consequences brought among many changes. Although the Civil Rights Act of 1866 and the Fourteenth Amendment got passed, the Southerners still struggled with war costs. -
Formation of Unions
The National Union persuaded the government to allow 8-hour days for government jobs. On the otherhand, the Knights of Labor pushed for that and equal pay. Many other unions formed, which brought to riots due to business leaders wanting to cheat them out of their rights. -
Beginning of Reconstruction
Reconstruction acts were passed by Abraham Lincoln to help both the North and the South politcally and economically. Even though many slaves were set free, lots lived in poverty, so the North wanted to give them the right to vote. The South was against this because of their economic hardship involving agriculture, which made this progress difficult. The North stopped helping, which lead to the Supreme Court to undo some of the changes made and allowed Southern Democrats to reign power. -
Social Welfare
Row houses were made to house many immigrants but it caused many bad impacts. There were sanitary issues which caused the spread of diseases. Many cities in America also had inadequete piped water, which worsened the sanitary issues due to the unability of batheing or cleaning. Because of this, many areas lived in poverty. -
Social Darwinism
Social Darwinism supported the idea of allowing competition between business people to bring out the greatest people comptiting. These competitons sometimes lead to businesses linking themselves together, which made them stronger and earn more money. However, many unfair monopolies occured. -
Economy
Since there was the arrival of many immigrants, many business owners offered them lower wages. In addition to that, poll tax was added in order to vote. It was very hard for immigrants and other minority groups to have equal rights, especially when the government and others were taking their money. -
Social Gospel Movement
The Social Gospel Movement formed to attack the idea of Social Darwinism. They believed that wealth shouldn't be greeded by money means, but rather give back to people, espeically ones of poverty. These idealists made many reforms in order to help the poor. -
The Western Frontier
After the Dawes Act was passed, western land was given to the heads of families for farming. Many Americans migrated westward because of cheap land offerings, which also lead to many Native Americans getting kicked out of their land. More than 50,000 cowboys, 25% of African Americans, and 12% of Mexicans lived in the frontier. Eventually, advances were spread westward, which allowed easier transportation of goods and more money to be made.
