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Period: Sep 30, 1400 to
Exploration to the Turn of the Century
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Aug 3, 1492
Columbus Comes to America
Italian sailor Christopher Columbus sailed to what he thought was Asia, but sighted land in the Caribbean Sea. -
Jan 1, 1500
Africans taken to America
From the 1500s to the 1800s, about 10 million Africans were taken to the Americas as slaves. -
Boston Massacre
Street fight between a "patriot" mob and British soldiers where several colonists were killed. -
Treaty of Paris
British recognized the United States as a nation with borders from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River. -
Jefferson Elected as President
in 1800 Thomas Jefferson won a close and bitter election to become President. Jefferson expanded American territory. He bought the vast Louisiana Territory from France. -
The Market Revolution
People increasingly bought goods rather than make what they needed. New inventions such as the telegraph, steam-powered ships, the steel plow, and the reaper helped fuel economic growth. -
The Second Great Awakening
Americans experienced a rise in religious sentiment. This movement emphasized emotional individual conversion. This included abolition for slavery and rights for women. -
The American System
Henry Clay tried to unite the sections with a plan for economic development called the American System. A tariff on imported goods helped American industries grow. The creation of a national bank made a national currency available. The nation built new canals and roads making it easier to move people and goods across the country. -
Manifest Destiny
Americans began to speak of manifest destiny-- the belief that the United States was meant to expand from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. People moved west in search of economic oppurtunity. -
Abolition of Slavery
Abolition was an important reform movement. Frederick Douglass, an escaped slave, eloquently spoke and wrote about the evils of slavery. Slaves worked long, hot hours. Many bitterly resented their treatment. Some, like Nat Turner, rebelled. These actions frightened slave owners, who passed harsh slave laws and argued against abolition. -
The Seneca Falls "Declaration of Sentiments"
Female reformers met in New York at the Seneca Falls Convention. They aproved a statement that demanded equal rights for women. -
Expansion of Industry
Iron became more useful when the Bessemer process efficiently turned it into steel. Steel became used in railroads, in farm tools such as the plow and reaper, and to make cans for preserving food. -
Small Farmers
The farmers were plagued by weather and debt. Machines cost money, which they had to borrow. When grain prices fell, they could not repay their loans. They also resented how much they had to pay railroads to ship their crops. Farmers were also plagued by changing economic conditions. After the Civil War, the supply of money shrank, making each dollar in circulation worth more. This hurt farmers who had to repay their loans in more expensive dollars. -
Civil War
The civil war started because the North and the South disagreed over slavery. It began in 1861, when Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, a Union fort in Charleston, South Carolina. The North won on April 9, 1865 -
Native Americans
The goverment had granted the entire Plains to Native Americans. As more white settlers wished to move there, the government made new treaties restricting the land that Native Americans could use. Conflict erupted. In 1864, a militia attacked a camp of Cheyenne, killing 200, mostly women and children. -
Freedmen's Bureau
Congress created this to help former slaves. It passed the Civil Rights Act of 1866, which guaranteed the civil rights of African Americans. Congress also passed the Fourteenth Admendment, which made African Americans citizens. -
Typewriter, Telephone, and Office Women Workers
The typewriter was invented in 1867 and the telephone in 1876. These and other inventions changed daily life. More women began to work in offices; by 1910, women were about 40 percent of the clerical work force. -
Thomas Alva Edison
established a research laboratory in 1876 in order to develop new inventions. He devised an incandescent light and began to organize power plants to generate electricity. Cities built electric railways, and business built factories powered powered by electricty. -
Social Darwinism
Studying the success of business leaders like Carnegie helped spur an intellectual movement called Social Darwinism. This says that goverment should allow free competition in business to allow the best individuals to succeed. -
The Age of the Railroads
By 1890, rail lines totaled more than 200,000 miles. But building and running the railroads was difficult and dangerous work for thousands of workers. By 1888, more than 2,000 railroad workers had died and another 20,000 had been injured. Workers earned very little--and Asians and African Americans less than white workers.
