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Nov 10, 1492
Christopher Columbus Lands in America
Columbus landed in the Bahamas with himself and his rest of his crew. He landed with three ships when he landed in the Bahamas. -
Nov 10, 1500
The Spanish Empire
Columbus was the first explorer sent to find the Indies, but instead he found the Americas. After Columbus, Cortez was sent and Cortez took of the Aztecs in Mexico. The spanish started the Columbian exchange. Spain took over a lot of North and South America. -
Nov 10, 1534
New France
Jacques Cartier was the first french explorer to come to the Americas, he was sent to find an all water passage through the Americas, but he couldn't find one so instead he claimed land that we know now as Canada. The french built a trading post in the Canada and they called it Quebec. -
Jamestown: The First English Colony
The english sent John Cabot to find an all water passage through the Americas. Later a company astablished a money-making colony iin virginia and called it Jamestown. Jamestown was build in a swamp. -
Trading Post Quebec
Champlain sailed the St. Lawrence River and builds a trading post he calls Quebec. For the next 150 years, Quebec is base for French explorers, fur traders, soldiers and missionaries. -
New Netherland
Henry Hudson was an English explorer sponsered by the Dutch Indian Trading Company and he claimed land for the Netherlands around modern New York. They also started a city called New Amesterdam and their main trade was fur. -
Starving Time
John Smith leaves to England because of an injury form a gunpowder explosion. Without Smith and Pochontas to act as go-between, the indians refused to trade with the English. The English ate dogs, rodents and human corpses to survive. -
The English take over New Netherlans
In 1664, Charles gave his bother, James, the Duke of York, the land of all Dutch lands in America, but only if he could conquer them. James emdiatly organized a small invasion. When they arrived at New Amsterdam Peter Stuyvesant surrendered because the Dutch's gunpowder was moist and so could not be used. -
Jacob Leisler Become Leader
In 1691 Jacob Leisler was elected leader of a democratic council. The same year New York finally got the right to elect an assembly that had the power to pass laws and set taxes for the colony. -
Proclamtion of 1763
The Proclamtion of 1763 said that Colonists were not allowed to go west of the Appalachian Mountians. This was to provent any further wars with the Indians. The Proclamtion was too late people were already starting to move west because of the lack of space for farmland. The Colonists rebelled and protested against this new law. -
The Quartering Act
Colonists had to provide housing for the British soldiers. They also had to provide the soldiers with candles, fire, bedding, cooking utensils, salt, vinegar and beer or cider. The British said that the soldiers were there to protect the colonists so the colonists had to pay for the soldiers. The colonists protested, they said the soldiers only took up space and did nothing. The colonists also saw it as another way to tax them. -
The Stamp Act
The Colonists had to buy a stamp for every single piece of paper they used. The British did this so they could get enough money to pay back the depths of the French Indian war, but the Colonists saw it as a violation of their rights. They shouted "No Taxation without Representation". Loyalist refused to buy stamps, but patriots took more violant actions like attacking taxcollectors. -
The Townshend Acts
Colonists had to pay taxes on cretain goods such glass, paint, paper and tea. The British did this so they could pay for the army in America. The colonies didn't want to be taxed by the British so they decided to boycott British goods. John Adams wrote a letter protesting against the Townshend Acts. -
The Tea Act
The Tea Act was a attempt to rescue the British East India Company. All colonists were only allowed to buy British tea. Though the tea was cheaper than any other tea, the colonists refused to buy the tea because they saw it as another way to tax them. People through the tea over board the ships. Over 90,000 pounds of tea were thrown into the Boston Bay. -
The Intorable Acts
The Intolerable acts were 4 laws and a way to punish the Bostonians and to keep them in check. The Boston Harbor was blocked till the the Colonists payed back the tea. The Government was now under British controll. The third law said that British soldier accused of murder would be trialed in England and last more British troops went to the Colonies. -
Lexington and Concord
The battle at Lexington and Concord was the first battle between the British and colonists of the seven year war to come. Till today, it is unknown who fired the first shot. -
the Second Continental Congress
At this congress John Adams proposed to create a continental army. An amry made out of soldiers from all colonies and to lead this army John Adams suggested George Washington. All the delegates agreed. -
Battle of Bunker Hill
2000 British marched on Bunker Hill. Israel Putman (Leader of American troops) told his soldiers to fire only when the british were very close. The British marched 3 times to get Bunker Hill. The colonists left because they had no gunpowder left. -
The Olive Branch Petition
The colonists sent a letter to King George asking for peace and to stop the quarrel. But before the letter reached Kind George, he had already declared that all Americans were rebels and traitors. -
Siege of Boston
When George Washington learned that the army only had 36 barrels of gunpowder he sent a deperate letter to the colonies for gunpowder. He got a lot of gunpowder, but still didn't dare to take back Boston without cannons. He sent some people to an old British fort named Ticonderoga to get some cannons. They surround Boston with cannons and the british were so shocked that they fled to Canada. -
The Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson, the youngest man of the Congress, drafted the Declaration of Independence, stating that all Americans would give their lives for independence. All members of the Congress signed this declaration, and the war began. -
Battle of New York
The American and British army met in Brooklyn, New York. The Americans set their defensises in the city, but were still no match for the British for they were well trained and had more men. The British lost around 300 hunderd men and the colonist over 1400. -
Trenton
George Washington gave his men a pep talk. This gave the men courage. They crossed Delaware River in small boots and made a surprise attack on the British troops in Trenton who were asleep because they had just had a big christmas feest. -
Saratoga
When Burgoyne reached Saratoga the place was already swarming with Militia. The British were out numbered so the Americans held the British back on October 17, 1777 the British finally admitted defeat. -
Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
The ratification of the Articles of Confederation took several years for many states had distputs. Virginia was the first state to sign it in 1777. It was finaly operative in march first, 1781 -
Yorktown
The British had moved to Yorktown so the French and American troops surrounded Yorktown. French war ships blocked any escape root by water. On October 1781 the French and Americans amy opened fire on Yorktown. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris is a peace treaty signed by both American and British representitive. The treaty had 3 important things. First, Britain would recognize Am, erica as a independent country. Second, Britain gave up its claims to all lands between the Atlantic Coast and the Mississippi River, from Canada south to Florida. And third, Americans agreed to return all rights and property taken from Loyalists during the war. -
Shay's Rebellion
After the war there was a huge money shortage in the USA. This was especially hard on the framers because they could not earn enough to pay of their taxes. So the farmers started rebelling first clossing down courthouses then taking the arsenal. The congress couldn't stop them because the continetal army didn't exist anymore -
Constitutional Convention
Some people boycotted the convention because they were afraid of a strong central government. The Constitutional Convention was kept a secret, but James Madison took 600 pages of notes the public kneew what had happend. During the Constitutional Convention the delegates talked about many problems, especially about the Articles of Confederation. -
Ratification of the U.S. Constitution
The New U.S. Constitution was ratified on 21 jun 1788. It made 3 branches of government: a legislature, the bicameral Congress; an executive branch led by the Presideny and a judicial branch headed by the Supreme Court. This constitution is still used today. -
The Louisiana Purchase
Napleon was planning to make Louisiana into on big farm industry for slaves in the Caribbean, but when the slaves took over Napleon had no use of Louisiana. Instead of losing it in war they sold it to America for $15 million. Many argued that a Louisiana and America together would be to large a country to govern, but farmers were overjoyed. They could now use the Mississippi for trade. -
Spain gives Florida to the U.S.
Many people were angry that Florida wasn't part of the US. Many slaves fled to Florida and Indians who lived in Florida raided farms. Andrew Jackson was sent to Georgia to put an end to the raids. He was told not to invaid Florida. Inspite of this Andrew Jackson took over Florida. Afraid of war the Spanish sold Florida for $5 million and the United States agreed to honor Spain’s long-time claim to Texas. -
The Indian Removal Act
President Jackson wanted to remove all Indians from the United States. In 1830 Congress ratified the Indian Removal Act allowing the president to negotiate with Native Tribes. Some groups agreed to west, others resisted. This often lead to the death of most of the tribe. -
The "Trail of Tears"
17,000 Cherokee were draged from their homes and frost to walk over 900 miles to the Indian territory. Over 4000 died during the trip and those who survived remembered it as the Trail of Tears. -
Oregon Treaty
Americans wanted all of Oregon, but they didn't want another war with the British. The British and the Americans agreed to cut Oregon in half along the 49th parallel. -
Texas is annexed
In 1821 Moses Austin started a colony in spanish Texas. By 1827 the colony had attracted 297 families. By 1830 the population of the colony has risen to 25,000. Tension began to rise between the 4,000 Tejons and the Americans. The Mexican government cut of the border to America. After a lot of struggle Texas became its on country, but most of the population was American and wanted Texas to be part of The US. In 1844 the US annexed Texas. -
War with Mexico
There were disputes over bothers with Texas and Mexico so the US government sent soldiers to fight the Mexicans. When the US had half of Mexico the Mexican goverment and American government signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. This treaty gave the US the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, Arizona, and New Mexico, as well as parts of Colorado and Wyoming. In return the US government paid Mexico 15 million dollars and promised to protect the 80,000 Mexicans living in Texas. -
The Fugitive Slave Law: Northerners
The Fugitive Slave Law allowed and helped slaveholders find their run away slaves and retrieve. The Northerners opposed this law because they wanted humans to have equal rights. They also pited the slave and wanted them to be free. -
The Fugitive Slave Law: Southerners
The Fugitive Slave Law allowed and helped slaveholders find their run away slaves and retrieve. This law upset the Southerners because they said it didn't do enough to help them retrieve their slaves. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act: Northerners
The Kansas-Nebraska Act statd that the issue of slavery in those territories would be deicded by popular sovereignty. This upset the Notherners because now slavery could spread easily and they didn't want slavery to spread. -
Abraham Lincoln elected president: Southerners
In 1860 Lincoln was elected president. The southerners were very unhappy with this because Lincoln opposed slavery so they were afraid he would abolish slavery. -
Civil War
The Civil War started because of disputes between the south and north. The biggest dispute was slavery. The south wanted the slavery while the north didn't. No comprimizes could be found and when Lincoln became President the south seceded. Lincoln said he couldn't just let the south secede so he said war wa enevidible. The south attacked first in 1846. Though the south had a small army they had good generals so they survived many battles. The south lost the war in 1865 and became part of the US
