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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus lands in the Bahamas
Causes: Spain became united in the late 1400s and wished to be wealthier than Portugal in the Indies, so they sent Columbus to claim land in the Indies.
People: Christopher Columbus, Spanish monarchs (Ferdinand and Isabella)
Effects: The Columbus Exchange brought food, wealth, and a population explosion to Europe, but his men brought over diseases like smallpox that devastated Native Americans. Columbus's arrival was also the beginning of the slave trade in the Americas (Encomienda system). -
Period: Oct 12, 1492 to
US History: 1491-1945
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Jamestown, Virginia founded by British
Causes: Population growth, unemployment, thirst for profit, and joint-stock companies in Britain inspired the Virginia Company to receive a charter and settle in the New World.
People: Captain John Smith, King James I
Effects: Many settlers died due to hunger and disease. Captain John Smith helped secure shaky relations with Powhatans, but this cooperation would not last. Tobacco soon became a major commodity for trade in Virginia. -
Quebec founded by French
Causes: King Louis XIV took interest in overseas colonies after years of war and tormoil. Plus, he wanted to find money and power in the New World.
People: Samuel de Champlain, Huron Indian tribes
Effects: Champlain and the colonists entered into friendly relations with Hurons in order to gain profit from the fur trade. This alliance later proved fateful to the Hurons after the French and Indian War. -
Powhatan Wars
Causes: Lord De La Warr became new governor of VA and started a war between Virginians and Powhatan Indians over land. Powhatans were angry over the spread of disease and the seizures of their land.
People: Lord De La Warr, Powhatan, John Rolfe, Pocahontas
Effects: The 2nd war ended in 1644 and stopped any hope of assimilating or living peacefully with the Powhatan Confederacy, whose numbers were drastically reduced. The wars showed English policy towards Native Americans - cooperation to war. -
1st slaves brought to Jamestown
Causes: Virginia's growing plantation-based economy required labor, and since Native Americans were dying out and indentured servants only served for a short time, Virginians turned to African slaves to provide plantation work.
People: Virginian tobacco growers, African slaves
Effects: Virginia began to rely on slaves to keep their economy successful. Millions of slaves would be sent out to the Americas to work on plantations against their own will for centuries. -
Virginia House of Burgesses established
Causes: The Virginia Company allowed settlers to form an assembly, where members (wealthy adult white males) could vote and discuss issues.
People: Virginia Company, Virginian men with land
Effects: House of Burgesses was one of the first examples of representative self-government in the English colonies. White males with property were able to vote on laws and have a voice politically, foreshadowing America's future democracy. -
Pilgrims founded Plymouth Bay Colony
Causes: Pilgrims (Separatists Puritans) were kicked out of England by the King and wished to find religious freedom in the New World.
People: Plymouth Bay Pilgrims, Captain Myles Standish
Effects: Pilgrims' numbers declined greatly during their first winter, so they decided to cooperate with the Wampanoag Indians on the first Thanksgiving. The Mayflower Compact signed by settlers established a government with majority rule, a huge step towards democracy in the English colonies. -
Rhode Island founded by Roger Williams
Causes: Williams was banished from the Bay Colony due to his controversial opinions, such as separation of church and state. He fled to Rhode Island and set up a colony there.
People: Roger Williams, other outcasts from Massachusetts
Effects: Williams established complete freedom of religion, separation of church and state, and simple manhood suffrage. His very liberal ideas inspired William Penn to set up Pennsylvania and would foreshadow America's future religous tolerance and equal rights. -
New England Confederation
Causes: The Massachusetts and Connecticut colonies formed the confederation to defend themselves from French and Indian enemies.
People: Puritans of New England
Effects: Each member colony was allowed 2 votes, similar to today's Senate. New England Confederation was the first notable milestone towards intercolonial unity and representative government. -
King Philip's War
Causes: Metacom wished to create Pan-Indian alliance to resist English from taking Native land. The Wampanoag were seen by New Englanders as obstacles to obtaining more land.
People: Metacom, New Englanders
Effects: New England's Indians were virtually wiped out and were only a small threat to colonists afterwards. Once again, this war showed British policy towards Native Americans: initial cooperation and then violent conflict over land leading to the deaths and banishments of American Indians. -
Bacon's Rebellion
Causes: In Virginia, poor former indentured servants rebelled against the House of Burgesses and Governor Berkeley because they wanted land.
People: Nathaniel Bacon, Sir William Berkeley
Effects: The rebellion led to a decrease in the use of indentured servants and an increase in the use of African slaves as a labor source on plantations. Bacon's Rebellion also displayed the growing unrest between the poor and the rich throughout Virginia and the English colonies. -
Popé's Rebellion
Causes: Spanish settlers in Santa Fe attempted to assimilate Native Americans to Spanish culture and Catholicism.
People: Pueblo rebels, Roman Catholic missionaries
Effects: Pueblo rebels were able to take back control of New Mexico for nearly half a century. This failed attempt at assimilation showed the Spanish that it would be less trouble to accomodate and mix cultures with Indians, rather than creating conflict and wipng out Indians like the English colonists. -
Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
Causes: William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a safe haven for his fellow Quakers, and attracted many settlers and immigrants with his liberal ideas.
People: William Penn, King Charles II
Effects: Pennsylvania had religious tolerance, separation of church and state, social mobility, a very heterogeneous society made up of many European immigrants, and friendly relations with Native Americans. At the time, Pennsylvania was hugely liberal-minded thanks to the peaceful Quakers. -
Dominion of New England overthrown
Causes: The Dominion was founded by the British to build up defense against Indians and French. Sir Edmund Andros was very unpopular amongst New Englanders for his close ties with the English church, taxes, and restrictions on the people. The Glorious Revolution in England allowed colonists to overthrow the Dominion.
People: Sir Edmund Andros, Increase and Cotton Mathers
Effects: The rebellion led to a period of salutary neglect, where the British only weakly enforced their power over colonists -
John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government"
Causes: Locke wrote this revolutionary book as a response to the tyranny and revolution occurring in Britain.
People: John Locke
Effects: Locke's ideas on the role of government in protecting people's natural rights (life, liberty, and property) and the right to revolution if the government did not protect these rights hugely influenced the British colonists to rebel against Britain. His words are used almost word for word in the Declaration of Independence written by Jefferson. -
Stono Rebellion
Causes: Slaves in South Carolina attempted to escape to Spanish Florida, where they would be allowed freedom.
People: Jemmy ("Cato"), Kingdom of Kongo Africans, S.C. militia
Effects: The rebels were defeated and executed or sold back to slavery. The Negro Act of 1740 restricted slave assembly, education, and manumissions by owners. This was one of the most notable slave rebellions prior to the Revolution and showed slaves who fought the dehumanizing aspects of slavery. -
French and Indian War
Causes: The French (allied with the Huron) and the English (allied with their colonists and the Iroquois) fought over land and power.
People: George Washington, William Pitt Huron Indians, Iroquois, French, English
Effects: The defeat of the French virtually wiped out the Huron Indians and gave England more land in America. Debt-stricked England ended salutary neglect and began enforcing Navigation Laws, the Proclamation Line, and taxes on the colonists, who began having revolutionary thoughts. -
Stamp Act
Causes: The British ended salutary neglect and began imposing taxes on their colonies, including the Stamp Act.
People: Parliament, Sons + Daughters of Liberty, Stamp Act Congress, Committees of correspondence
Effects: The Sons of Liberty tarred and feathered tax collectors, the Daughters of Liberty urged women to contribute to the patriots, and committees of correspondence helped unite the colonies. Britain ended up repealing the tax, a huge victory for rebellious colonists. -
Boston Tea Party
Causes: Bostonians protested the tax on tea by dressing up as Indians and dumping huge amounts of British tea into Boston Harbor.
People: Bostonians, Charles Townshend
Effects: Through the Coercive (Intolerable) Acts, the British closed down Boston Harbor until Bostonians paid them back for the lost tea. Colonists saw the Intolerable Acts as an abuse of power and turned many colonists onto the patriot side of the stirring Revolution. -
Declaration of Independence
Causes: The Continental Congress met up to give formal reasons for the colonies declaration of independence from Britain, listing all of the King's abuses of their natural rights.
People: Thomas Jefferson
Effects: The Declaration of Independence became the foundation for America's future independent government, which would attempt to protect the natural rights of those they considered American citizens. It also united the patriots together against the British. -
Articles of Confederation
Causes: The Articles of Confederation was the independent United States' first constitution, which attempted to give more power to the state governments to avoid another powerful ruler like England.
People: Second Continental Congress, Jefferson
Effects: The Articles created a very weak federal government that couldn't impose taxes on the states and gave too much power to state governments instead. The states were more independent than part of a unified nation, and debt created internal unrest. -
Shay's Rebellion
Causes: The Massachusetts state government under the Articles taxed and foreclosed the land of poor farmers to repay debt from the Revolution, leading to a rebellion.
People: Daniel Shays, Shaysites, George Washington
Effects: Shay's Rebellion exposed the financial and political problems caused by the Articles. This led to Federalists creating the US Constitution which gave more power to the federal government and aimed to protect the rich from the poor. -
Northwest Ordinance
Causes: With new territory in the Northwest after the Revolution, the US needed an orderly way to admit new states.
People: George Washington, Confederation Congress
Effects: The Ordinance gave settlers in the Northwest the same rights to trial, freedom of religion and speech, etc. as American citizens (foreshadowing the Bill of Rights) and abolished slavery in the Northwest. It set specific guidelines for admitting new states and was one of the only sucesses from the Articles. -
US Constitution
Causes: The Articles of Confederation created too weak of a federal government and caused economic problems and internal unrest.
People: Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, Federalists
Effects: The Constitution created 2 political parties: Federalists, who supported the Constitution and were mostly wealthy New Englanders, and Antifederalists, who were against the Constitution, wanted more power to state governments, and were mostly poor farmers. It also created an executive and judicial branch. -
Bill of Rights
Causes: Jefferson and the Anti-federalists disliked the Constitution for not giving enough power to the state governments and not outright protecting the rights of the people.
People: Thomas Jefferson, Anti-federalists
Effects: The first 10 amendments protected the rights to freedom of speech, religion, protest, press, trial by jury, etc. The 9th and 10th amendments also gave some power to state governments, as Anti-Federalists wanted to counter the Supremacy clause in the Constitution. -
Proclamation of Neutrality
Causes: The conflict between France and England put the US in a tough position, since war could break out if it looked like the US was choosing sides. Washington therefore declared the US as neutral in the conflict, despite Federalists favoring the British and Anti-federalists favoring the French.
People: George Washington
Effects: The US pledged to stay neutral in foreign affairs, and this would prove to be the main US foreign policy up until past the Civil War. -
Jay's Treaty
Causes: War between Brtain and France caused the US to be stuck in the middle. Federalists wanted to ally with Britain, their biggest trading partner.
People: John Jay, Alexander Hamilton
Effects: The treaty with Brtain benefitted Britain much more, since the US had to pay off debts to them and Britain made very loose promises to get rid of their US forts and pay back for impressment. Democratic-Republicans were angry over the treaty because they favored the French. -
Pinckney's Treaty
Causes: Jay's Treaty with Britain was controversial because Brtain ended up with a much better deal, leaving Democratic-Republicans very angered. Pinckney ended up signing a treaty with Spain.
People: Thomas Pinckney
Effects: The treaty with Spain, a rapidly declining N.A. power, was seen as a success since the US was allowed access to the Mississippi and the northern border of Florida. This treaty greatly helped American trade, which relied on the use of the Mississippi River. -
Thomas Jefferson becomes President of US
Causes: John Adams, representing Federalists, and Thomas Jefferson, representing Democratic-Republicans, ran against each other for the office of President. Jefferson won against Adams.
People: Thomas Jefferson, John Adams
Effects: Called the "Revolution of 1800," this was the world's first peaceful transition of power, from Federalists to Democratic-Republicans. This marked the beginning of the US transforming into a more participatory democracy for the rich and the common man alike. -
Marbury v. Madison
Causes: President Jefferson replaced the "midnight judges" appointed last-minute by Adams.
People: John Marshall, William Marbury, James Madison
Effects: Marshall created "judicial review," the idea that only the Supreme Court could declare laws unconstitutional, not state governments, unlike what the Democratic-Republicans wanted. This gave more power to the Federal Government, especially the Supreme Court. -
Louisiana Purchase
Causes: With the French Revolution in Europe and the slave revolt in Haiti, Napolean wanted to pull France out of North America altogether.
People: President Jefferson, Napolean Bonaparte
Effects: US doubled in size and gained many new markets and resources, which boosted the Market Revolution and ideas of Manifest Destiny. Lewis and Clark explored the new land with Sacagawea. -
End of International Slave Trade
Causes: Constitutional Congress decided to postpone the end the slave trade to 1808 with the Slave Trade Compromise so the Constitution would be supported by slave states (mostly Anti-Federalists)
People: Constitutional Framers
Effects: The slave trade ending in 1808 did not end slavery in the US, since the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney actually created a higher demand for slaves in the South. It did show that the US only planned to postpone the issue of slavery until the Civil War. -
Cumberland (National) Road
Causes: The Market Revolution caused a need for easier transportation and trade between the North and the West.
People: President Thomas Jefferson, Henry McKinley
Effects: The National Road linked the North and the West together and aided the trade of manufactured goods and food between them. -
War of 1812
Causes: US was angry with Britain for impressment of their ships and men and their aiding of Native Americans. Americans also wanted to gain the land of Canada.
People: President James Madison, Andrew Jackson
Effects: The war was disastrous for the US because they were still weak compared to Britain. The White House burned down and their only victory was in New Orleans by Andrew Jackson. No territorial changes occured from the war but there was a surge of nationalism thanks to Jackson's win. -
Hartford Convention (1814-1815)
Causes: Federalists in New England did not support the War of 1812. Many Federalists wanted to secede from the union because of the power of the slave states in Congress.
People: Harrison Gray Otis, Federalists
Effects: After Jackson's victory in New Orleans, the Federalists were seen as traitors to the union because of the surge of nationalism. The Federalist party died out but would soon come back as the Whigs later in the century. -
Seminole Wars (1816-1850s)
Causes: Jackson invaded Florida to attack the Seminole, since white frontiersmen who wanted their land accused the Seminole of attacking them. Also, many slaves were escaping to Florida to gain freedom so Southerners wanted to recapture them.
People: Seminole, Andrew Jackson
Effects: In the Adams-Onis Treaty in 1819, Spain ceded Florida to the US but conflict with Seminole continued for decades. By the end of the 3rd Seminole War, very few Seminole were left in Florida due to relocation & death. -
Erie Canal
Causes: The furvor of the Market Revolution led to a need for faster transportation of manufactured goods and food throughout the nation.
People: Benjamin Wright
Effects: The Canal connected the Hudson River in NY to Lake Erie, linking the Great Lakes with the rivers in the US and therefore speeding up trade and transportation across the waters. Faster trade was necessary for the Market Revolution and the Erie Canal gained a lot of traffic. -
Clay's American System (1820's)
Causes: The new technology of the Market Revolution boosted manufacturing, trade, and agriculture so the US Government wanted to encourage manufacturing and trade in the US.
People: Henry Clay
Effects: Import tariffs, internal improvements (roads, canals), and a National Bank helped the US economy develop. The South disliked the American System because tariffs hurt them and the Bank and roads only benefitted the North (and West). -
Missouri Compromise
Causes: Missouri applied for statehood but its acceptance would lead to an inbalance of free and slave states in the Senate.
People: Henry Clay, Democrats, Whigs
Effects: Clay proposed that north of the 36°30′ latitude, there would be no slavery, while south of it slavery would be allowed. The Missouri Compromise kept balance of Whigs and Democrats in the Senate for decades but the addition of new states would continue to divide the country until the Civil War. -
Monroe Doctrine
Causes: Latin American countries were going through revolutions against Spain or Portugal and achieving independent. President Monroe issued this doctrine stating that no European powers were allowed to colonize in Latin America and the US alone could intervene in Latin America.
People: President James Monroe
Effects: The Monroe Doctrine was the beginning of US imperialism in Latin America. The doctrine also supported Manifest Destiny and expansion of the US through North America. -
Tariff of Abominations
Causes: The US passed a tariff on imports. Southerners hated tariffs because they caused prices on British goods to increase, plus tariffs only benefitted Northern manufacturers.
People: John C. Calhoun, President Andrew Jackson
Effects: Outrage in the South over the tariff led to the Nullification Crisis. John C. Calhoun in South Carolina urged the south to nullify the tariff and to secede. Conflict over this tariff nearly led to a Civil War. -
Indian Removal Act
Causes: Jackson called for the removal of the 5 Civilized Tribes from within the current state borders of the US to the west, in order to give more land to white farmers.
People: Cherokee, Creek, Seminole, Chickasaw, Choctaw, President Jackson
Effects: The 5 Civilized Tribes were forced off their land and onto the "Trail of Tears" to their new territory in the West. Thousands of American Indians died before they could reach the Indian Territory. -
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
Causes: The Cherokee Nation went to court to protest laws passed in Georgia that deprived them of their rights.
People: Cherokee Nation, John Marshall
Effects: Marshall ruled that the Cherokee Nation were "domestic dependent nations," meaning they were not citizens of the US but the US controlled them like guardians (paternalism). -
Nat Turner's Slave Rebellion
Causes: Nat Turner, a Virginian slave, led a violent slave rebellion where 55 whites and hundreds of blacks were killed.
People: Nat Turner
Effects: Nat Turner's rebellion ended any type of proslavery movement in the South and led to new laws liming the education and civil rights of both enslaved and freed blacks out of fear of more uprisings. -
Worcester v. Georgia
Causes: The Cherokee brought their case against their forced relocation from Georgia by the Indian Removal Act to court.
People: Cherokee Nation, John Marshall, Andrew Jackson
Effects: Marshall ruled that the states didn't have the power to negotiate over Indian lands. Jackson forced the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears anyway despite Marshall's ruling. -
Nullification Crisis
Causes: The "Tariff of Abominations" caused outrage in the South. John C. Calhoun, governor of South Carolina, urged Southerners to nullify the tariff and to secede from the Union. Jackson passed the Force Bill to threaten Southerners with war if they did secede.
People: John C. Calhoun, Andrew Jackson
Effects: Compromise Tariff in 1833 ended the conflict, but tensions were still high over tariffs and Jackson's abuse of power as President, leading to the actual Civil War in the 1860's. -
Treaty of Wanghia with China
Causes: The US began trading more and more with China and other Asian countries due to new technological advances and an increased desire for new markets and resources (tea, porcelain silk) from the Market Revolution.
People: Caleb Cushing, President Tyler
Effects: The treaty was the US' first diplomatic agreement with China and an example of early US imperialism in Asia. American trade with China increased and led to hopes of the same happening in isolated Japan. -
Mexican-American War (1846-1848)
Causes: Manifest Destiny caused US to crave Mexico's land for its resources (like gold in CA), markets, and accessability to Asia for trade with China.
People: President James Polk
Effects: The Mexican Cession (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) led to the success of the US stretching from sea to sea. However, more land led to debates over which states should have slavery (Democrats) and which ones should be free (Whigs) and would be a huge factor in causing the Civil War. -
Wilmot Proviso
Causes: Whigs in the North did not support the Mexican-American War because they saw it as Southern Democrats trying to expand slavery and their power in US Senate. Wilmot said that if the US wanted funding from the Whigs, there would be no slavery allowed in the land won from Mexico.
People: David Wilmot
Effects: The Proviso did not pass in the House, but it nevertheless further divided the nation into Whigs and Democrats, each fighting for more power over the other. -
California Gold Rush
Causes: Gold was found in California, shortly before Mexico ceded the land to US in the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
People: Many immigrants from across the world (Asia, South America, etc), the "forty-niners" (miners)
Effects: Thousands of people flooded to California, which quickly allowed California to apply for statehood in 1850. California's request to become a slave state led to conflict between Democrats and Whigs and led to the Compromise of 1850. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Causes: At the London Antislavery convention, women (including Mott) were excluded from participating. Female abolotionists were angered and formed the Women's Rights Convention to advocate for women's right to vote, to own property, etc.
People: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Sojourner Truth
Effects: The Seneca Falls meeting launched the women's rights movement and showed how much of the reform in the 1800s was led by women, and in this situation, for other women. -
Compromise of 1850
Causes: California applied to become a free state, disrupting the balance of power in Senate between Democrats and Whigs.
People: Henry Clay, Stephen Douglas
Effects: CA was admitted as a free state and in return, a new Fugitive Slave Act was passed to please the South/Democrats. Abolitionists and Free-Soilers disliked the Fugitive Slave Law. Northerners gained control of the Senate, making more Southerners in favor of secession when the Civil War came around. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin"
Causes: Stowe, an active abolitionist, wrote "Uncle Tom's Cabin" as a response to the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850.
People: Harriet Beecher Stowe
Effects: Stowe's book became hugely influential in the North, where many people began to see slaveowners as cruel. Southerners loathed the novel's portrayal of slavery and how it fueled the abolition movement. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Causes: Douglas wanted to build a transcontinental railroad + promote western settlement. He proposed that the Kansas territory be split into 2 and that the citizens in each would vote on whether the state would be free or slave (popular sovereignty).
People: Stephen Douglas
Effects: The Kansas-Nebraska Act invalidated the Missouri Compromise, which forbade slavery in the North. It also led to the Republican Party & fighting between proslavery and antislavery forces in "Bleeding Kansas." -
"Bleeding Kansas"
Causes: The Kansas-Nebraska Act established popular sovereignty in the new territories.
People: Stephen Douglas, President Pierce
Effects: Proslavery and anti-slavery forces flooded into Kansas and began fighting over whether Kansas would be a slave or free state. Charles Sumner was nearly killed by a Southern Democrat on the Senate floor. The Democratic party grew more divided in the North and South, leading to the formation of the Republican Party. -
Convention of Kanagawa with Japan
Causes: Success in China (Treaty of Wanghia) led to the US wanting to open trade with Japan. President Millard Fillmore sent Commodore Perry to Japan, which had been going through an era of isolation prior.
People: Commodore Matthew C. Perry, President Millard Fillmore
Effects: Perry threatened Japan until they agreed to free trade and friendly relations. The treaty was another example of US imperialism in Asia and ended Japan's isolation from the world. -
Ostend Manifesto
Causes: Southerners wanted to extend the US (plus power of Democrats and slavery) into Cuba, which still belonged to Spain. President Pierce sent diplomats to Belgium to secretly try and buy Cuba from Spain.
People: President Franklin Pierce, Southern Expansionists
Effects: The Manifesto was leaked to the press and Northern antislavery officials in Congress were angry since they saw this as Pierce and southerners trying to spread slavery. Pierce ended up abandoning the Manifesto. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Causes: Slave Dred Scott sued for freedom.
People: Dred Scott, Supreme Court, Chief Justice Taney
Effects: The S.C ruled that African-Americans were not allowed to sue in court since they were never intended to be citizens and that Congress did not have the power to outlaw slavery in ANY territory. Therefore, the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. Northern Republicans were outraged because slavery in the west was now practically allowed to spread. This decision led to the Civil War. -
Abraham Lincoln becomes President
Causes: Republicans nominated Abraham Lincoln to go up against the Democrat candidates (Douglas, Breckinridge).
People: President Lincoln
Effects: When Lincoln won, South Carolina and 6 other southern states seceded from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, since now Republicans controlled all 3 branches of the government. This was the start of the US Civil War, since Lincoln decided against compromise (Crittenden Compromise) and instead chose war. -
Emancipation Proclamation (in effect 1863)
Causes: Lincoln proposed the Proclamation as a way to convince the rebelling states to rejoin the Union and end the Civil War, and also to prevent Britain from supporting the South ("King Cotton").
People: Abraham Lincoln
Effects: The South, who had been winning the war so far, did not rejoin the Union so all slaves in the rebelling states were declared free by the Union when the Proclamation went into effect 4 months later. Many African-Americans joined the Union Army. -
Battle of Gettysburg
Causes: The South under General Lee realized that they would soon lose the war due to declining supplies and soldiers, so the only solution was to try and invade the North.
People: General Robert E. Lee, Union General Meade
Effects: Confederates failed to invade DC. The battle was a huge turning point in the Civil War since it became clear the South could not win. The Union's victory led to Lincoln's Gettysburg Address which declared slavery to be officially over. -
Gettysburg Address
Causes: The Confederacy failed to invade DC and the war turned in favor of the Union. Lincoln gave a short speech at the Gettysburg Cemetary in honor of the fallen Union soldiers.
People: Abraham Lincoln
Effects: Lincoln declared that there would be a "new birth of freedom" in the US, meaning that slavery could not continue even once the North + South were reunited. And true to his words, slavery was officially over with the passage of the 13th Amendment after the war. -
Freedmen's Bureau (1865-1872)
Causes: Congress created the Freedmen's Bureau to provide food, shelter, and medical aid to freed slaves and people made poor by the war.
People: General Oliver O. Howard, President Johnson
Effects: The Bureau tried to resettle freedblacks on confiscated Southern land, but Johnson later pardoned and gave Confederates their land back. The Bureau did establish nearly 3000 schools for free blacks and taught about 20,000 blacks how to read. -
Civil War (1861-1865) ends, beginning of Reconstruction Era and Industrial Revolution
Causes: The Union won because of industrialization, a larger population (immigrants and African-Americans) and better leadership under Lincoln in the North.
People: President Lincoln, Union General Grant, Confederate General Lee
Effects: Slavery ended with the adoption of the 13th amendment. Reconstruction Era began to reunite the North and the South and to give African-Americans more rights. The war cost the US thousands of lives and $15 billion. South's economy and environment was destroyed. -
Black Codes passed in Southern states
Causes: Southern state legislatures began passing Black Codes to restrict the rights of newly freed African-Americans.
People: President Johnson, Southern governments, freed blacks
Effects: Black Codes forbade blacks from from renting/buying land, forcing them into contract-labor systems ("a new form of slavery"), and forbade them from testifying against whites in court. Republicans in the North were angry at Johnson for allowing this to happen and refused to seat ex-Confederate representatives. -
13th Amendment ratified
Causes: The Emancipation Proclamation, Gettysburg Address & the Union victory in the Civil War brought an end to slavery in the entire US with the passage of the 13th Amendment.
People: Lincoln, Congress, every state
Effects: 4 million slaves were freed, but economic, political, and social oppression continued due to racism, Black Codes, the KKK, sharecropping, segregation (Jim Crow), and much more. -
Ku Klux Klan founded
Causes: With Republicans in control of Southern state governments, white supremacists formed the KKK to violate the rights of and incite violence against freed blacks.
People: Nathaniel Bedford Forrest
Effects: Klansmen burned down freedmen's houses/churches and killed many blacks. In 1870, Congress's Force Acts allowed federal authorities to stop KKK violence and violation of blacks' rights. The KKK gained renewed popularity in the 1960s and unfortunately continues on today. -
The Grange (The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry)
Causes: Farmers were harmed by deflation, international competition (leading to lower prices), debt, droughts, floods, taxes, freight rates, etc.
People: Oliver H. Kelly
Effects: The Grange brought 800,000 farmers (by 1875) together in social events, set up cooperatively owned stores/warehouses, and even went into politics by helping pass Granger Laws to regulate railway rates & storage fees, though most were soon reversed. -
14th Amendment ratified
Causes: Even after overriding Johnson's veto of the Civil Rights Act, Radical Republicans feared that the law could be repealed by Democrats and decided to pass a permanent US amendment to the Consitution.
People: Radical Republicans (Stevens, Sumner), President Johnson
Effects: 14th Amendment required the states, not just the US gov, to uphold the rights of all citizens, including blacks, women, and other minorities. -
Knights of Labor
Causes: After the Civil War, labor unions became more popular for workers to unite in the face of a higher cost of living, lack of job security, etc.
People: Terence V. Powderly
Effects: This labor organization was more inclusive of female and black workers, unlike the National Labor Union before it, and focused on social/economic reform like an 8 hour workday and safety/health codes. The K of L's image was ruined after the Haymarket Riot in 1886 and membership dropped. -
Standard Oil Company organized
Causes: Rockefeller dominated the shrinking (due to electricity) oil industry by starting his Standard Oil Company.
People: John D. Rockefeller
Effects: Standard Oil became a monopoly (gained control of an entire industry) with horizontal (small companies make up 1 big company) and vertical (1 company owns raw materials + product) integration with enough power to hugely control both poor workers, the government, & the pro-business court. -
15th Amendment ratified
Causes: After the election of 1868, where Republican Ulysses S. Grant barely managed to win over Democratic opponent Seymour, Republicans realized that in order to keep control in the gov, the voting rights of freedmen needed federal protection.
People: Republicans, President Grant
Effects: 15th Amendment forbade any state from denying a citizen's right to vote based on race (but NOT on gender). Many black voters were still barred from voting due to poll taxes, literacy tests, and intimidation. -
Tweed Scandal
Causes: Tweed was a "political boss," who helped the poor with jobs, homes, citizenship, parks, & etc in return for their votes & money. He robbed NYC of millions and scared the citizens into silence.
People: "Boss" Tweed
Effects: Tweed was busted for his crimes and sent to jail, but the fact that he had had so much power over his followers showed the power of bosses during the Gilded Age. -
Crédit Mobilier Scandal
Causes: Union Pacific Railroad members formed the Crédit Mobilier construction company to secretly make their own profit, and distributed shares of its stock to Republican Congressmen and even the Vice President.
People: Vice President Colfax, President Grant
Effects: The scandal was exposed to the public, who viewed this as proof of the government's corruption during the Gilded Age. Many, such as the Liberal Republicans, wanted an end to Military Reconstruction. -
Panic of 1873
Causes: Rapid growth (of railroads, minues, factories, agriculture) from the Industrial Revolution caused the markets to crash and loans to go unpaid.
People: President Grant
Effects: The depression hit the poor laborers, especially blacks, hard. Debtors and farmers grew more supportive of inflation and the coinage of silver to lower their debts. City workers were also affected by the crash with lower wages and responded with strikes. -
Woman's Christian Temperance Union founded
Causes: The WCTU was founded in order to bring Christian (white) women together to prohibit alcohol and support other reform movements like suffrage.
People: Frances Willard
Effects: The union urged for women's suffrage in order to pass prohibition laws locally, & generally gained more open support than the more "radical" suffragists because they portrayed suffrage as necessary for women to be better mothers. The WCTU eventually became the US's largest women's organization by 1900. -
Civil Rights Act of 1875
Causes: Republicans in Congress passed another law to guarantee African-Americans equal treatment in public places and inclusion in juries.
People: Charles Sumner, President Grant, Radical Republicans
Effects: This law was the last civil rights reform law passed during the Reconstruction Era. The law barely enforced because the era of radical Republicanism was ending alongside Reconstruction. The law was later deemed unconstitutional. -
Whiskey Ring Scandal
Causes: The Whiskey Ring was a group of alcohol distillers who bribed government officials and tax collectors to avoid paying excise-taxes.
People: 238 men, President Grant, Orville Babcock
Effects: The scandal was seen as further proof of the corruption in politics during President Grant's terms and the Reconstruction Era (Gilded Age). It also distracted the public from focusing on reforming the post-war South. -
Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone
Causes: Bell discovered how to trasmit vocal sounds telegraphically.
People: Alexander Graham Bell
Effects: The telephone was the first device ever that allowed people to talk directly to others, even with large distances. It transformed the US socially, allowed for faster trade, & even provided more women with jobs as operators. -
Great Sioux War (1876-1881)
Causes: Conflict between the Sioux and white settlers in the West continued even when the Sioux were herded onto a reservation and promised to be left alone. White settlers often violated reservation agreements, like Colonel Custer who said he found gold on Sioux land.
People: Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Colonel Custer
Effects: The US army brutally crushed the Indians who had defeated Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn, & after the war the US began focusing on forcibly assimilating Indians. -
Compromise of 1877/End of Reconstruction Era
Causes: Republicans and Democrats compromised by allowing Republican Hayes to become president as long as federal troops were pulled out from the South and to build a railroad in the South to help it industrialize.
People: Rutherford Hayes, Samuel Tilden
Effects: By pulling troops out of the South, Democrats quickly regained control over southern state govs and the rights of blacks went unprotected. The end of Reconstruction returned power to Democrats in the South like before the Civil War. -
Farmers' Alliance
Causes: Farmers came together through the Alliance to not only socialize but also in an attempt lessen the power of railroad companies & manufacturers.
People: Charles Macune
Effects: The Alliance spread throughout the South & West and had over 1 million members by 1890, but ignored landless tenant farmers, sharecroppers, farmworkers, & people of color. The People's (Populist) Party emerged from the Alliance to help farmers & combat the corrupt political/economic system during the Gilded Age. -
Great Railroad Strike of 1877
Causes: As a result of the Panic of 1873, railroad companies cut employees' wages by 10% and set off work stoppages, strikes, and violence ending in the deaths of over 100 people.
People:
Effects: The failure of the strike showed the weaknesses with the labor movement, including racial tensions such as between the Irish and the Chinese making it difficult to achieve unity against bosses. It also exposed the rising conflict between the working class and the richer classes above it. -
Thomas Edison invents electric light
Causes: Edison created the electric lightbulb in his workshop, along with other important inventions: the mimeograph, dictaphone, moving picture.
People: Thomas Edison
Effects: Electric light allowed for longer workhours since work could continue past nighttime, thereby speeding up production in factories & boosting the Industrial Revolution. People now had an average of 7 hrs of sleep rather than 9. -
Booker T. Washington becomes head of Tuskegee Institute
Causes: Washington taught black students at Tuskegee to help them "accommodate" to southern white racism by gaining an education, self-respect, & economic independence that would one day lead to equal sociopolitical rights for blacks.
People: Booker T. Washington
Effects: Many black students, such as George Washington Carver, went on to accomplish great things after Tuskegee. W. E. B. Du Bois disliked Washington's "acceptance" of segregation and wished for blacks to gain complete equality now. -
Federal Restrictions on Immigration, Including the Chinese Exclusion Act
Causes: Nativism against non-WASP grew, and even labor unions disliked immigrants for taking lower wages and being hard to unionize.
People: President Chester Author
Effects: Under these laws, criminals, convicts, the insane, the sick, anarchists, foreign workers under contract, and even the Chinese from coming to America. For the first time, the US government had shut their previously open door on immigration for certain groups considered undesireable. -
Civil Rights Cases
Causes: Black Americans went to court in a series of cases over whether segregated facilities violated the Civil Rights Act of 1875 and the 14th Amendment.
People: Supreme Court (Joseph P. Bradley)
Effects: The Supreme Court ruled that the 14th Amendment only protected citizens from the government violating their civil rights, not individuals. The Civil Rights Act was unconstitutional and the decision, paired with the Compromise of 1877 withdrawing Northern troops from the South, hurt blacks. -
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
Causes: The assassination of President Garfield led to the government reforming the spoils system/patronage, where politicians offered money/jobs in exchange for political support.
People: President Chester Arthur
Effects: The Pendleton Act created the Civil Service Commission to oversee examinations for government employees to avoid patronage. Civil-service reform did reign in patronage, but also led to politicians allying themselves with big business leaders and lobbyists. -
Haymarket Square Bombing
Causes: In Chicago, anarchists set off a bomb during a labor demonstration and killed several police officers and civilians.
People: 8 anarchists
Effects: The Knights of Labor were mistakenly associated with the bombing and lost much of their influence and popularity. The 8 hour workday movement and labor movement also suffered as a result. Many skilled workers did move on to join the American Federation of Labor, formed in 1886. -
American Federation of Labor
Causes: After the fall of the Knights of Labor after the Haymarket Riot, skilled workers joined the less-utopian American Federation of Labor.
People: Samuel Gompers
Effects: The Federation aimed for a fairer share of labor, higher wages, lower hours, and better working conditions by using walkouts, boycotts, and strikes and soon grew to have 500,000 members by 1900. The AF of L did not, however, represent unskilled laborers and many women and blacks like the K of L had tried to before. -
Colored Farmers' Alliance
Causes: The Farmers' Alliance excluded blacks from joining, even though blacks were nearly half of the agricultural production in the South, so black farmers started their own alliance.
People: J. J. Shuffer, R.M. Humphrey
Effects: More than 250,000 black farmers joined the Alliance by 1890, but often clashed with the white Farmers' Alliance over strikes and blacks' civil rights. The CFA did support many of the same goals as their white counterparts, like higher prices and lower railroad prices. -
Interstate Commerce Act
Causes: Farmers (in groups like the Grange) wanted state legislatures to regulate the railroad monopoly that put many of them into debt. In the Wabash case, the Supreme Court ruled states couldn't regulate interstate commerce so control would have to come federally.
People: President Cleveland
Effects: The act set up the Interstate Commerce Commission to supervise railroad activities & regulate unethical practices, the 1st attempt to regulate businesses (going against capitalism). -
Dawes Act of 1887
Causes: A movement to reform Indian policy led to the US deciding to assimilate Indians to white culture rather than forcibly contain and kill Indians.
People: Sen. Henry Laurens Dawes, Pres Grover Cleveland
Effects: The act split up reservations and alotted Indian families separate plots of land. If Indians conformed to white culture, they would be granted US citizenship after a few decades. Leftover reservation land was sold to railroads/whites & used to fund schools to "civilize" Indian kids. -
American Protective Association
Causes: Nativism against New Immigrants from south and east Europe, many of whom were Roman Catholics.
People: Henry F. Bowers
Effects: The APA was hugely anti-Catholic and aimed to supress Catholic power in America by going against Catholics running for any type of office & trying to suspend immigration of Catholics. -
1st Pan-American Conference
Causes: Secretary of State Blaine held a conference in DC in hopes of opening Latin American markets to trade & uniting the Americas under the power of the US.
People: James G. Blaine
Effects: The conference established a union between the Americas, but Latin American nations rightfully feared the US would take advantage of them economically & politically through imperialism. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
Causes: The public grew more & more resentful against monopolies since they harmed the lower classes, so the government tried to restrict trusts.
People: John Sherman
Effects: The law was largely ineffective in restricting monopolies because the courts & businesses could find loopholes. In fact, the law was often used against labor unions because they were seen as restricting free trade. This proved how hard it was so truly regulate the strong power of trusts and big business. -
National American Woman Suffrage Association
Causes: The 2 rival women's suffrage organization, the National Woman Suffrage Association and the American Woman Suffrage Association, banded together to give women the vote both by state and with a federal amendment.
People: Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucy Stone
Effects: The NAWSA was the most important organization advocating for women's suffrage in the nation, and played a major role in the passage of the 19th Amendment allowing women to vote in 1920. -
McKinley Tariff
Causes: Republicans in Congress wanted to increase the duties on wool, sugar, etc. and protect US manufacturing.
People: Sen. William McKinley
Effects: The tariff, as usual, harmed poor farmers at the expense of helping rich manufacturers. It led to the rise of the Populist Movement for free-silver by farmers. The tariff also caused Hawaii's economy to crash through the new tariffs on sugar and led to white Hawaiian sugar planters uprising against the Hawaiian queen in favor of US annexation. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
Causes: The US banned the Indian Sun Dance in 1884 to get Indians to give up their tribal religions and assimilate. Instead, the "Ghost Dance" spread in order to resist assimilation under the Dawes Severalty Act.
People: Dakota Sioux, US Cavalry
Effects: The US army killed around 200 Indians, including women and children, and practice of the Ghost Dance dropped hugely out of fear. -
Homestead Strike
Causes: Steelworkers at Carnegie's Homestead steel plant had a strike over pay cuts. Violence broke out until troops came to dissolve the strike & the union.
People: Andrew Carnegie
Effects: The strike gave Populists hope that poor farmers and poor workers could work together against big business & the Populist Party could expand past the west into more of the North. -
Populist (People's) Party
Causes: From the Farmers' Alliance came a political party called the People's Party by and for poor, indebted farmers.
People: Dem. William Jennings Bryan
Effects: The Populist Party supported free coinage of silver (to cause inflation and lower debts), called for government ownership of railroads/telegraphs, a graudated income tax, directly elected US senators, and shorter workdays. Bryan's loss in the 1896 election led to the end of the Populist movement. -
White sugar planters revolt against Hawaiian queen
Causes: The McKinley Tariff harmed Hawaii's economy by making Hawaii pay high tariffs for the sugar trade. The white sugar planter minority in Hawaii wanted the US to annex Hawaii & rebelled with the help of US troops.
People: Queen Liliuokalani, President Cleveland
Effects: Newly elected Cleveland withdrew the treaty for annexation, feeling that the US had wronged the Queen and Hawaiian natives, but Hawaii was later annexed in 1898. -
Panic of 1893
Causes: Overbuilding, overspending, labor & agricultural problems, free-silver debates, & US loans led to the depression of 1893.
People: President Cleveland, JP Morgan
Effects: Thousands of businesses collapsed, many were left poor and unemployed, & the Treasury's gold reserve fell to an all-time low, prompting Cleveland to repeal the Sherman Silver Purchase Act & go to JP Morgan/Wall Street for a huge gold loan. The Populist & Socialist parties grew more popular during the 4 year crisis. -
Wilson-Gorman Tariff
Causes: The Wilson-Gorman Tariff was an attempt to lower the tariffs set by the McKinley tariff earlier, but by the time it had gone through Congress it had barely made any change to McKinley's rates.
People: President Cleveland
Effects: The tariff contained an income tax and kept tariff rates very high (supporting American businesses), and is one of the causes of the Spanish-American War. High import tariffs from the US led to Cuba rebelling against Spain. -
Pullman Strike
Causes: The Depression of 1893 hit the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago hard, causing the company to drop wages & anger their workers into a strike.
People: Eugene V. Debs (American Railway Union), Richard Olney
Effects: President Cleveland dispatched federal troops to crush the Pullman Strike. Organized labor saw this as a sign that employers could crush labor unions by going to the courts, while more broadly, Populists saw the ordeal as proof that the businesses and government were allied -
Atlanta Compromise
Causes: Washington & other black leaders had an unofficial agreement with Southern white leaders that blacks would not fight for equality/end of segregation & racism so long as whites allow blacks education & due process.
People: Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois
Effects: Other black leaders like Du Bois disliked the Compromise and called for African-Americans to fight of full social/political/economic equality rather than allow white supremacy. Du Bois founded the NAACP to do so. -
William McKinley's win in the 1896 Presidential Election
Causes: Democrat & free-silverite W.J. Bryan went up against Republican William McKinley. McKinley was backed by factory owners, who bribed & threatened workers if McKinley lost.
People: William McKinley, William Jennings Bryan,
Effects: The election was a huge success for big business & showed that candidates needed support from the big cities in order to win rather than the declining rural population. Republicans took the White House for 16yrs & voters showed less interest in parties & voting -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Causes: Louisiana passed a law segregating railroad cars, which was protested and brought to court by Homer Plessy.
People: Homer Plessy, Justice Henry Billings Brown
Effects: The Supreme Court ruled that the law did not violate the 14th amendment (which promised equal protection under the law to all citizens) so long as segregated facilities were "separate but equal." This case formally legalized segregation (Jim Crow) and only supported racist ideas that blacks were inferior to whites. -
National Association of Colored Women
Causes: Many women's organizations, including the National American Woman Suffrage Association, excluded non-white women, so black women like Wells created their own associations instead.
People: Ida B. Wells
Effects: The association helped black women get involved in the women's club movement, as well as women's suffrage, anti-lynching, and anti-Jim Crow movements in ways that they were not allowed to in white women organizations. -
Teller Amendment
Causes: McKinley did not want Spain to control Cuba anymore but also didn't want Cuba to be fully independent, since it would leave Cuba open to other imperialistic nations.
People: President McKinley, Congress
Effects: The amendment declared that Cuba would be independent once the US helped defeat Spain. After the war, the US didn't annex Cuba but had much power over the nation with the Platt Amendment. -
Spanish-American War
Causes: With the Industrial Revolution, American businesses began looking internationally for new markets and the government in turn became more interested in imperialism and acquiring colonies. Cuba & the Philipinnes rebelling against Spain gave the US an opportunity to expand so they fought against Spain.
People: President McKinley
Effects: In the Treaty of Paris, the Philippines, Cuba, Puerto Rica, & Guam were ceded to the US. Continued in "Treaty of Paris" -> -
Hawaii annexed
Causes: During the 1870s, Hawaii got involved with the US through the sugar trade. After the McKinley tariff hugely raised tariffs for sugar, Hawaii's economy crashed & white sugar growers for annexation rebelled against the Hawaiian queen who tried to keep Hawaii free.
People: President McKinley, Queen Liliuokalani
Effects: Japan was mad at the US because over 40% of Hawaiians were of Japanese descent. The US gained a new addition to their growing empire. -
Treaty of Paris - 1898
Causes: The US won the Spanish-American War.
People: President McKinley
Effects: Spain ceded Cuba, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to the US. The Philippines was annexed, leading to guerrilla warfare by Filipino nationalists. Despite the Teller Amendment stopping the US from annexing Cuba, US troops stayed in Cuba & controlled Cuban politics to the ire of Cubans. The US had gained an overseas empire. -
Boxer Rebellion in China
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
Panama Canal
Causes:
People: Theodore Roosevelt
Effects: -
Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine
Causes:
People: Theodore Roosevelt
Effects: -
Progressive Era (1890s-1920)
Causes:
People: T. Roosevelt, Ida Tarbell, Jacob Riis, NAWSA
Effects: -
16th Amendment
Causes:
People: President Taft
Effects: -
17th Amendment
Causes:
People: William Jennings Bryan
Effects: -
Clayton Antitrust Act
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
US enters WWI (1917)
Causes:
People: President Wilson
Effects: -
Treaty of Versailles ends World War I (1918)
Causes:
People: President Wilson
Effects: -
1st Red Scare
Causes: Russian Revolution (1917)
People:
Effects: -
Harlem Renaissance
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
18th Amendment
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
Schenck v. United States
Causes: Selective Service Act (1917), Espionage Act (1917), Sedition Act (1918)
People: President Wilson
Effects: -
19th Amendment
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
Emergency Quota Act
Causes:
People: President Harding
Effects: Immigration Act of 1924 -
Beginning of Great Depression (1929-WWII)
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
FDR's New Deal (1933-WWII)
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
Indian Reorganization Act
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
Wagner Act
Causes: NRA
People: FDR, AFL
Effects: -
Social Security Act
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
Beginning of WWII - US Neutrality
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
Smith Act (1940-1957)
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
Pearl Harbor
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
Bracero Program
Causes:
People: FDR
Effects: -
D-Day
Causes:
People: Allies (FDR, Eisenhower, Churchill, Stalin)
Effects: -
Victory in Europe (V-E) Day
Causes:
People:
Effects: -
US Drops the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima
Causes:
People: President Truman
Effects: -
United Nations formed
Causes:
People:
Effects:
