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Period: to
1840's-1930's
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Lexington Burns
Off the coast of Long Island, New York, 139 people lose their lives when the steamship Lexington burns and sinks four miles off the coast. -
First Major Oregon Trail
The trail was 2,170 miles long, beginning in Independence, Missouri,Completing the trail was an arduous test of stamina, taking six months in a covered wagon to cover all those treacherous miles, enduring a lack of food and water, Indian attacks, and sickness. with sixty-nine adults and several children, leave for California from Independence, Missouri. The journey would take until November 4. -
Wanghia Treaty
Cushing was sent by President Tyler to secure the same rights for the United States. Cushing was successful gaining those same rights for the United States. Those rights included gaining extraterritoriality for the United States. The Treaty of Wanghia also set fixed tariffs in the ports and gave Americans the right to buy land for churches and hospitals. this treaty also overturned a Chinese law that forbade foreigners from learning the Chinese language -
James Polk
James Polk served as the 11th U.S. president from 1845 to 1849. During his tenure. Before his presidency, Polk served in the Tennessee legislature and the U.S. Congress; in 1839 he became governor of Tennessee. Polk won the 1844 presidential election, As president, he reduced tariffs, reformed the national banking system and settled a boundary dispute with the British that secured the Oregon Territory for the United States. Polk also led the nation into the Mexican-American War. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is a term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. The phrase was first employed by John L. O’Sullivan in an article on the annexation of Texas published in the July-August 1845 edition of the United States Magazine. -
U.S. and Canada Territory
The United States House of Representatives changes its policy toward sharing the Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom. On June 15, the Oregon Treaty is signed with Great Britain, fixing the boundary of the United States and Canada at the 49th parallel from the Rocky Mountains to the Straits of Juan de Fuca. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was designed to eliminate slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War (1846-48). Soon after the war began. Fearing the addition of a pro-slave territory, Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed his amendment to the bill. Although the measure was blocked in the southern-dominated Senate, it enflamed the growing controversy over slavery. -
Mexican American War
The Mexican-American War marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Entitled the Treaty of Peace Friendship, limits and settlements between United States and the Mexican republic. When Mexico's army fell neootiations were made to end the war. With that the U.S. had to pay 15 million to Mexico and U.S. were given cali, texas, utah, arizona -
California Gold Rush
When gold was discovered Sacramento Valley thousands flocked to California. A total of 2 billion dollars worth of precious metal was extracted -
Underground Railroad
Various routes were lines, stopping places were called stations, those who aided along the way were conductors and their charges were known as packages or freight. The network of routes extended through 14 Northern states and “the promised land” of Canada–beyond the reach of fugitive-slave hunters. Those who assisted slaves to escape were members of the free black community , Northern abolitionists,church leaders -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Acts were a pair of federal laws that allowed for the capture and return of runaway slaves within the territory of the United States. Enacted by Congress in 1793, the first Fugitive Slave Act authorized local governments to seize and return escaped slaves to their owners and imposed penalties on anyone who aided in their flight. -
Compromise of 1850
Divisions over slavery in territory gained in the Mexican-American (1846-48). War were resolved in the Compromise of 1850. It consisted of laws admitting California as a free state, creating Utah and New Mexico territories with the question of slavery in each to be determined by popular sovereignty, settling a Texas-New Mexico boundary dispute in the former’s favor, ending the slave trade in Washington, D.C., and making it easier for southerners to recover fugitive slaves. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a book written Harriet Beecher Stowe which showed the horrors of slavery in the South. This upset many Northers. The book was sold more then the bible at the time. -
Bleeding Kansas
In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraksa Act overturned the Missouri Compromise’s use of latitude as the boundary between slave and free territory and instead, using the principle of popular sovereignty, decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or a slave state. Proslavery and free-state settlers flooded into Kansas to try to influence the decision. Violence soon erupted as both factions fought for control. -
Franklin Pierce
He served as speaker of the state legislature before winning election to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1833. After two terms in the House and one in the Senate, Pierce returned to practicing law, only to emerge in 1852 as the Democratic presidential candidate. During Pierce’s administration (1853-1857), settlement was encouraged in the northwest region of the country, even as sectional tensions increased over the issue of slavery and its extension into new territories. -
Formation of the Republican Party
In Ripon, Wisconsin, former members of the Whig Party meet to establish a new party to oppose the spread of slavery into the western territories. The Whig Party, which was formed in 1834 to oppose the “tyranny” of President Andrew Jackson, had shown itself incapable of coping with the national crisis over slavery. The Republicans rapidly gained supporters in the North, and in 1856 their first presidential candidate, John C. Fremont, won 11 of the 16 Northern states. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S. Congress. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery. The Kansas-Nebraska Act infuriated many in the North who considered the Missouri Compromise to be a long-standing binding agreement. In the pro-slavery South it was strongly supported. -
Dred v. Scott Case
A case a slave, Dred Scott who lived in the free state then was sent back to a slave state. Scott believed his time spent inthese locations entitled him to emancipation. The court said no as they stated that black men were property and he could not claim citizenship. -
Lincoln- Douglas Debate
Stephen A. Douglas and Abraham Lincoln during the 1858 Illinois state election campaign as among the most significant statements in American political history. The issues they discussed were not only of critical importance to the sectional conflict over slavery and states’ rights but also touched deeper questions that would continue to influence political discourse. -
John Brown Harpers Ferry
John Brown attacks Harpers, Ferry Virginia took over gun house -
Forming the Confederacy
During the American Civil War, the Confederate States of America consisted of the governments of 11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860-61, carrying on all the affairs of a separate government and conducting a major war until defeated in the spring of 1865. Convinced that their way of life, based on slavery, was irretrievably threatened by the election of President Abraham Lincoln the seven states of the Deep South seceded from the Union during the following months. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln elected president -
Star of the West
Unarmed merchant ship Star of the West arrives in Charleston harbor to reinforce Fort Sumter. Ship fired upon and retreats, Mississippi secedes from Union -
Jefferson Davis
Jefferson Davis was elected president of the CSA (Confederate States of America) -
Martial Law
Martial law is an extreme and rare measure used to control society during war or periods of civil unrest or chaos. According to the Supreme Court, the term martial law carries no precise meaning. However, most declarations of martial law have some common features. Generally, the institution of martial law contemplates some use of military force. -
Fort Sumter Attack
The CSA attacks fort Sumter which was owned by the North, seen as the event that began the Civil war. -
Additional States Seceed
Virginia secedes joining the confederates and five week later Arkansas, Tennesse and North Carolina follow; Population of CSA to USA was 9:20 million ( including 4 million in the south being slaves) -
Battle of Bull Run
Union defeat, Second Confederate Victory ; Lincolns first realization that this war is going to be long. -
Election of 1861
Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. The electoral split between Northern and Southern Democrats was emblematic of the severe sectional split, particularly over slavery, and in the months following Lincoln’s election seven Southern states, led by South Carolina seceded, setting the stage for the American Civil War -
'Merrimac'
Confederate Ironclad ship ' Merrimac' sinks two wooden Union ships and battles Union Ironclad 'monitor' ; results in a draw -
Shiloh
Surprise attack from the CSA to Grant's unprepared troops; wounded and killed: 13,000 Union , 10,000 Confederates. Bloodiest battle thus far -
Second Battle of Bull Run
Despite the many confederate casualties they still defeated the union causing them to retreat back to Washington -
Antietam
Bloodiest day in US military history; by nightfall 26,000 are dead, injured or wounded. -
Beginning of Emancipation Proclamation
Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves issued by Lincoln -
Fredericksburg
The confederates loss 5,309 dead Union loss 12,635. -
Emancipation Proclamation Issued
Frees slaves in rebel states and allows blacks to enlidt in the military -
Wade-Davis Bill
Unsuccessful attempt by Radical Republicans and others in the U.S. Congress to set Reconstruction policy before the end of the Civil War. The bill, by senators Benjamin F. Wade and Henry W. Davis, provided for the military governors in the seceded states. When a majority of a state’s white citizens swore allegiance to the Union. Each state’s constitution was to be required to abolish slavery, repudiate secession, and disqualify Confederate officials from voting or holding office. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Sand Creek massacre were rooted in the long conflict for control of the Great Plains of eastern Colorado. The Fort Laramie Treaty of 1851 guaranteed ownership of the area north of the Arkansas River to the Nebraska border to the Cheyenne and Arapahoe. However, by the end of the decade, waves of Euro-American miners flooded across the region in search of gold, placing extreme pressure on the resources of the arid plains, tensions between new settlers and Native Americans were rising. -
Sherman's March
From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia. The purpose of this was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause. Sherman’s soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back. -
Freedman's Bureau Established
Provided assistance for emancipated African Americans -
Lee Surrenders
At Appomattox, Virginia, Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders his 28,000 troops to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the American Civil War. Forced to abandon the Confederate capital of Richmond, blocked from joining the surviving Confederate force in North Carolina, and harassed constantly by Union cavalry, Lee had no other option. -
Lincoln Shot
On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. -
13th Amendment
Officially abolishes slavery in America, granted some freedom to African Americans. Since most ex-slaves were poor it created sharecropping where they lived on the land and recieved a share of the crops they harvested. -
Black Codes
Laws passed in southern states with the intent of restricting African American freedoms post civil war, the laws were passed from 1865 to 1866 -
KKK
Under a platform of philosophized white racial superiority, the group employed violence as a means of pushing back Reconstruction and its enfranchisement of African Americans. Former Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest was the KKK’s first grand wizard; in 1869, he unsuccessfully tried to disband it after he grew critical of the Klan’s excessive violence. -
Formation of the KKK
was created in order to scare African Americans and restrict their freedoms through fear. -
Civil Rights Act of 1866
Passed by congress stating that all persons born in the United States were citezens no matter of race, color, or previous condition. -
Memphis Race Riots
Between May 1st and 3rd, White civilians and police kill 46 African Americans and destroy 90 homes, schools and 4 churches in Memphis, Tennessee. -
New Orleans Race Riot
Police kill more than 40 black and white Republicans and injured over 140 in New Orleans, Louisianna. -
Reconstruction Acts
Congress divides former confederacy into five military districts and requires elections where African American men may vote. -
14th Amendment
Garuntees equal protection under the law for African Americans -
First Black Senator
Hiram Revels of mississippi was elected to the senate as the first African American senator -
15th Amendment
Voting allowed for all male citezens regardless of race or previous conditions -
Great Chicago Fire
Burned from October 8 to October 10, 1871, and destroyed thousands of buildings, killed an estimated 300 people and caused an estimated $200 million in damages. Legend has it that a cow kicked over a lantern in a barn and started the fire, but other theories hold that humans or even a meteor might have been responsible. Following the blaze, reconstruction efforts began quickly and spurred great economic development and population growth. -
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 stands as the first global depression brought about by industrial capitalism. While the first of many such market " the effects of the downturn were severe and, in 1873, unexpected. Unlike earlier mercantile capitalism, which is dependent on local markets and periodic shortages of labor or materials, industrial capitalism is controlled by access to venture capital and the productivity of capital investments in stocks, bonds, and large-scale mechanization. -
Civil Rights Act 1875
Enacted on March 1, 1875, the Civil Rights Act affirmed the “equality of all men before the law” and prohibited racial discrimination in public places and facilities such as restaurants and public transportation. The law also made it a crime for anyone to facilitate the denial of such accommodations or services on the basis of colour, race. -
Great Sioux War
In 1874, Custer’s government expedition received orders to determine the potential gold yield in the Black Hills. This action was similarly viewed by the Indians as a violation of a Treaty. gold discoveries there a rush by whites onto the treaty lands. The government decided to force that all of the Sioux lands move to the Dakota reservation by January 31, 1876, or soldiers would be sent to drive them there. The deadline came and went, and the War Department directed the army to go. -
Reconstruction ends
Rutherfurd B. Hayes withdraws troops from the south, protecting the civil rights of African Americans -
Jim Crow Laws
Jim Crow was the name of the racial caste system which operated primarily, but not exclusively in southern and border states, between 1877 and the mid-1960s. Jim Crow was more than a series of rigid anti-black laws. It was a way of life. Under Jim Crow, African Americans were relegated to the status of second class citizens. Jim Crow represented the legitimization of anti-black racism. -
American Federation of Labor
Organized workers into unions -
Dawes Act
Allowed the president to survey Indian tribal lands and split them up into separate allotments. -
End Spanish American war
The Treaty of Paris ended the Spanish-American afterward the U.S. acquired Spanish territories. -
McKinley Assassination
After McKinley's assassination his vice president, Theodore Roosevelt became president -
Roosevelt Corollary
The U.S. may intervene in the affairs of an American republic threatened with seizure by a European country -
Roosevelt Nobel Peace Prize
Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace prize after negotiating peace during the Russo-Japanese war -
Woodrow Wilson Elected
Wilson became president due to a split republican party -
16th Amendment
Allows congress to collect tax money from income without dividing it among states -
Lusitania Sinks
The Lusitania was torpedoed without warning by a German U-boat -
Zimmerman Telegram
Telegram sent by Germany to get Mexico to go to War with the U.S. to distract us from war but was intercepted by Britain -
18th Amendment
Did not prohibit the sale but the consumption, transportation, and handling of alcohol -
Treaty of Versailles
Brought World War I to an end, it reassigned German borders and assigned liability of the war -
19th Amendment
Provided equal voting rights for both men and women -
Henry Ford announces 40 hour work week
Henry Ford's motor company was the first in America to announce a 40 hour work week, in addition to the limit on working hours Ford doubled employees pay. He did this to build loyalty between the company and his workers. -
The Great Crash
The geat crash was caused by a big drop in the stock market which created panic, many people ran to the banks and tried to withdraw all their savings but the banks gave them away as loans, Soon everyone went into unemployment creating the Great Depression
