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Cotton Gin invented
In 1794, U.S.-born inventor Eli Whitney (1765-1825) patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. Also, his invention offered Southern planters a justification to maintain and expand slavery even as a growing number of Americans supported its abolition. -
XYZ Affair
The XYZ Affair occured in 1797 and involved three French ministers who sent a letter asking for a $250,000 bribe before meeting the American delegation in France. President Adams made the letter public (replacing the names of the French ministers with X, Y, and Z). The 'XYZ affair' was extremely serious and brought the United States to the brink of all-out war with France. The Treaty of Mortefontaine and the end of the Franco-American alliance that had been signed in 1778 ended the XYZ Affair. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was a massive western region of North America, consisting of 828,000 square miles, that was sold by France (Napoleon) to the US for 15 million dollars, about 4 cents per acre. The lands extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains between the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian border. It was also the cheapest land payment(per square mile). -
Adams-Onis Treaty
The Adams Onis Treaty (aka the Florida Treaty and the Transcontinental Treaty) was an agreement signed on February 22, 1819 between the United States and Spain that gave Florida to the U.S. and set out a boundary between the United States and New Spain (now Mexico). The Adams Onis Treaty is named after the men who negotiated the agreement: John Quincy Adams, Secretary of State of the United States, and Don Luis de Onís (1762–1827), the Spanish minister in America. -
Missouri Compromise
Agreement put forward by Henry Clay that allowed Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine to enter the Union as a free state. The Compromise also drew an imaginary line at 36 degrees 30 minutes north latitude, dividing the new Louisiana Territory into two areas, one north and one south. All of the Louisiana Territory north of this line was free territory, meaning that any territories that became states from this area would enable African-Americans to be free. -
Monroe Doctrine
Proclamation in 1823 by President James Monroe. It warned European nations not to get involved in political matters in Central and South America. The Doctrine was intended to show that the United States was the only country that could influence such political matters. Later, several countries in South American had recently undergone revolutions against their European colonial owners and ended up with republican governments. -
Indian Removal Act
Was An Act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the states or territories, and for their removal west of the river Mississippi. This law, by Jackson, was by the desire to settle the land but was also due to the discovery of gold. The Act gave the government the power to force any Native Americans, living in the east of the country, to territory that was west of the Mississippi River. This led to the forced migration of 60,000, including the Trail of Tears. -
The Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a 13 day siege at a mission in San Antonio that was fought between February 23, 1836 – March 6, 1836 by Mexican forces of about 4000, under President General Santa Anna, against a handful of 180 American rebels fighting for Texan independence from Mexico. The battle was won by the Mexicans but the 13 days gave General Sam Houston time to build and develop his Texan Army at San Jacinto who were motivated by the courage shown, against all odds, by their fellow Texans. -
Texas Claims Independence
The Texas Revolution, aka the Texas War of Independence, was the military conflict between the government of Mexico, led by General Santa Anna, and Texas colonists. The Texas Revolution began October 2, 1835 and resulted in the establishment of the Republic of Texas after the final battle at Vince's Bridge on April 21, 1836. The Battle of the Alamo was the most famous battle during the Texas Revolution. -
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was when the United States government forced Native Americans to move from their homelands in the Southern United States to Indian Territory in Oklahoma. Peoples from the Cherokee, Muscogee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, and Seminole tribes were marched at gunpoint across hundreds of miles to reservations. The Trail of Tears found its end in Oklahoma. Nearly a fourth of the Cherokee population died along the march. It ended around March of 1839. -
Texas annexed to United States
On March 1, 1845 the United States Congress passed a "Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States" and Texas was subsequently admitted it to the Union as the 28th state. The Texas border dispute with Mexico quickly led to the Mexican-American War during the presidency of James Polk. John Tyler was the 10th American President who served in office from April 4, 1841 to March 4, 1845. One of the important events during his presidency was the Annexation of Texas. -
Mexican-American War
The Mexican American War, lasted just under 2 years ending February 2, 1848. The Mexican American War grew out of unresolved border disputes between the Republic of Texas and Mexico after the Texas Annexation by the United States. The Mexican American War was fought in Texas, New Mexico, California and Central, Northern and Eastern Mexico including Mexico City. Ending with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in which Mexico was forced to sell Alta California and New Mexico to the U.S.A for $15mil. -
Agreement of 49th Parallel
The Oregon Treaty of 1846, also known as the Washington Treaty, was signed between Great Britain and the United States on June 15, 1846, in Washington, D.C. The Oregon Treaty of 1846 finally settled the land dispute between the two nations who had agreed at the Convention of 1818 to a "joint occupation" of Oregon territory.James Polk was the 11th American President who served in office from March 4, 1845 to March 4, 1849. One of the important events during his presidency was the Oregon Treaty. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed on February 2, 1848 by the United States and Mexico at the at Villa de Guadalupe Hidalgo and ended the American Mexican War (1846-1848). In the terms and provisions of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Mexico ceded Upper California and New Mexico to the United States that covered 525,000 square miles for a payment of $15,000,000. -
California becomes a state
California was claimed by the Spanish Empire as part of Alta California in the larger territory of New Spain. Alta California became a part of Mexico in 1821 following its successful war for independence, but would later be ceded to the United States in 1848 after the Mexican-American War. In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a law written by Stephen A. Douglas and passed by Congress on May 30, 1854 that divided the territory west of the states of Missouri and Iowa and the territory of Minnesota into two new territories that were named Kansas and Nebraska. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was another compromise, based on the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, that contravened the 1820 Missouri compromise and allowed settlers to decide whether or not to have slavery. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is the purchase of about 30,000 square miles of land in present-day Arizona and New Mexico which was bought by the United States from Mexico for $10 million dollars. The Gadsden Purchase followed the land purchases agreed in the 1848 Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. It was negotiated on December 30, 1853 by James Gadsden, the U.S. Minister to Mexico.. The land bought in the Gadsden Purchase provided a viable route for a southern transcontinental railroad.
