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Period: 30,000 BCE to
Beginnings to Exploration
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1600 BCE
Mesoamerican Olmec Ball Game
The Olmec's enjoyed playing a ball game as forms of entertainment. The ball was made of pure rubber often weighing around 10 lbs. The main rules of the Olmec ball game were to hit the ball with one’s hip(s) through a sideways hoop. Because ball courts made of stone have been found the existence of this game as a form of entertainment is irrefutable. Because this game and many other cultural events, the Olmec’s have been regarded as the first Mesoamerican advanced civilization throughout history. -
100 BCE
Adobe Houses of The Puebloan Tribe
The Puebloan (and Anasazis) tribes of modern day New Mexico made their houses out of adobe bricks, which were basically Southwest mud blocks. The houses were simple yet effective in the harsh desserts of the Southwest. Some houses were up to five stories tall because of the great support they had. There are houses that were even built inside caves and indentures to protect from the scorching sun. The roofs of each home served as terrace meaning people could easily walk and socialize atop houses. -
476
Catholic Church of the Dark Ages
Thanks to Emperor Constantine, Christianity was legalized and forced onto the whole Roman Empire. Thus, after the fall of the enormous Empire, the only common institution across Europe was the Catholic Church. Whenever the fragmented states looked for order, the Church took over and began taxing the public, later evolving into a very wealthy autonomous entity that was able to preserve languages (Latin) and traditions. The people became too attached to the church, who often misused all the power. -
1050
Pyramids of the Mound People of St. Louis
The Cahokia Mound site was the place of large mound hills in modern-day Eastern St. Louis. These mounds were huge often times being over 1,000 feet long and 800 feet wide. They were made by the Cahokia tribe, one of the various tribes of the Mississippi, with soil and clay. The pyramids served as ritual and religious centers or sometimes even as defense from neighboring tribes. Many times, the pyramids were exclusive to only the highest of classes of men in the Mississippian-region caste systems -
1347
Economy of the Black Death
The Black Plague took the lives of almost one third of Europeans as it was extremely contagious and very easy to spread. During the years that it ravaged the continent, various employers began to see a decrease in labor and laborers and so, those that weren’t infected, sick, or dying began to demand higher wages. The feudalism system began to crack down as Lords didn’t have as much control over the workers anymore. The economy during the Black Plague was bad and there was lack of many resources. -
1440
The Printing Press during the Renaissance
Although the printing press was not originally made in Europe, rather in China, the German man Johannes Gutenberg created the modern European printing press in 1440. This aided in the creation of books that had been present but had to be rewritten and copied by hand for thousands of years. Now books and literature were easy to mass produce and this would later be seen having effects on literacy. The effects were effective as many people could now be educated in the natural sciences of the world. -
1492
Sugar in the Caribbean Colonies
The Caribbean isles/ islands were first found by Columbus in 1492 and the Spaniards quickly saw that the temperature and climate of the region were comparable to that of the Canary Islands off the coast of West Africa, which the Spanish also controlled. Thus they began to grow and harvest sugar on the Caribbean islands, especially the island of Hispaniola. With the death of millions of Natives, the Spanish imported lots of African slaves to the lucrative and wealthy business of sugar cropping. -
Aug 3, 1492
Diseases of the Columbian Exchange
When Columbus landed in the Caribbean, he brought with his men, thousands of different types of bacteria that the Natives had never been predisposed to. Their Native's immune systems had never fought anything like this ever and thus when the two parties made contact, their weaker systems, were easily defeated. The Spanish would be known to bring over diseases like smallpox, measles, influenza, the Bubonic plagues, and even tuberculosis. This resulted in the death of millions of Native Americans. -
Jun 7, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas of the Exploration Era
The well known exploration of the Western New Worlds, prompted frequent arguing over land ownership by the European powers. That is why in the year 1494, only two year's after Columbus sailed to the Caribbean, the Pope of the Catholic church, divided the lands ownership by stating that anything to the West of the division would be granted for Spain and anything East of the line would be for Portugal. Spain clearly acquired much more land, as Portugal could only control most of modern-day Brazil. -
May 10, 1534
The French Relationship with Natives of New France
Although the Colonial Spanish and English had bad relationships with the Natives of the America’s as they would murder and steal Natives, the French had quite the opposite. The French explorers weren’t intent on taking land away from the Natives in the Canadian region but rather having a stable trading-partnership for the exchange of furs in return for European various amounts of horses, weapons and other materials. The French also began to learn the language of the Natives which made for easier -
Period: to
English Colonial Societies
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Colony of Virginia of the Chesapeake Colonies
The Colony of Virginia was first owned by the Virginia Company as a joint-stock agreement (the land would be purchased by a company) but later the charter was given to the Crown (the Monarchical ownership that was also not a populist entity). The colony would become one of the first to start an economy with an emphasis on agriculture, especially tobacco and cotton. The business grew excessively and with this the system of importation of slaves from Africa became an important part of the colony. -
New Netherland and New Amsterdam
The first Dutch settlement was around the Southern part of the Delaware River but later moved their city to modern-day Manhattan Island because of the insects that lived near the Delaware River. The Dutch weren’t intent, like the French, on the stealing of land or killing of Natives, but more just to trade. They established cities like New Amsterdam, Staten Island, and others on the coast of Manhattan to establish more trading. Thus the original colonizers of New York City were Dutch not English -
Lifestyle and Diet of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England
Unlike the Colonies of Virginia, the Massachusetts Bay Colony had a very simple and stable lifestyle meant for families. The center of every town was a church and there several schools around where education was mandatory. Couples could only live together if they were married and corporal punishment was used as a last resort. Food was simple and consisted of mainly grains and fish that was caught in the bay or nearby rivers. These people would even live up to their 1960s and kept history intact. -
Puritans of the New England Colonies
The Puritans, seeking to reform the Protestant Religion, especially that of England sought new lands in North America and so they traveled across the ocean to the Massachusetts Bay Colony. These people believed in predestination just like the Calvinists of Europe but believed that through good works, they could prepare others to be saved. They also focused a lot of their attention to church and this can be seen through their infrastructure, having the church in the center of towns and lifestyle. -
Roger Williams of Rhode Island
Roger Williams of the Massachusetts Bay Colony was expelled because he was too liberal in his religious views, which were important to the Puritans. He began to settle in modern Rhode Island and claimed the land for everyone, especially, the religiously persecuted. No one was judged for their religious affiliations and other dissenters like John Clarke and Anne Hutchinson all agreed to live on the land. They received a charter for the land and were able to keep Rhode Island religiously tolerant. -
New York City of the Proprietary Colonies
As the English grew their land and the proprietary colonies (like that one in Virginia) expanded, the English realized there was still one part of New York that was not conquered – it was New Amsterdam. Thus the English, under the leadership of the Duke of York, attacked Stuyvesant, the Dutch leader and took his land. The Dutch were able to stay and continue trade, but the city was now New York City as a proprietary colony. This would aid the English to kick out any competition in the Americas. -
Slave Rebellions
Many slave owners of the South would fear constant slave rebellions as slaves would be treated unfairly, prompting attacks. Especially after Bacon's Rebellion of Indentured Servants the white colonial men knew their system was not at all secure. Many uprisings happened in Virginia as it was one of the states with the most slaves in total. At one point, it was estimated the population of the whites was way lower than the populations of black slaves. The rebellions would last until the Civil War. -
Salutary Neglect of Virtual Representation
The Colonists craved salutary neglect and this was to be known as the way that the British would regard the colonies, that technically were under British rule, yet had their own laws and customs, which the British didn't care too much to change. The central country would not spend too much time, effort, or money into solving crises in the colonies as they were not the priority. Thus when the British government began to introduce taxing laws like the Navigation Acts, the Colonists were not happy. -
Upper South Slavery
Although slavery was common in the Southern part of the Colonies, starting around Virginia, there was still very different slave treatment in the parts of the South. The Upper Southern slavery was a more modern style of slavery that was less harsh on the actual slave. Originally, indentured slaves worked in the Upper South until they revolted and Black slavery took over. The slaves would be divided more frequently to suppress rebellions and to lose the African culture with them once and for all. -
Period: to
Colonial America
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John Edwards of the Great Awakening
John Edwards was a leading priest during the Great Awakening in Colonial America. He would go out into the streets to profess the word of God and people would really listen. So many people listened that he continued to give large sermons speaking on issues like being a sinner in the New World or how although there was a new world, God was still the same. Edwards believed God was angry and ready to unleash his wrath on the colonies for thier sinner-like ways that to him potentially could changed. -
Benjamin Franklin of the Enlightenment Period
Although a man that is known for his incredible discourses in early American politics, Benjamin was far more than just that. He was first a scientist and enlightened thinker in the mid-1770's. He was known to not be too religious, which at the time was almost a crime. Instead, he was a Deist, a man that believes God does not intervene in human problems. He would go on to propose well thought out plans for science, and history. Franklin would be one of the writers of the local chronical for news. -
South Colonial Economy
The South's colonial economy was very consistent until the Civil War. The main source of money was the hundreds of thousands of cash crops all over the South in parts like Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia. Unlike the North that had big cities with lots of diverse jobs and businesses, the South was very good at growing, cropping and selling their cotton, tobacco, and indigo. The sale of slaves was also very prominent in the South; many men would pay several dollars for slaves. -
Period: to
The Revolutionary War
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Treaty of Paris of the Seven-Years War
The Seven-Years War was that of British soldiers fought Native Americans that sided with the French prior to the Revolutionary Acts. The war ceased after 7 years, hence the name yet no one side won. The British government wanted the war to end as millions of dollars were being spent on it with no prevail. Thus the Treaty of Paris of 1763 was signed to end the war on both sides. Great Britain would give the French their islands in the Caribbean while the French gave lands East of the Mississippi. -
Sugar Act
After the Seven-Years War, the British government was in debt after the years of pointless fight. It needed some quick revenue and since there wasn't really a motion to tax its own British citizens, they decided to tax the American Colonists on their 'luxury' products which included Caribbean sugar that was very profitable and useful. The people of the Colonies were very upset when this law was enacted and even help petitions with lawyers traveling to Britain to petition for a repeal of the act. -
Boston Massacre
As tensions were high after several Acts being bestowed on the Colonists without their approval, it was no surprise that the Colonists would lash out. Soldiers, Redcoats, of Britain, were to monitor the streets of Colonial America, but one day the Colonists harassed the soldiers and even threw snowballs. A soldier fell and called for reinforcements and so did the Colonists. Fighting broke loose in the streets and the armed soldiers did shoot and kill five colonists including a black former slave -
Coercive Acts
After the dumping of a ton of British imported tea into the sea, the British would become angry at the Colonists and would pass the Coercive Acts or as the Colonists called them, the Intolerable Acts. These laws would state that the port of Boston would be closed, the Massachusetts Colonial Charter would be revoked, British troops were to be quartered by Colonists in the Americas and that British soldiers could not be tried in America. The Colonists hated these laws and would go to war for them. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was the illegal dumping of tea imported from Great Britain into the Boston Harbor by drunk Sons of Liberty (a group of males calling for an end to British Rule in America). They dumped 340 chests of East India Tea into the harbor as a sign of rebellion against the Tea Act of the same year. The tax was meant to help the tea company grow to profit British rulers, and in turn, harm the economic status of Americans. The British became very angry and passed the Intolerable Acts. -
First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was the very first meeting where delegates from every single one of the 13 British Colonies met in Philadelphia to speak on the events that had been occurring with the British revival of governance in Americas. They met after the passing of the Coercive Acts as rulers of each colony believed these laws were too drastic and forced upon the people without consent. The actions that the Congress chose to do was create a boycott on British goods and send a peace letter. -
Olive Branch Petition
The Olive Branch Petition was Colonial America's final attempt to reconcile with the Great British government. It was written and sent out during the First Continental Congress. The Colonists expressed their apologies for the revolts as long as the British were to let go of the tariffs and acts that would put the Colonies in distress such as the Coercive Acts. The Colonists believed they were not wrong for wanting representation in government and seeking to mediate a surreal escalating situation -
American Virtue of Civic Duty
As many of the men and women's participation were the reason that America was freed from Britain, the civilians began to rationalize that their contributions did amount to big things. Thus came the importance of civic duty in the USA. Many members saw that there was no longer a limit to settling past the Appalachian Mountains and so they would be the pioneers of society and American law in the new lands as well as growing importance of voting for all male voters regardless of property ownership. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written after the rejection of the Intolerable and other taxes Acts, the Olive Branch Petition, the Battle of Lexington and Concord, and the Prohibitory Acts in Britain. The document, written by Thomas Jefferson, was a grievance letter against the British and stated that the Colonies declared themselves independent yet united from British rule. The Declaration was signed on the fourth of July and thus that day became the national American day of Independence. -
Period: to
The Constitution
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Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton was the first Treasury of State and worked hard to establish the national bank to have a stable economy with a backbone in government-owned money. Hamilton was referred to as a Federalist, meaning he wanted the central government to have more powers in order to help more people while people like his opponent, Thomas Jefferson, were Democratic-Republicans that wanted more state's rights. One of his greatest contributions was the writing of 51 passages for the Federalist Papers. -
Articles Of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation were written in the Confederation Congress in 1777 immediately during the Revolutionary War against Britain. It did not establish central authority as many states wanted different things for the nation and no one wanted a tyrant like the British King they had just broken up with. It could not force taxation as it would need a high majority of 9/13 states to ratify any bill leading it to be a poor government system and it would depend on the states participation only -
The Virginia Plan
In the few years after the Revolutionary War, the Constitution was beginning to be written and an administrive body was needed to construct laws and order in the nation. The Virginia plan proposed that there should be two legislative bodies, one lower and one upper house that would be elected by the people based on population and the second house would be voted on by the elected representatives. It would also have one executive and one seperate branch of government to constitute a law's legality -
New Jersey Plan
Although Virginia had drafted their plan and was liked by many, the New Jerseyans felt this plan would limit their power exclusively. As they stated, they just wanted to tweak the Articles of Confederation by creating a unicameral legislature that would be comprised of one member per state that way each state has the equal number of votes. Additionally, they wanted the executive to be elected by the Congress and the judiciary branch would be less powerful as they believed it was not important. -
Period: to
The New Republic
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Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was the second time a religious revival movement changed America forever. As the nation was expanding, politics grew dramatic, and the contrast between the North and the South grew more and more, the nation needed something to tie it all together or else it was bound to come undone as a country. Thus the Second Great Awakening brought people to their knees to faith in the Christian religion. The revival was now about social issues and how they tied in with God's plan. -
Whiskey Rebellion
As a new nation, America's government didn't have enough fund to do a lot of works and so when the government began to tax the farmers and men 25% for those that made whiskey as it was a profitable profession. Farmers revolted and 6,000 of them attacked Pittsburg but George Washington led an army against them as he was the President and the farmers quit revolting for fear of the law. This was the United State's first test to the Constitution and it clearly proved the Consitution had enough power -
Washington D.C.as the New Capital
After the Revolutionary War had ended, the capital of the Union in Philadelphia was broken and in need of much repair and the states each had large sums of war debt that needed to be paid off. Alexander Hamilton proposed a bill that stated that the federal government would assume all the debts of the states and in return would approve Washington DC a new city, to become the new capital. This would temporarily stop the power of being centered in the Northern states and the city was in the middle. -
Bank of the United States
The First Bank of the United States was created by Alexander Hamilton soon after America won against the British. He believed that a national bank would serve as a good form of credit so that one day if problems arose, the US would be able to negotiate with other countries as we would not be viewed as poor or resourceless. The Bank would be created only to be argued against Anti-Federalists like Thomas Jefferson that believed the Constitution did not explicitly make a national bank legal at all. -
George Washington's First Cabinet
George Washington, the first president of the United States after the Revolutionary war saw that he had a lot of work to do. He would have to be responsible for creating, mending, and dissolving political ties of foreign nations with America, stabilize the nation's poor economy, helping to solve the issues of war (pertaining to neighboring Louisiana owned by France), and holding America as innocent for waging war on Britain. So he created four cabinet positions to help him try to sort it all out -
Period: to
Age of Jefferson
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Marbury V. Madison
John Adams wrote down his judge proposals the night before James Madison was elected but his secretary did not turn them in on time. James Madison, once in office did not appoint Adams’ judges and Marbury (one of the judges got mad). His case reached the Supreme Court under Judge John Marshall in where he established Judicial Review (to review cases to see if they are constitutional) to be part of the job of Judges of America. -
Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the buying of the middle part of North America. This purchase would double the size of the United States and provide entrance and control of the entire Mississippi River. King Napoleon sold this land to the United States for 3 cents an acre totaling a sum of fifteen million dollars, this was a very good purchase for America but was a hard decision for President Thomas Jefferson as he was against the Central government owning anything but in the end he bought the lands. -
12th Amendment
This amendment was instituted after the divisive and controversial election of 1800 in which Thomas Jefferson won. The old way in which people chose their president and vice president would result in ties or other conflicts. Thus the 12 amendment replaced the old system and set up the modern system of electoral college votes in where a candidate could win the majority of the popular vote but if the electoral college voted in the majority of any other candidate, the second person would still win -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
After Jefferson bought all the land of the Louisiana Purchase, he did not know what was in them. He sought help from explorers and he found Lewis and Clark. He tasked them to go on a nationally funded trip to the West, explore the unknown lands, document much as possible, and to come back to announce the discoveries in the newly acquired land. While on their trip, the men almost died of starvation but were aided by an Indian woman named Sacagawea. With her help, the men returned 2.5 years later. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The United States government began to have problems as Britain and France kept fighting in war even after the American Revolutionary war less than 30 years prior. President Thomas Jefferson saw that a European power had begun to tamper and hurt American trade and so he passed the Embargo act in 1807 that prohibited any American to trade in foreign placed, that included Britain and France. This was meant to hurt European powers by taking resources but it proved unsuccessful and the embargo ended. -
Changes in Voting in the Age of the Common Man
]After winning the war of 1812, and being projected into the public atmosphere, General Andrew Jackson of the Carolinas demonstrated to all of growing America that anyone could create change if that's what they wanted. In 1802, Maryland dropped it's the requirement for men to own land in order to vote. In the next 50 years, suffrage across America would grow for the average white male, regardless of property and even Benjamin Franklin would speak in Washington D.C. to change the laws in America. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny, created by Americans on the Eastern Coast, was the believed assumption that a diving power, being God for the Christians, had promised them control of the whole continent. This would mean that America was destined to expand from the West Coast to California on the East Coast. This belief was liked and approved by all the Americans so much that they would charge into battles with foreign entities and destroy relations with Natives to simply take over lands that were already used -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 started after what America saw as signs of aggression by the British government. The Brits were mad that the United States took Loyalists land and did not give them back after the Revolutionary War. As a result, the British government took American sailors for impressment (involuntary servitude in warfare). America retaliated by war in the Canadian provinces owned by Great Britain and the war was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1815 by the British and US government -
Lowell Mills Mass Production
Francis Lowell of the New England region wanted to make an efficient production system like in England, so he memorized the machinery of the system across the seas and constructed a better one in America. He began to hire young women to work his mills and would provide a wage. The production mills would use running water (rivers) to produce power which would quicken the production of textiles. The industrial fast production and women labor were both revolutionary and new during this time period. -
Period: to
The American Industrial Revolution
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McCulloch v. Maryland
McCulloch was a male cashier from the Maryland that worked for the state bank. The bank was being taxed by its state and McCulloch disagreed with the tax and didn't want to pay so he was sued by the state of Maryland so he appealed to the Supreme Court. The federal court said that because the state of Maryland ratified a constitution that stated federal government has the power to tax and thus implied needs a place to handle money, the bank of Maryland could not be taxed as it was federal money. -
Period: to
Cultural Changes
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Missouri Compromise
Whenever the issue of slavery and representation reached the newly acquired Western land, Congress passed a law that would provide a temporary solution. Missouri would be admitted to the country as a slave state if Maine were to come in as a free-soil state. This law to decide on how states were going to be admitted to the US Union in the future. If a state was above the latitude line of 36°30°, it would be admitted as a free-soil state while a state below the line could enter as a slave state. -
Period: to
Age of Jackson
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Greek Revival
The Greek Revival in the United States lasted for over 30 years in different parts of the nation, eventually ending a couple of years before the Civil War. Americans chose to style themselves after the Greeks in the sense of architecture as the Ancient Greeks were regarded as civilized, democratic and educated - all traits that young America wanted to mimic. The style would have various Greek touches like spiraled pillars and all white marble and examples would include the 2nd Bank of the U.S.A. -
National University
John Quincy Adams won the presidency in 1824 and his plan was to work on the American System. A system in which the government would work on major internal improvements such as education, infrastructure, and political parties. One of his most famous desires was the creation of the National University that would go alongside a National Observatory and other large useful buildings. Quincy Adams wanted a smarter America with more educated men so that the nation would achieve more than it ever did. -
Temperance Movement
As America expanded West and society was advancing, Americans felt it was up to them to fix a major issue in their towns. Alcohol consumption had been around for hundreds of years but in America, it began to be an epidemic. Men and women would abandon, cheat and steal from their families when they were drunk, sometimes causing death. Thus, in the early 19th century, various parts of the nation partnered up to start the Temperance Movement which was the limiting and banning of alcohol in America. -
Changes in Transportation: Railroads
One of the vital parts to the Industrial Revolution was definitely the invention and use of the railroads with steam-powered trains. Because of the railroad, millions of Americans could be more united, which would later cause problems as seclusion had caused the contrast between sections of the nation to be politically different. By 1869, the railroads in America would take on a major project: the Transcontinental Railroad that would connect the West to the East Coast within a week's train ride. -
Penitentiaries
As America was changing with the various social reforms across the country, leaders felt it was also time to reform the criminals. Instead of sending men and women to prison with no intent of future plans, inmates would now enter penitentiaries in where prisoners would be subject to harsh conditions aiming to reform the person and thus improving society. Different states had different degrees of harshness. Some penitentiaries would subject inmates to solitary confinement or even intensive labor. -
German Migration
Although a lot of migrants chose their home to be the gigantic city of New York City full of small apartments and high rent prices, others wanted large plots of farming land. Some Germans would venture out to the Northern Midwest to wide states like modern-day Wisconsin and Michigan. However a lot of Germans also settled in the South of modern-day Texas. Many came for freedoms not granted in Germany including religious tolerance and political freedom and settled resorting to farming and brewing. -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses in which slaves would travel starting in the Southern plantations. The houses were owned by different types of people, including white pro-abolitionists, and these places were where slaves would stay a day or two until they moved into the next house. This system would eventually lead slaves into the Northern parts of the United States where slavery or similar institutions were not legal. Leaders like Harriet Tubman would be vital to the system -
Underground Railroad
The Underground Railroad was a system of safe houses in which slaves would travel starting in the Southern plantations. The houses were owned by different types of people, including white pro-abolitionists, and these places were where slaves would stay a day or two until they moved into the next house. This system would eventually lead slaves into the Northern parts of the United States where slavery or similar institutions were not legal. Leaders like Harriet Tubman would be vital to the system -
Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears is what history refers to as the as the morally-wrong mass Native American removal from their native lands to cramped, small reservations in Oklahoma or elsewhere in the West. As the United States began growing after the years of its Revolution, Florida was a piece of land that was taken from the Spanish Government in 1819 where many Natives lived. Presidents and Congressmen like Jackson wanted to occupy the land and thus eradicated the existence of these Indians on said land. -
Abolitionism
With the movements to try to reform society like the Temperance and the Second Great Awakening, the Abolitionist cause was bound to grow in the 1830s. The Liberator, a weekly newspaper in Boston, would post the tragedies of slavery and the hardships slaves dealt with. The Abolitionist movement would begin to catch momentum, eventually being one of the platforms of which the Republican party advocate for. The Abolitionist movement and support lasted through the Civil War and even the years after. -
Cherokee Nation v. Georgia
Immediately after the Jackson-era Indian Removal Act being signed into action, the Cherokees went to court to try and dispute the case diplomatically. However, the Supreme Court was unable to hear their case, because technically, the Cherokee's are a nation dependent on the USA and thus lacked political jurisdiction to actually have a case under the Supreme Court, meaning that Georgia did have the power to kick them out. The decision was altered 4 years later in the case of Worcester v. Georgia. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Slaves, having been treated badly for plenty of years were tired of the negative lifestyles in which they lived and in 1831, they did something about this. Nat Turner, a minister and slave, instructed a two-day slave rebellion in Virginia which was unsuccessful. However, the Whites became scared of mutinies and other rebellions and thus, tightened their grip on slavery in all parts of the South. Nat Turner had to go to court, was sentenced, and hanged for his rebellion with 56 additional slaves. -
Worcestor v. Georgia
A missionary to the Cherokee Nation, by the name Samuel A. Worcester (along with other members), were to be evicted from the Cherokee Nation for not having a license to be there. Worcester thought this was absurd as the state of Georgia shouldn't be able to regulate the Indians. The SCOTUS ruled that because the Cherokee Nation was autonomous and separate from the United States, it could not be regulated by the state of Georgia, thus, Worcester won the case, and his conviction could be canceled. -
Nullification Crisis
The Nullification Crisis started when the state of South Caroline decided to nullify a federal law that they were not in agreeance with. The law was about tariffs that would go to the central government, however the state did not agree with the law and thus voided the law. However the resolution of the event was that because the Federal government was composed of representatives from state governments, there should be no reason to nullify a law since members from that state voted on it's passing -
First Police Forces of Growing Cities
Because of rapid yet useful industrialization, cities like New York City, Boston, and Richmond, would experience large amounts of urbanization. Thousands of people would begin to live in large cities and as an effect, crime rates also began to rise. To combat this problem, cities began to institute large-scale, full-time publicly owned police forces. These police forces would serve the community in different ways depending on the region, but for the most part, they would keep watch on the city. -
Iron Plow Changes in Agriculture
Originally crafted by John Deere, a blacksmith from Vermont, the steel plow was used when the United States started growing on the Western frontier to lands where the soil wasn't as easy to break, as in the South. The steel plow didn't break like the wood plows that people used before on the Northwestern soil. Crops began to flourish because of the plow in states like Ohio, Illinois, and Indiana. Without this invention, it is not certain how long the states would have to wait to be incorporated. -
Changes in Communication: Telegraph
Samuel Morse of the Northern part of the United States sought better forms of communication and in 1838, the first message through a wire was sent across two miles. Morse created the Morse code and used it for his creation of the telegraph and soon, companies would begin to commercially set up wires across large cities for communication. By 1861, a wire finally connected the Western coasts to the Eastern coasts in Salt Lake City, Utah which would mean the end of the hand-delivered mail services. -
Period: to
Westward Expansion
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William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison was born during the Revolutionary War and became affiliated with politics since he was a child. He would go on to run for political positions like senator and committee chairs. He fought for the War of 1812 and became nationally known as a quitter yet he sought the presidential seat and won in 1840. He did, however, give the longest speech ever in cold, wet atmospheres and caught a cold three weeks later. He ended up dying only having served a mere month. -
James K. Polk
The candidate president of James K Polk ran for president of America in 1844 under 3 main things. He first wanted to annex the state of Texas as it was now free from Mexico but had slaves and a massive problem of debt. Second he wanted to settle the lands of the Oregon Border with the British as they controled part of it . And thirdly, he wanted to settle the Mexican Border on the South which would later turn into the Mexican-American war , which the US would win and take lot of land in the West -
Gringo
The term gringo in modern culture is used to signal a person as being predominately White and from the United States of America. Sometimes this word is used offensively, but most of the time it is not. The word does not derive from the color white in Spanish but rather from a war tune/song called Green Grow the Lilacs that the Americans would sing as they were marching into Mexican territories during the Mexican-American War. The Mexicans thus began to call the white men, Gringos, from the song. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso law would that would have stopped the selling, usage, and legality of slaves in the new lands that Mexico gave to America after the Mexican-American war. The House of Representatives was made up reps based on population and the North had way more people, their number of representatives was much higher, thus the bill was passed and created by Northern majority Abolitionists. However when the bill got to the Senate, the North no longer had an advantage and the bill wasn't passed -
Mormon Migration to Salt Lake Valley
The Mormons were victims of harassment in the North even though they were Christians People would make fun of their practices as they believed in one man's belief that God had spoken to him. They were forced to move and ended up going to Salt Lake Valley Utah as no one had ventured there before. The land was cheap and uncivilized and they took it upon themselves to construct cities under the leadership of Joseph Smith that was still later killed. The city and state still remain very Mormon today -
Zachory Taylor's Election of 1848
The 1848 US presidential candidate, Zachary Taylor, ran a campaign that was immoral and was individualistic. He was very politically pragmatic, not truly being wholly either a Whig or a part of the Free-Soils party. He ended up lying during his campaign. In the South, he would tell voters he had slaves and was pro-slavery while in the North he would bring up the fact that he supported the Wilmot Proviso, where slavery was outlawed in the Mexican acquired states; Taylor solely wanted the voters. -
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Sectionalism
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Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo
The Mexican-American war lasted from 1846 to 1848 in where the people of California and Utah would want to make Mexico leave from the Northern areas of the United States. Americans would include Taylor that would later go on to negotiate the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo that ended the war. It ended the border dispute in Northern Mexico and Southern America, seized over half of the Mexican territories including Nevada, California, and Utah and meant later problems of slavery to come for America. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was held in New York and it lasted for two days with hundreds of Feminist women and men from all the parts of America. The purpose of the convention to discuss the different types of conditions and mistreatments of women during that time period and to advocate for better rights. These women drafted the Declaration of Sentiments as a motion to the American Declaration of Independence and a signal to all the breaking free of the social norm to which women were held to. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a set of 5 laws to compromise with Democrats and Republicans over the issue of slavery in the nation. The five main parts to the Compromise of 1850 were that California would be admitted as a free state, the New Mexico territory will not be divided yet and Utah will in the future decide on slavery, Texas will relinquish its Western lands because of their debts, the slave trade would be illegal in Washington DC, and it would legalize the problematic Fugitive Slave Act. -
Fugitive Slave Act
After the many debates, arguments, and even mini battles between civilians over the issue of slavery, the Fugitive slave act was enacted as part of the Compromise of 1850 in which there would be men that could capture runaway slaves and return them to their owners. If white men would not agree to help out in returning slaves they would be jailed or fined. Additionally, slaves would no longer have a right to trial in court as they have not deemed humans but rather a semi-property of someone else -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was a novel revealing the awful monstrosities that African American slaves had to endure prior to the Civil War. The book spoke on the fact that slaves were obviously frequently mistreated with multiple injuries that resulted in broken limbs, infections, and other medical emergencies. It was written by Southerner that was seen as a traitor once the copies were made. This book horrified the Northerners that didn't think slavery to be that cruel, prompting Abolitionist movements. -
Bleeding Kansas
With the ideal of Manifest Destiny and Western expansion in the minds of many Americans it was no surprise when many would flee into the open West. Many would begin to settle in the Kansas-Nebraska region and thus arose the question of slavery legality in the state. Men from Missouri that were pro-slavery moved into the country to sway the votes in their favor. A Democratic candidate was elected through fraud and thus Kansas became the home of mass acts of violence between civilians over slavery -
Bleeding Kansas
With the ideal of Manifest Destiny and Western expansion in the minds of many Americans it was no surprise when many would flee into the open West. Many would begin to settle in the Kansas-Nebraska region and thus arose the question of slavery legality in the state. Men from Missouri that were pro-slavery moved into the country to sway the votes in their favor. A Democratic candidate was elected through fraud and thus Kansas became the home of mass acts of violence between civilians over slavery -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
Dred Scott was a freed slave that traveled up and down the Mississippi River with his once owner, an army surgeon. However, when the surgeon died, his wife became the owner of the Scotts Family. She did not want Scott to be free and so the man sued for his freedom. However, the Dred Scott v. Sandford case decided that even though Dred Scott resided in the free territory because he was a slave and not a citizen he was not allowed his trail in court, therefore laws could not protect his freedoms. -
Easy Election of Abraham Lincoln
Because the Whig party began to be separated on the issue of slavery, the party fell off and had to be replaced in the 1850's with the Democratic party. However, some free-soil Democrats of the South, as well as a ton of Northern abolitionists and opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska act met and ran as Republican, therefore the same problem that affected the Whigs in the 50's would affect the Democratic party. As a result, the Republicans won their first major election in 1860 with Abraham Lncoln. -
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The Civil War
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Southern Advantages
Just like the North had advantages, so did the South but in different ways. For one, the South was on the defensive side. All they had to do was protect their territory in order for the Confederacy to actually break free from the Union. Secondly, the South was jampacked with better military leaders than the North. Leaders that had fought and won in the Mexican-American's War were on the Confederate’s side like General Robert E. Lee that would go on to be the main general and leader of the South. -
Northern Advantages
The North was bound to win the war in the beginning with it's the various amount so advantages over the South. For starters, the main powerhouse in the North was its factories and large industrial workforce (an example is the Lowell Mill Industrial sites) that could mass produce any clothes, equipment, and food for the soldiers in the war. Secondly, because the North had huge cities like Boston and NYC, they had a large migrant population from which they could extract soldiers for their armies. -
Women during the Civil War
Women during the Civil War did not just wait in their homes as their husbands would go off into war. Instead they were one of the main reasons that the reason that the Union lasted as long as it did fighting the Southern Confederate Army. The Women would stay in their towns and become teachers for children, nurses for the sick in town, store managers, farmers for croplands. Some women would even disguise as boys to fight in the war or help with medical aid in the Red Cross as Clara Barton did. -
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans is regarded as one of the most impressive and important battles of the War of 1812 with Great Britain. The Battle would become the last battle of the war as General Jackson led poor farmer men into war with a powerful nation in New Orleans and won. The British ended up having many casualties even more than the Union did. This act would make Andrew Jackson be promoted as one of the best commanders of the century as his battle reaffirmed that the young nation was not weak -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was declared in the middle of the Civil War as the South proved to be a defining force. This law freed all Southern slaves from their masters and angered the Southerners even more as they were fighting so much and dying even more. This law also changed the prerogative of the war from being about states rights to being about slavery, thus putting outside forces like Britain in a hard situation where they could not help as they also outlawed slavery in their country, -
Carpetbaggers
The South was devasted after their defeat in the Civil War by the Northern Union. General Sherman had literally burned a path of towns and cities on his march to the South. The Northern men saw this problem and decided to profit off of it. They would move to the South were everything was cheaper and lots of people didn't have jobs and offered their products or services at high costs as there was no other producer. The Southerners began to see these men were not really there to help but to profit -
Black Codes
After the Civil War and the passing of the 13th. 14th, and 15th amendments, white ex-confederates were angry with their defeat but even more angry that the black once-slaves were now able to be freed and even allowed to vote as citizens in their country. They were not going to let this go unpunished and created the Black Codes that would last until the Civil Rights era in the 1960s. These laws would diminish the powers of blacks in very specific and technical ways to where they almost were legal -
Sharecropping
The passing of Black Codes was so that blacks could not use their new rights from the amendments by limiting their voice and positions Thus was a new system for the old cash crops was needed. Sharecropping began to be used by making hard so life in the south for blacks that they would need to resort to working for whites once again. This would lend the workers supplies for high prices and would expect exact revenue from the selling of the crops to be returned if not, the cycle would continue. -
Neutral States
As the Civil War began, the middle states were left to choose a side. Although some states allowed slavery, they did not want their land to become an area of warfare and thus pleaded neutral and did not succeed from the union. Abraham Lincoln saw this and chose to not persecute the state but rather let them stay as border states as they could aid the Union in terms of power and easier land access. Their slaves weren't even taken away by the Emancipation Proclamation until the 13th Amendments. -
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The Reconstruction
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Palmito Ranch
This was a battle in Palmito Ranch, Texas in 1865 one month after the surrender of Robert E Lee to General Ulysses S. Grant at the Appatomox Courthouse. This was the last battle fought in the name of the Civil War by Confederate soldiers, but the time difference was because the news didn’t travel as fast. When word got out that Robert E. Lee had surrendered, it would have taken at least a month for Texas to know. Even though the war was over, the Confederates were able to defeat Union soldiers. -
Freedom Amendments
The Freedom Amendments would be the 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments of the United States. These laws were passed after the Civil War to ensure that African Americans were not being treated as slaves. The first amendment abolished slavery of any form in America. The second amendment would allow all men and women that were born on American soil to become citizens of the country. The last of the amendments would allow black men to be legally allowed to vote, which would become lots of problem later -
KKK White Resistance
The Ku Klux Klan arose from the hate of the White Southerners just moments after the Civil War. As the 13th Amendment was passed, the African Americans could no longer be slaves, prompting many Southerners to believe the federal government had let their bought-property to be let go. These men of the KKK would continue to make Black people's lives miserable by committing horrible crimes like lynching on black men, women, and even kids. They would be the mains voting for Black Codes in the South. -
Pardoning of the High-Ranking Officials
After the Civil War, the Confederate soldiers and men were basically illegal, and thus had to change their affiliations to any sign of Confederacy. There were many high ranking officials and many of them knew that their high powers would probably not be given back under Abraham Lincoln and so they moved to different countries like Mexico or Canada. However, when Andrew Johnson took office after Lincoln's death, he controversially pardoned over 12.5 thousand high ranking officers from the South. -
Creation of Parks
In the early 1870s, the national government passed a law that established the first nationally protected lot of land in the West to be named Yellowstone Park. The government even allowed for the Secretary of the Interior to be in charge of them and further parks. Because of this first park, thousands of nationally protected land would be claimed by the park services of each state. The aims of the protected land would be the enjoyment of the citizens of the country and the preservation of nature. -
Compromise of 1877
This came after the Reconstruction efforts of the Union were weakened by Southern power. The South began to pass black codes to limit the powers of black families and were basically halting the Reconstruction Amendments. The federal government saw this and imposed federal soldiers into Southern lands to maintain order and peace. The South hated this and so they struck a deal that the Republican nominee would win the Presidential election of 1876 in exchange of federal soldiers off Southern land.
