American History L1

By Coralie93
  • 1452

    Native context

    Ancestors of NA crossed Bering Strait glaciers linking NoA and Asia -- 20.000-30.000 years ago
    About 12.000 years ago sea level rose -- isolation
    By 8.000 BCE NA had spread all the way down southern tip of American continent.
  • Period: 1452 to

    FROM EARLY CONTACTS (1452) TO THE LEGALIZATION OF SEGREGATION (1896)

  • Disaster Roanoke colony

    all killed

  • Jamestown

    saved thanks to tobacco

  • Plymouth

    part of second set (New England)

  • First Thanksgiving

  • Virginia

    part of the first set of colonies (Chesapeake)

  • Massachussetts Bay

    2nd set (New England)

  • Maryland

    part of first set of colonies (Chesapeake)

  • Carolina

    4th set (Southern)

  • New Jersey

    3rd set (Middle Atlantic)

  • Pennsylvania

    gift from Charles ll, 3rd set (Middle Atlantic)

  • Delaware

    3rd set (Middle Atlantic)

  • Georgia

    4th set (southern)
  • Period: to

    French and Indian War

  • France ceded land + Royal Proclamation

    after french and indian war, french defeat - gave land to england + Royal proclamation limited wars with native americans

  • Sugar Act, Currency Act

    1. Sugar Act (1764)
      What: Tax on sugar, molasses, and other imports.
      Purpose: Raise revenue from colonies to pay British war debts.
      Colonial Reaction: Smuggling increased; first major protest cry of "no taxation without representation."
    2. Currency Act (1764)
      What: Banned colonies from printing paper money.
      Purpose: Stabilize British merchants’ payments in gold/silver.
      Colonial Reaction: Deepened economic crisis (cash shortage).

  • Stamp Act

    What: Tax on all printed materials (newspapers, wills, playing cards).
    Purpose: Direct tax to fund British troops in America.
    Colonial Reaction: Sons of Liberty formed; Stamp Act Congress (1765) declared it unconstitutional.
    • Continental congress, "Declaration of Rights and Grievances"

  • Townshend Acts

    What: Taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea.
    Purpose: Pay colonial governors/judges (making them loyal to Britain).
    Colonial Reaction: Boycotts; "Letters from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" protested it.

  • Boston Massacre

  • Tea Act + 'Tea party'

    What: Allowed British East India Company to sell tea tax-free (undercutting colonial merchants).
    Purpose: Bail out the bankrupt Company; assert Parliament’s right to tax.
    Colonial Reaction: Boston Tea Party (Dec. 1773)—342 chests dumped into harbor.

  • Intolerable Acts

    What: Punitive laws after the Tea Party:
    Closed Boston Harbor.
    Banned town meetings.
    Quartering Act (forced housing of troops).
    British officials tried in England, not colonies.
    Purpose: Crush Massachusetts’ rebellion.
    Colonial Reaction: First Continental Congress (1774); united colonies against Britain.

  • Continental Congress

    Where:
    in Philadelphia.
    12 of 13 colonies attended (Georgia abstained). Purpose:
    Coordinate colonial resistance to British oppression.
    Debate whether to seek reconciliation or independence. Major Actions:
    Petition to King George III: Demanded repeal of the Intolerable Acts and affirmed colonial rights.
    Continental Association: Organized a boycott of British goods (non-importation agreements).
    Plan for a Second Congress: Agreed to reconvene in 1775 if demands weren’t met.
  • Period: to

    War for Independance

    triggered by repetitive unfair taxes and no representation in england for colonies

  • Declaration of Independance

  • 'Common Sense' by Thomas Paine

  • Articles of Confederation

    first us constitution

  • Treaty of Paris

  • Philadelphia Convention

    The 1787 Philadelphia Convention drafted the U.S. Constitution to replace the weak Articles of Confederation. Key outcomes: Created 3 branches of government
    Great Compromise: Bicameral legislature
    3/5 Compromise: Counted slaves as partial persons
    Commerce Clause: Federal trade regulation

  • The Northwest Ordinance

    organized the Northwest Territory (Great Lakes region) and set rules for U.S. expansion:
    - Banned slavery in the territory
    - Created a path to statehood (60,000 population threshold)
    - Guaranteed rights like trial by jury and public education
    - Established the township survey system (6x6-mile grids) Became a model for future westward expansion while limiting slavery's spread.

  • Three-Fifths Compromise

    • Counted each enslaved person as 3/5 of a person for state population totals.
    • Boosted Southern political power in Congress Electoral College.
    • Deepened slavery's entrenchment in the Constitution.
  • Period: to

    George Washington

  • Bill of Rights

    The first 10 amendments (Bill of Rights) were ratified on December 15, 1791, after being proposed by Congress in 1789 to address Anti-Federalist concerns.
    Guaranteed freedoms (speech, religion, etc.) and states' rights.
  • Period: to

    John Adams

  • Period: to

    Thomas Jefferson

  • Louisiana Purchase

    Napoleon sold it
  • Period: to

    James Monroe

  • Florida Purchase

    after war in 1812 against Spain

  • Missouri Compromise

    -Admitted Missouri (slave state) and Maine (free state) to preserve balance.
    - Banned slavery north of 36°30' latitude in Louisiana Territory.
    -Temporarily eased North-South tensions but deepened sectional divides over slavery's expansion.

  • Texas & California invites

    T and C invited American settlers and slaves
  • Period: to

    John Q. Adams

  • Mexico tries reverse invites policies

  • Period: to

    Andrew Jackson

  • Indian Removal Act + 'Trail of Tears'

  • Abolition Slavery Britain

  • American Anti-Slavery Society

    American Anti-Slavery Society (1833–1870)
    Founders: William Lloyd Garrison, Arthur Lewis Tappan. Goal: Immediate, uncompensated emancipation of enslaved people.
    Methods:
    Published newspapers (The Liberator).
    Sent petitions to Congress.
    Organized lectures (Frederick Douglass was a key speaker). Impact:
    Grew to 250,000+ members by 1840. Split in 1840 over tactics (Garrison’s radicalism vs. political action). Legacy: Paved the way for the 13th Amendment (1865).
  • Period: to

    Texas War Independance

  • Republic of Texas

  • World Anti Slavery Convention

    London

  • 'Manifest Destiny'

    cornered 'by' O'Sullivan; believe colonisation = godly mission

  • Sam Houston president texas agrees join US

    after annexation of texas 1840-44

  • War US/Mexico

    1846-48

  • Abolition Slavery FR + First Woman's Rights Convention

  • Fugitive Slave Act

  • Compromise of 1850

    -Admitted California as a free state.
    Ended slave trade in Washington, D.C.
    -Created stricter Fugitive Slave Act (required Northerners to return escaped slaves).
    -Established popular sovereignty in Utah/New Mexico territories (let settlers vote on slavery).
    -Temporarily delayed civil war but deepened North-South divisions.

  • Kansas Nebraska Act

    -Organized Kansas/Nebraska territories with popular sovereignty (settlers vote on slavery).
    -Repealed the Missouri Compromise (1820), allowing slavery north of 36°30'.
    -Sparked violent clashes ("Bleeding Kansas" 1856-61) between pro/anti-slavery settlers.
    -Strengthened the new Republican Party (founded to oppose slavery's expansion).

  • Dred Scott Decision

    Black ppl are not citizens, slaves are property, missouri compromise considered as unconstitutional.

  • John Brown's failed slave rebellion

    1858-9

  • South Carolina secedes

    then followed by Florida, Mississipi, Alabama, Louisiana, Texas and Georgia
    The president of the Confederate States of America (1861–1865) was Jefferson Davis.

  • Lincoln Speech NYC

    against slavery

  • Kansas enters union as free state

  • Period: to

    Abraham Lincoln

  • Attack Fort Sumter

    by confederate
    start CW

  • Emancipation Proclamation

    -Issued: January 1, 1863, by Lincoln during Civil War.
    -Freed enslaved people in Confederate-held areas (not border states).
    -Impact: Turned war into a fight for freedom, weakened Confederacy, paved way for 13th Amendment.
    -Immediate effect: ~20,000 freed; 3.5M+ liberated by war’s end.
    -Applied only to rebellious states; full abolition came with 13th Amendment (1865).

  • 13th Amendment + Lincol assassinated

    abolishes slavery

  • First Black Codes

    Laws passed by Southern states post-Civil War to restrict freed Black Americans.
    Key Rules:
    -Forced Black laborers into yearly contracts (or arrested for "vagrancy").
    -Banned land ownership and limited jobs to farming/domestic work.
    -Poll taxes/literacy tests to block voting. Purpose: Recreate slavery-like conditions under "legal" guise.
  • Period: to

    Andrew Johnson

  • Civil Rights of 1866

    (over Johnson’s veto).
    Key Provisions:
    Granted citizenship to all born in U.S. (except Native Americans).
    Guaranteed equal rights in contracts, property, and court.
    Impact: Basis for 14th Amendment (1868). First U.S. law to define citizenship/rights federally.

  • Reconstruction Acts

    1867-8
    Passed by Radical Republicans to rebuild the South post-Civil War. Divided South into 5 military districts (Union o
    versight). Required Southern states to:
    -Draft new constitutions.
    -Ratify 14th Amendment (equal rights).
    -Grant Black men voting rights. Led to Black political participation (e.g., 16 Black congressmen by 1877).

  • 14th Amendment

    citizenship + equal protection
  • Period: to

    Ulysse S. Grant

  • 15th Amendment

    black men vote
    (was undermined by poll taxes, literacy tests, and violence (Jim Crow era).

  • Amnesty Act of 1872

    What It Did:
    Pardoned most ex-Confederates, restoring their voting rights.
    Let former Confederate leaders hold office again. Impact:
    Undermined Reconstruction by empowering Southern Democrats.
    Weakened Black political gains.

  • Civil Rights Act of 1875

    Goal: Ban racial discrimination in public places (inns, transport, theaters).
    Loophole: Weak enforcement; overturned by Supreme Court in 1883.
    Legacy: Final Reconstruction-era civil rights law until 1964.

  • End of Reconstruction

    Compromise of 1877 Deal: Settled the disputed 1876 election (Hayes vs. Tilden). Terms:
    Hayes (R) became president.
    Removed federal troops from the South. Impact: Ended Reconstruction, enabled Jim Crow laws and Black voter suppression. Legacy: "Solid South" emerged; civil rights gains reversed for decades.