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Mohawk leader establishes the Iroquois Confederacy. The Iroquois Confederacy is the decentralized political and diplomatic organization that emerged in response to European colonization. The organization was represented by 5 Indian nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca.
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Native Americans told oral tradition stories about animals, how they were created, etc. The Sky Tree was a story about how the land was created on earth.
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William Bradforth writes the book Of Plymouth Plantation. The book is considered the complete authority for the story of the Pilgrims and the early years of the Colony they founded.
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When the Puritans landed at Plymouth, the Indians built a strong relationship with them. The new settlers almost wiped out the whole population giving the Indians unknown diseases.
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Anne Bradstreet published The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America. It was Bradstreet's only work published in her lifetime. This was a book of different poetry.
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Mary Rowlandson is taken into captivity and is inspired to write a book about it. The book was titled, The Sovereignty and Goodness of God: Being a Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. It was widely read and went through four printings quickly. Some consider it the first unofficial "best seller".
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Slavery exisitied in all of the colonies in 1690. Many of the slaves were captured from Africa and put into slavery. They were free labor for plantation owners in the Unitied States.
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The Salem witch trials were a series of trails accusing people of being witches and wizards. 25 people died in the process. Most were hung, but some were killed in other horrible ways.
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President Thomas Jefferson makes the Louisiana Purchase from France. The Louisiana territory encompassed all or part of 15 present U.S. states This is considered the greatest real estate deal in history, as the United States only paid $15M dollars. They paid the equivelent of 3 cents per acre.
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The Lewis and Clark expedition starts to map out the western lands of America. Thanks to Lewis and Clark, America expanded past the Mississippi and into the west.
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The Webster dictonary was published. It was written by Noah Webster. He introduced features such as American spellings and included technical terms from the arts and sciences rather than confining his dictionary to literary words.
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The Scarlet Letter was written by Nathaniel Hawthore. This was a very popular book and still is today. It was also turned into a movie. The book is about a women who commits adultry, and it explores themes such as legalism, sin, and guilt.
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Henry James published his book Portrait of a Lady. This is one of James most popular novels. It is about a young women who inherits a large sum of money. The book cover many themes such as personal freedom, responsibility, and betrayal.
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The Brooklyn Bridge is opened in New York City, New York. The bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. It connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. It one of the most famous bridges in the world.
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Mark Twain wrote the book The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in 1884. This was around the start of the realism age of writing. This book is often named among the Great American Novels. The book is written throughout in vernacular English, characterized by local color regionalism.
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The Wright brothers create the first airplane and fly for the first time. Although they were not the first to build and fly experimental aircraft, the Wright brothers were the first to invent aircraft controls that made fixed-wing powered flight possible. The are considered the "fathers" of American Aviation.
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Carl Sandburg publishes Chicago Poems, a collection of poems. The poems are about the City of Chicago. Sandburg uses plain-speaking free verse style.
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The Great Gatsby was a book written by F. Scott Key Fitzgerald. It is a book still popular today and has been made into a movie several times. The Great Gatsby explores themes of decadence, idealism, resistance to change, social upheaval, and excess. The novel has been described as a cautionary tale regarding the American Dream.
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Avaitor Amelia Earhart disappears while flying around the world. She was never found. Earhart was the first female pilot to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. Fascination with her life, career and disappearance continues to this day.
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The first commerical television broadcast in America happens on this date. Up until this point people got their news and entertainment from print media or radio. Television opened up a whole new industry that continues to dominate the world today.
