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First Permanent English Settlement at Jamestown, Virginia
After realizing that finding gold was not a sustainable way of living, the settlers turned toward agriculture which largely influenced the development of Southern America into an agriculture and slave labor based area. -
English Puritanism
1630-1720 Movement by those who wished to reform the Church of England. Puritans rejected Roman Catholic beliefs and sought to make the English Church "pure". Puritanism would echo throughout American culture in the ideas of self-reliance, moral fortitude, and an emphasis on intellectualism. -
Act of Toleration
The first step toward religious freedom in the US (then colonies); in Maryland, it allowed freedom of worship to Nonconformists who had pledged allegiance. Didn't apply to Catholics, nontrinitarians, and atheists. -
The 1st Great Awakening
1730-1740 A series of emotional religious revivals occurring throughout the colonies and prevalent in New England. Preachers proclaimed a message of personal repentance and faith to avoid hell suggested equality between an authority (God) and a fixed standard (the Bible). -
Republican Motherhood
A 20th-century term for an attitude toward women's roles present in the emerging United States before, during, and after the American Revolution. It centered on the belief that the patriots' daughters should be raised to instill the ideals of republicanism, in order to pass on republican values to the next generation. The "Republican Mother" was considered a custodian of civic virtue. -
Common Sense by Thomas Paine
A pamphlet that called for immediate independence from Britain. Largely influenced by the Enlightenment, it became an immediate sensation as support for the American Revolution increased. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is a list of grievances against the King of England and declared the colonies’ independence from the monarchy. It shaped American politics and society. -
Shay's Rebellion
1786-1787 During a period of economic depression, Daniel Shay led a group of farmers to stop the courts from seizing a farmer's land and enacting debt collection citizens of Boston raised an army and suppressed the rebels. Americans felt pressure to strengthen the government and avoid future violence. -
The First Amendment
Separates church and state; states "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" -
The 2nd Great Awakening
1790-1840 Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. Emphasizing personal salvation, strong nationalism, and the improvement of society through social reform, revivalism included participation by women and African Americans demonstrating the influence and growth of democracy. -
Manifest Destiny
1812-1860 The phrase "manifest destiny" is most often associated with the territorial expansion of the United States from 1812 to 1860. This era, from the end of the War of 1812 to the beginning of the American Civil War, has been called the "age of manifest destiny". It was used to justify western American expansion as it was "God's will". -
The Star-Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key wrote the Star-Spangled Banner which later became the national anthem. It helped start the Era of Good Feelings, a time of strong American nationalism. -
Temperance Movement and Prohibition
1820-1933 Starting in the 1820s, the movement aimed to curb and ultimately prohibit the consumption of alcohol. Many temperance leaders also were Christian leaders. It culminated with the Eighteenth Amendment 1919 which made the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alchol illegal. It failed as it led to increased crime and bootlegging. The Twenty-First Amendment in 1933 repealed the Eighteenth Amendment, effectively ending the Prohibition movement. -
Hudson River School
1820-1830 The Hudson River school was the United States' independent art movement. It was a romantic style of painting that portrayed North American nature and landscapes. It helped to establish the idea of the divinity of nature. -
Waltham-Lowell System
This system of work was present in textile mills, had women stay in dorms, earn money, and pursue an occupation that was not of domestic service, encouraged women to work and become active in politics and society. -
Oberlin College
In 1833, Oberlin College became the first coeducational college in the United States. In 1841, Oberlin awards the first academic degrees to three women. -
Trail of Tears
1838-1839 Worcester v. Georgia was a response to Jackson's Indian Removal Act. Cherokees in Georgia claimed to be a sovereign political entity, Native Americans were supported by the Supreme Court; Andrew Jackson refused to enforce the court's decision. Cherokees were forced to give up lands to the east of the Mississippi and travel to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The migration's effects were as devastating as hunger, disease, and exhaustion killed about 4,000 Cherokee. -
The Underground Railroad
1840-1860 Harriet Tubman (1820-1913) - developed the Underground Railroad as a method to move slaves to free territory in the US and Canada. Tubman led over 300 slaves to freedom. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The site of the first women’s rights convention organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton. Seneca Falls was the first formal meeting to discuss women’s rights exclusively and strengthened the women’s movement in the United States. The convention and the document it produced, the “Declaration of Sentiments,” were covered by newspapers nationwide and opened up debates about the role of women in the American republic. -
Roman Catholicism
1850 - Present By 1850 Roman Catholics had become the country's largest single denomination. Between 1860 and 1890 the population of Roman Catholics in the United States tripled due to Irish and German immigration. The Catholic Church remains as America's largest religious denomination. -
The Civil War
The Civil War of 1861-1865 determined what kind of nation America would be. The war resolved two fundamental questions left unresolved by the revolution: whether the United States was to be a dissolvable confederation of sovereign states or an indivisible nation with a sovereign national government; and whether the nation, born of a declaration that all men were created with an equal right to liberty, would continue to exist as the largest slaveholding country in the world. -
The Fifteenth Amendment
States the right of citizens in the United States to vote cannot be denied regardless of race, class, or previous condition of servitude. -
The Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York, in the United States. It was a gift to the United States by France to be a universal symbol of democracy and freedom and was dedicated in 1886. -
How the Other Half Lives by Jacob Riis
An early publication of photojournalism documenting squalid living conditions in New York City slums in the 1880s -
Muckrakers
1900-1912 American journalists, novelists, and critics who exposed corruption, especially in business and politics including Upton Sinclair, Ida Tarbell, Lincoln Steffens, and Samuel Hopkins Adams. Their work led to support for the progressive movement. Upton Sinclair and his book, The Jungle (1906) led to increased food inspection and the Meat Inspection Act of 1906 -
The Chicago Race Riots
It began on July 27, 1919, after a white man caused a black beachgoer to drown. Afterward, police and civilians had violent confrontations, arsonists set fires, and thugs flooded the streets. 38 people died and more than 500 were injured -
Flapper Culture
Flapper Culture of the 1920s included a controversial style of dressing and acting which showcased women’s newfound freedom with their right to vote. The style of dress was seen to be a change of morals and fought against the Republican Motherhood view of women. -
The Nineteenth Amendment
The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the states and the federal government from denying the right to vote to citizens of the United States on the basis of sex. -
Scopes Trial
A highly publicized trial where John Thomas Scopes violated a Tennessee state law by teaching evolution in high school. Scopes was convicted but the verdict was later overturned. Displayed the fundamentalism prevalent in rural areas at the time. -
Growth of the Suburbs
1940-1950 After WWII, people began to move away from cities, leading to suburban growth. As African-Americans began to move to northern cities, whites began to move to the suburbs ("white flight") increasing regional race differences. Suburban developments included Levittown, a planned community which offered inexpensive houses built by Levitt and Sons (were often times only sold to white people). -
Rosie the Riveter
During WWII, while men were out fighting overseas, women began to work in the manufacturing industry to support the war effort. The image of Rosie the Riveter was meant to boost the idea of women working in manufacturing and was propagated by the government to represent the strength of women. Rosie the Riveter is still a symbol for women's rights today. -
Brown v. Board of Education
A landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that American state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality -
Polio Vaccine
Dr. Jonas Salk developed a vaccine to Polio and it is the only polio vaccine that has been given in the United States since 2000. Polio had become a grave issue in the early 20th century. -
Murder of Emmett Till
14-year-old Emmett Till was kidnapped, shot and killed, and dumped into a river in Mississippi after reportedly whistling at a white woman. Till’s body was found days later and was grotesquely disfigured; this prompted Till’s mother to have an open casket so that everyone could see the violence that occurred. This event kicked off the US Civil Rights movement -
The Feminine Mystique by Betty Friedan
A book which was an account of the subordination of women to men in the home. It is widely credited with sparking the beginning of second-wave feminism in the United States. -
Martin Luther King Jr.
(1929-1968) U.S. Baptist minister and major civil rights leader. A noted orator, he opposed discrimination against blacks by organizing nonviolent resistance and peaceful mass demonstrations. He was assassinated in Memphis, Tennessee. -
Civil Rights Act of 1964
House of Representatives passed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which ended all racial and religious segregation by law in response to the growing Civil Rights Movement of the mid-20th century. -
Black Panthers
Founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in California called for African-Americans to become liberated through violence and they have been involved in various violent confrontations over the years. Founded after the assassination of Malcolm X and created the Black Power Movement. -
The Moon Landing
The U.S. celebrated one of its greatest technological feats by landing astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on the moon. It propelled the Space Race against the Soviet Union into a new light because the United States had won and landed on the moon first. -
Roe v. Wade
The Supreme Court determined that it was unconstitutional for states to outlaw abortions. This was argued that it obstructed a woman's right to privacy. -
HIV/AIDS Crisis
A huge deadly outbreak in the 70s and 80s started with gay men and was labeled the "gay plague" but soon began to affect drug users and minorities. Expensive to treat, no cure. This was a huge American culture and societal event in terms of the LGBT population, medical advances, and sexual health, and Reagan largely ignored it. -
Nancy Pelosi
In 2007 Nancy Pelosi became the first woman to be elected Speaker of the House. In 2019, Pelosi became the first women to be reelected as the Speaker of the House. -
Barack Obama
President Barack Obama was inaugurated as the first African American president on January 20, 2009, and served two terms, ending in 2017. -
LGBT Marriage Legalized
Obergefell v. Hodges was a Supreme Court case in which the Court held that the Fourteenth Amendment requires states to license and recognize same-sex marriage.
