-
While America had already been settled for centuries by the Native Americans, 1492 was when it was discovered by Christopher Columbus and opened to the European world. This opened up opportunity for colonies to be settled in the Americas for the purpose of European economic interests. -
Jamestown was the first British colony in the new world. It was initially created for the purpose of just having a colony, but they later discovered that America was a great place to grow tobacco. It later became the cash crop grown primarily in America. It was also one of the first places slavery was introduced in the new world. -
The Seven Years War was a conflict between the French and Indians and the British. Because the war was fought by Britain to protect American interests, the Americans were taxed in order to fund all of Britain's war debt. This ended up being the catalyst for revolution in the Americas. -
After the Seven Years War, France was permanently banned from having territory in the Americas. Americans thought that this meant they had access to all the old French territory. However, the British passed the Proclamation of 1763, which prevented Americans from having this territory. This was one of the first things the British did that annoyed American colonists. -
The Stamp Act was one of the many tax acts passed by the British. It required a stamp to be payed for and placed on almost all legal documents. The American colonists greatly disliked this, and it was another one of the great catalysts for the revolution. -
The Boston Massacre was another event that greatly pushed America towards Revolution. The Americans disliked the British military presence in America, so taunted a small group of soldiers. This quickly turned violent, and the British fired on the Americans, killing some. This is sometimes considered the first fighting of the Revolutionary War. -
After the British passed the Tea Act, placing a tax on tea, the colonists were pissed off. The Sons of Liberty, a group of radical revolutionaries, boarded a ship containing tea and threw it in the harbor. While it was a successful protest, it caused England to pass the Intolerable Acts, the most severe acts against the colonies. -
This was the first fighting of the Revolutionary War, despite taking place before independence was declared. The British intended to destroy a colonial armory, but were stopped by a small militia. After the British were turned around, a larger militia group was assembled to fire on them on the way back to Boston. -
In the Second Continental Congress, representatives from the colonies decided that Britain had pushed them too far. They signed a declaration stating that King George was the primary aggressor and they had no choice but to declare independence. This officially started the revolutionary war. -
At the beginning of the revolutionary war, America suffered defeat after defeat. Saratoga was the end of that pattern. After British mismanagement and the grouping of multiple American armies, a British army was captured. This was America's first major victory, which encouraged the French to ally with them. -
The Articles of Confederation were the American's first attempt at a government. It gave the federal government very little power due to the colonists fearing a repeat of the abuses from the British government. However, it ultimately failed. -
This was the final battle in the Revolutionary War. Americans cornered British forces at a fort and the French navy cut them off at sea. This resulted in the surrender of England's largest army and the ultimate end of the war. -
The Treaty of Paris outlined the terms of American independence. It allowed America to become its own country and granted all British territory in the Americas to the new nation. -
This was a rebellion over the government's lack of ability to protect small farmers under the Articles of Confederation. It demonstrated the weakness of the current government, and showed the new Americans that at least some federal power was necessary. -
The Constitution was the new government plan that the Americans formed to give more federal power and fix the shortcomings of the Articles of Confederation. This document was ultimately successful, and it is the system that we still use today. -
The cotton gin was invented by Eli Whitney. It cut the work necessary to produce a cotton crop by a lot. Despite this, the amount of workers producing cotton grew, due to it becoming a viable cash crop. Most of these workers were slaves. In fact, the cotton gin was one of the biggest factors in slavery becoming what it was. -
The Whiskey Rebellion was similar to Shays Rebellion in that it tested how powerful the US government was. This time, however, the Constitution came out victorious as the new government was able to lead the army to put down the rebellion. -
The XYZ affair was a diplomatic incident with France. The US sent three diplomats to France, but they were expected to pay a bribe to get in to the country. This annoyed the Americans and caused them to want to go to war with France. However, president Adams was able to prevent war at the expense of his popularity. -
After Adams lost his popularity and knew it was likely he would lose the election, he passed laws to help him win. These were the Alien and Sedition Acts. These laws were unconstitutional. Due to this, Kentucky and Virginia tried to nullify them. This was stopped, but it kept the idea of nullification on the American consciousness. -
The election of 1800 was lost by Adams due to the Alien and Sedition Acts resulting in a large loss of popularity. Thomas Jefferson ended up winning. His political ideas regarding national power were completely different than any before him, resulting in this election being called the Revolution of 1800. -
The Louisiana Purchase was one of the largest land purchases in US history. Jefferson negotiated it with France. However, in order to purchase land, Jefferson had to use a power not explicitly given to him by the constitution. He debated this, but ultimately decided to purchase the land. -
Britain and France seemed to be on the verge of war. The US did not want to get involved as such a young nation, so passed a trade embargo preventing US companies from trading with either Britain and France. This annoyed Britain, who started kidnapping American people from boats. -
The steamboat revolutionized transportation in America. It allowed them to travel both directions on a river, as well as go much faster on them. It connected the country, made trade easier, and made access to waterways even more important. -
The War of 1812 was fought for a variety of reasons. British were kidnapping Americans in the Atlantic Ocean and encouraging Indians to revolt against Americans in the West. This war ended up proving that the US had a seat at the table in global politics. -
The Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812. It wasn't much of a victory for either side. Neither accomplished their primary goals in the war, and the treaty changed almost nothing about the relationship between the two countries. -
The Second Great Awakening was a religious movement throughout the US. It was the source of reform in the church, but also sparked interest in social movements such as abolitionism, women's rights and suffrage, and prohibition. -
The Missouri Compromise was one of the first conflicts in the US over slavery. It was up to debate whether Missouri would have legalized slavery. Henry Clay proposed a compromise where Missouri would have slavery, and in order to avoid conflict like this in the future, the southern border of Missouri would be the border between slave and free states. -
The tariff of 1828 was passed by president John Quincy Adams. It helped to protect Northern economic interests at the expense of southern international trade. It later sparked a nullification crisis similar to the Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. -
The Indian Removal Act was passed by president Jackson to remove Indians from current US territory and relocate them to Oklahoma. It resulted in the trail of tears, a very brutal walk for Native Americans. It is one of the reasons we don't think as highly of Jackson as people in his era did. -
Southern states were annoyed with the tariff of 1828, so South Carolina declared it null and void on constitutional grounds. President Jackson did not like this, so he spent much of his presidency fighting to get South Carolina in line, going as far as authorizing use of force to enforce the tariff. -
Mexico allowed US citizens to come to the state of Texas in exchange for a few things, including religious freedoms. The US citizens of course did not like this, so made Texas an independent country. They went to war with Mexico, but were outclassed and fighting a largely losing war, so they were annexed by the US partly to help in the war and partly so the US could control some Mexican land. -
California was acquired by the Mexican cession of territory, and was supposed to become a slave state, but didn't want slavery. This resulted in some reform in how states decided if they could have slaves. It was now decided by popular sovereignty, where states could vote themselves to decide about slavery. -
Recognizing that anyone living in a state could vote on if the state could hold slaves, many people from slave and free states moved to Kansas just before their election. This resulted in a violent period throughout the state known as Bleeding Kansas and demonstrated the need for reform in how slave or free states would be decided, which the Kansas-Nebraska Act did. -
Dred Scott was a slave owned by a man in a slave state. However, they moved to a free state, and Scott argued that this freed him. His owner didn't agree, and so this was taken to the Supreme Court. The court ruled in favor of his owner, which outraged abolitionists as they thought this meant the end of free states. -
John Brown was a radical abolitionist who was responsible for much of the violence in bleeding Kansas. He led another revolt where he tried to capture a US armory, but was caught by Robert E Lee. He was later executed for his crimes and abolitionists around the country rallied around him. -
Abraham Lincoln was a prominent Republican known for his debates with Stephen A Douglass. He ran for president in 1860 and won. He believed that the president didn't have the right to free all slaves, but slaveowners were convinced that he was going to. -
Convinced that Abraham Lincoln was going to free all slaves, South Carolina seceded from the union, wanting to be able to exercise state's rights specifically in the case of slavery. Many states in the South followed (but not all, leaving the border states within the union), and ultimately started the civil war. -
Fort Sumter was the first conflict in the Civil War. The Union still had military bases in Confederate territory, meaning troops were trapped. The Union tried to send ships with supplies, but the Confederacy thought this was aggression, resulting in conflict. -
Contrary to popular belief, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all of the slaves. Rather, it stated that Confederate territory could immediately rejoin the union and keep their slaves or be taken by force and lose all of their slaves. Knowing that the south wouldn't immediately surrender, Lincoln effectively made the war about slavery. -
The Wade-Davis bill was worked on before the civil war ended, but was the north's first major attempt at Reconstruction. It made members of the Confederate states swear an oath of loyalty to the Union and the Constitution and made them ratify certain amendments in order to rejoin the Union. -
Another attempt at Reconstruction prior to the end of the war, the Freedmen's bureau was meant to help freedmen, or newly freed slaves, gain a foothold in society by helping them get jobs, secure loans, buy land or other property and more. -
This event was the end of fighting in the Civil War. After having many incapable generals, the Union finally found Ulysses S. Grant, who matched Lee in tactical ability. He was finally able to beat Lee and end the civil war, guaranteeing that the Confederacy would rejoin the Union. -
After the end of the Civil War, Lincoln was starting to work on reassembling the Union. He largely wanted to forgive the South. However, we will never know how that would have gone, as he was assassinated and his vice president, Andrew Johnson, took over Reconstruction. -
After the South could no longer hold slaves, their negative feelings towards blacks grew in some ways. This was demonstrated by the Ku Klux Klan, where whites came together to help pass anti-black laws in the day and terrorize, hunt, torture, and kill blacks at night. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was meant to reverse many of the anti-black laws passed in the South. It guaranteed certain rights to blacks. -
semester 2 event. The National Labor Union was the first major labor union in the country. It fought to improve working conditions with respect to hours and safety. Rather than bargain with employers, this group sought improvement through passing legislation. It paved the way for many other unions, including modern unions. -
The current president, Andrew Johnson, went in the face of many Republican principles. Because the Republicans held a supermajority in congress, this did not matter, as they were able to undo his veto on any bills. The Congressional Reconstruction Act demonstrated this, as Congress was able to do Reconstruction exactly as they wanted. -
The Republicans were fed up with Johnson going against their principles, so they laid a trap for him. They passed a law preventing the president from firing certain government positions. Jackson fired someone anyway, and was impeached (but not removed from office) for it. He effectively lost all of his power. -
Because Johnson lost all of his power after being impeached, he obviously wasn't reelected for a second term. Instead, Ulysses S. Grant, the Union general who defeated Lee in the civil war, was elected. His presidency was riddled with controversy, but he ultimately served two terms and helped in Reconstruction. -
semester 2 event. As more people wanted to move to the west, getting quick and reliable transportation became necessary. The solution to this was the trans-continental railroad, which traveled all the way to California. It was created by 2 companies, each moving in opposite directions from opposite starting points. They were given incentives to move quickly to get the project done as fast as possible, and the 2 companies finally met in 1869. -
semester 2 event. As the Americans continued to move west, it became more important to them that Native Americans be removed from the land. This started with efforts to peacefully remove them, such as education and integration into American society, but quickly devolved into violence and killings. The Wounded Knee Massacre was one of the worst examples of this violence, where 300 natives were killed by US soldiers. -
After Grant served his two terms, he couldn't run again. When election results were being counted, a few southern states went 100% for the democratic candidate. Detecting fraud, the Republicans demanded a recount, and all of these states went to the Republican's candidate. Seeing fraud in this, the Democrats wanted a recount. Congress ended up creating a small committee to decide the president, and Rutherford B. Hayes, the Democrat, was elected. This signaled the end of Reconstruction. -
semester 2 event. As cities continued to grow, people sought power in them. This resulted in political machines, where a small group of people had so much power in a city that they controlled elections and other major public aspects. One leader of a political machine was Boss Tweed, who was estimated to have stolen over 200 million dollars from city taxpayers. Through efforts to get rid of corruption in government, he was eventually arrested. -
semester 2 event. The Dawes Act was another part of the effort to remove Native Americans from western lands. It guaranteed homesteads for any native that wanted one. However, these homesteads came from reservation land and required the natives to live separated lives instead of tribal lifestyles. -
semester 2 event. As cities became more industrialized, more people had to live closer to their jobs, resulting in awful living conditions. In an effort to expose these awful conditions, a group of journalists called muckrakers went into these areas to record what they saw and force the American public to see it. One of these was Jacob Riis, who published a series of photos of tenement housing called "How the Other Half Lives". -
The Fourteenth amendment guaranteed equal rights for all US citizens. However, Plessy, a black man, was placed in a separate carriage in a train for blacks. He argued that this didn't follow the fourteenth amendment, and made his case for the Supreme Court. They ruled that separate conditions could still be equal. -
this and all events after are semester 2 events. The USS Maine was a ship that docked in a Cuban harbor. One night, it sunk. Due to tensions with Spain at the time, Americans blamed this on Spain bombing the ship, and began a war with Spain. One major US general during this time was Teddy Roosevelt, who gained popularity from his service. -
President McKinley was a Republican president. He won the presidency in part due to the popularity of his vice president, Teddy Roosevelt. The Republican party didn't want Roosevelt to be president due to his unpredictable nature, but knew his popularity could win elections, so made him vice president. However, McKinley was assassinated, making Roosevelt the president. Roosevelt enacted a lot of progressive legislation, including trust busting and the national park system. -
The Monroe Doctrine stated that if Europe didn't interfere in affairs in the Americas, the USA wouldn't interfere in events in Europe. However, European countries interfered indirectly in the Americas through causing the countries to build up high debts and other ways. The Roosevelt corollary to the Monroe Doctrine updated the Monroe Doctrine to allow the US to interfere if European countries did this. -
The Ford Model T was the first self-starting automobile in history. It allowed Americans to travel much more than before and allowed cities to spread out more than ever before. The car was produced in factories with very good working conditions, which encouraged other factories to do the same. The factories also used much more efficient methods, making the car much cheaper and allowing it to become a commodity for everyone. -
W.E.B. DuBois was a black man who believed in rights for his fellow African-Americans. He created the NAACP, or the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, to do this. The NAACP was very important both during this time and in the civil rights movement of the 1950's and sixties. -
World War 1 started for a variety of reasons, but the primary one was the assassination of Austro-Hungarian archduke Franz Ferdinand. Due to military alliances, this conflict spread to most of Europe. For many Americans, however, it was in many ways a war "over there" that many Americans did not care about. -
John D Rockefeller, as well as a few other men, dominated the early 1900's in terms of industrialization. These men owned many large companies that employed many people. This sparked a debate where people argued if these men were Captains of Industry or Robber Barons. They were responsible for much of the commerce on the country, but also for many of the terrible working conditions in the US. -
The Russian Revolution forced Russia to leave World War 1, and eventually caused Russia to fall to communism. This caused fear in the USA, where people feared that there were communists in the USA. This was called the Red Scare, and many people suspected of being communists faced terrible treatment. -
While World War 1 was raging in Europe, many Americans did not care. However, they were drawn into the war for a variety of reasons. Germans practiced unrestricted submarine warfare, sinking many ships, causing overseas commerce from the US to stop and killing many Americans. Another reason was the Zimmermann telegram, which was sent by Germany to encourage Mexico to join the war against the USA. The USA intercepted this telegram, which made them join the war. -
The Treaty of Versailles formally ended World War 1. It placed almost all of the blame on Germany. Germany was forced to pay reparations in very heavy amounts that nearly ruined its economy. Their military was also incredibly reduced in size, which left Germany vulnerable to being taken over by a leader that could manipulate their fear (spoiler alert). -
After a large social movement, the Prohibition Act was passed, which formally banned all alcohol from being sold or produced in the USA. It, of course, was not followed. Many people in organized crime began to sell alcohol in large amounts. -
Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists that were accused of a murder. They were found guilty and executed because of this. However, it is now believed that they did not commit the crime and were only accused as part of the Red Scare. -
After the economic prosperity of the 1920's, the economy began to crash. This culminated in many ways with the stock market crash of 1929. Many people lost their life savings due to false beliefs about the market as well as unhealthy trading practices. This ushered in the Great Depression of the 1930's in many ways. -
The Dust Bowl was the worst ecological crisis of the entire twentieth century. Due to poor farming practices and other factors. dust in the west began to blow around. It covered homes, destroyed farms, and much more. This also ushered in the Great Depression by destroying farmers' livelihoods and also significantly reducing access to food for many Americans. -
After World War 1, all veterans of the war were guaranteed a bonus in the year 1945 for their service. However, during the depression, many of these men wanted the bonus sooner. They marched on Washington, but had their demands denied. Many of these people camped out at the white house in protest, resulting in the president at the time, Herbert Hoover, using the military to remove them, which caused him to be widely hated. -
After Herbert Hoover lost popularity due to the Great Depression, the bonus army march, and more, he had no way to win the presidency. Instead, Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected president. He promised to restore the nation to the state it was in before the depression through a program that he called the New Deal. -
The Civilian Conservation Corps was a part of president Roosevelt's new deal. It served two primary purposes. The first was to improve the nation's ecological health so that disasters like the dust bowl do not happen again. The second was to simply give people jobs. If people were working, they had a steady stream of income and could get money flowing, which would boost the economy. -
After the treaty of Versailles, Germany was in a very bad position. Their economy was in shambles and their military was so weak that they had no way to defend from any sort of invasion. This caused the German people to become very fearful. This fear was played by Adolf Hitler, who manipulated the German people to allow the Nazi party to rise to power and start systematically violating the Treaty of Versailles. -
Although the New Deal had a lot of success, there was one fatal flaw: many parts of it were not constitutional. In total, 22 provisions were struck down by the Supreme Court for being unconstitutional. Because of this, Franklin Roosevelt threatened to add six justices to the Supreme Court, which would essentially make the court his puppet. Due to backlash, he never went through with this, but the Supreme Court never struck down another of the provisions within the New Deal after this took place. -
While World War 2 had been raging in Europe for 2 years, the United States was not a part of the conflict. However, due to tensions with Japan at the time, which was a part of the Axis Powers, Japan attacked the US at Pearl Harbor. This plunged America into the war immediately. The USA agreed to make Germany their first priority as long as the other Allies agreed to make Japan a priority after Germany was defeated, which was agreed on. -
Rosie the Riveter was a propaganda piece used in World War 2. Because many men were overseas serving in the war, women had to take their place in many traditionally masculine jobs such as manufacturing. Rosie the Riveter was an important part of the cultural movement to get women in men's jobs. -
D-day was in many ways the tipping point in World War 2. Earlier in the war, the Allies had been forced out of mainland Europe and made to take refuge in Britain. On D-day, the Allies invaded mainland Europe in a strong movement that took back France, Italy, and Germany, and ultimately resulted in Germany's surrender. -
While the war was not yet over at this point, the Allies could tell that they were going to win. Because of this, the US wanted to thank their servicemen. They did this through the GI Bill of Rights, which guaranteed them low-income home loans and free college or trade school. This resulted in home ownership and college becoming more popular, and contributed to the Baby Boom. -
The Yalta conference took place after World War 2 with the goal of deciding how to lead Europe after the war. It was attended by the big 3 leaders, who were Roosevelt, Churchill and Stalin. There were some agreements, but there was a lot of tension with the Soviet Union, which started the Cold War in many ways. -
After victory in Europe, there was still the war in Japan that the Allies had agreed to fight. Japan was almost guaranteed to lose, but was still in a position to draw out the war. In response to this, president Truman ordered the US to drop 2 atomic bombs on Japan. This caused incredible destruction and resulted in Japan's unconditional surrender. -
Levittowns were new suburbs that were much cheaper than other houses. They used new manufacturing methods to achieve this. The houses were all very similar to each other, which achieved a sense of conformity in the towns. This sense of conformity was rampant throughout this era. -
Germany had been divided into East and West Germany at this point. However, Berlin lied squarely in East Germany, but both countries wanted the city. So, the city was also divided in two, with West Berlin being completely surrounded by Communist territory. Stalin blocked all commerce going into West Berlin, so the USA dropped supplies from planes into the city. -
The Marshall plan was one of the first major parts of the Cold War. The USA was the only major country that wasn't utterly destroyed by World War 2, so they offered incredible amounts of money to the countries that were destroyed. This aid was rejected by all countries in the Soviet Union, which heightened tensions between Eastern and Western Europe. At this point, the "Iron Curtain" had fallen, which divided Europe into Capitalist and Communist parts. -
NATO, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, was a group of countries that allied together against the Soviet Union. NATO was a defensive group, so any country that was attacked by the USSR would be defended by every NATO country. This essentially split th Cold War into NATO vs USSR. -
Joseph McCarthy was a US senator who claimed in a speech that he had a list of hundreds of names of people within the US government that were communists. This inspired an era of McCarthyism, where people faced severe consequences for merely being suspected of being communists. -
The Korean War was a conflict over control of the Korean continent. It was one of many proxy wars between the USA and USSR. The USA aided the capitalist South Korea, while the USSR aided communist North Korea. This war has never officially come to an end, and the border between North and South Korea is the most militarily protected border in the world right now. -
Joseph Stalin was the leader of the USSR for many years, but he eventually died. He was replaced by Nikita Khrushchev. US leaders liked Khrushchev, as it seemed like he wanted peaceful coexistence with the US. However, he acted rather bipolar, as he would alternate between peaceful coexistence and much of the same philosophy as Stalin. -
After Plessy v Ferguson, people could be given "separate but equal" accommodations. This was used as an excuse to give blacks and other racial minorities significantly worse accommodations. Brown v Board overturned this, stating that accommodations must be equal. However, a date for integration was never set, leaving the South to draw the process out as long as possible. -
Rosa Parks was a civil rights activist who was arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a bus for a white man. This sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, where nearly every black person in Montgomery, Alabama refused to take the bus. In the end, this hurt the bus companies so much that they worked with the activists to integrate buses. -
The Vietnam war was a conflict similar to the Korean war, where the USA and USSR fought as proxies, and the USSR supported communism while the USA supported capitalism. However, there was very little support for the war in the USA, so president Johnson backed out. -
Alan Ginsberg was a member of the beatnik subculture. Because the adults of this time period had a strong sense of conformity, many children began to rebel. They formed the beatnik subculture. This group believed in many opposites of conformity. Howl represents this by being filled with curse words, alcohol and drug references, and generally making little sense. -
While Brown v Board had mandated integration, southern schools still dragged their feet on this. In protest, the NAACP found 9 high schoolers in Little Rock, Arkansas to attend a white school. This group faced backlash in their community for this, culminating in the national guard preventing them from entering the school. However, the US army let them enter, and this began the integration of schools. -
The 1960 presidential election was between Richard Nixon and John F Kennedy. In previous years, the debate was recorded in newspapers and people read the responses the next day. However, this debate was televised, which meant how the answers were delivered was just as important as what was said. JFK used this to his advantage and won over many voters despite having rather poor debating skills. -
The Lunch Counter sit-ins took place at department store lunch counters. They started with a small group at a Woolworth's department store. They asked to be served at the counter, were denied, so stayed at the counter until they were served. That did not happen that day, so they came back the next day. This continued for 6 months and many other similar protests started, and eventually lunch counters were integrated. -
The Cuban Missile Crisis was the closest that the world has ever come to nuclear war. The US found ICBM launch sites in Cuba, so knew that the Soviet Union wanted to bring missiles into Cuba to potentially fire on the US. The US blockaded Cuba, so when a ship arrived with the missiles, they were able to turn it away, preventing nuclear war. -
Martin Luther King Junior delivered his ''I Have a Dream'' speech in a march on Washington. This was in many ways the culmination of the Civil Rights movement, as it brought a lot of attention to the movement and showed the country that civil rights was the popular opinion. This resulted in the Civil Rights Act of 1965 being passed, which banned discrimination based on skin color, religion or country of origin. -
In 1963, John F Kennedy was doing a campaign event in Texas when he was suddenly shot. The killer was Lee Harvey Oswald. It is widely thought that, as JFK died, so did the youthful spirit if the USA. -
After JFK was assassinated, his vice president, Lyndon B Johnson, became president. He continued some of the values of JFK, but also implemented his vision of the Great Society. He passed many new pieces of legislation, such as Medicare, Medicaid and environmental legislation, with the intention of improving overall quality of life in America. -
President Nixon was very popular after his first term, but was still paranoid about whether or not he would win a second term. Members of his party broke into the Democratic National Headquarters at the Watergate hotel and stole campaign secrets. While Nixon did not order this, as soon as he found out, he immediately tried to cover it up. This was a incredible scandal where Nixon would have been removed from office if he had not resigned.