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104 Englishmen sailed from England to North America to create a settlement. In May, they picked Jamestown Virginia, named after King James I. This became known as the first permanent English settlement in North America, setting the stage for all to come. -
The merchant ship, more commonly known as the Mayflower, set sail from Plymouth, a port on the southern coast of England. The ship carried 102 passengers, known as pilgrims, all hoping to start a new life on the other side of the Atlantic. When the ship landed in Massachusetts, only 50 passengers and half of the crew had survived the journey. They then settled and, with the help of natives, formed the Massachusetts Bay colony. -
Nathaniel Bacon was the instigator of the rebellion against colonial governor William Berkeley. It was the first rebellion in the American colonies in which discontented frontiersmen took part, They responded by tightening the racial caste of slavery in an attempt to divide the two races from subsequent uprisings with the passage of Virginia slave codes of 1705. -
The Proclamation line of 1763 was a British-produced boundary marked in the Appalachian mountains at the eastern continental divide The proclamation line prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian war -
The Sugar Act was British legislation aiming to end the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies and provide increased revenues to fund enlarged British Empire responsibilities following the French and Indian War. It greatly disrupted the economy of the American colonies by increasing the cost of many imported items and reducing exports to non-British markets. -
The British parliament required colonial authorities and citizens to provide food, drink, quarters, fuel, and transportation to British forces stationed in their towns or villages. American colonists resented and opposed the Quartering Act because they were being taxed to pay for provisions and barracks for the army, a standing arm that thought was unnecessary during peacetime, and an arm that they feared. -
The Stamp Act was the first internal tax levied directly on American colonists by the British Parliament. The act imposed a tax on all paper goods in the colonies during a time when Britain was in debt from the Seven years War and they turned to their North American colonies for revenue. -
Wheat began as a street brawl between American colonists and a lone British soldier, and quickly escalated to a chaotic, bloody slaughter. The conflict energized anti-British sentiment and paved the way for the American Revolution. The event was heavily publicized by leading Patriots such as Paul Revere and Samuel Adams. -
The Albany Congress was a meeting of representatives sent by the legislatures of seven of the thirteen British colonies in British America: Connecticut, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island The Albany Plan of Union was a plan to create a unified government for the Thirteen Colonies suggested y Benjamin Franklin.
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A political protest took place at Griffin's Warf in Boston Massachusetts. American colonists grew furious at Parliament for imposing taxation without representation and dumped 342 crates of British tea into the Boston harbor. This is an important moment in history because it was the first open act of defiance against British rule over colonies. -
The first battles of the Revolutionary War after tensions had been rising for years between the American colonies and Great Britain. On the night of April, 18 hundreds of British troops marched from Boston to Concord to seize an arms cache. Paul Revere and his famous midnight ride go on ahead of them to warn colonial militiamen to intercept the redcoats. -
The world turned upside down. The battle of Yorktown is famously known for its outcome that was so wildly unexpected. General Cornwallis and his British army surrendered to General Washington's American forces and French allies and Chesapeake Bay for the American colonies it was more than just a military win The outcome in Yorktown, Virginia marked the conclusion of the last major battle of the American Revolution. The start of a new nation's independence. -
The Treaty of Paris of 1783 formally ended the American Revolutionary War. American statesmen Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and John Jay negotiated the peace treaty with representatives of King George III of Great Britain. In the Treaty of Paris, the British Crown formally recognized American independence and ceded most of its territory east of the Mississippi River to the United States, doubling the size of the new nation and paving the way for westward expasion -
Alexander Hamilton wrote the proposal for the first bank of the United States. It was established and chartered for a term of twenty years. It assumed the states' debts and made the national credit competitive. -
The first presidential election in US history. George Washington was unanimously elected president of the United States. With 6 electoral votes, Washinton won the support of each participating elector. He was inaugurated into the presidential office on April 30, 1789 -
Between the months of May and September delegates from 12 states convened in Philadelphia to revise the Articles of Confederation, which had proven insufficient to cope with the challenges facing the young nation. The Notorious Three-fifths compromise came out of this meeting It established that enslaved men and women were represented in the house at a 3 to 5 ratio of their actual quantity. -
The Bill of Rights was ratified on December 15, 1791. While Federalists opposed including a Bill of Rights in the Constitution, Antifederalists saw the flaws in the Constitution and wrote a Bill of Rights with the first ten amendments in the US Constitution. -
President Washington issued the Neutrality Proclamation that declared the nation neutral in the conflict between France and Great Britain. The significance of this event is that the US had previously signed a treaty with France after their help in America's time of need in the revolutionary war. Their only request in return was for the US to help France in the future if needed. -
Tensions rose between America and Britain after the end of the Revolutionary War over British military posts still located in America's northwestern territory and British interference with American trade and shipping. Supreme Court Justice John Jay was only partially successful in getting Britain to meet America's demands and opposition to the treaty in the US was tense. Eventually, it passed the senta with exactly a two-thirds vote. -
George Washington, after serving two presidential terms, steps down from his role, teaching the nation how to move forward. In his farewell address, he advises the nation to view themselves as a cohesive unit and avoid political parties He talks about the importance of neutrality and entanglements with other nations. His address to America starts our foundation of democracy. -
Thomas Jefferson, runnion for the democratic republican party against John Adams, of the Federalist party. John Adams won the Election with 71 electoral votes and became the second president of the United States. Thomas Jefferson, coming in second in the election, becomes his Vice President. This was the first peaceful transition of power in thee United States. -
Previous affairs had already set the French on edge with America. They felt their treaties were violated by America and as a result, they went on to seize several American merchant ships. US diplomats were sent to France, to stop the conflict and were shunned. Congress then authorized defensive measures causing the start of what came to be known as the Quasi-War. John Adams became unpopular during the presidency by trying to negotiate out of a war but the people favored it. -
A series of four laws collectively known as the Alien and Sedition Acts were passed by the Federalist Congress in 1798 and signed into law by President John Adams. These laws included new powers to deport foreigners as well as making it harder for immigrants to vote. They also limited freedom of speech and of the press. The Sedition Act took direct aim at anyone who directly spoke out against Adams or the federalist-dominated government. -
Thomas Jefferson ran against incumbent president John Adams in the fourth presidential election. This election was very monumental because after the defeat of John Adams, there was never another Federalist president The electoral vote is split between Jefferson and Aaron Burr from the same party, and it was sent to the House of Representatives to decide where Jefferson eventually won the majority. This leads to the 12 amendment. The person who comes in second is no longer the Vice President. -
The Louisiana Purchase was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana from Napoleonic France in 1803. In return for approximately 15 million dollars, 18 dollars per square mile, the United States acquired a total of 828,00 sq mi. Current President Thomas Jefferson sent explorers Louis and Clark to go on an expedition to study the new lands and write back to him with their findings. -
This landmark Supreme Court case established the principle of Judicial review in the US. The federal courts now have the power to strike down laws that they find violate the Constitution. John Adams after being defeated in the reelection, was rushing to fill positions before Jefferson took office. The court case was between Madison, Jefferson's secretary of state and Marbury who had been appointed under Adams but the paperwork wasn't finished before his term ended and was refused his commission. -
Jefferson was reelected for president in 1804 as legislation of the US Congress closed US ports to all exports and restricted imports from Britain. This preceded Jefferson's response to the British and French interface with neutral US merchant ships during the Napoleonic wars. This act greatly hurt the American economy and took years to repair. -
The Compromise of 1850 was a package of five separate bills passed by the United States Congress that defused a political confrontation between slave and free states on the status of territories acquired in the Mexican-American War. California was to be admitted as a free state. As a solution to the disagreement over whether California would be a slave or free state, Henry Clay proposed the Compromise of 1850. -
The treaty of Ghent effectively ended the War of 1812. The news was slow, so the two sides met in what is remembered as one of the conflict's biggest and most decisive engagements. In the bloody Battle of New Orleans, future President Andrew Jackson and an assortment of militia fighters, frontiersmen, slaves, Indians, and even pirates weathered a frontal assault by a superior British force, inflicting devastating casualties along the way. The victory vaulted Jackson to national fame. -
The War of 1812 was a conflict fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against Great Britain and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. The war was fought over British violations of US maritime rights. It ended with the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Ghent. -
Amid growing sectional tensions over the issue of slavery, the US Congress passed a law that admitted Missouri to the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state, while banning slavery from the remaining Louisiana Purchase lands located north of the 36° 30' parallel. -
Andrew Jackson ran against the incumbent president of the United States John Quincy Adams in 1828. He won with 178 electoral votes. As America's political party system developed Jackson became the leader of the new Democratic Party. A supporter of states' rights and slavery's extension into the new western territories, he opposed the Whig Party and Congress on polarizing issues such as the Bank of the United States. -
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson, authorizing the president to grant lands in west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. What became known as the Trail of Tears was the treacherous journey of Indigenous peoples, more than 4000 died of disease starvation, and exposure to extreme weather. -
The Ordinance of Nullification declared the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the borders of the US state of South Carolina. In the face of the military threat and following a Congressional revision of the law that lowered the tariff, South Carolina repealed the ordinance. -
A Mexican force numbering in the thousands began a siege of the fort. Though vastly outnumbered, the Alamo's 200 defenders and the famed frontiersman Davy Crockett held out for 12 days before the Mexican forces finally overpowered them. For Texans, the Battle of the Alamo became an enduring symbol of their resistance to oppression and their struggle for independence, which they won later that year. The battle cry of "Remember the Alamo" became popular in years to follow. -
This treaty ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico had ceded 55% of its territory, including parts of present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, to the United States. This led to debate throughout the nation about whether these states would be slave or free states. -
In Seneca Falls, New York, the assembly launched the women's suffrage movement in the United States. The convention passed 12 resolutions, 11 unanimously to gain certain rights and privileges that women of the era were denied. Elizabeth Stanton and Lucretia Mott started the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848. THey worked on encouraging women, sharing tactics ideas, and next steps to take. -
The Kansas-Nebraska Act repealed the Missouri Compromise, created two new territories, and allowed for popular sovereignty. It also produced a violent uprising known as "Bleeding Kansas," as proslavery and antislavery activists flooded into the territories to sway their votes. -
This Supreme Court case went down in history as the worst court decision ever made. The court ruled 7-2 that Dred Scott who had resided in a free state and territory (where slavery was prohibited) was not entitled to his freedom; that African Americans were not and could never be citizens of the United States; and that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional. The decision added fe to the sectional controversy and pushed the country closer to civil war. -
The attack on Fort Sumter marked the official beginning of the American Civil War. This Union fort held a strategic position for the Union as it was deep within Southern territory and right off the coast of South Carolina. It ended in a Confederate victory. With supplies nearly exhausted and his troops outnumbered, Union Major Robert Anderson surrendered Fort Sumter to Brig. General P.G.T Beauregard's Confederate forces. -
A decisive Union victory during the American Civil War that divided the Confederacy cemented the reputation of Union General Ulysses S. Grant. Union forces waged a campaign to take the Confederate stronghold of Vicksburg which lay on the east bank of the Mississippi River. The 47-day siege gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union, a critical supply line, and was part of the Union's Anaconda Plan to cut off outside trade to the Confederacy. -
President Abraham Lincoln Addressed the nation as it approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." This was an important step at the time because it led to the 13th amendment to the Constitution. -
Arguably the most important engagement of the American Civil War. After a great victory over Union forces at Chancellorsville, General Robert E. Lee marched his Army of Northern Virginia into Pennsylvania. Lee was forced to withdraw his battered army toward Virginia. The union had won in a major turning point, stopping Lee's invasion of the North. It inspired Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address," which became one of the most famous speeches of all time. -
A direct outcome of the American Civil War, the Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime. -
During its years of operation, the Freedman's Bureau fed millions of people, built hospitals and provided medical aid, negotiated labor contracts for ex-saves, and settled labor disputes. It also helped former slaves legalize marriages and locate lost relatives, and assisted black veterans making it an important agency during the Reconstruction era. -
The United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. William H. Seward pushed to purchase Alaska because he knew how beneficial its land could be for both military and economic purposes. -
Johnson became the first American president to be impeached. When the House formally adopted the articles of impeachment and forwarded them to the United States Senate for adjudication. He was constantly having his vetoes overridden by the supermajority of Republicans in congress. The House impeached Johnson, but the Senate fell one vote short. -
The 14th Amendment granted citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States including formerly enslaved people and guaranteed all citizens "equal protection of the laws." it was one of the three amendments passed during the Reconstruction era to abolish slavery and establish civil and legal rights for Black Americans. -
The Pacific Railroad Act chartered the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific Railroad Companies and tasked them with building a transcontinental railroad that would link the United States from east to west. Over the next seven years, the two companies would race toward each other from Sacramento, California on the one side to Omaha, Nebraska on the other, struggling against great risks before they met at Promontory, Utah, on May 10, 1869 -
Plessy v. Ferguson was the Supreme Court case that ruled that the "separate but equal" policy was unconstitutional. It was a 7-1 majority vote by the court. This advanced separate but equal laws and reaffirmed to society that this was an ok action even though it was not. The impact of this is that these laws continued to happen and now they were even considered fully constitutional laws.