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Oct 12, 1492
Christopher Columbus "discovers" America
If the Europeans had never found the New World, there would be no written history of the United States and there would be a huge area of the world that nobody other than the natives know about. -
Period: Oct 12, 1492 to
Events Leading to the Developement of the United States
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England Defeats the Spanish Armada
The defeat of the Spanish Armada made England the world’s most dominant sea power, and stopped the Spanish advance into North America. If this battle for naval dominance had been won by Spain, then I would probably have submitted this assignment in Spanish, and taken English as my foreign language. -
Mayflower Compact Signed
This document was the first step towards self government in the colonies, and the guideline for future constitutions, without this document we could have a very different form of government, and may not even have a constitution. -
The Seven Years War Begins
The Seven Years War was one of the events that led to a colonial need for independence. The Seven Years War showed colonists how the British viewed them, which was with contempt, added to colonial unity, and started a series of infuriating taxes by the British in an effort to pay the enormous debt created by the war. -
Pontiac's Rebellion Begins
This rebellion forced Great Britain to create the Proclamation of 1763 in an effort to stop further attacks by the natives, but was seen by the colonists as an effort to keep them out of lands that they had earned, sparking feelings of anger and injustice, which led to a degree of colonial unity, and vast amounts of defiance, by colonists that went into the lands past the Appalachians anyway. -
End of Salutary Neglect
The long period of Salutary Neglect gave America a taste of self control, something that when told that they were controlled and governed by Great Britain, not themselves sparked large quantities of anger among Americans who had come to think of this control as a natural right of theirs, a right that wasn’t going to be revoked without a fight. -
Stamp Act Commenced
These Acts were seen as an injustice in America, while Britain saw them as a way for the colonists to help pay the war debt gained, by protecting the colonists. These acts led to greater unity within the colonies, the idea of “No Taxation without Representation,” the Sons and Daughters of Liberty (groups that caused much animosity between the colonies and Great Britain), and proved to the colonists that they can create their own goods which they did while boycotting taxed British goods. -
Townsend Acts Enacted
The Townsend Acts led to the Boston “Massacre” and the Boston Tea Party, these Acts began as a way of earning revenue for Great Britain, but ended up furthering colonial resentment towards Great Britain, creating more American unity, and leading towards the Revolution. These acts also paid the governors in the colonies, so the colonists couldn’t control the law they passed by withholding their salaries, which served to fuel the rage of the colonists even more. -
The American Revolutionary War Begins
The American Revolution was what turned the United States into its own independent country, had we lost the Revolution, or if it had never begun in the first place, then it is quite possible that we would still be British subjects, taking our orders from overseas. -
Declaration of Independance Signed
The Declaration was the final straw for America, when the colonial delegates signed it they told Great Britain that it no longer controlled the colonies, and that America was it’s own nation. When the British refused to accept this the American Revolution began. -
Constitution Completed
Without a Constitution America would be a lawless land ruled by anarchy and power, and it would have been easy for any of the European nation with enough resources to have come here and seized control of the United States long ago.