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John Winthrop
John Winthrop led a group of Puritans to America. John Winthrop made a speech in 1630 called "City Upon a Hill." In the speech, Winthrop was just setting the record straight with the colonists and how God wanted them to do this and that if they failed, they failed God. John Winthrop was one of the founders in founding the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Winthrop was also the governor. -
Massachusetts
In 1620, the first group of Puritans traveled across the Atlantic in the Mayflower. The Puritans founded the Plymouth Colony. Later a man named John Winthrop led a larger group of Puritans to America. In Boston they began to establish the Massachusetts Bay Colony. -
Traveling to North America
The colonists of New England were mostly religious. The Puritans wanted to purify the church of England. The Puritans caused trouble for the monarchs in which King Charles I persecuted them. The puritans fled to North America. They wanted to go to New England so that they would be able to have religious freedom. When they arrived they formed praying towns. -
Competition for North American Colonies
The British and the colonists fought a series of wars against the French and their American Indian allies. In North America, Britain’s greatest rival was France. Great Britain longed to drive the French from North America, and to do this, the British needed to neutralize the French's advantage which was support from most of the American Indians in the region. The American Indians benefited from their middle position between the competing empires. -
French and Indian War
A conflict between France and Great Britain was the fertile Ohio River valley,which they both claimed but was unsettled. The French built Fort Duquesne to discourage British colonists from moving into this area.The fort angered the governor of Virginia, Robert Dinwiddle, he entrusted the command to a young man named George Washington. Washington's troops defeated a French force, but had to surrender, due to his defeat, it touch off a world war.The colonists called this the French and Indian War. -
Pontiac's Rebellion
In the spring of 1763, the members of these groups (Ottawa, Wyandot, Miami, Mascouten, etc) captured most of the British forts in Ohio River Valley and along the Great Lakes. They also raided settlements in western Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. This would be later called Pontiac's Rebellion. -
Townshend Act
In 1767, Parliament passed the Townshend Act which imposed duties on everyday items, such as glass, lead, paint, paper and tea to the American Colonies. The American Colonists who had no power in Parliament as an abuse of power which further increased the tension between the American Colonies and Great Britain. -
Boson Tea Party
Angered by the Tea Act and Townshend Act, the Sons of Liberty protested. Bostonians dressed up in Native American garments and threw about 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. In retaliation, Parliament passed a series of laws, one being the Coercive Act; later known as the Intolerable Act. -
Coercive Act
As a result of the Boston Tea Party, Parliament passed a series of acts; Coercive Act, later known as the Intolerable Act. It closed the port of Boston to trade until inhabitants paid for the destroyed tea. This also increased the power of the governor. To enforce it, the British sent warships and troops to Boston. This was supposed to be a punishment for the Massachusetts colonists. -
Declaration of Independence
Thomas Jefferson wasn't so big on public speaking but he was an incredible writer. Thomas Jefferson was asked to draft the Declaration of Independence. Drafting it became the defining moment in Jefferson's life. -
Adam's Inauguration
He was the vice president of former first president George Washington. He later became the president. John Adams' inauguration as the second President of the U.S. was held on March 4, 1797, in the House of Representatives Chamber in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. John Adams was the first president to receive the oath of office from a chief justice of the United States Supreme Court. -
XYZ Affair
Adams sent three Americans to Paris to hopefully restore peace between the two countries.When the diplomats arrived they tried to meet with France’s foreign minister;but they had to pay a bribe along with other conditions.When it reached the U.S.,it caused an uproar and prompted calls for war.Some members of Congress asked to see the diplomats’ reports regarding what occurred, Adams handed them over with the names of the French agents replaced with letters X,Y and Z;thus the name XYZ Affair. -
John Adams 11th Amendment
The Eleventh Amendment to the Constitution of the U.S. was declared by President Adams. It states that federal courts shall not have the jurisdiction over legal actions between individuals from one state against individuals from another state. -
Jefferson's Inauguration
Thomas Jefferson's Inauguration as the third President of the U.S. was held on March 4, 1801. The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of Jefferson as President and only four-year term of Aaron Burr as Vice President. Jefferson did not win the presidency unanimously, he tied Aaron Burr. -
Louisiana Purchase
To get more land, Jefferson wanted to expand to the Pacific. His plan went awry when the United States got a new and far more dangerous neighbor to the west. Jefferson reasoned that he could avoid war by offering to buy New Orleans from the French.In the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, Jefferson obtained a vast territory extending from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains. The purchase was a bit of a embarrassment for Jefferson because it contradicted his constitutional principles. -
Tariff of 1816
The embargo of 1807 and the War of 1812 cut off access to British manufactured goods. After the war, British goods flowed into the U.S. , threatening to overwhelm fledgling American manufactures. Congress imposed the Tariff of 1816 which put tariffs on imports designed to protect American industry. This tariff increased the price of imported goods by an average of 20-25%. The tariff helped industries, but hurt farmers. -
Slavery and Missouri Compromise
Spirit of nationalism failed to suppress differences in the U.S. and the difficulty became evident in a crisis over Missouri's admission to the Union as a new state. At that point, the Union had an equal number of free states and slaves, which meant equal regional power. If Missouri entered as a slave state, it would lean more towards advance for the South. This alarmed the northern congressmen. A congressman in New York proposed banning slavery in Missouri but it outraged southern leaders. -
Railroads Further Ease Transport
One of the most dramatic advance in transportation was the arrival of railroads. Railroads largely developed in Great Britain and began to appear in the U.S. in the 1820's. Cleaver inventors soon developed steamboats engines, which can pull heavier loads of freight or passengers at higher speeds. -
Workers Taking Action
During the 1820's, some artisans organized the Workingmen's Party to compete in local and state elections. the party also supported the right of workers to organize labor unions which were groups of workers who unite together to seek better pay and conditions. In 1834 and 1836, the Lowell Mill girls held strikes when their employers cut their wages and increased their chargers for boarding. -
Morse Improves Communication
In 1837, Samuel F.B. Morse invented the telegraph, which allowed electrical pulses to travel long distances along metal wires as coded signals. The dots and dashes is called Morse code. Before the telegraph was invented, messages could only be delivered as fast as a horse or ship could carry a letter. But with Morse's invention, messages could be delivered instantly.
