-
Jamestown
The first sucessful English settlement was Jamestown. This began the colonization of what would become the United States of America. The encounters between these settlers and the Native Americans sparked future conflicts with natives that would last for centuries. Also, this first permenant settlement shaped the cultural and politcal identity of America as it yearned for independence from the motherland. -
Indians of Virginia
James Wooldridge finishes the painting, Indians of Virginia without ever leaving England. -
Mrs. Theodore Atkinson (Frances Deering Wentworth)
John Singleton Copley paints a portrait of Mrs. Theodore Atkinson Jr. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris ended the American Revolutionary War and finalized the United State's independence from Britain. After this event the people of the United States sought to find their own truly American identity and did this by moving westward toward expansion. -
Louisiana Purchase
The purchase of the Louisiana Territory from Spain marked the expansion of the United States on an exponential scale. it nearly doubled the current size of the United States prior to the purchase. It clearly defined America's goal of creating a nation that stretched throughout an entire continent. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 ends on Feb. 18, 1815. Its effect is the acquisition of Native American lands and speedied indian's confinement onto reservations and a decline in the traditional way of Native American culture. This was caused by a influx of settlers moving farther west to the land gained from the war. -
The Husdon River School
The Hudson River School was a mid-19th century American artistic movement that was made up of American landscape painters. Their views toward the beauty of the natural world was influenced by Romanticism ideas. The painter of Kindred Spirits, Asher Brown Durand, was a member of the Hudson River School. -
Completion of the Erie Canal
The completion of the Erie Canal aided greatly to the expansion of the United States because it connected rual farmland to cities where products could be sold and shipped off. The canal opened the Hudson River Valley area to further trade and communication with large port cities on the eastern seaboard. It aslo certified New York City as the epicenter of trade in the United States. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was passed by Congress to take the land of the "Five Civilized Tribes" of the South. Those who supported the law were in favor of taking the Native American land so that they could farm it and reap a profit. -
Kindred Spirits
Asher Brown Durand paints Kindred Spirits as a tribute to his friend Thomas Cole. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is not set to an exact date, but is rather an idea that stretched throughout the entire 19th century. It is the belief that if God did not want the United States to acquire all of the land in the west then why did he allow them to have it? Within this belief Native Americans were just seen as obstacles in the way of the people of the United State's inheriting their god given right to own land. -
Homestead Act of 1862
President Abraham Lincoln signed the Homestead Acts as a way to encourage people to settle into western land. Applicants were granted 160 acres to setttle on and farm as they please.
