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Period: 1400 to
European Exploration
One of the main purposes for the European Exploration was that they wanted to find a new sea route to Asia, knowledge, to spread Christianity, wealth and glory, and spices. This exploration caused the spread of diseases like smallpox, black spots, etc.. -
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Slavery
The main purpose of slavery was to rid onself of work and force the hideous labor upon someone else. Since the time of our more primitive era, societies have taken slaves from war and conquest and forced them to do their workaday task. European merchants initiated the transatlantic slave trade, purchasing enslaved Africans from West African kingdoms and transporting them to Europe’s colonies in the Americas. -
Triangular Trade
Triangular trade is a trade between three ports or regions. It usually evolves when a region has export commodities that are not required in the region from which its major imports come. It helped to create an interconnected Atlantic World because goods, ideas, and people were transferred between the continents. -
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Revolutionary War
The Revolutionary War secured a United States of America independence from Great Britain. This war arose from growing tensions between residents of Great Britain’s 13 North American colonial governments. There were up to 25,000 freed blacks and slaves that fought on both sides. -
Declaration of Independence
The formal Declaration of Independence established the new American revolutionary government and officially declared war against Great Britain. The primary purpose of the declaration was to assist the Second Continental Congress in obtaining aid from foreign countries. It also mentions that God made all men equal and gave them the rights of life, liberty, and the primary source of happiness. -
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Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain. It was also the first written constitution of the United States. It provides a legal symbol of their union by giving the central government no coercive power over the states or their citizens. -
Constitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. The main purpose of the Constitution is to limit the power of the government such that the rights of the citizens are protected from government abuse. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation’s first constitution. -
Brown vs. Board of Education
In Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled unanimously that racial segregation in public schools violated the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The 1954 decision declared that separate educational facilities for white and African American students were inherently unequal. This was a turning point in the history of race relations in the United States. -
Invention of the Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin in 1794. The cotton gin is a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. By the mid-19th century, cotton had become America’s leading export. -
Invention of the Steamboat
Steamboats proved a popular method of commercial and passenger transportation along the Mississippi River and other inland U.S. rivers in the 19th century. Their relative speed and ability to travel against the current reduced the time and expense of shipping. large, flat-bottomed boat used to transport cargo. Steamboats revolutionized transportation in America by allowing easy travel upriver. -
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War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a conflict fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America. This war pitted the young United States in a war against Great Britain, from whom the American colonies had won their independence in 1783. This war changed the course of American history. -
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Trail of Tears
Trail of Tears refers to the difficult journeys that the Five Tribes took during their forced removal from the southeast during the 1830s and 1840s. The Cherokee, Creek, Choctaw, Chickasaw, and Seminole were all marched out of their ancestral lands to Indian territory, or present Oklahoma. It is over 5,043 miles long and covers nine states. -
Westward Movement
This movement was created due to the population growth in the eastern states, availability of cheap, fertile land, economic opportunities, gold, logging, farming, freedom for runaway slaves, and spreading manifest destiny. The consequences of the Westward Expansion include purchases, wars, trails, compromises, and impacts on social groups. This expansion provided the United States with vast natural resources and ports along the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts for expanding trade. -
Dred Scott Decision
This was the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling that living in a free state and territory did not entitle an enslaved, Dred Scott, to his freedom. The decision actually argued that, as someone’s property, Scott was not a citizen and could not sue in a federal court. -
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Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States between the Union and the Confederacy. The main cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican-American War. It was a war that saw many “firsts” that included America’s first income tax, the first battle between ironclad ships, the first extensive use of black soldiers and sailors in U.S. service, and many more. -
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World War l
The immediate cause of the World War l was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary. This war introduced the world to the horrors of trench warfare and lethal new technologies such as poison, gas, and tanks. The Allies won World War l after four years of combat and the deaths of some 8.5 million soldiers. -
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Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. This depression began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. This was the world's worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. -
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World War ll
This was the most destructive war in history and millions of people were killed. It was fought between the Axis (Germany, Japan, and Italy) and the Allies (Britain, the U.S. and the Soviet Union among others). The war began when Germany invaded Poland. -
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Korean War
The Korean War was a war fought between North Korea and South Korea. The war began when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. The Korean War was the first battle of the Cold War. There were a total of 16 nations of the United Nations that went to war against North Korea under the command of the United States. -
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Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was a civil rights protest during which African Americans refused to ride city buses in Montgomery, Alabama, to protest segregated seating. The boycott took place from December 5, 1955, to December 20, 1956, and is regarded as the first large-scale U.S. demonstration against segregation. The Montgomery bus boycott was a 13-month mass protest that ended with the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that segregation on public buses is unconstitutional. -
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Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a long, costly and divisive conflict that pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The conflict was intensified by the ongoing Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union. Some causes of the war were the spread of communism during the Cold War, American containment, and European imperialism in Vietnam. -
I Have a Dream Speech
In his “I Have a Dream” speech, minister and civil rights activist Martin Luther King Jr. outlines the long history of racial injustice in America and encourages his audience to hold their country accountable to its own founding promises of freedom, justice, and equality. The purpose of the speech was to address the issues of segregation and racism as a whole. He encourages the use of non-violent protests and to fight for equality to help America solve the issue.