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1800 BCE
Maya Caste System
The Maya social classes was a system of political organization. The hierarchy was ahau(kings), nobles, priests, merchants, artisans, peasants and slaves. The Maya civilization was all under the Ahau who were perceived as the ruler who made policies used in the state that were applied to both the state and foreign relations, while being assisted by the state council, consisting of "leading chiefs, priests, and special counselors". -
Period: 1800 BCE to
Beginnings to Exploration
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1200 BCE
Beginning of New World Agriculture
Mesoamerican architecture is the set of architectural traditions produced by pre-columbian cultures and civilizations of Mesoamerica. These traditions are best known through the public, ceremonials and urban monumental buildings and structures. Many different styles were brought together into the Mesoamerican architecture through the thousands of years they spent with an intensive cultural exchange between the different cultures of the Mesoamerican culture area. -
753 BCE
Rome: Conquest of Europe
The history of Rome cannot be mention without its military history over the roughly thirteen centuries that the Roman state existed. The Roman Empire conquered all of what now is considered Western Europe. Conquered by the Roman military and established the Roman way of life. The main countries conquered were England/Wales (aka Britannia), Spain (Hispania), France ( Gaul or Gallia), Greece (Achaea), the Middle East (Judea) and the North African coastal region. -
1346
The Black Death
The Black Death was one of the most devastating pandemics in human history, resulting in the deaths of an estimated 75 to 200 million people in Eurasia and in Europe from 1346 to 1353. The plague was called bacterium Yersinia pestis, resulting in several forms of the plague. The Black Death plague caused a series of religious, social, and economic disruption, which had a great and powerful impact on the course of European history moving forward. -
1492
Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, navigator, and colonizer. He was born on October, 1451 in the Republic of Genoa, Italy. Columbus made four trips across the Atlantic Ocean from Spain: in 1492, 1493, 1498, and 1502. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, he never did, however, he discovered the "New World" where millions of people already lived there. His discovery marked the beginning of centuries of transatlantic conquest and colonization. -
1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas, was an agreement between Spain and Portugal aimed at settling conflicts over lands newly or explored by Christopher Columbus and any other late 15th-century voyagers. This agreement was officially signed in June 7, 1494. In this treaty the Spanish born pope Alexander VI issued Spain exclusive rights to all newly discovered and undiscovered lands in the region west of the line. Portuguese got everything to the east of the line. -
1503
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was born in April 15, 1452 and died in May 2, 1519. He was more commonly known as Leonardo da Vinci and he was an Italian Renaissance polymath who had many interests and hobbies but was mostly known for his art and science capabilities. One of his most famous works, The Mona Lisa, was regarded highly as a master piece and still is today. The Mona Lisa painting is considered the most valuable painting in the world sitting at $800 million american dollars. -
Chesapeake Colonies
The Chesapeake Colonies were the Colony and Dominion of Virginia, later the Commonwealth of Virginia, and Province of Maryland, later Maryland, both colonies located in British America and centered on the Chesapeake Bay. The Chesapeake colonies had a one crop economy that was based on tobacco. The English increasingly used tobacco products, tobacco in the American colonies became significant economic force, especially in the tidewater region surrounding the Chesapeake Bay. -
Triangular Trade
The Triangular Trading System is the transatlantic slave trade, that operated from the late 16th to early 19th centuries, carrying slaves, cash crops, and manufactured goods between West Africa, Caribbean or American Colonies and the European colonial powers, with the northern colonies of British North America, especially New England, sometimes taking over the role of Europe. The use of African slaves was fundamental in growing cash crops which is why they were in such high demand. -
The Atlantic Slave Trade
The Atlantic Slave Trade involved the transportation by slave trades of enslaved African people, mainly from Africa to the Americans, and then they are sold there. The slave trade used mainly the triangular trade route and its Middle Passage, and existed from the 16th century to the 19th centuries. The vast majority of those who were enslaved and transported in the transatlantic slave trade were Africans from central and western Africa, who had been sold by other West Africans. -
Period: to
English Colonial Societies
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Period: to
Colonial America
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Tobacco
In 1612 John Rolfe, an Englishman sent with the Virginia Company found that tobacco would grow well in Virginia and sell profitably in England. The Jamestown colonists were excited because their farming efforts with other crops failed, but now with tobacco they can actually farm and make a profit off their crop. Dominating the Virginia economy after 1622, tobacco remained the staple of the Chesapeake colonies, and its phenomenal rise is one of the most remarkable aspects of our colonial history. -
The Mayflower Compact
The 1620 agreement later known as the Mayflower Compact was a legal instrument that bounded the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England. In the meantime, on November 11, 1620 needing to maintain order and establish a civil society while they waited for this new patent, the adult passengers signed the Mayflower Compact. John Quincy Adams described it as a positive, original, social compact that is believed to have influenced the Deceleration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. -
New England Colonies
The New England Colonies of British America included Connecticut colony, Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations, Massachusetts Bay Colony, and Province of New Hampshire, as well as few smaller short lived colonies. The land in the New England Colonies was not fertile like the Middle or Southern colonies, but the land provided rich resources, including lumber that was valued for building homes and ships. Lumber was also a resource that could be exported back to England, due to shortage -
Indentured Servants Rebellion
Indentured servants were men and women who signed a contract by which they agreed to work for a certain number of years in exchange for transportation to Virginia and, once they arrived, food, clothing, and shelter. They rebelled because of the hard conditions they were enduring under their contractors/masters.Indentured servants both black and white joined the frontier rebellion and seeing them united in a cause alarmed the ruling class. It was alarming because the racial line could disappear. -
English Bill of Rights
The 1689 English Bill of Rights was a British Law, passed by the Parliament of Great Britain in 1689 that declared the rights and liberties of the people and settling the succession in William III and Mary II following the Glorious Revolution of 1688 when James II was deposed. The law established a constitutional monarchy in Great Britain.The English Bill put in place a constitutional form of government in which the rights and liberties of the individual were protected under English law. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem Witch trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem Village, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. As this spread through the colonies a special court convened in Salem to hear the cases. The first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged that June. The Massachusetts General Court later annulled guilty verdicts against "witches" but the bitterness of what they had done lingered in Salem. -
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin was born in 1706 and was one of the Founding Father of the United States. He was many things and one of them was a scientist. He was major in the American Enlightenment and the history of physics for his discoveries and theories regarding electricity. As an inventor, he is known for the lightning rod, bifocals, and the Franklin stove, among other inventions. He earned the title of "The First American" for his early and indefatigable campaigning for colonial unity. -
Act of Union(1707)
The Acts of Union were two Acts of Parliament, the Union with Scotland Act 1706 passed by the Parliament of England, and the Union with England Act passed in 1707 by the Parliament of Scotland. This Act lead to the creation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. The Treaty of Union consisted of 25 articles addressing various aspects of merging the two nations. Fifteen of those pertained to economic while the other 10 addressed the inclusion of Scottish representatives in the House of Lords. -
George Whitfield
George Whitfield was born in December 27, 1714 and was an English Anglican cleric who was one of the founders of Methodism and the evangelical movement. Born in Gloucester, he matriculated in Pembroke College at the University of Oxford in 1732. There he joined the "Holy Club" and was introduced to the Wesley brothers, John and Charles, with whom he would work closely in his later ministry. Whitfield preached a series of revivals that came to be known as the "Great Awakening. -
Fort William Henry
Fort William Henry was a British fort at the southern end of Lake George, in the province of New York. It is best known as the site of notorious atrocities committed by the Huron tribes against the surrendered British and provincial troops following a successful French siege in 1757. The fort severed as a staging ground for attacks against the French fort at Crown Point called Fort St, Frederic. It was part of a chain of forts from both sides along the waterway from New York City to Montreal. -
Treaty of Paris- 1763
The Treaty of Paris of 1763 ended the seven year was also known as the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France, as well as their respective allies. In the terms of the treaty, France gave up all its territories in mainland North America, effectively ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there. Peace talks raised 7 years into the war between France and Great Britain and both agreed to talk because the war had become too costly for both sides. -
Period: to
The Revolutionary War
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Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's paper, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publication, and even playing cards were taxed. This act brought upon the First Congress of the American Colonies. This was the first gathering of elected representatives from several of the American colonies to devise the taxes that were imposed. -
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was born in January 1, 1735 and was an American silversmith, engraver, early industrialist, and Patriot in the American Revolution. He is best known for his midnight to alert the colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord. Paul Revere also served as a Massachusetts militia officer, though his service ended after the Penobscot Expedition, one of the most disastrous campaigns of the American Revolutionary War. -
Boston Tea Party
On the night of December 16, 1773, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty boarded three ships in the Boston harbor and thew 342 chests of tea overboard. This resulted in the passage of the punitive Coercive Acts in 1774 and pushed the two sides closer to war. Great Britain was taxing the colonies in any way they could because they were making them pay for the costly French and Indian war. However, the colonies resisted these taxes because they didn't have a say in the British parliament. -
Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry was born in May 29, 1736 and was best known for his Second Virginia Convention in 1775. "Give Me Liberty, or Give Me Death!" As founding father, he served as the first and sixth post-colonial Governor of Virginia, from 1776 to 1779 and from 1784-1786. Henry was elected to the Virginia House of Burgesses, where he quickly became notable for his inflammatory rhetoric against he Stamp Act f 1765. He also served as a delegate to the First and Second Continental Congresses. -
Common Sense
Common Sense was written by Thomas Paine in 1775-1776 advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. Written in clear and persuasive prose, Paine marshaled moral and political arguments to encourage common people in the Colonies to fight for egalitarian government. It was published anonymously on January 10, 1776 at the beginning of the American Revolutionary war, and became an immediate sensation. -
The Declaration of Independence
The United States Declaration of Independence is the statement adopted is the Second Continental Congress meeting at the Pennsylvania State House in Philadelphia on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, regarded themselves as thirteen independent sovereign states, no longer under British rule. These states would found a new nation- The United States of America. John Adams was a leader in pushing for independence, which was passed on July 2 with no opposing vote cast. -
Period: to
The Constitution
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Battle of Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga marked the climax/turning point of the Saratoga campaign, giving a decisive victory to the Americans over the British in the American Revolutionary War. British General John Burgoyne led a large invasion army southward from Canada in the Champlain Valley,hoping to meet a similar British force marching northward from New York City but instead was surrounded by American forces in upstate New York.He fought two small battles to break which took place 18 days apart but failed. -
Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation, formally the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first constitution. It was approved, after much debate, by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777,and sent to the states for ratification. The Articles of Confederation came into force on March 1, 1781, after being ratified by all 13 states,they were about preserving and sovereignty of the states. -
Shays Rebellion
Shays' Rebellion is the name given to a series of protests in 1786 and 1787 by American farmers against state and local enforcement of tax collections and judgments for debt. Although farmers took up arms in states from New Hampshire to South Carolina, the rebellion was most serious in Massachusetts, where bad harvests, economic depression, and high taxes threatened farmers with the loss of their farms. The rebellion got its name from its symbolic leader, Daniel Shays of Massachusetts. -
Three Branches
The three branches of government were established at the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia in 1787. The constitution created the 3 branches of government Legislative, Executive, and Judicial. The Legislative Branch's duty is to make the laws, and Congress is made up of two houses, Senate and the House of Representatives. The Executive Branch's duty is to enforce the laws. The Judicial Branch's duty is to interpret the laws and see if they are constitutional or not and can veto that law. -
Anti-Federalists
The Anti-Federalism group refers to a movement that opposed the creation of a stronger U.S. federal government and which later opposed the ratification of the 1787 Constitution. The previous constitution, called the Articles of Confederation, gave state governments more authority. Led by Patrick Henry of Virginia. Anti-Federalists worried that the position of president might evolve into a monarchy. The Anti-Federalists influence helped lead to the passage of the United States Bill of Rights. -
Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place from May 25 to September 17, 1787, in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although the Convention was intended to revise the Articles of Confederation, the intention from the outset of many of its proponents.They presented two main plans which were the Virginia and the New Jersey plan. The Virginia plan wanted more power to the states with greater population while the New Jersey plan gave an equal vote among the states. They ended up merging them. -
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance, was formally an Ordinance for the Government of the Territory of the United States, North-West of the River Ohio, and also known as The Ordinance of 1787, was an act of the Congress of the Confederation of the United Sates, passed July 13, 1787. This Ordinance chartered a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states to the Union from the territory, and listed a bill or rights guaranteed in the territory. -
Election of 1788
The United States presidential election of 1788-1789 was the first presidential election. It was conducted under the new United States Constitution, which had been ratified earlier in 1788. In the election, George Washington was unanimously elected for the first of his two terms as president, and John Adams became the first Vice President. George Washington was the first President of the United States of America under the newly established Constitution. -
Period: to
New Republic
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Federalists
The Federalists Party was the first American political party. It existed from the early 1790's to 1816. The Federalists called for a strong national government that promoted economic growth and fostered friendly relationships with Great Britain, as well as opposition to revolutionary France. The party controlled the federal government until 1801, when it was overwhelmed by the Democratic-Republican opposition led by Thomas Jefferson. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion also known as the Whiskey Insurrection was a tax protest in the United States beginning in 1791 during the presidency of George Washington. The so-called "whiskey tax" was the first tax imposed on a domestic product by the newly formed federal government under the constitution.It became law in 1791 and was intended to generate revenue for the war debt incurred during the Revolutionary War.The tax was applied on the whiskey because it was the most popular distilled beverage. -
Bank of the United States
First Bank of the United States, was a national bank,chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791.Establishment of the Bank of the United States was part of a three part expansion of federal fiscal and monetary power, along with a federal mint and excise taxes championed by Alexander Hamilton, first Secretary of the Treasury.Hamilton believed a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nations credit, and to improve handling of business. -
Jay's Treaty
The Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, between his Britannic Majesty and United States of America, commonly known as the Jay's Treaty, was a 1795 treaty between the United States and Great Britain that averted a war, resolved issues remaining since the Treaty of Paris of 1783 and facilitated ten years of peaceful trade between the United States and Britain in the midst of the French Revolutionary Wars. It was designed by Alexander Hamilton and supported by President George Washington. -
Washington's Farewell Address
The final address by George Washington to his fellow citizens as he was leaving the presidency. In the midst of building hostilities, Washington decided to resign from office after his second term. On September 19, 1760 the American Daily Advertiser published Washington's Farewell Address to the nation. The basic premise of the address was condemnation of political parties. He also heavily advised for the United States of America to not make any permanent alliances with foreign countries. -
Period: to
The Age of Jefferson
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Judiciary Act of 1801
The Judiciary Act of 1801 reduced the size of the Supreme Court from six justices to five and eliminated the justices' circuit duties. To replace the justices on circuit the act created sixteen judgeships for six judicial circuits.The U.S circuit courts over which the new judges were to preside gained jurisdiction over all cases arising under the Constitution and acts of the United States.This idea to have circuit and district courts inspired citizens to rely on federal rather than state courts. -
Jefferson Administration
The presidency of Thomas Jefferson began on March 4, 1801, when he was inaugurated as the third President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1809. During his two terms in office the U.S. purchased the Louisiana Territory which doubled the size of the U.S. Lewis and Clark explored the vast new acquisition. This expedition, known today as the Corps of Discovery, lasted from 1804 to 1806 and provided valuable information about the geography, American Indian tribes, animal, and plant life. -
Period: to
Westward Expansion
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Cotton Gin
The cotton gin was invented in 1793 and was created by Eli Whitney. A cotton gin is a machine that quickly and easily separates cotton fibers from their seeds, allowing for much greater productivity than manual cotton separation. The fibers are then processed into various cotton goods such as linens, wile any undamaged cotton is used largely for textiles like clothing. Seeds may be used to grow more cotton or to produce cottonseed oil. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson on December 22, 1807. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. It was against Great Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars. The Embargo was imposed in response to violations of the United States neutrality, in which American merchantmen and their cargo were seized as contraband of war by the belligerent European navies. -
War of 1812
In the War of 1812, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain. The causes of this war were the British attempts to restrict U.S. trade, the Royal Navy's impressment of American seamen and America's desire to expand its territory. The American troops were able to repulse British invasions in New York, Baltimore and New Orleans, boosting confidence and a new spirit of patriotism.The Treaty of Ghent in 1815 ended the war but left contentious question unresolved. -
Francis Scott Key
Francis Scott Key was an American lawyer, author, and amateur poet from Frederick, Maryland. Later in Georgetown D.C., near Washington D.C. he wrote the lyrics for a poem entitled at first "The Defense of Fort McHenry", which when set to an old English gentlemen's society tune, eventually it became the United States' national anthem, "The Star-Spangled Banner". -
Period: to
The American Industrial Revolution
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Panic of 1819
The Panic of 1819 was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the United States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821. The Panic announced the transition of the nation from its colonial commercial status with Europe toward an independent economy, increasingly characterized by the financial and industrial imperatives of central ban monetary policy, making it susceptible to boom and bust cycles. -
Missouri Crisis
The Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. Admission of Missouri as a slave state would upset that balance. It would also set a precedent for congressional acquiescence in the expansion of slavery. -
The Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a Protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The movement began around 1790, gained momentum by 1800 and, after 1820, membership rose rapidly among Baptist and Methodist congregations whose preachers led the movement. It was past its peak by the late 1850's. The Second Great Awakening reflected Romanticism characterized by enthusiasm, emotion, and an appeal to the super-natural. -
Period: to
Cultural Changes
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Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was a United Sates policy of opposing European colonialism in The Americas beginning in 1823. It stated that further efforts by European nation to take control of any independent state in North or South America would be viewed as "the manifestation of an unfriendly disposition toward the United States". At the same time, the doctrine noted that the U.S. would recognize and not interfere with existing European colonies nor meddle in the internal concerns of European countries. -
Election of 1824
In the United States presidential election of 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected President on February 9, 1825, after the election was decided by the House of Representatives. In this election, the Democratic-Republican Party splintered as four separate candidates sought the presidency. Such splintering had not yet lead to formal party organization, but later the faction led by Andrew Jackson would evolve into the Democratic Party. -
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was an American statesmen who served as a diplomat, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, and the sixth President of the United States from 1825 to 1829. He was a member of the Federalists, Democratic-Republican, National Republican, and later the Anti-Masonic and Whigs parties. He was the son of President John Adams and Abigail Adams and thus contributed to the formation of the Adams political family. -
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was an American soldier and statesman who served as the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, Jackson gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of Congress. As president, Jackson sought to advance the rights of the "common man" against a "corrupt aristocracy" and to preserve the Union. Jackson became a lawyer in the Western District of North Carolina and married Rachel Donelson Robards. -
Period: to
Age of Jackson
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Charles Grandison Finney
Charles Grandison Finney was an American Presbyterian minister and leader in the Second Great awakening in the United States. He has been called "The Father of Modern Revivalism". Finney was best known as an innovative revivalist during the period 1825-1835 in upstate New York and Manhattan, an opponent of Old School Presbyterian theology, an advocate of Christian perfectionism, and a religious writer. -
John C. Calhoun
John C. Calhoun was an American statesman and political theorist from South Carolina, and the seventh Vice President of the United States from 1825 to 1832. He is remembered for strongly defending slavery and for advancing the concept of minority rights in politics, which he did in the context of defending white Southern interests from perceived Northern threats. He began is political career as a nationalists, modernizer, and proponent of a strong national government and protective tariffs. -
Election of 1828
The United States presidential election of 1828 was the 11th quadrennial election, held from Friday, October 31, to Tuesday, December 2, 1828. It featured a re-match between incumbent President John Quincy Adams, and Andrew Jackson, who won a plurality of the electoral college votes in the 182 election. With no other major candidates, Jackson and his chief ally Martin Van Buren consolidated their bases in the South and New York and easily defeated Adams. -
Henry Clay
Henry Clay Sr. was an American lawyer, planter, and statesman who represented Kentucky in both the United States Senate and House of Representatives. After serving three non-consecutive terms as Speaker of the House of Representatives,Clay helped elect John Quincy Adams as president,and Adams subsequently appointed Clay as Secretary of State. Clay served four separate terms in the Senate, including stints from 1831 to 1842 and from 1849 to 1852. He was elected Secretary of State by John Q Adams. -
Slums
Slums and Tenements were new technology and inventions transformed an agriculture and commercial way of life in the 19th century into an industrial society. The Industrial Revolution changed families and lifestyles. Factories drew workers away from their homes and into large cities. These were mostly known as an inferior multi-family housing in highly populated urban areas. This is usually old and heavily occupied by lower class citizens. -
Lowell Mills
Lower Mills refers to the many mills that operated in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Francis Cabot Lowell invented the first factory system "where people and machines were all under one roof." A series of mills and factories were built along the Merrimack River by the Boston Manufacturing Company, an organization founded in years prior by the man for whom the resulting city was named. -
Free-Black Communities
"Black Founders: The Free Black Community in the Early Republic" examines the activities of newly-freed African Americans in the North as they struggled to forge organizations and institutions to promote their burgeoning communities and to attain equal rights in the face of slavery and racism. Some of the most vibrant, dynamic, and influential black communities in the United States were in Philadelphia fighting against the white supremacy and oppression of blacks. -
Changes in Transportation
The growth of the Industrial Revolution depended on the ability to transport raw materials and finished goods over long distances. There were three main types of transportation that increased during the Industrial Revolution:waterways,roads,and railroads.The waterways were used by steamboats to carry large amounts of resources up river to other cities. \The roads were used by to connect cities and allowed merchants to travel on them to trade. Railroads were for transporting people and resources. -
Nat Turner’s Rebellion
Nat Turner's Rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, during August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, rebel slaves killed from 55 to 65 people, the largest and deadliest slave uprising in U.S. history. The rebellion was put down within a few days, but Turner survived in hiding for more than two months afterwards. The rebellion was effectively suppressed at Belmont Plantation on the morning of August 23, 1831. -
Tariff Act of 1832
The Tariff of 1832 was a protectionist tariff in the United States. Enacted under Andrew Jackson's presidency, it was largely written by former President John Quincy Adams, who had been elected to the House of Representatives and appointed chairman of the Committee on Manufactures. It reduced the existing tariffs to remedy the conflict created by the tariff of 1828, but it was still deemed unsatisfactory by some in the South, especially in South Carolina. -
American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS)
The American Anti-Slavery Society (AASS) was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, and Arthur Tappan. Frederick Douglas, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meeting. William Wells Brown was also a freed slave who often spoke at meetings. By 1838, the society had 1,350 local charters with around 250,000 members. -
New York Female Reform Society
The New York Female Moral Reform Society(NYFMRS) was established in 1834 under the female leadership of Lydia A. Finney, wife of revivalist Charles Grandison Finney.The NYFMRS was created for the fundamental purpose of preventing prostitution in early 19th century New York.Moral reform became a prominent issue in America during the 1830s and 1840s and many organizations were created during this time to eliminate prostitution and the sexual double standard,and to also encourage sexual abstinence. -
Election of 1836
The United States presidential election of 1836 was the 13th quadrennial presidential election, held from Thursday, November 3, to Wednesday, December 7, 1836. As the third consecutive election for the Democratic Party, it ushered incumbent Vice President Martin Van Buren into the White House with 170 electoral votes to 124 electoral votes for William Henry Harrison and other Whigs. The popular vote was won by Buren but only by 26 thousand votes. -
Edgar Allen Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre.He is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism is the United States and American literature as a whole,and he was one of the country's earliest practitioners of the short story.Poe is generally considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre and is further credited with contributing to the emergence of Sci-Fi. -
Telegraph
The Telegraph is the long distance transmission of textual or symbolic messages without the physical exchange of an object bearing the message. The Telegraph requires that the method used for encoding the message be known to both sender and receiver. Many methods are designed according to the limits of the signalling medium used. The use of smoke signals. beacons, reflected light signals, and flag semaphore signals are early examples. -
Stephen F. Austin
Stephen Fuller Austin was an American empresario. Known as the "Father of Texas", and the founder of Texas, he led the second, and ultimately,the successful colonization of the region by bringing 300 families from the United States to the region in 1825.Born in Virginia and raised in southeastern Missouri, Austin served in the Missouri territorial legislature before moving to Arkansas Territory and later Louisiana.His father, Moses Austin, received an empresario grant from Spain to settle Texas. -
William Miller
William Miller was an American Baptist preacher, is credited with beginning the mid-19th century North American religious movement known as the Millerites. After his prophecies of the Second Coming did not occur as expected in the 1840's, new heirs of his message emerged, including the Advent Christians (1860) and the Seventh-day Adventists (1863). Later movements found inspiration in Miller's emphasis on Bible prophecy; the Baha'i Faith holds that his prediction of 1844 events were accurate. -
Election of 1844
The United States presidential election of 1844 was the 15th quadrennial presidential election,held from November 1, to December 4, 1844. Democratic James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas.Incumbent President John Tyler's pursuit of Texas annexation threatened to undermine the unity of both the Whig and the Democratic parties, as the annexation would expand the institution of slavery. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny is the term for the attitude prevalent during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States not only could, but was destined to, stretch from coast to coast. This attitude helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal and war with Mexico. The phrase was first employed by John L. O'Sullivan in an article to the annexation of Texas published in the July-August 1845 edition of the U.S. Magazine and Democratic Review, which he edited. -
Bear Flag Revolt
During the Bear Flag Revolt, from June to July 1846, a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. The republic was short-lived because soon after the Bear Flag was raised, the U.S. military began occupying California, which went on to join the union in 1850. The Bear Flag became the official state flag in 1911. -
Battle of Palo Alto
On May 8, 1846, shortly before the United States formally declared war on Mexico, General Zachary Taylor (1784-1850) defeated a superior Mexican force in the Battle of Palo Alto. The battle took place north of the Rio Grande River near present-day Brownsville, Texas. Taylor’s victory, along with a series of subsequent victories against the Mexicans, made him a war hero. In 1848, he was elected America’s 12th president. -
California Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought some 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. The sudden influx of immigration and gold into the money supply reinvigorated the American economy, and California became one of the few American states to go directly to statehood without first being a territory, in the Compromise of 1850. -
Period: to
Sectionalism
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Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, signed n February 2, 1848, ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a territorial dispute involving Texas. The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, and Wyoming. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas. -
Sam Houston
Sam Houston was an American soldier and politician. His victory at the Battle of San Jacinto secured the independence of Texas from Mexico in one of the shortest decisive battles in modern history. He was also the only governor within a future Confederate state to oppose secession and to refuse an oath of allegiance to the Confederacy, a decision that led to his removal from office by the Texas secession convention. -
Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Law or Fugitive Slave Act was passed by the United States Congress on September 18, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 between Southern slave-holding interests and Northern Free-Soldiers. Abolitionists nicknamed it the "Bloodhound Law" for the dogs that were used to track down runaway slaves. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 consists of five laws passed in September of 1850 that dealt with the issue of slavery. IN 1849 California requested permission to enter the Union as a free stat, potentially upsetting the balance between the free and slave states in the U.S. senate. Senator Henry Clay introduced a series of resolutions on January 29, 1850, in an attempt to seek a compromise and avert a crisis between North and South. -
Election of 1852
The United States presidential election of 1852 was the seventeenth quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 2, 1852. It bore important similarities to the election of 1844. Once again, the incumbent president was a Whig who had succeeded to the presidency upon the death of his war-hero predecessor. In this case, it was Millard Fillmore who followed General Zachary Taylor. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed by the U.S Congress on May 30, 1854. It allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery withing their borders. The Act served to repeal the Missouri Compromise of 1820 which prohibited slavery north of latitude 36 30. Basically allowed each territory to decide the issue of slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln was an American statesman and lawyer who served as the 16th President of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the United States through its Civil War-its bloodiest war and perhaps its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. In doing so, he preserved the Union, paved the way for the abolition of slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the economy. -
Election of 1860
United States presidential election of 1860. United States presidential election of 1860, American presidential election held on Nov. 6, 1860, om which Republican Abraham Lincoln defeated Southern Democrat John C. Breckenridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, and Constitutional Union candidate John Bell. The electoral split between Northern and Southern Democrats was emblematic of the severe sectional split, particularly over slavery, and in the months following Lincolns election. -
Northern Cotton Embargo
Cotton diplomacy refers to the diplomatic methods employed by the Confederacy during the American Civil War to coerce the United Kingdom and France to support the Confederate war effort by implementing a cotton trade embargo against the United Kingdom and the rest of Europe.The Confederacy believed that both the United Kingdom and France, who before the war depended heavily on southern cotton for textile manufacturing, would support the Confederate war effort if the cotton trade were restricted. -
Clara Barton
Clarissa Harlowe Barton was a pioneering nurse who founded the American Red Cross. She was a hospital nurse in the American Civil War, a teacher, and patent clerk. Nursing education was not very formalized at that time and Clara did not attend nursing school, so she provided self-taught nursing care. Barton is noteworthy for doing humanitarian work at a time when relatively few women worked outside the home. -
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American Civil War
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The Civil War
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Conscription Act
During the Civil War, the U.S Congress passes a conscription act that produces the first wartime draft of U.S citizens in American history.The act called for registration of all males between the ages of 20 and 45, including aliens with the intention of becoming citizens, by April 1.Exemptions from the draft could be bought for $300 or by finding a substitute draftee.This clause led to bloody draft riots in New York City, where protesters were protesters were angry that it only favored the rich. -
Emancipation Proclamation
On September 22, soon after the Union Victory at Antietam, he issued a preliminary Emancipation Proclamation, declaring that as January 1, 1863, all slaves in the rebellious states "shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free." While the Emancipation Proclamation did not free a single slave, it was an important turning point in the war, transforming the fight to preserve the nation into a battle for human freedom. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg also known as the turning point in the war was fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863. It's considered the most important battle of the American Civil War. The battle was a Union victory that stopped Confederate General Robert E. Lee's second invasion of the North. More than 50,000 casualties were recorded during the 3-day battle, making it the bloodiest battle of the American Civil War or as others call it, the turning point of the war. -
Robert E. Lee
Robert E. Lee was an American and Confederate soldier, best known as a commander of the Confederate States Army. He commanded the Army of Northern Virginia in the American Civil War from 1862 until his surrender in 1865. A son of Revolutionary War officer Henry "Light Horse Harry" Lee III, Lee was a top graduate of the United States Military Academy and an exceptional officer and military engineer in the United States Army for 32 years. -
Ulysses S. Grant
Ulysses S. Grant was a prominent United States Army general during the American Civil War and Commanding general at the conclusion of that war. He was elected as the 18th President of the United States in 1868, serving from 1869 to 1877.As Commanding General, Grant worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army to victory over the Confederacy.After Lincoln's assassination, Grant's assignment in implementing Reconstruction often put him at odds with President Andrew Johnson. -
Freedman’s Bureau
The U.S. Bureau of Refugees, Freedmen and Abandoned Lands, popularly known as the Freedmen’s Bureau, was established in 1865 by Congress to help former black slaves and poor whites in the South in the aftermath of the U.S. Civil War. Some 4 million slaves gained their freedom as a result of the Union victory in the war, which left many communities in ruins and destroyed the South’s plantation-based economy. The Freedmen’s Bureau provided food, housing and medical aid, and established schools. -
KKK
The Ku Klux Klan or better known as the KKK is three distinct movements in the U.S. that have advocated extremist reactionary positions such as white supremacy, white nationalism, anti-immigration and especially in later iterations Nordicism anti-Catholicism and antisemitism. Historically,the KKK used terrorism both physical assault and murder against groups or individuals whom they opposed. All 3 groups have called for the "purification" of American society and all are considered extremist. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. "Formally abolishing slavery in the United States, the 13th Amendment was passed by the Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the states on December 6, 1865. -
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Reconstruction
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Election of 1866
Election of 1866 although not a presidential election, the off-year congressional election of 1866 was in fact a referendum for President Andrew Johnson.By the summer of 1866, Johnson had lost support within the Republican Party for his Reconstruction policies.After a unity meeting of 7000 delegates at the National Union Convention-which met in Philadelphia on August 14-failed to bridge the growing gap between Johnson and the Republicans, the President decided to take the issue to the people. -
Election of 1868
By 1868, Johnson had alienated many of his constituents and had been impeached by Congress. Although Johnson kept his office, his presidency was crippled. After numerous ballots, the Democrats nominated former New York Governor Horatio Seymour to take on the Republican candidate, Civil War general Ulysses S. Grant. Grant was one of the most popular men in the North due to his efforts in concluding the Civil War successfully for the Union. -
Compromise of 1877
After the presidential election of 1876 it became clear that the outcome of the race hinged largely on disputed returns from Florida, Louisiana and South Carolina-the only three states in the South with Reconstruction Republican governments still in power.As a bipartisan congressional commission debated over the outcome early in 1877 allies of the Republican Party candidate Rutherford Hayes met in secret with moderate southern Democrats in order to negotiate acceptance of Hayes election. -
Jim Crow
Jim Crow laws were state and local laws that enforced racial segregation in the Southern United States around the Reconstruction. Enacted by white Democratic-dominated state legislatures in the late 19th century after the Reconstruction period, these laws continued to be enforced until 1965.They mandated racial segregation in all public facilities in the states of the former Confederate States of America, starting in 1896 with a "separate but equal" status for African Americans in railroad cars.
