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476
Fall of The Roman Empire
In 410 C.E., the Visigoths breached the walls of Rome and sacked the capital of the Roman Empire. Christianity became the new religion, which was monotheistic which countered traditional polytheistic Roman religion. -
Period: 500 to Jan 1, 1000
The Dark Ages
The Dark Ages was a period in Western Europe where demographic, cultural and economic deterioration occurred. This period followed the decline of the Roman Empire. -
Period: 1200 to
Beginnings to Exploration
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Period: Jun 20, 1325 to Aug 8, 1521
Tenochtitlan
The city served as the economic, cultural and political center of the Aztec Empire. During the conquest of the conquistadors the city suffered from European diseases and fell to the Spanish. -
1440
Printing Press
The printing press was invented in the Holy Roman Empire by the German Johannes Gutenberg. His printing press developed from the technology of the screw-type wine presses of the Rhine Valley. It was a hand press in which the ink was rolled over the surfaces of movable handset blocks held inside of a wooden form and then pressed against a sheet paper. Gutenberg also printed the world's first book using a movable type called the Gutenberg Bible. -
Jun 7, 1494
Treaty of Tordesillas
The Treaty of Tordesillas divided the New World into land, resources, and people claimed by Spain and Portugal. The line cut through Brazil and divided South America into Spanish and Portuguese territory. -
Period: Jul 7, 1517 to
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was the 16th century religious, political, intellectual and cultural upheaval that splintered Catholic Europe, setting in place new beliefs that would define the continent in the modern Era. Reformers like Martin Luther, John Calvin and Henry VIII challenged papal authority and questioned the Catholic Church's ability to define Christian practice. -
Oct 31, 1517
95 Theses
The "Disputation on the Power of Efficacy of Indulgences" was a list of questions and propositions for debate written by Martin Luther and posted to the door of Wittenberg Castle Church. This was the foundation of the Protestant Reformation. -
Roanoke
A group of colonists from the old world established a colony in the New World. They all disappeared and Roanoke became known as the Lost Colony. It was established in Rhode Island and was the first known British colony. -
English Colonization
England was late corner, they had dynastic issues between Protestants and Catholics. They had also had high prices for wool. England gets into the game, and defeated Spanish Armada in 1588 allowing England to begin naval dominance. They had falling wool prices and complete conquest of Ireland. The first colonies pushed natives away, they had not interaction with others. Queen Elizabeth gives Humphrey Gilbert chart. Settles in present-day new found land. -
Bering Land Bridge
The Bering Land Bridge helped the first Americans cross from Asia to North America. As more people came across more cultural things were brought over. For example, Clovis points, which were spherical tip rocks that were used for hunting larger animals like sloth, giant bison and camels. Most of these animals were extinct because of over hunting, When the glaciers around the bridge starting melting the Bering land bridge started to overflow therefore people could no longer cross. -
The Chesapeake Colonies
The Chesapeake colonies was in Jamestown, Virginia, and Maryland. It started out as a private charter from the English crown in 1606 which was a Virginian company in London. It starts with approximately one-hundred and five settlers, but as the winter months came by only 35 survived because of the cold, bitter weather. the Chesapeake colonies were isolated from the Native Americans. -
Period: to
English Colonial Societies
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Tobacco
Tabacco came to Jamestown from the Caribbean. many people didn't know what it was or how to use it, therefore it made no profit early on. When the Europeans smoked it, they favored it and begin to grow thousands of it and making a huge profit and later industry. This became the main cash crop in the 17th century. Because of this crop flourishing, they needed more workers to tend the crop. Indentured servants worked for bout 4-7 years, participating in hard labor. -
Mayflower Compact
The Mayflower Compact was a legal document that bound the Pilgrims together when they arrived in New England. When they left England they obtained permission from the King to settle land farther south but they decided to stay where they had landed. While waiting for a new patent, the adult male passengers signed the Mayflower Compact in order to maintain order and establish civil society. -
Period: to
Puritans
Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in late 16th Century. The puritans migrated from England and settled the Northern area of the New World. They laid the foundation for the religious, intellectual and social order of New England. -
William Penn
William Penn was an English real estate entrepreneur, philosopher and Quaker of the 17th century. He was the founder of the State of Pennsylvania, the colony and the future Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. He was an early advocate of democracy and religious freedom and tolerance. He is noted for his good relations with Native Americans. Under his direction, the city of Philadelphia was planned and developed. -
Quakers
Many Quakers settled in Rhode Island, due to its policy of religious freedom, as well as the British colony of Pennsylvania which was formed by William Penn in 1681 as a haven for persecuted Quakers. Charles II owed his father a huge debt. To repay the Penns, William was awarded an enormous tract of land in the New World. -
Exploration of the Mississippi River
In February of 1682, La Salle led a new expedition down the Mississippi River. Along the way they built Fort Prod’homme at present-day Memphis, Tennessee. In April, they reached the Gulf of Mexico. La Salle named the region "La Louisiane," in honor of King Louis XIV, and cultivated important military, social and political alliances with Native American tribes in the upper Mississippi River area. On his return trip, La Salle established Fort St. Louis in Illinois. -
Salem Witch Trials
The Salem witch trials were a series of hearings and prosecutions of people accused of witchcraft in colonial Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693. The trials started when the minister's daughter started acting strange. People accused many others in town of witchcraft resulting in the death of many accused individuals. -
The Middle Passage
The Middle Passage refers to the long voyage across the Atlantic that many Africans endure while being traded and transported. The trip took anywhere from three to four months and most individuals lay chained in rows on the ship. They where also held on shelves that ran around the inside of the ships' hulls. The packaging was very uncomfortable and captives from different nations were mixed together which created confusion. -
Sugar
Sugar was the main crop produced on the plantations during the 18th century in the Caribbean Colonies. This region included territories owned by Spain, France, England and Holland. Europeans loved sugar and 4/5ths of the sugar came from British and French colonies in the West Indies. By 1750, sugar surpassed grain as "the most valuable commodity in European trade, it made up a fifth of all European imports. -
Period: to
Colonial America
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The Great Awakening
In the 1730's, a religious revival swept through the British American colonies to what is known as the Great Awakening. It was a religious revitalization movement that swept the Atlantic region, and the American colonies which changed the protestant American religion leaving a permanent impact in the 1730's and 1740's. The Great Awakening resulted from powerful preaching that gave listeners a sense of deep, personal revelation of their need of salvation from Jesus Christ. -
Samuel Davies
Samuel Davies was an evangelical Presbyterian pastor and educator who lived in Hanover Count in the 1740s and 1750s. He played a critical Role in the Great Awakening, when a series of religious revivals eventually lead to the disestablishment of the Church of England as America's official church. Davies was a skilled orator whose sermons were filled with vivid imagery and even influenced future revolutionary and Governor Patrick Henry. -
New England Economy
The climate and geography had a major impact on the trade and economic activities of the New England Colonies. In towns along the coast the colonists made their living off fishing, whaling, and shipbuilding. The fish included cod, mackerel, herring, halibut, hake, bass and sturgeon. Farming was difficult in New England for crops like wheat, therefore they planted crops such as corn, pumpkins, rye, squash and beans were planted. The Northern colonies concentrated on manufacture and ship building. -
The Enlightenment
The enlightenment was influenced by individuals such as the founding fathers who were atheist or deist. The Age of Enlightenment educated populace, religion was less important in this period. Their was a separation between the church and the state and ordinary citizens have more say. This was an intellectual and philosophical movement that dominated the world of ideas in Europe during the 18th Century. It revolved around the scientific method instead of beliefs. -
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France Known as the Seven Years War. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the wars expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution. -
Treaty of Paris 1763
The treaty of Paris of 1763 was a peace treaty that was signed after Britain won the Seven Years War, also known as the French and Indian War between Great Britain and France. France gave up all its territories in North America, ending any foreign military threat to the British colonies there. The British government also wanted to end the war because of finances. -
Period: to
The Revolutionary War
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The Revenue Act
The Revenue Act, also known as the Sugar Act in 1764 was an Act passed by parliament on the American Colonies in order to raise revenue. The Sugar Act replaced the Molasses Act of 1733, reducing the tax on molasses by half, but stepping up the enforcement of tax. The purpose of lowering the tax on molasses was to make people buy them from the British colonies instead of smuggling it from the French and Spanish colonies. The Sugar Act also increased the enforcement of smuggling laws. -
The 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 tariff on every piece of printed paper they used. This included ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications and even playing cards were taxed. This is one of the multiple Acts imposed by the British that will lead America to independence -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, Massachusetts on the Boston harbor in 1773 that was caused by the Tea Act, which put tax on all tea. Three-hundred and forty crates of tea were thrown into the harbor. The main goal was to protest British Parliaments tax on tea. "No taxation without representation." It was also to let Britain and Parliament know that they could no longer use the colonies to their advantage through unjust tariffs. -
The Coercive Acts
The Coercive Acts, also known as the Intolerable Acts consist of four punitive measures enacted by the British Parliament in retaliation for acts of colonial defiance, together with the Quebec Act establishing a new administration for the territory ceded to Britain after the French and Indian War. The Intolerable Acts represented an attempt to reimpose strict British control over the American colonies, but , after 10 years of vacillation the oppression caused the First Continental Congress -
Paul Revere
Paul Revere was a Whig courier and was seen as a hero for his 1775 "Midnight Rid".By 2775, tensions between the American colonies and he British govt. had approached the breaking point. On Joseph Warren's orders on the night of 18th 1775, he crossed the Charles River and rode to Lexington to warn Samuel Adams and John Hancock that British troops were coming through on their way to concord. Revere got the word to the radical leaders, but a British patrol prevented any further progress. -
East India Company
The English East India Company was formed for the exploitation of the trade with East and Southeast Asia and India, incorporated by royal charter on December 31, 1600. Starting as a monopolistic trading body, the company became involved in politics and acted as an agent of British imperialism in India. The Tea Act was designed by Parliament to benefit the EIC and the Americas were the designated recipients of the tea. The act was meant to enforce the EIC's monopoly on tea in the colonies. -
Militias
Militias were also known as Minutemen and were made up of civilian colonists who independently organized to form well-prepared combat groups. They were supposed to be easily gathered within a short notice of time.Militia companies self-trained in weaponry, tactics and military strategies from the American colonial partisan militia during the American Revolutionary War. -
Republicanism
Republicanism is the political value system that has dominated American political thought since the American Revolution. It stresses rights and liberties as central values, makes the people as a while sovereign, rejects aristocracy and inherited political power, expects citizens to be independent and civic minded, and is strongly opposed to corruption. The American version of republicanism was for by the Founding Fathers and it formed the basis for American Revolution and Dec. of Independence -
(A.O.C.) Inability of Congress
In the early Articles of Confederation, Congress had no power to levy or collect taxes. Congress also had no power ti regulate foreign trade or to enforce its laws. Because of this the government went into debt, quarrels broke out among states and trading with other countries was difficult. The government depended on states for law enforcement. Congress also had trouble passing laws because a vote of 9 out of 13 states were needed. -
Period: to
The Constitution
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Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among the 13 original states the United States that served as its first constitution. It was created on November 15, 1777, and ratified March 1, 1781. It established a loose friendship of independent states. Money, laws, power and jurisdiction all varied from state to state. Revenue, military action, and diplomacy did not exist. Their was no central authority, which cause them to be weak and have a constant shortage of funds -
Shay's Rebellion
Shay's Rebellion was the effect of a protest led by Daniel Shay, a Revolutionary War veteran who led four thousand rebels in an uprising against perceived economic and civil rights injustices that were caused by the Revolutionary War. Shay's rebellion was a post-war recession that was bad for everyone because people started to loose farms. The rebellion created a sense of urgency and people thought it wasn't going to end. -
Two Plans: Virginia/New Jersey
The Virginia plan was James Madison's plan of government, in which state got a number of representatives in Congress based on their population. This plan favorites large states with large populations. The New Jersey plan proposed a single-chamber congress in which each state had one vote. Because of conflict between larger states and smaller states we adopted a compromise in which a bicameral house distributes equal representation for each state. House of Representatives and the Senate -
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance, adopted by the Second Continental Congress, chartered a government for the Northwest Territory, provided a method for admitting new states into the Union from the territory, and listed a bill of rights guaranteed in the territory. A new state being admitted to the Union required a congressional appointed governor, secretary and three judges to rule in first phase. Also an elected assembly and one delegate of Congress, when the population reached five thousand free males -
Period: to
New Republic
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George Washington
George Washington was born in 1732 in Virginia and was the son of a prosperous planter. He worked as a surveyor and later fought in the French and Indian War. Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War. During the war he lead colonial forces to victory over the British and became a national Hero. After being elected in 1789 he served two terms as the first U.S. president. He favored a position of neutrality in foreign conflicts and created the Cabinet -
District of Columbia
The District of Columbia, also known as Washington, D.C., is the capital city of the United States, located between Virginia and Maryland on the north bank of the Potomac River. The site was carefully chose by George Washington on Potomac's navigation head (to accommodate oceangoing ships), and near two well-established port cities, Georgetown and Alexandria. The city is home to all three branches of govt, the White House, Supreme Court and Capitol Building. -
Bank of United States
The first Bank of the United States was a national bank chartered for twenty years by the U.S. congress on February 25, 1791. Companion ed by Alexander Hamilton he believed a national bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation's credit, and to improve handling of the financial business of the United States government under the newly enacted Constitution. but it just set off constitutional issues. -
Bill of Rights
In the Bill of Rights their was a guarantee of individual rights and liberties. The Bill of Rights consists of the first ten amendments of the constitution written by James Madison i response to several calls for greater constitutional protection. Anti-Federalists held that a Bill of Rights was necessary to safeguard individual liberty. The Bill of Rights list specific prohibition on governmental power. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was an uprising of farmers and distillers in Western Pennsylvania in protest of a whiskey tax enacted by the federal government. The country suffered from significant debt from the Revolutionary War. Following years of aggression with tax collectors, the region finally exploded in a confrontation that had President Washington respond by sending troops to quell the radical farmers. The rebellion was ended by the militia and is seen as the first national test of America. -
Adams Presidency
The French are angry and recall envoy and seized American ships. Early in the administration of John Adams presidency the XYZ affair happened which was a political and diplomatic episode between France and the United States. The French ignored American envoys. The word got out and undeclared a naval war. The army will triple. -
Election of 1800
The U.S. presidential election of 1800 was the fouth qudrennial presidential election between Thomas Jefferson andJohn Adams, Thomas Jefferson won the leection. The election was the end of the naval war, and it negotiated treaty. Their was a division among federalist, Adams seen it as weak and divided party. Their was Napoleon support against Britain and Spain. -
Period: to
The Age of Jefferson
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Marbury v. Madison
Madison was the secretary of state and withholds nominations and Marbury was the angry appointee that sues, Marbury versus Madison was the most important supreme court case that set up the judicial review. It was the foundation of when white and black kids can start going to school together. The chief justice was John Marshal, the supreme court lacked jurisdiction which gives themselves power -
Louisiana Purchase
Spain will cede Louisiana back to France. Napolean threatens to close New Orleans, therefore Jefferson sends over diplomats to Paris to buy New Orleans. However, Jefferson is all about a strong, limited power of government and buys Louisiana anyway for less than three cents per acre. He secures the Mississippi River and the purchase doubled the size of the nation. -
The Duel
The duel was between Burr and Alexander Hamilton. Duels were illegal, but they did it anyway because it was the culmination of a long and bitter rivalry between the two men. Burr shot Hamilton and wounded him, he died the next day in his bed. Burr is charged and looses his reputation as vice president. Burr becomes the outlaw and the federalist main leader is dead. -
Embargo Act
The Embargo Act of 1807 deprived Britain and France of American goods. It was very unpopular in seaports. James Madison will inherit the Embargo Act, but it will become a big problem. The Embargo Act hurts the economy mostly in the South and the Northeast. This policy will anger the British, therefore, the British will give the natives more guns and supplies. -
Period: to
American Industrial Revolution
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McCulloch Vs. Maryland
McCulloch vs. Maryland was a landmark supreme court case. The supreme court ruled that Congress had implied powers under the constitution to create a second national bank of the United States, and that the state of Maryland lacked the power to tax the bank because states cannot take place of a federal government especially in matters of commerce. -
Panic of 1819
America had an economic boom after the war of 1812. The founding of the Second Bank of the United States fueled economic expansion and speculation. Agriculture prices collapsed in 1819, and the banks failed. The economy went into a tailspin and started to decline. This was one of the worst depressions in the United States' history. It was the first major peacetime financial crisis in the united States followed by a general collapse of the American economy persisting through 1821 -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise set up a balance between slave and free states. It was an imaginary line at thirty-six degrees thirty degrees latitude. The states that were above the line would be free, and the states that were below the line would be slave states. This was just a temporary solution to the Missouri compromise, however slavery had to be dealt with at some point. Their was a guaranteed conflict in the future because of this problem. -
Second Great Awakening
The Second Great Awakening was a protestant religious revival during the early 19th century in the United States. The Second Great Awakening led to the establishment of reform movements to address injustices and alleviate suffering such as the Temperance Movement, the Women suffrage Movement and the Abolitionists Movement in which people advocated for emancipation on religious grounds. Emphasized religious romanticism, making elaborate religious art. -
Mormons
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints led by Joseph Smith. He is the founder of Mormons and was said to find golden tablets in 1823 that were written in an ancient language. They believed native Americans were one of the lost tribes of Israel. They tended to be people who didn't do well in the new market economy. -
Period: to
Cultural Changes
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Steam Engine
Steam power is one of the most important thins in the American industrial Revolution. the creation of the steam engine created may additions to the technology of this time, including steam powered locomotives which are vehicles that run on rails or tracks and are powered by steam. The steam engine wasn't just power trains, it was also used for mining and to pump water from deep areas. -
Election of 1824
In this election, the Democratic-Republican Party splintered as four separate candidates sought the presidency, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay(both sides like him; pragmatist) and William Crawford. Jackson wins popular vote, not electoral college. Adams was chosen to be president by the House of Representative. Jackson angry and bitter because of Adams and Clay's deal(corrupt bargain). -
Period: to
Age of Jackson
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Presidency of John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was an american statesman who served as a diplomat, United States Senator, member of the House of Representatives, and also the sixth President of the U.S.. John Quincy Adams was John Adams' son. While becoming President, Adams chose Clay to be the Secretary of State. however, Jackson and his angry followers charged that a (corrupt bargain) had taken place, and immediately began their campaign to take away the presidency from Adams in 1828. -
Election of 1828
Jackson's (Old Hickory) new strategy was to humble origins and better the military career (battle of new Orleans). Democratic-Republicans faded, second party system, and a modern democratic party. People attack each other as womanizers and attacks Jackson's wife Rachel because of bigamy. People accused Jackson of being a pimp and the election was very nasty. Jackson wins overwhelmingly, first elected by common man. The inauguration was very rowdy. -
Eastern State Penitentiary
The Eastern State Penitentiary was the largest and most expensive former American prison site in Pennsylvania that was known for its strict discipline. It was a prison designed to inspire penitence, or true regret in the hearts of prisoners because Pennsylvania didn't want the punishment of prisoners to be death. In this jail they mad prisoners participate in hard labor. The jails eventually became a detention site for people who have done wrong or have mental illnesses. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
Nat Turner's rebellion was a slave rebellion that took place in Southampton, Virginia in 1831. Nat Turner and a few other slaves killed between fifty-five and sixty-five people starting with his white slave owner, the Travis family. The result of the revolt was that it caused greater fear and stricter enforcement of the slave codes by southern white. Nat Turner ran away, and when found he was tried, convicted and hung. -
Cherokee Trail of Tears
Gold Found. Indian Removal Act of 1830, gave power to president to exchange Indian land. In Worcester vs. George Cherokees have the right to govern for sovereign nation. Scotus gets involved and Jackson refuses to enforce decision under orders from President Jack the U.S. Army began enforcement of the Removal Act. Cherokees were forced to leave and rounded up to go to Tennessee, Ohio, Mississippi and Arkansas Rivers into Indian territory. Many died of starvation and diseases along the way. -
Nullification Crisis
Congress raises import taxes (tariff Act of 1832), put a tax on textiles. South Carolina was affected and it hurt the southern agriculture. John Calhoun (VP), advocated the nullifying law and took Kentucky Resolutions further. He resigned from vice president over this. In the Webster-Haynes Debate, Webster attacked states rights. Denied states could judge constitution. -
John Calhoun VP
John C. Calhoun was the seventh vice president of the United States from 1825 to 1832. Calhoun defended slavery and states rights as a congressman, senator, secretary of war, secretary of state and vice-president. He had political differences with President Andrew Jackson and a desire to fill a vacant Senate seat in South Carolina, therefore Calhoun becomes the first VP in the United States history to resign from office. -
American Anti-Slavery Society
The American Anti-Slavery Society also known as the AASS; in 1833 through 1870 was an abolitionist society founded by William Lloyd Garrison, and Arthur Tappan. Fredrick Douglas, an escaped slave, was a key leader of this society who often spoke at its meetings. In 1840, the AASS split. Creation of a new government that prohibited slavery from the very beginning was called. Stating that the U.S. Constitution was an illegal document because it denied African Americans their freedom. -
Battle of San Jacinto
The Battle of San Jacinto, fought on April 21, 1836, in present-day Harris County, Texas, was a decisive battle of the Texas Revolution. Led by General Sam Houston, the Texans Army engaged and defeated General Antonio Lope de Santa Anna's Mexican army in a fight that lasted just 18 minutes. The treaties of Velasco, confirmed the Mexican retreat and ended the war. It was signed by President David G. Burnet and Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. -
Invention of the Steel Plow
The steel plow was invented by John Deer in 1837 when the Middle-West was being settle. it was used to break up tough soil without soil getting stuck to it. The soil was different in the west and wasn't as easy to deal with as in the east. The wooden plows kept breaking and they needed to find a solution, Therefore they thought steel would be a sturdier alternative. The steel plow back then was about 10-12 dollars. -
John Calhoun
John C. Calhoun, was a prominent U.S. statesman and spokesman for the slave-plantation system of the South. He was fro South Carolina and served as vice president under both John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. He opposed the Mexican-American War and the admission of California as a free state, and was renowned as a leading voice for those seeking to secure the institution of slavery. He led a crusade against abolitionism and antislavery legislators trying to limit slavery in the west. -
Lowell Mills
The Waltham system was a labor and production model employed in the United States during the early years of the textile industry in the 19th century. Lowell Mills centralized factories(mills). It was a large labor work force of ladies and also a dermatory (live on work site and company pays). Women earned more but had long hours, and bad working conditions. -
Crank Churn
From the mid-1800s through the 1940's the crank churn was used to churn butter in many households in America One type of crank churn was a barrel churn, a simple device in which the user turned a handle that directly rotated a dasher inside a stabilized barrel. Over time these butter churns changed to work better -
Election of 1840
(Democrat vs. Whigs) Van Buren runs for re-election against an economic depression (democrat). General William Henry Harrison(Whig). Whigs spread rumors about Van Buren and will get women to influence the vote of their husbands. William Harrison will win by a landslide, but he only makes it a month before John Tyler(VP) becomes the President. -
Period: to
Westward Expansion
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Telegraph
The telegraph ws invented by Samuel Morse in May of 1844. The telegraph revolutionized long distance communication by transmitting electrical signals over a wire laid between stations. Samuel Morse also came up with a form of communication called the Morse code, which is a set of dots and/or dashes for each letter of the alphabet to transfer complex messages through the lines. -
Election of 1844
The United States Presidential election of 1844 was the 15th quadrennial presidential election. It was held from November 1, to December 4th, 1844. They candidates were James K. Polk and Henry Clay. Polk favored the annexation of Texas while Clay opposed. Polk defeated the Whig candidate, Henry Clay with 170 electoral votes. -
Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was a term for the attitude present during the 19th century period of American expansion that the United States and its settlers not only could, but was destined to and should be a continent that stretched from coast to coast, Atlantic to Pacific. This attitude in America helped fuel western settlement, Native American removal, and war with Mexico. Although, it had an impact of making the U.S. much wealthier and larger, the Natives and Mexico lost land. -
The Annexation of Texas
On December 29th 1845, the annexation of Texas occurred. It was the 1845 incorporation of the Republic of Texas into the United States, which was admitted to the union as the 28th state. The Republic of Texas had asked voluntarily to become a part of the united Sates, and government of the U.S. agreed to annex the nation. However, Mexican leaders had long warned the United States that if it tried to make Texas a state, they would declare war. -
Mexican American War
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. president James K Polk, who believed the United States had a "manifest destiny" to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grand began the fighting, followed by a series of U.S. victories. -
Wilmot Proviso
Wilmot Proviso proposed an American law to ban slavery within the land acquired from Mexico in the Mexican-American War. After the war started, President James K. Pol sought the appropriation of two million dollars as a part of a bill to negotiate the terms of a treaty. The proposed amendment narrowly passed through the House of Representative and was then defeated in the Senate. -
Seneca Falls Convention
The Seneca Falls Convention was held in Seneca Falls, New York and was the first women's convention that discussed and fought for the civil, social, and religious rights of women. The Seneca Falls Convention was the meeting that launched the women's suffrage movement which later ensured the right for women to vote. Their was a total of 300 men and women. Declaration of sentiments and resolutions. Secure rights in economics and voting made the convention a cornerstone in women's rights. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Mexican-American war officially ended with February 2, 1848, signing in Mexico of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. 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. -
Period: to
Sectionalism
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Chinese Migration
On January 24, 1848, gold was discovered in California at Sutter's Mill. By 1849, people were coming to California from all over the world to look for gold. At that time, war, famine, and a poor economy in southeastern China caused many Chinese men to come to America. Most of them hoped to find great wealth and return to China. Chinese immigrants soon found out that many Americans did not welcome them. High monthly taxes were placed on all foreign miners. Chinese had no choice but to pay the tax -
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 state. As part of the Compromise of 1850; the Fugitive Slave Act was amended and the slave trade in Washington, D.C., was abolished. Furthermore, California entered the Union as a free state and a territorial government was created in Utah. The boundary dispute between Texas and New Mexico was also settled. -
Railroads
Railroads in the 1850's were a faster and cheaper way of transporting materials from one place to another which helped factories produce goods faster. It was one of the most important things in the Industrial Revolution because it brought social, political and economic change to the United States. -
Greek Revival
Greek Revival was an architectural movement of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, predominantly in Northern Europe and the United States in which people started to build and copy Greek style buildings from Ancient Greco-Roman influences. The style was seen as an expression of local nationalism, civic virtue and freedom from the lax detail and frivolity. -
Bleeding Kansas
Bleeding Kansas is the term used to describe the period of violence during the settling of Kansas territory. In 1854 the Kansas-Nebraska Act decreed that the residents would determine whether the area became a free state or slave state. Pro slavery and free-state settlers flooded into Kansas to try to influence the decision. Violence soon erupted as both factions fought for control. Abolitionist John Brown led anti-slavery fighters in Kansas before his raid on Harpers Ferry -
Dred Scott vs. Sandford
Dred Scott was a slave in Missouri. From 1833 to 1843, he resided in Illinois and in an area of the Lousiana Territory, where slavery was forbidden by the Missouri Compromise of 1820. After returning to Missouri, Scott sued unsuccessfully in the Missouri courts for his freedom, claiming that his residence in free territory mad him a free man. Scott's master maintained that no pure-blooded Negro and descendant of slaves could be a citizen in the sens of Article III of the Constitution -
Fire-eaters
The Fire-eaters were a group of radical pro-slavery Southerns on the Antebellum South who urged the separation of Southern states into a new nation, which became the Confederate States of America. The leader of the group was Robert Barnwell Rhett of South Carolina. The Fire-Eaters demonstrated the high level of sectionalism existing in the U.S. during the 1850s, and they materially contributed to the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Election of 1860
The election of 1860 set the stage for the American Civil War. The nation had been divided throughout most of the 1850s on questions of states rights and slavery in the territoies. The presidential election of 1860 was between Republican Abraham Lincoln, Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Democrat Stephen A. Douglas and Constitutional Candidate John Bell. Abraham Lincoln won the election and brought the Republican Part to power without the support of any Southern states. -
Trent Affair
The Trent Affair was a diplomatic crisis that took place between the United States and Great Britiain, during the U.S. Civil War. The crisis rupted after the captain of the USS San Jacinto ordered the arrest of two Confederate envoys sailing to Europe aboard a British mail ship, the Trent, in order to seek support for the South in the Civil War. The British were outraged and claimed the seizure of a neutral ship was a violation of international law. -
South: Military Leadership
The south tended to have the better generals who could lead battle successfully. There were many important confederate generals and commanders during the American Civil Was. Some like Robert E. Lee, Stonewall Jackson and Nathan Bedford Forrest are the most common and famously known generals. Others are less well known but were southern generals who led the troops and helped decide the ultimate outcome of most of civil war battles. -
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The Civil War
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Ulysses S. Grant
When the Civil War began in April 1861, Grant became a colonel of the 21st Illinois Volunteers. Later that summer, President Lincoln made Grant a brigadier general. Grants first major victory came in 1862 when his troops captured Fort Donelson in Tennessee. In July 1863, Grant's forces captured Vicksburg, Mississippi, a Confederate stronghold. During the Civil War, Grant, an aggressive and determined leader, was given command of all the U.S. armies. After the war he became a national hero -
Battle of Vicksburg
In the summer of 1863, General Ulysses S. Grant's army converged on Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, trapping a Confederate army under General John Pemberton. Pemberton's men had constructed a series of trenches, forts, redans, and artillery lunettes in a 7-mile ring surrounding the city. Grant's army surrounded Pemberton and outnumbered him two to one. Pemberton finally surrendered on July 4th. Grant's victory boosted his reputation, leading to his appointment as General-in-Chief. -
Lincoln's 10% Plan
Lincoln's plan for Reconstruction included the 10% Plan, which specified that a southern state could be readmitted into the Union once 10% of its voters swore an oath of allegiance to the Union. Voters could then elect delegates to draft revised state constitutions and establish new state governments. Southerners except for high-ranking Confederate army officers and government officials would be granted a full pardon. Lincoln guaranteed southerners that he would protect their private property. -
Emancipation Proclamation
President Lincoln carefully framed the Civil War as concerning the preservation of the Union rather than the abolition of slavery. One month later after the battle of Antietam, Lincoln issued the proclamation warning that all states still in rebellion, he would declare their slaves free. The proclamation exempted the border slave states and all or parts of three Confederate states controlled by the Union army on the grounds that these areas were not in rebellion against the U.S. -
Northern Cotton Embargo
The Northern Cotton Embargo also known as 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 president of the Confederacy Jefferson Davis, strongly supported the King Cotton diplomacy wanting Great Britain, the most powerful nation in the world's support. -
Election of 1864
In the election of 1864, Abraham Lincoln was re-elected as president. Lincoln ran under the National Union banner against his former Civil War General, George B. McClellan. The 1864 election occurred during the Civil War, therefore none of the states loyal to the Confederacy participated. On November 8th, Lincoln won by over 400,000 popular votes and easily clinched the electoral majority. Lincolns 2nd term was ended just 6 weeks after his inauguration by his assassination. -
Black Codes
The Black Codes were laws passed by Democrat-controlled Southern states in 1865 and 1866. They were a series of restrictive laws which were designed to restrict freed blacks' activity and ensure their availibility as a labor force now that slavery had been abolished. Many states required blacks to sign yearly labor contracts; if they refused, they risked being arrested as vagrants and fined or forced into unpaid labor. Northern outrage led to Republican Party Reconstruction. -
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Reconstruction
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Scalawags
White southern Republicans, known to their enemies as "scalawags," made up the biggest group of delegates to the Radical Reconstruction-era legislatures. Some scalawags were established planters who thought that whites should recognize blacks' civil and political rights while still retaining control of political and economic life. Many were former Whigs. The majority of scalawags were non-slave holding small farmers as well as merchants and artisans who remained loyal to the Union. -
Election of 1868
The Presidential Election of 1868 was the first election to take place during Reconstruction. President Andrew Johnson, who had ascended President Lincoln following the assassination in 1865, was unsuccessful in his attempt to receive the Democratic presidential nomination. Instead the Democrats nominated Horatio Seymour to take on the Republican candidate, Civil War hero General Ulysses S. Grant. Grant won a large amount of the electoral votes, as well as the popular vote. -
Sharecroppers
With the southern economy in disarray after the abolition of slavery and the devastation of the Civil War, conflict arose between many white landowners attempting to reestablish a labor force and freed blacks seeking economic independence and autonomy. The system known as sharecropping had come to dominate agriculture in the South. Under this system, blacks would rent small plots of land, or shares, to work themselves. They would then give a portion to the landowner at the end of the year. -
Whiskey Ring Scandal
The Whiskey Ring Scandal involved a group of whiskey distillers who conspired to defraud the federal government taxes. Operating in mainly St. Louis, MO, Milwaukee, WIS and Chicago, ILL, the Whiskey Ring bribed Internal Revenue officials and accomplices in Washington in order to keep liquor taxes for themselves. Allegations that the illegally held tax money was to be used in the Republicans campaign for the reelection of President Grant aroused the public. -
Jim Crow
The segregation and disenfranchisement laws known as "Jim Crow" represented a formal, codified system of racial apartheid that dominated the American South for many years. The laws affected almost every aspect of daily life, mandating segregation of schools, parks, libraries, drinking fountains, restrooms, buses, trains, and restaurants. "Whites Only" and "Colored" signs were constant reminders of the enforced racial order.
