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House of Burgesses
The House of Burgesses was the first English representative government in North America for the purpose of passing laws and maintaining order in the Jamestown Colony of Virginia and the other settlements that had grown up to it. The assembly consist of 435 members, and one had to own a specific amount of property to be eligible to vote for Burgesses. These men voted on originated laws, and the governor and council received the right od revision and veto. -
Mayflower
The Mayflower brought the pilgrims to Massachusetts during the Great Puritan Migration in the 17th century. These pilgrims were some of the first settlers to America after they established the Plymouth colony. Once landing on American soil, Americans robbed corn from Native Americans graves and storehouses, but because of their overall lack of preparation, half of them still died within the first year. -
French & Indian War
The French and Indian War was a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years War. The war provided Great Britain enormous territorial gains in North America, but disputes over subsequent frontier policy and paying the war's expenses led to colonial discontent, and ultimately to the American Revolution The war began over the issue of whether the upper Ohio River valley was part of the British empire, opening trade and settlement by Virginians/Pennsylvanians -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred at Griffins Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing "taxation without representation", dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. This event was essential because it fueled the tension that had already begun between British and America. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution was an grand political and military struggle waged Britain's North American colonies rejected its imperial rule. The protest began in opposition to taxes levied without colonial representation by the British monarchy and Parliament. The Revolution drew together the thirteen colonies, each with its own history and individual identity, first in resistance to new imperial regulations and taxes, then in rebellion, and finally in a shared struggle for independence. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was approved by the Continental Congress. The document announced the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. This was the last of the series of steps that led the colonies to final separation from Great Britain. The Declaration of Independence main points included the people have guaranteed rights: rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. If the government were to violate peoples rights, they have the free will to rebel. -
United States Constitution
The Constitution of the United States established America's national government and fundamental laws, and guaranteed certain basic rights for its citizens. The Constitution creates a national government of a legislative, an executive, and a judicial branch, with s system of check and balances among three branches. Secondly, it divides power between the federal government and the states. Lastly, it protects various individual liberties of American citizens. -
Bill of Rights Ratified
The United State of America ratified the Bill of Rights, the first ten amendments to the U.S. Constitution, confirming the fundamental rights of its citizens. The First Amendment guarantees freedom of religion, speech, and the press, and the right of peaceful assembly and petition. The Bill guaranteed essential rights and civil liberties, such the right to bear arm, speech, and reserving rights to the people and the states. -
Lousiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was the purchase of imperial rights to the western half of the Mississippi River basin from France by the United States. The deal granted the United States the sole authority to obtain the land from its indigenous inhabitants, either by contract or by conquest. The deal consisted of a land deal between the U.S. and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles for $15 million dollars. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 pitted the young United States in a war against Great Britain, from whom the American colonies has won their independence. The conflict was a byproduct of the broader conflict between Great Britain and France over who would dominate Europe and the wider world. The Americans wanted to get Britain to repeal their Orders in Council, which placed severe trade restriction on the Americans and get them to stop the impressment of American sailors into Royal Navy. America lost. -
Panic of 1819
The Panic of 1819 was the first widespread and durable financial crisis in the United States that slowed westward expansion in the Cotton Belt and was followed by a general collapse of the American economy. The main cause of the financial decline was lax banking practices that allowed far too many banking notes and credit to be released than were firmly backed by hard currency. -
Mexican War
The Mexican-American War 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. This war was caused by a combination of Mexican unwillingness to recognize Texas Independent, the desire of Texans for statehood, and American desire for westward expansion. -
Civil War
The Civil War was a battle between the States, ending with a Confederate surrender. The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war every fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin. The main causes of the Civil War consisted of disagreement over the institution of slavery, sectionalism, and secession. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction". Meaning that slavery was not freed entirely, those enslaved in border states had not been freed, but the amendment outlawed the practice of involuntary servitude. -
Statue of Liberty
The Statue of Liberty is a 305-foot statue located on Liberty island in New York City. The Statue is a personification of liberty in the form of a women. She delays the message of "give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, the wretched refuse of your teeming shore". She was seen as a welcoming presence for the new immigrants coming into America, France gave her to America as a gift during the American Revolution. It represents freedom and new beginnings. -
Spanish American War
The Spanish-American War was a conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. The cause of the war was America's support the ongoing struggle by Cubans and Filipinos against Spanish rule, and the mysterious explosion of the battleship U.S.S Maine in Havana Harbor. -
WWI
World War I, also known as the Great War, began after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. The war introduced the world to the horrors of trench warfare and lethal new technologies such as poison gas and tanks. The Allies won the war after four years of combat and injuries or deaths of 8.5 million soldiers. The war ended with the signing of the Treat of Versailles. -
Spanish-American Flu (Influenza)
The Spanish-American flu, more commonly know as influenza, spread easily and infected people throughout the world. The flu infected estimated 500 million people globally in only one year. This disease was caused by an H1N1 virus with genes of avian origin. The U.S. tried to resolve the flu with social distancing and quarantines, letting the disease die off slowly. In total about 1.8 billion people globally were infected by the disease. -
Women's Sufferage
The women's suffrage movement was a decade-long fight to win the right to vote for women in the United States. It took activists and reformers nearly 100 years to win that right, and the campaign was not easy: disagreements over strategy threatened to cripple the movement more than once. It was passed by Congress and ratified as the 19th Amendment granting women the right to vote. -
Great Depression
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world. It began after the stock marker crash, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. This caused drastic declines in output, severe unemployment, and acute deflation. The Great Depression was resolved by mobilizing the economy for World War II. Millions of women and men joined the armed forces, and more went into well-paying defense jobs. -
WWII
World War II was a conflict that involved all the world's major countries. It was the most destructive war in history and millions of people were killed. It was fought between Axis (Germany, Japan, and Italy) and the Allies (Britain, U.S., and the Soviet Union). The War started with Hilter's invasion of Poland driving Great Britain and France to declare war on Germany. It ended with Trumans announcing Japans surrender and signing formal surrender documents abroad USS Missouri.