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Massacre at Mystic
A major event of the Pequot War. The conflict was initiated by the English people who accused the Pequot people of murdering English traders. It is considered to be a decisive event in New England history as well as the United States. -
The Scalp Act
The Scalp Act was essentially anyone who brought in a male scalp above the age of 12 would be rewarded with 150 pieces of eight ($150) and for females above the age of 12 they would be paid 20 dollars less ($130). -
The Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political contest started by the Sons of Liberty. An entire shipment of tea, sent from Britain, was destroyed and thrown into the sea by hundreds of people who gathered in Boston Harbor to show their defiance against British governments. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first battles of the Revolutionary War. The battles were between British soldiers, who wanted to take away the colonists' weapons and arrest John Hancock and Samuel Adams on the way to Concord. The first battle was fought on Lexington Green. The soldiers marched to find and destroy hidden weapons, and were met by 70 minutemen. This was the first battle. It was short lasted and not many were injured. During the return to Boston, they were ambushed. -
The Declaration of Independence is Signed
The signing of the Declaration of Independence, written by John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, Robert R Livingston, and Roger Sherman, was a significant event in history because the Declaration is what gave America freedom, and cut off the British control. After the Declaration was written and signed the thirteen colonies came together to become a union of new, free, and independent states. -
The Winter at Valley Forge
Valley forge was an important place during the course of American Revolution because it was the place the Continental Army set up camp during the harsh winter of 1777-1778. Washington chose to encamp the army at Valley Forge because it was located between Philadelphia, which the British had occupied, and New York, where the Continental Congress was temporarily based. The winter was harsh and many of the 11,000 troops lacked shoes and suitable clothing. Some soldiers died due to exposure. -
Benedict Arnold Turns Traitor
Benedict Arnold turned his back on his country in a secret meeting with a top British official. -
The Battle of Cowpens
This engagement further weakened British attempts to wrest the southern colonies from American control. -
Ratification of the Articles of Confederation
The Ratification of the Articles of Confederation occurred on November 15th, 1777 when the Congress sent the articles in after 16 months of debate. The purpose behind the Articles was to serve as a written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States. -
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The Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown, also known as "The Siege of Yorktown" lasted a little over a months time. It is considered the last major land battle of the Revolutionary War. The Americans were assisted by the French. -
The 3/5ths Compromise
This compromise was an agreement that states that three-fifths of the slave population would be counted for determining direct taxation and representation in the House of Representatives. This agreement was made by the Northern and Southern states. -
Ratification of the Constitution
The Constitution was taken through a process in order to be ratified. This process is known as the traditional constitutional amendment process, which is described in Article 5 of The Constitution. Congress had to pass a proposed amendment by a two-thirds vote in both the Senate and the House of Representatives and send it to the states for ratification by a vote of the legislatures. -
Presidential Inauguration of George Washington
George Washington's inauguration was held nearly two months after the beginning of the first four-year term of him being President. With the inauguration, the excessive branch of the United States government officially began operations under the new frame of government, which was established by the Constitution. -
Washington’s Farewell Address
Washington's Farewell Address was a 32 page handwritten address. In this, Washington urged Americans to avoid excessive political party spirit. He warned against long term alliances with other nations. The address was printed in Philadelphia's American Daily Advertiser on September 19th, 1796. -
The Death of George Washington
George Washington died because of a throat infection. The cause of this was Washington had went horseback riding and it began to snow. Upon his return home, he did not change out of his wet clothes and went to dinner. He was ill the next morning. -
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Election Day, 1800
The Election of 1800 was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership. -
Marbury vs. Madison
The U.S. Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison occurred in 1803. This case established the principle of judicial review, and gave power to the federal courts to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional. -
Slave Trade Ends in the United States
By the first day of January in 1808, the United States had finally made and passed the decision to bring slavery to an end. This included the importation of slaves as well. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe pitted Americans and Native Americans in a struggle for supremacy in what is now Indiana in the early 19th Century. Americans and Native Americans had come into contact and conflict with one another for many years, first on the Eastern Seaboard and then in the Old Northwest. It was in this particular part of what is now the United States that some of the fiercest fighting took place. -
The USS Constitution defeats the HMS Guerriere
This was a battle between the two ships during the War of 1812. The Americans removed the crew and set Guerriere on fire before returning to Boston with news of the victory, which proved to be important for American morale. -
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The Battle of Baltimore
The Battle of Baltimore was a sea and land battle that was fought between British invaders and American defenders in the War of 1812. American forces repulsed sea and land invasions off the busy port city of Baltimore, Maryland, and killed the commander of the invading British forces. -
The Battle of New Orleans
fought between the British Empire and the newly formed United States. American troops defeated the much larger British force, which bolstered U.S. hopes for a quick end to the war. -
The Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise, also called the Compromise of 1820, was a plan proposed by Henry Clay of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It was signed by President James Monroe and passed in 1820. The agreement was between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in the United States Congress, involving primarily the regulation of slavery in the western territories. -
The Election of Andrew Jackson
Because the House in 1824 elected Adams president despite Jackson winning the popular vote, Jackson and his supporters proposed the idea of abolishing the electoral college. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was a law in the United States that was passed in 1830. It became a law when President Andrew Jackson signed it. It gave the President the power to force Native American tribes to move to land west of the Mississippi River. -
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The Nat Turner Rebellion
Nat Turner was a slave and leader of the Nat Turner Rebellion. His actions led up to a massacre. The rebellion was of enslaved virginia people. The rebels killed between 55 and 65 people. The majority were white. -
The Battle of the Alamo
General Santa Anna and his troops arrived on February 23, 1836. They laid siege to the fort for 13 days. On the morning of March 6, the Mexicans launched a major attack. The Texans managed to fend off the first few attacks, but there were too many Mexican soldiers and they managed to scale the walls and get inside the fort. The fighting was fierce, but eventually the Mexicans won. They killed every soldier in the fort. -
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Trail of Tears
The Trail of Tears was a forced movement of Native Americans in the United States between 1836 and 1839. The United States government forced Native Americans to leave their lands and move outside the United States. The U.S. then took over the Native Americans' lands and made the United States bigger. -
Mexico loses California, New Mexico, and Arizona
When the treaty was signed, it ended the war between the United States and Mexico. By its terms, Mexico ceded 55 percent of its territory, including parts of present-day Arizona, California, New Mexico, Texas, Colorado, Nevada, and Utah, to the United States. -
The Fugitive Slave Act
The Fugitive Slave Acts were two federal laws that concerned runaway slaves in the United States. The two acts were passed in 1793 and in 1850. They required federal involvement in catching runaway slaves in Northern States. The laws were designed to protect Southern slave owners. -
Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott's Decision was a decision made in 1857 by the U.S. Supreme Court. It was said to determine that no person of black colored skin could ever be a citizen. It also invalidated the Missouri Compromise. The case eventually became a rallying point for the people and contributed to the election of Lincoln in 1860. -
The Dead Rabbits Riot
The Dead Rabbits were so named after a dead rabbit was thrown into the center of the room during a gang meeting, prompting some members to treat this as an omen, withdraw, and form an independent gang. Their battle symbol was a dead rabbit on a pike. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President
On November 6, 1860, voters in the United States went to the polls in an election that ended with Abraham Lincoln as President, in an act that led to the Civil War. But Lincoln’s victory didn’t happen on that day, and his victory wasn’t assured until months later. -
South Carolina secedes from the United States
South Carolina became the first slave state in the south to declare that it had seceded from the United States. The declaration also claims that secession was declared as a result of the refusal of free states to enforce the Fugitive Slave Acts. -
The First Battle of Bull Run
This battle highlighted many of the problems that were typical of the first year of the war. Units were committed piecemeal, attacks were frontal, infantry failed to protect exposed artillery and neither commander was able to employ his whole force effectively. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation declared all slaves in confederate territory free. This did not free a large number of slaves due to the control of the land the confederates had, therefore it was hard to free them. It also stated that the northern slaves were not free. Lincoln didn't want to free all slaves because he thought he didn't have enough power to do so. 01 -
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The Battle of Gettysburg
This battle was one of the most important battles of the Civil War for the North. Robert E. Lee had invaded the North and was trying to defeat the Union Army once and for all. However, the Union Army held him off and sent him retreating. This was a major turning point in the war. -
13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment states 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." In summary, the 13th Amendment ended slavery because it made it illegal in the United States. -
The Treaty at Appomattox Courthouse
This battle was the Army of Northern Virginia’s final battle and was the beginning of the end of the American Civil War. Though the actual battle took place on this date, it followed the 10-month Battle of Petersburg and concluded General Robert E. Lee’s retreat during the Appomattox Campaign. -
The Ku Klux Klan is Established
A group including many former Confederate veterans founded the first branch of the Ku Klux Klan as a social club in Pulaski, Tennessee, in 1865. The first two words of the organization’s name supposedly derived from the Greek word “kyklos,” meaning circle. -
14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment of the United States granted citizenship and gave equal rights legally and civilly to African Americans and slaves who had been emancipated after the Civil War "all persons born or naturalized in the United States". -
15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment protected the voting rights granted to the African American men after the Civil War. It was adopted into the United States Constitution in the 1870's. The 15th Amendment states that "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.” -
John D. Rockefeller Creates Standard Oil
Once the Standard Oil Company was founded, it dominated the oil industry and was the first great U.S. business trust. Later in life Rockefeller turned his attention to charity. He made possible the founding of the University of Chicago and endowed major philanthropic institutions. -
Alexander Graham Bell Patents the Telephone
Bell wanted to improve on this by creating a “harmonic telegraph,” a device that combined aspects of the telegraph and record player to allow individuals to speak to each other from a distance. -
Battle of Little Bighorn
Native American forces led by Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull defeat the United States Army troops in the Battle of Little Bighorn. The battle took place near southern Montana's Little Bighorn River. The combatants were warriors of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyanne, and Arapaho tribes. -
The Great Oklahoma Land Race
The Great Oklahoma Land Race, also known as the Cherokee Outlet Opening or the Cherokee Strip Land Run, marked the opening to settlement of the Cherokee Outlet in Oklahoma's fourth and largest land run. It was part of what would later become the U.S. state of Oklahoma in 1907. -
Battle of Wounded Knee
In the Battle of Wounded Knee, nearly three hundred Lakota people were killed by soldiers of the U.S. -
Ellis Island Opens to Process Immigrants
During this time, immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were tagged with information from their ship's registry. They then waited on long lines for medical and legal inspections to determine if they were fit for entry into the United States. -
Plessy vs. Ferguson
Ferguson, at the Louisiana Supreme Court, arguing that the segregation law violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, which forbids states from denying "to any person within their jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws," as well as the Thirteenth Amendment, which banned slavery. -
The sinking of the USS Maine
The USS Maine was sent to Havana in January 1898 to protect American interests during the long-standing revolt of the Cubans against the Spanish government. In the evening of 15 February 1898, Maine sank when the forward gunpowder magazines exploded. -
The Wizard of Oz (Book) is Published
Hugh Rockoff suggested in 1990 that the novel was an allegory about the demonetization of silver in 1873. -
J.P. Morgan Founds U.S. Steel
J.P. Morgan, the wealthy financier, who acquired Andrew Carnegie's steel company and merged it with seven other steel companies, two of which he controlled. U.S. Steel then controlled 65 percent of the domestic industry. -
Ford Motor Company is Founded
Founded by Henry Ford. Ford Motor Company would go on to become one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world, as well as being one of the few to survive the Great Depression. -
Ida Tarbell Published Her Article About Standard Oil
Ida Tarbell helped pioneer investigative journalism when she wrote a series of magazine articles about John D. Rockefeller and his Standard Oil Trust. She and other journalists, who were called “muckrakers,” aided Progressive Movement reform efforts. -
Teddy Roosevelt Becomes President of the United States
Roosevelt remains the youngest person to become President of the United States. He was a leader of the progressive movement and championed his "Square Deal" domestic policies, promising the average citizen fairness, breaking of trusts, regulation of railroads, and pure food and drugs -
The 16th Amendment is Passed
The 16th Amendment is significant because it played a central role in building up the powerful American federal government of the twentieth century by making it possible to enact a modern, nationwide income tax. Before long, the income tax would become by far the federal government's largest source of revenue. -
Angel Island Opens to Process Immigrants
The Angel Island Immigration Station served as the main immigration facility on the West Coast of the United States from 1910 to 1940. Many immigrants from China or other Asian countries were detained there for extended periods thanks to the Chinese Exclusion Act and other discriminatory immigration laws. -
The 17th Amendment is Passed
The 17th Amendment allows the governor or executive authority of each state, if authorized by that state’s legislature, to appoint a senator in the event of a vacancy, until a general election occurs. -
Sacco and Vanzetti arrested for armed robbery and murder
Sacco and Vanzetti were anarchists, believing that social justice would come only through the destruction of governments. In the early 1920s, mainstream America developed a fear of communism and radical politics that resulted in an anti-communist, anti-immigrant hysteria. -
KDKA goes on the air from Pittsburgh
KDKA was the first commercial radio station to air. They did this with the results regarding the Harding-Cox presidential election. -
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Teapot Dome Scandal
The Teapot Dome Scandal involved Secretary of the Interior Albert Fall, who accepted large sums of money and valuable gifts from private oil companies. In exchange, Fall allowed the companies to control government oil reserves in Elk Hills, California, and Teapot Dome, Wyoming. -
1st Miss American Pageant
The pageant originated as the Inter-City Beauty contest, a newspaper-sponsored competition organized in 1921. Women and girls who had won “popularity contests” held in nine cities in the United States convened in early September at the Fall Frolic, a festival in Atlantic City, New Jersey, that had been introduced the previous year in an attempt to extend the tourist season there. -
1st Miss American Pageant
The 1st American Pageant was held in 1921 at Atlantic City. The Pageant was a tourist attraction aimed to entice visitors to prolong their Labor Day vacation weekend and partake in festivities -
1st Winter Olympics Held
The first winter olympics was held in 1924. The event took place in Chamonix, France. -
The Great Gatsby published by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Great Gatsby, third novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald, published in 1925 by Charles Scribner's Sons. Set in Jazz Age New York, the novel tells the tragic story of Jay Gatsby, a self-made millionaire, and his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan, a wealthy young woman who he loved when he was younger. -
Scopes Monkey Trial
The defendant, John Thomas Scopes, was a high school coach and substitute teacher who had been charged with violating the Butler Act by teaching the theory of evolution in his classes. The Butler Act forbid the teaching of any theory that denied the biblical story of Creationism. By teaching that man had descended from apes, the theory of evolution, Scopes was charged with breaking the law. -
Charles Lindberg completes solo flight across the Atlantic
Charles A. Lindbergh completed the first solo, nonstop transatlantic flight in history, flying his Spirit of St. Louis from Long Island, New York, to Paris, France. -
The Jazz Singer debuts (1st movie with sound)
The earliest feature-length movies with recorded sound included only music and effects. The first feature film originally presented as a talkie (even though it only had some sound sequences) was The Jazz Singer, which premiered on October 6, 1927. -
St. Valentine's Day Massacre
This occured when a Cadillac, ostensibly a police car, drove up to the building at around 10.50 am and five men got out. Witness statements varied over details, but it seems that two of the men were in police uniforms and the other three in ordinary civilian clothes. They went into the garage. Eight minutes later, after loud rattling noises and what sounded like trucks backfiring, two of the civilians came out with their hands up, shepherded by the third. -
Black Tuesday (Stock Market Crash)
Black Tuesday hits Wall Street as investors trade 16,410,030 shares on the New York Stock Exchange in a single day. Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors, and stock tickers ran hours behind because the machinery could not handle the tremendous volume of trading. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression. -
The Adoption of the Star Spangled Banner as the National Anthem
Throughout the 19th century, “The Star-Spangled Banner” was regarded as the national anthem by most branches of the U.S. armed forces and other groups, but it was not until 1916, and the signing of an executive order by President Woodrow Wilson, that it was formally designated as such. In March 1931, Congress passed an act confirming Wilson’s presidential order, and on March 3 President Hoover signed it into law. -
The Empire State Building Opens
The Empire State Building was officially built to host corporate business offices. -
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Battle of the Philippines
Known as “the greatest carrier battle of the war,” this event accompanied the U.S. landing on Saipan and ended in a complete U.S. victory.