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Period: to
From Revolution to Reconstruction
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Declaration of Independence
A document written to declare the colonies free from British rule. It was the beginning of our new nation. The colonists put Britain on notice that we would never consider them our governing body. -
Louisiana Purchase
The purchase of French land between the Mississippi River and the Rock Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to Canada that doubled the size of the United States. It was territory in the western United States purchased from France in 1803 for $15 million. When Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana Territory from France, he altered the shape of a nation and the course of history. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was a two and a half-year military conflict between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, its North American colonies and its Indian allies. The outcome resolved many issues which remained from the American War of Independence, but involved no boundary changes. Other significances were American patriotism, the first war, increased territory (control over Great Lakes), Star Spangled Banner was made, Andrew Jackson became a war hero. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was a law passed by Congress on May 28, 1830, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson. It authorized the president to negotiate with Indian tribes in the Southern United States for their removal to federal territory west of the Mississippi River in exchange for their homelands. It authorized the removal of Native Americans who lived east of the Mississippi River. -
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. Mexican cavalry attacked a group of U.S. soldiers in the disputed zone under the command of General Zachary Taylor, killing about a dozen. They then laid siege to an American fort along the Rio Grande. It ended the border disputes with Mexico. -
Compromise of 1850
Henry Clay's proposed agreement that allowed California to enter the Union as a free state and divided the rest of the Mexican Cession into two territories where slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty. It was to revitalize the Union and peace.
The Compromise of 1850 allowed U.S. to expand its territory by accepting California as a state. -
Bleeding Kansas
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Kansas Nebraska Act
It divided the rest of the Louisiana Purchase into Kansas territories and Nebraska territories.
The result was a civil war in Kansas known as Bleeding Kansas. It allowed its residents to decide whether to allow slavery or not by popular sovereignty. The unintended consequence was a rush of pro slavery and antislavery supporters to Kansas to vote for slavery or its repeal. The act nullified the 1820 Missouri Compromise as Kansas had been officially a slavery free territory. -
John Brown's Raid
Abolitionist John Brown leads a small group on a raid against a federal armory in Harpers Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), in an attempt to start an armed slave revolt and destroy the institution of slavery. He had hope of starting a slave rebellion.
Brown's raid helped make any further accommodation between North and South nearly impossible and thus became an important impetus of the Civil War. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The order to free the Confederate slaves.The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free. "President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The Emancipation Proclamation freed the slaves only in areas controlled by the Confederacy. -
Battle of Gettyburg
A Union Civil War victory that turned the tide against the Confederates at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
The Union gained control of the confederates because they were able to defeat them. The Union was also able to lead General Lee’s army. The winner in the Battle of Gettysburg gained the power to rule the United States. -
14th Amendment
A constitutional amendment giving full rights of citizenship to all people born or naturalized in the United States, except for Amercan Indians. It protects the rights of citizens. It defines citizenship ad prevents states from interfering in the rights of citizens of the United States.
