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The voyage of the Mayflower
On 6th September, 1620, a group of 102 pilgrims sailed from England to America, "the New World", on the ship the Mayflower. The pilgrims left England because they wanted religious and political freedom. The long journey across the Atlantic Ocean continued for 65 days. -
The New World
Early on 9th November, 1620, the pilgrims saw land in the distance. The ship finally reached land and some pilgrims left to explore the area. They saw a good place and decided to build a village there. Each family had land to grow vegetables and keep their animals. Later, they called the village Plymouth. -
The pilgrims and the native Americans
In March 1621, the pilgrims, met a Native American for the first time and he introduced them to his tribe. The Native Americans taught the Pilgrims how to grow corn, beans and pumpkins. After this, life became better for the pilgrims. -
People wanted the New World too
In 1750s, the British had 13 colonies on the east coast of North America and about two and a half million colonists lived there. But France and Spain also owned big areas of land in North. -
The war between the French an the British.
The British army and the colonists fought the French over land in North of America. The British won the war. But then, the British government asked for taxes from the colonists to pay for the war. The colonists thought this was ridiculous because they didn´t have a representative in the British government and they refused to pay taxes. The 13 colonies decided to join together to fight the British. -
The new nation (USA).
The colonies declared Independence from Great Britain. Their leaders published the Declaration of Independence on this date. Then, the fighting started. The colonist led by George Washington, fought many battles. In the end, they defeated the British and signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. They called their new nation the United States of America(USA). -
The country double its size
The French Emperor Napoleon offered to sell the land to United States for $15 million. Thomas Jefferson, the president, accepted the offer and signed the Louisiana Purchase Agreement. By 1848, the country extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. -
The "Trails of tears".
The land and tradition of the Native American population were in danger because the New World expanded.In the 1830s the US Government created the first Indian territory in the area now called Oklahoma. More than 15000 Cherokee people had to lift their homes in Georgia ad walk 1600 kilometres to their new territory. They called this journey the "Trail of Tears" because around 4000 Cherokee people died on the way. -
The new president Abraham Licoln
There were problems in the country because the people in the north lived in towns, but in the south, they lived on plantations and they had their own slaves. Abraham Lincoln was the President of the USA. He wanted to end slavery.The people in the south wanted to leave the Union and have their own nation, called Confederate States of America, or the Confederacy. But Lincoln wanted to keep the country together. -
The war started
The south had got their Confederacy. They had got 11 states now. The capital is Richmond, in Virginia. They thought they were a different nation from the Union in the north. Confederate soldiers attacked a Union fort called Fort Sumter. So, they were at war. -
The horrible war
The war was very terrible because thousands of people died and the people of the north and the south suffered a lot. The Confederates were losing and they had got fewer soldiers than the Union. -
The war finish
The Confederate army leader, the general Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses Grant, the army leader. It was the end of the war but more than 600000 Americans died. The slaves were free and the country is one nation.
