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About 90000 years ago, nomads spread across our continent and moved south. Mexico started farming and the increase in foods allowed natives to start settling in villages. The natives developed governments, religions, art, and agriculture. -
The Anasazi and Hohokam existed during this time period. They inhabited Arizona, Utah, New Mexico, and Colorado. The Hohokam had the most advanced irrigation canals of their time, and some branches of the Anasazi peacefully intrigued in their village and lived with them. They influenced irrigation canals and agriculture even centuries after them. They lived from about 200bc-1300bc -
the Hopi tribe is the oldest tribe to exist since they still exist to this day. They started in northwestern Arizona and lived in pit houses with lots of art. After a while, their population was reduced due to smallpox and diseases brought by the Spanish. The Spanish tried to force Christianity on them but stayed loyal to their gods. The extinction of the Hohokam/some Anasazi gave them more land to thrive on since they lived nearby to them. -
Erik Red and Leif Erickson were two of the greatest explorers of all time. They were Norwegian Vikings and they settled in Greenland in 985 and encountered Inuit civilizations since he was the first explorer to colonize Greenland. He found America during a storm, but was driven out by the natives and returned to his home. He and his son beat Christopher Columbus by nearly 500 years and was the first one to build a Christian church in Greenland. -
Spaniards first started invading North America in the 1400s and early 1500s. They didn’t just explore America, but their first contact with this continent was in the late 1400s. Erik the Red and many other explorers showed the Spanish that they were late and they needed to hop on the train before all land was taken. -
Pedro Cabral was a portuguese who was sailing and was blown off course and landed in Brazil. He claimed Brazil for Portugal and colonized it. He was the first recorded European to reach Brazil. -
Juan Ponce De Leon was one of the first Spaniards to visit the U.S and accompanied Columbus during his first voyage. He then continued to explore without him, landing in Florida, wiping out one of the strongest tribes in that area. He died in 1521. -
The upbringing of Hernan Cortes brought down the Aztec Empire. The invasion of Tenochtitlan consisted of Spain seizing the capital of the Aztec Empire and conquering Mexico. This tore down one of the most advanced native civilizations in the Americas. Hernan Cortes was the leader of this expedition. -
Francisco Pizarro arrived in the city of Cajamarca where the Inca civilizations were, along with their leader as they celebrated victory in battles. He took Atahualpa captive and killed him before Cuzco, more Inca villages, and the founded city of Lima. -
By this time, many Spanish and other European explorers had colonized most land in the Americas. By the 1600s, 95% of natives were gone from diseases brought by explorers. -
The British and French were at war because the French territories were expanding into the British colony's territory. This upset the British and sparked the conflict between the two countries, provoking the 7 Years' War. -
The 7 Years War evoked the quartering acts, which required the colonists to have their homes, food, and resources with British soldiers, and they had no say in whether they wanted a stranger in their home or not. -
As a result of the 7 Year War, Britain was in heavy war debt. I order to pay this debt off, they decided to place/raise the taxes on the resources the colonies needed from them. ONe of the more severe ones included taxing ALL paper/stamps. This was arguably the spark to the colony’s rebel against British rule. -
In consequence of the stamp act being repealed, the British came out with a new act. The declaratory act stated that without revolt, the parliament was authorized to push any laws they saw fit onto the colonies no matter what, even if it bound them. -
in response to the constant push of rules and laws of the declaratory act, the colonies decided to not buy British shops, goods, or imports. This affected the British merchants more than anyone, and cut the American purchases by half, resulting in repulsion on both sides and easily provoked fights like the Boston massacre. -
Due to the lack of representation and voice/say the colonies had in their government and taxes, brawls between the patriots and loyalists broke out often. This was what the riots started out as; a few patriots fighting with a British soldier, until the gunshot from the soldier killed an 11-year-old boy. This triggered multiple other fights and gunshots at the same time, spilling blood everywhere and killing at least 5 people. This fueled anti-Britain rule more than anything. -
In reaction to the tea act, the colonies planned and executed the Boston tea party. This included around 60 colonists dumping 100s of chests of tea into the Boston harbor, Massachusetts. They dressed up as native Americans and acted like crazy people as they dumped the buckets of tea onto the British territory. -
In response to the Boston tea party, the British solution to the problem was to place even more restrictions and policies on the colonies, including the intolerable or coercive acts which sent British troops even further, watching over the colonies and even inviting themselves into their homes, staying there. This closed the boundaries even more for the colonists and it was ultimately the last straw. -
The tea act actually lowered the cost of Britain's tea so that smuggling other, cheaper tea would stop and so that they could get rid of loads of tea they couldn't afford to have anymore. The colonies disliked the idea of this since they were trying to con and win over the colonies. They didn’t put up with them and were determined not to fall for their tricks. The rage of the colonies led to them taking action in standing up against the tea act. -
In reaction to the intolerable acts, the colonists decided they were done with the strict rule of the British. IN 1775, British troops stormed into towns demanding guns and other weapons to be seized and surrendered in order to stop a potential rebellion. The first real battle of the war started here, and when the British asked the colonies to seize their weapons, they decided that was their time to stand up. -
The article of confederation was a document written by Benjamin Franklin and established the 13 colonies under one country: "The United States", after the war and finally achieving independence from Great Britain's rule. A "legal symbol of their union". -
Since the constitution was now ratified, the U.S had established a federalist government. This meant that the governing power and abilities were shared between the state and national governments. This was to further ensure there was no possibility of tyranny. -
Now that the united states were one, they needed regulations and laws to further unify them. As result, on June 21st, 1787, New Hampshire was made the last and 13th colony to ratify the constitution in order to prove that they were truly equal and wouldn't become like the British government. -
In response to the states being united under one, the bill of rights was written in 1789 and ratified later in 1791 when 3/4ths of the states agreed to it. It consisted of the rights and freedoms of the citizens; freedom of speech, protesting, religion, etc. -
After the U.S was now independent and had its own laws, somewhat solving their problems with the British was their next step. In this step, Jay's Treaty was ratified. During this time, Britain was still in some of the u.s territories and Jay's treaty moved them out. In return, the U.S favored the British when trading. -
In order to decide whether people were following the constitution or not, in 1789, the judicial branch was finally declared the 3rd branch of the government. The purpose was to decide the meaning of the laws, how to interpret them, and more. -
John Marshall was one of the Supreme Court's most influential chief justice and helped shape the judicial review and the Supreme's court ability to make sure the legislative and executive branches' decisions were just and constitutional. -
After the U.S started to expand and the new government and the 13 colonies need more room to grow, the Louisiana purchase was made by Thomas Jefferson, and doubled the size of the U.S. It strengthened and showed the power of the u.s and opened them to more resources by the river at the cost of 15 million dollars from the french. -
One of John Marshall's most famous cases was the Marbury vs madison case held in 1803. Marbury was appointed Justice of Peace, but he didn't receive the news. Marbury demanded Madison (Jefferson's secretary of state) to send him it but failed to do so because john marshall declared that it was unconstitutional to be in the office without the delivered appointment that madison refused to give to him. This reminded/showed the court that it was their job to follow and demonstrate the constitution. -
After the Louisiana purchase, they had much more land to explore and find out where was best to live and build their new cities. During this expedition, they documented more than 100 new animals and 178 plants and created more than one hundred new maps of the new region. The expedition was led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark -
During the 1810s is when people from all over the states (mostly Missouri and other mid-west states) started to walk the Oregon trail in order to move westward for endless more opportunities. -
the Monroe doctrine was a message sent from the president James Monroe in 1823 to basically warn the other countries that the western hemisphere of the continent was theirs for the taking. The Monroe doctrine made sure the other countries knew that trying to colonize the west would not be allowed and result in serious conflict. -
The Indian removal act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson stating that the lands to the west were open to the Indians and to move their territories there, but the lands they were already occupying were granted to the colonies/state civilians. This made some natives angry they were being pushed out of their towns, but then most eventually complied and moved west. -
Texas officially became a part of the u.s territory and an official state in 1845. it was the 28th state of the u.s. They used to be a part of Mexico, but then independently became their own country. Mexico didn't recognize its independence until texas agreed to join the united states.
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people first started using the term "manifest destiny" in 1845. This term demonstrated the absolute future of the U.S, which was moving west. The people who used this term thought that it was destined to happen and they had to fill their country's purpose by spreading across the whole continent. It would spread their ideas of democracy, independence, and freedom to other countries and they would grow more and more. -
Because texas went under the united states, conflicts between the two countries rose. They didn't know where texas ended, where the territory of the u.s stops, and how far the u.s was willing to go to fulfill its manifest destiny. The war ended in 1848 and the Americans won after the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. it gave America 525000 miles of land (Arizona, California, New Mexico, texas, colorado, Nevada, and Utah) and gave Mexico huge property loss and more. -
Mormon pioneers first started migrating in the mid-late 1840s. They started moving west because of the hostility they were shown in the midwest and the leader decided to migrate just south of the Oregon trail, which was being used by other pioneers in the mid-west. -
the gold rush influenced many fortune seekers to come to California in 1848 after an exceptional amount of gold was found in Sutter's Mill. more than 300000 settlers rushed to California to obtain this newly found gold. The people that sold supplies to the gold-diggers also made millions of dollars because of how big the migration was. -
in 1850, California was officially admitted as the 31st state. It was an important event because it changed many things. For example, it indicated the west border of texas, banned the slave trade, and more. They entered as a non-slavery state which heated conflicts between the north and south. -
The homestead act enforced the decision that any citizen who was born in America had the right to claim 160 acres of government land. However, they had to agree to farm the land. This helped improve the land, allowed men AND women to have a fair chance in owning land, and helped distribute land to many individual settlers.
