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Jun 15, 1215
Magna Carta
King John singed the Magna Carta and also attempted to have the document singed by the pope. Thanks to unsuccessful foreign policies, and heavy taxation demands, King John was facing down a possible rebellion by the country's powerful barons. This document was written by King John to protect basic rights and freedpm of the people. -
Pontiac's rebellion
Cheif Pontiac head cheif of the Ottawa,Chippewa, and Potawatomi led a rebellion of a number of tribesagainst the British and the colonists. Pontiac's Rebellion was composed of Native American Indian tribes that wanted to prevent Great Britain -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was the killing of five colonists by British regulars on March 5, 1770. It was the culmination of tensions in the American colonies that had been growing since Royal troops first appeared in Massachusetts in October 1768 to enforce the heavy tax burden imposed by the Townshend Acts. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is the founding document of the American political tradition. It articulates the fundamental ideas that form the American nation: All men are created free and equal and possess the same inherent, natural rights. Legitimate governments must therefore be based on the consent of the governed and must exist “to secure these rights" -
invention of the cotton gin
The cotton gin made the cotton industry of the south explode. Previous to its invention, separating cotton fibers from its seeds was a labor intensive and unprofitable venture. However, after Eli Whitney unveiled the cotton gin, processing cotton became much easier resulting in greater availability and cheaper cloth. However, the invention also had the by-product of increasing the number of slaves needed to pick the cotton thereby strengthening the arguments for continuing slavery. -
Louisiana purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was an incredible deal for the United States, the final cost totaling less than five cents per acre at $15 million (about $283 million in today's dollars). France's land was mainly unexplored wilderness, and so the fertile soils and other valuable natural resources we know are present today might not have been factored in the relatively low cost at the time. -
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, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. A border skirmish along the Rio Grande started off the fighting and was followed by a series of U.S. victories. When the dust cleared, Mexic -
Reconstruction
Their actions debunked one of the strongest myths underlying Southern devotion to the “peculiar institution”–that many slaves were truly content in bondage–and convinced Lincoln that emancipation had become a political and military necessity. In response to Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation, which freed more than 3 million slaves in the Confederate states by January 1, 1863, blacks enlisted in the Union Army in large numbers, reaching some 180,000 by war’s end.
