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Jan 2, 1492
End of Reconquista
The defeat of the Muslims under Ferdinand and Isabella politically united Spain, because the monarchy gained control over more territory -
Jan 15, 1492
Columbus persuades Ferdiand and Isabella
Columbus persuades the monarchy to fund his expedition. They agreed so that Spain could increase its powerhouse status in Europe by getting better access to goods. -
Aug 3, 1492
Beginning of the Columbian Exchange
This is the date Columbus set sail for the New World. It would begin the exchange of goods between the different worlds and cause political action from Europe to be brought to the Americas. -
May 4, 1493
Pope Alexander VI issues Papal Bull
Pope Alxander VI issues the Inter Caetera which decrees that all lands discovered 100 leagues or further west of the Azores are Spanish. He had strong political ties to King Ferdinand because they're both from Aragon. -
Nov 1, 1502
Juan Ponce de Leon massacres natives
De Leon crushed any native resistance in the Higuey Massacre and was given a land grant to use Indian labor to farm his estate. This was the beginning of the encomienda system and a shift in political relation with Natives. -
Oct 31, 1517
Martin Luther Publishes his 95 Theses
The Protestant reformation caused political strife between the European nations which was brought to the Americas, where the Spanish (who had recently ended the reconquista and started the Inquisition) were combating Protestant influence. -
Settlement of Jamestown
The settlement of Jamestown by John Smith and others was both an economic and political opportunity for the British to show their presence in the Americas so they could compete with Spain and France. -
British use of African slave Labor
The British first sailed Africans into their colonies on a Dutch ship. The reasoning behind it was to catch up with other European colonies (Spain primarily) who found success in using them in South America. It was a poitical move to make the British colonies stronger against their Spanish rivals. -
House of Burgesses
The first representative assembly, the House of Burgesses, convended in Jamestown. It was created to stabilize the new colonies inhabitants politically and economiclly so it would be easier for them to live there. -
Dutch colonization of New Amsterdam
Peter Minuit becomes director-general of New Netherland for the Dutch West India Company. He bought Manhattan from Natives and made the area a multiethnic, multicultural trading center that kept the Dutch and their East India Company in the political running for a colonial empire in the Americas until its disestablishment. -
King Philip's War
The war was deadly and detrimental to almost everyone invloved in it, including the colonists. Yet, the aftermath of the war lead to an increased and significant colonial presence in the Northeast as well as grounding a separate political identity between colonists and the British. -
George Washington's French ambush
This began the North American theatre of the French and Indian War AKA the Seven Years War. Politically, the aftermath signified Britain's sole dominance of eastern North America, but it also lead the colonists to a sense of entitlement that caused a drift between them and the British. -
Albany Congress proposes American Union
Benjamin Franlkin, in the Albany Congress, proposed an American Union. Although this was not put into action, the prospect was seriously considered, which shows that the divisons between colonists and the British governemnt were causing the colonists to think about creating their own political alliance. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation of 1763 "preserved to the said Indians” the lands west of the Appalachian Mountains and ordered white settlers “there forthwith to remove themselves from such Settlements,” forbade white settlement, and restricted commerce with the American Indians to traders licensed by the British government. This heightened the political division between colonists who felt they deserved the land and the British. -
The Sugar Act
The Sugar Act was a law that imposed duties on foreign wines, coffee, textiles, and indigo imported into the colonies, and that also expanded the customs service. Britain also required colonial vessels to fill out papers detailing their cargo and destination. The Royal Navy patrolled the coast to search for smugglers, who were tried in special courts without a jury. Politically, the British tax on American pressed British authority onto the colonists. -
British Troops Arrive at Boston
After the passage of the Townshend Act (which was preceded by other unpopular taxes on colonists), riots broke out and the political shift of the colonies began to increase. Politcally, the colonists felt that the British did not have a right to hold a strong grip over the colonies, but the British arrived and policed the colonies by quelling the riots. -
The Election of Jefferson
Jefferson's election over the incumbent John Adams who was part of the Federalist party was known as the Revolution of 1800. It ushered in an era of Democratic-Republican politcal rule and lead to the beginning of the end of the Federalist party in the USA. -
The Louisiana Purchase
Thomas Jefferson purchased the Louisiana territory from Napoleon. The purchase was a global political move on Jefferson's part that aided the American want of expansion. It was Jefferson's way of keeping the USA afloat as a newly created nation. -
The Barbary Pirate Wars
These were a series of conflicts with North African Kingdoms. The pirates took advantage of the absence of British protection and seized goods, ships, a crew members. The politcal outcome was that more blame was plaed on the Federalist Party for not extingushing the wars initialy. -
Embargo Act of 1807
The act was an attempt of the United States government to avoid war based on the politcal preaching of the non-partisan George Washington. It was also supposed to force the British and French to respect American rights during the Napoleonic Wars. It was a complete failure. -
War of 1812
The United States declared war against Britain in 1812 over interference with American shipping and impressment of American seamen.Politcally, the USA was looking to gain more British land from the war, but they also fought it to defend American honor during the Chesapeake-Leopard Affair. -
Mexican-American War
War broke out between Mexico and the USA when Mexico refused to sell parts of its territory and pay reparations to US citizens. Mexico lost the war and much land, wihch was a blow to it politcally and economically. Politcally, the win proved the USA's need for Manifest Destiny. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty nded the Mexican-American War. The US acquired California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, and parts of Arizona, Colorado, Kansas, and Wyoming. It was majority ratified in congress, but was only opposed by the Whigs who opposed both the war and Manifest Destiny in general. -
The Publishing of Thoreau's Resistance to Civil Government
In the essay, Thoreau argues that individuals should not permit governments to overrule or atrophy their consciences, and that they have a duty to avoid allowing such acquiescence to enable the government to make them the agents of injustice. The politcal motivation and influence of the book was show slavery and the Mexican-AMerican War in a light of disgust. -
The Compromise of 1850
Congress adopted the Compromise of 1850, which admitted California to the Union as a free state without forbidding slavery in other territories acquired from Mexico. On a politcal scale, northern antislavery forces felt betrayed by senators who supported the compromise (Daniel Webster). This was only a temporary fix for the politcal divisons on slavery at the time. -
Publishing of Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin was the best-selling novel of the 19th century and the second best-selling book of that century, following the Bible.It is credited with helping fuel the abolitionist cause in the 1850s. Politcally, the book helped to divide the country even more on the grounds of slavery, where southern democrats believed the book to exaggerate, and Northern whigs and republicans were riled up. -
Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad
The first transcontinental railroad was completed when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific met. Chinese and European laborers were recruited to help lay 1800 miles of track. Politcally, the USA did this to connect the North and South to other sources of manufaccturing and resources, so the two would not have to rely on each other especially with all of the tensions going on. -
Credit Mobilier Scandal
Members of congress, and those directly related to the President were found buying discounted shares of stock. The story was broken during Ulysses S. Grant's presidency. The scandal had much politcal effect on Congress and the president who was known to be scandalous. THeir was major public distrust of congress during the Gilded age because of this. -
Munn v. Illinois
The case developed as a result of the Illinois legislature’s responding in 1871 to pressure from the National Grange, an association of farmers, by setting maximum rates that private companies could charge for the storage and transport of agricultural products. The end result was that businesses in which the public has an interest should be controlled by the public, which gave more politcal authority to the government. -
Great Railway Strike of 1877
The strike was initiated by protesters against wage cuts and too many hours, wihch was common back then. The strike was suspended after president hayes sent troops to the area. Politcally, the US saw increased government intervention on these sort of issues. These strikes also lead many to follow politcal anarchism. -
Cross of Gold Speech
William Jennings Bryan's speech supported bimetallism for the economy of the USA. This address helped to put his politcal party (the populists) at the lime light, and catapulted him to the Democratic presidential nomination. -
Spanish-American War
The SPanish American War was fought for the indpendence of Cuba and the expansion of the USA into global territory. The politcal outcome of the war was that the USA became one of the World's major superpowers. -
Filipino-American War
After the Spanish-American War, the USA received the Philippines as a territory. There was considerable politcal objection to the war by the American Anti-imperialist League from those such as William Jennings Bryan, Mark Twain, and Andrew Carnegie. -
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty was the end of the Spanish American War and gave the USA many territories. This created a divide in the nation between imperialists and anti-imperialists. The imperilaistrs believed that it would make the USA stronger and would free other peoples. The anti-imperilaists believed it would take away American jobs and is strictly against freedom and liberty for all. -
Roosevelt Corollary
Roosevelt announced the corollary, which extended the Monroe Doctrine and asserted the right of the United States to police the Caribbean. It was a politcal maneuver to keep the Panama Canal under the wathc of the USA. -
The election of Woodrow Wilson
The election of 1912 was a haphazard one, Wilson won against three other candidates: a socialist, and two opposing republicans. Roosevelt had lost his standing when he left the Republican party, Taft became an unpopular president, and Eugene V. Debbs was too far left. It showed the diverse politcal atmosphere of the USA, which would not last. -
Containment Policy
George Kennan, a US diplomat serving in Moscow, sent his “Long Telegram” to Washington. In it, Kennan proposed a policy of containment for handling diplomatic matters with the Soviet Union. It was the political ideology that if communism was kept within its own borders, that it would fall before its own weaknesses. This was influential throughout the cold war. -
The Truman Doctrine
The policy of providing economic and military aid to any country threatened by communism or totalitarian ideology, It was set mainly to help Greece and Turkey, who were bordering communist nations and needed the support to not fall. This US kept up this politcal strategy but would go farther in the future. -
Taft-Hartley Act
It was a an act that made the first major changes to the Wagner Act. It troubled many unions because of prohibitions on strikes and the closing of specific shops. Do to the crisis with the USSR, The act also required affadavits that union officials were not Communist and forbade political contributions by unions which were there to create internal political stability. -
Truman's State of the Union Address
In Truman's state of the union address he announced his “Fair Deal,” a series of proposed domestic reforms, including the expansion of many New Deal policies. Truman’s proposals included social security expansion, a minimum-wage increase, labor law changes, aid for education, and health insurance reform. He kept up the deomocratic politcal values of before, at the frustration of many republicans. -
The Korean War
when North Korea invaded South Korea in an effort to unify the two countries. The UN and the United States soon intervened, hoping to halt the spread of Communism to the South. The USA furthered its politcal goal of containing communism to keep it from spreading by trying to liberate North Korea. By the end of the war, the 38th parallel was where the line was drawn. -
The Election of Ronald Reagan
The election of Ronald Reagan was a sweep because of the poor economy under the Democrat Carter and his Iranian hostage crisis. The election of Reagan marked a politcal wave of "New Conservatism". -
Boland Amendment
Congress passed the Boland Amendment, which prohibited American assistance in training, equipping, or advising the anti-Communist rebel Contras in Nicaragua. Reagan's political policy against the USSR was powerful, and he tried to demolish in as many ways as possible instead of taking a backseat/peaceful approach to it , but congress prohibited his politcal style. -
Invasion of Grenada
The invasion occurreed because of the deposition of Grenadian Prime Minister in favor of communism. The USA invaded to stop the communist hard-liners from enacting a communist government which was successful. The USA still followed the politcal ideology of the past, because they felt the USSR was still a threat. -
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty
Both Gorbachev and Reagan agreed to the destruction of all US and Soviet intermediate-range nuclear and conventional missiles and providing for on-site weapons inspections. It was a politcal step for both countries in the direction of peace and cooperation. -
Invasion of Panama
The invasion was done in order to depose the dictator Manuel Noriega who was using panama as a drug pipeline to the USA and in order to restore a democratic government. The invasion was a politcal misstep for Bush and may have smeared his name internationally, because the action was condemned globally.
