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The French, Spanish, Portuguese, and English arrived in North America in the 16th century, sporadically and in small numbers. Fishermen plied their trade off the Newfoundland coast from around 1500. Some Europeans hoped to find an alternative route to Asia (the Northwest Passage), wealthy civilizations, or precious metals, but few found what they sought. They did not, however, confront an untamed wilderness but rather people who often lived in villages and towns. -
Between 1492 and 1504, Christopher Columbus led four Spanish transatlantic maritime expeditions of discovery to the Americas. These voyages led to the widespread knowledge of the New World. -
On June 7, 1494, the governments of Spain and Portugal agreed to the Treaty of Tordesillas, named for the city in Spain in which it was created. The Treaty of Tordesillas neatly divided the “New World” of the Americas between the two superpowers.
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He is using artillery and explosives. Rhodes capitulates after a siege of 145 days.
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The French Revolution. The emergence of the two-party system. Threats of war with France and England. The first transfer of Presidential political power. George Washington called it "debauched" and worse. The clampdown on personal freedoms. The extraordinary conflict that divided American life in the 1790s centered on divergent understandings of the meaning of the American Revolution and how its legacy should be nurtured in the new nation. -
In this transaction with France, signed on April 30, 1803, the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation westward. -
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statutes that they find to violate the Constitution of the United States. The U.S. Supreme Court established the principle of judicial review the power of the federal courts to declare legislative and executive acts unconstitutional. -
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was the first occasion for United States citizens to travel so far by river and land into the West, but it certainly wasn't the last. Upon their return they provided detailed maps, reports about natural resources, and details about the indigenous populations they encountered. -
Embargo Act, Legislation by the U.S. Congress in December 1807 that closed U.S. ports to all exports and restricted imports from Britain. The act was Pres. Thomas Jefferson's response to British and French interference with neutral U.S. merchant ships during the Napoleonic Wars. sequences forced President Jefferson and Congress to consider repealing the measure. The American economy was suffering and American public opinion turned against the embargo. -
The Temperance movement was a reform where people began to stop drinking alcohol and ban it. The goal of this movement was to ban the consumption of alcohol -
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It began when the United States declared war on 18 June 1812. The War of 1812, a conflict fought between the United States and Great Britain over British violations of U.S. maritime rights. It ended with the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Ghent -
American cavalry charged Tecumseh’s position to contain the Native American threat while the rest of the army dealt with the surrendering British and elements of the British army still fighting. But the cavalry charge was halted by a volley of musket fire along with the muddy swamp that bogged down the horses. -
The Treaty of Ghent was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands. Great Britain agreed to relinquish claims to the Northwest Territory, and both countries pledged to work toward ending the slave trade. -
The Tariff of 1816 was the first protective tariff implemented by the government. Its aim was to make American and foreign manufactured goods comparable in price and therefore persuade Americans to buy American products. America was a new nation, free from the yoke of the British in the Revolutionary War. -
Henry Clay, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and W.H. Crawford ran in this election but none of them received a majority vote. Many believe there was a corrupt bargain happing during the election due to the mysterious meeting between Henry Clay and John Quincy Adams. -
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant unsettled lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion, historically known as the Southampton Insurrection, was a rebellion of enslaved Virginians that took place in Southampton County, Virginia, in August 1831. Led by Nat Turner, the rebels killed between 55 and 65 White people, making it the deadliest slave revolt in U.S. history. -
Jackson believed in preserving the union and fought nullification. South Carolina was not pleased with the new tariff either. They said it was oppressive, so the state passed the Nullification Ordinance in 1832. Declared the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null void Stated they would secede if the federal government used force to make them comply. Claimed secession would be considered treason.
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Several generations of woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered a radical change in the Constitution This was to guarantee women the right to vote and have a voice in the government, to be seen and heard -
There was an ongoing border dispute between the Republic of Texas and Mexico prior to annexation. Texas claimed the Rio Grande as its border based on the Treaties of Velasco, while Mexico maintained that it was the Nueces River and did not recognize Texan independence. In 1844, Congress finally agreed to annex Texas. -
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo officially ended the Mexican–American War. It was signed on 2 February 1848 in the town of Guadalupe Hidalgo. After the defeat of its army and the fall of the capital in September 1847, Mexico entered into peace negotiations with the U.S. envoy, Nicholas Trist. -
California Gold Rush, was a rapid influx of fortune seekers in California that began after gold was found at Sutter's Mill in early 1848 and reached its peak in 1852. According to estimates, more than 300,000 people came to the territory during the Gold Rush. The California Gold Rush was a gold rush that began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. -
Lasting 10 years the Compromise of 1850 was able to amend the Fugitive Slave Act and abolished the slave trade in Washington D.C. Furthermore, California entered the Union as a free state, and a territorial government was created in Utah. -
Three distinct political groups occupied Kansas: pro-slavery, Free-Staters and abolitionists. Violence broke out immediately between these opposing factions and continued until 1861 when Kansas entered the Union as a free state on January 29. This era became forever known as Bleeding Kansas. -
Dred Scott was an enslaved African American man who, along with his wife, Harriet, unsuccessfully sued for freedom for themselves and their two daughters in the Dred Scott v. Sandford case of 1857, popularly known as the "Dred Scott decision"
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The 1860 United States elections elected the members of the 37th United States Congress. The election marked the start of the Third Party System and precipitated the Civil War. The Republican Party won control of the Presidency and both houses of Congress, making it the fifth party to accomplish such a feature. -
The Anaconda Plan was a military strategy proposed by Union General Winfield Scott at the outbreak of the Civil War. The plan consisted of a naval blockade of the Confederate littoral, an attack down the Mississippi River, and constricting the South by Union land and naval forces. -
To help develop the American West and spur economic growth, Congress passed the Homestead Act of 1862, which provided 160 acres of federal land to anyone who agreed to farm the land. The act distributed millions of acres of western land to individual settlers. This was able to change many peoples lives and help them. -
Gettysburg ended Confederate general Robert E. Lee's ambitious second quest to invade the North and bring the Civil War to a swift end. The loss there dashed the hopes of the Confederate States of America to become an independent nation. Though the cautious Meade would be criticized for not pursuing the enemy after Gettysburg, the battle was a crushing defeat for the Confederacy. -
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
The Thirteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is recognized by many as the formal abolition of slavery in the United States. -
Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. Critics attacked Seward for the secrecy surrounding the deal, which came to be known as “Seward's folly.” The press mocked his willingness to spend so much on “Seward's icebox” and Andrew Johnson's “polar bear garden.” -
The Second Industrial Revolution was a period when advances in steel production, electricity, and petroleum caused a series of innovations that changed society. With the production of cost-effective steel, railroads were expanded and more industrial machines were built. -
After Frances Willard took over leadership in 1879, the WCTU became one of the largest and most influential women’s groups of the 19th century by expanding its platform to campaign for labor laws, prison reform, and suffrage. With Willard’s death in 1898, the WCTU began to distance itself from feminist groups, instead focusing primarily on prohibition. -
Between 1870 and 1920, almost 11 million Americans moved from farm to city, and another 25 million immigrants arrived from overseas. By 1920, for the first time in American history, the census revealed more people lived in cities than on farms. The Second Industrial Revolution, also known as the Technological Revolution, was a phase of rapid scientific discovery, standardization, mass production, and industrialization from the late 19th century into the early 20th century.
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November 23, 1876, when William Tweed, better known as Boss Tweed, was returned to prison by American authorities who had been aided by the Spanish. Boss Tweed, a democrat politician and overall jack-of-all-trades who built New York’s Tammany Hall, was arrested for embezzling funds, but managed to escape and hide out as a Spanish sailor, but was easily recognized by his likeness in Thomas Nast’s political cartoons. -
Greenback movement, (c. 1868–88), in U.S. history, the campaign, largely by persons with agrarian interests, to maintain or increase the amount of paper money in circulation. Greenback Party. The Greenback Party (also called the National Greenback Party) was organized in 1876 to campaign for the expansion of the supply of paper money—"greenbacks"—first issued by the federal government in 1862 to help pay for the Civil War. -
Knights of Labor, originally Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well as Canada and had chapters also in Great Britain and Australia. Its most important leader was Terence V. Powderly. -
With food and resources scarce, Sitting Bull surrendered to the U.S. Army on July 20, 1881, in exchange for amnesty for his people. He was a prisoner of war in South Dakota's Fort Randall for two years before being moved to Standing Rock Reservation. On December 15, 1890, reservation police tried to arrest Sitting Bull, the famous Sioux chief, whom they mistakenly believed was a Ghost Dancer and killed him in the process, increasing the tensions at Pine Ridge in South Dakota. -
The 1891 Immigration Act created the Office of the Superintendent of Immigration in the Treasury Department. The superintendent oversaw a new corps of immigrant inspectors stationed at the country's principal ports of entry. During its first decade, the Immigration Service formalized basic immigration procedures. -
The Panic of 1893 was one of the most severe financial crises in the history of the United States. The crisis started with banks in the interior of the country. Instability arose for two key reasons. First, gold reserves maintained by the U.S. Treasury fell to about $100 million from $190 million in 1890. -
Ferguson, Judgement, Decided May 18, 1896; Records of the Supreme Court of the United States; Record Group 267; Plessy v. Ferguson, 163, #15248, National Archives. The ruling in this Supreme Court case upheld a Louisiana state law that allowed for "equal but separate accommodations for the white and colored races." -
The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898, was signed by Spain and the United States on December 10, 1898, that ended the Spanish–American War. In France, the Treaty of Paris is signed, formally ending the Spanish-American War and granting the United States its first overseas empire. The Spanish-American War had its origins in the rebellion against Spanish rule that began in Cuba in 1895. -
The 1913 Federal Reserve Act created the Federal Reserve System, known simply as "The Fed." It was implemented to establish economic stability in the U.S. by introducing a central bank to oversee monetary policy. 1 The Federal Reserve Act is one of the most influential laws shaping the U.S. financial system. -
World War I, which lasted from 1914 until 1918, introduced the world to the horrors of trench warfare and lethal new technologies such as poison gas and tanks. The result was some of the most horrific carnage the world had ever seen, with more than 16 million military personnel and civilians losing their lives.
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The 1920s saw the emergence of a progressive new attitude among some. These flappers seemed to take the U.S. by storm. They often had short hair-styles, wore shorter and more revealing dresses, openly drank and smoked, and seemed to reject traditional views of a woman's role. This trend was troubling for many and highlighted tensions and conflicts which defined the 20s. -
Klan activity not seen since the 1880’s behind to rise again. Membership reaches 5 million. Showing how mainstream they are, the KKK marches on Washington in 1926. The group is willing to use violence, intimidation, and political means to achieve its ends. Tacts are aimed at:
African Americans, Jews, Immigrants, and Catholics. -
Roosevelt emphasized working collectively through an expanded federal government to confront the economic crisis, a contrast to Hoover's emphasis on individualism. During the campaign, Roosevelt ran on many of the programs that would later become part of the New Deal during his presidency. The New Deal was a series of programs, public work projects, financial reforms, and regulations enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1939. -
Founded in 1942 by an interracial group of students in Chicago, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) pioneered the use of nonviolent direct action in America's civil rights struggle. The Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) is an African-American civil rights organization in the United States that played a pivotal role for African Americans in the civil rights movement. -
After World War II, the United States and its allies, and the Soviet Union and its satellite states began a decades-long struggle for supremacy known as the Cold War. Soldiers of the Soviet Union and the United States did not do battle directly during the Cold War. The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc.
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U.S. President Harry Truman declares an official end to the war with Germany. November 1 – The first military exercises for nuclear warfare, with infantry troops, included, are held in the Nevada desert. November 10 – Direct dial coast-to-coast telephone service begins. -
The desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, Arkansas, gained national attention on September 3, 1957, when Governor Orval Faubus mobilized the Arkansas National Guard in an effort to prevent nine African American students from integrating into the high school. -
Freedom Riders were groups of white and African American civil rights activists who participated in Freedom Rides, and bus trips through the American South in 1961 to protest segregated bus terminals. From May until November 1961, more than 400 black and white Americans risked their lives—and many endured savage beatings and imprisonment—for simply traveling together on buses and trains as they journeyed through the Deep South. -
n May 1957, nearly 25,000 demonstrators gathered at the Lincoln Memorial to commemorate the third anniversary of Brown v. Board of Education ruling, and urge the federal government to follow through on its decision in the trial. In 1963, in the wake of violent attacks on civil rights demonstrators in Birmingham, Alabama, momentum built for another mass protest on the nation’s capital. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. President John F. Kennedy proposed the initial civil rights act. Kennedy faced great personal and political conflicts over this legislation. -
It outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. This “act to enforce the fifteenth amendment to the Constitution” was signed into law 95 years after the amendment was ratified. She was called " The Mother of the Civil Rights Movement."