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Aug 12, 1492
SETTLEMENT: The Columbian Exchange (Unit 1)
The Columbian Exchange was a period of cultural and biological exchanges between the New & Old Worlds. Exchanges of plants, animals, diseases and ideas transformed European and Native American ways of life. Beginning after Columbus' discovery in 1492, the exchange lasted throughout the years of expansion and discovery. Waves of settlement came along with this exchange, and the country that we now know began to form when people from the Old World began inhabiting areas both inhabited and not. -
PROGRESS: Articles Of Confederation (Unit 2)
The Articles of Confederation was an agreement among all thirteen original states in the US that served as its first constitution. Under this, the states remained independent. Congress was given the authority to make treaties and alliances, maintain armed forces and coin money. However, the central gov. lacked the ability to levy taxes and regulate commerce, which led to the creation of new federal laws in 1787. Thus, the AOC led to the progression of a greater nation. -
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LEADERSHIP: The Presidency of George Washington (Unit 3)
George Washington was commander in chief of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War and served two terms as the first U.S. president. Washington established the first cabinet, including secretaries of state, treasury, and war, and an attorney general. He was the first head and formal leader of the US, and set the system of presidents and leadership that we still carry on today in this country. -
CONFLICT: Nullification Crisis (Unit 4)
The Nullification Crisis was a political crisis which involved a confrontation between South Carolina and the federal government. It erupted when the SC legislature passed an Ordinance of Nullification. The Ordinance declared the Tariffs of 1828 and 1832 null and void within the state borders of SC. A Compromise Tariff was passed and gradually lowered the tariff rates over the next 10 years, diffusing the crisis. This conflict caused great distress, and was just that: a conflict. -
DIPLOMACY: Treaty of Guadalupe (Unit 5)
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the US. The war had begun almost two years earlier, in May 1846, over a territorial dispute involving Texas. It established the Rio Grande as the southernmost border of TX, and Mexico ceded lands that comprise California, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, Nevada, and parts of Colorado and Wyoming. This was an action of diplomacy in that it pertained to negotiation between countries (the US and Mexico). -
COMPROMISE: Compromise of 1850 (Unit 6)
Divisions over slavery in territory gained in the Mexican-American. War were resolved in the Compromise of 1850. The Compromise admitted California as a free state, provided popular sovereignty for two territories, passed the Fugitive Slave Act, provided compensation to Texas, and abolished the slave trade in Washington, D.C. This compromise was brought about by each side making concessions. -
AMERICAN DREAM: Homestead Act (Unit 7)
The Homestead Act gave away 160-acre parcels of land for settlement. The West attracted groups including immigrants from Russia, Eastern Europe, Germany, Scandinavia, China, Canada, and Mexico. They were pushed by factors such as the decline of small farms, famine, and religious persecution, and pulled by factors such as work, cheap food/land, and political tolerance of religious minorities. This lure of opportunity and success through hard work fulfilled the concept of the American Dream.