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Thomas Paine: Common Sense
Inspired both the Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution. Paine came to the United States in 1774 after meeting Benjamin Franklin, and he quickly became a proponent of the American revolutionary cause. Even after fighting broke out in April 1775, however, many Americans were reluctant to break their ties to England. Paine's publication of Common Sense in January 1776 helped remove that obstacle by convincing the colonists that further association with the English king was undesira -
Period: to
The American revolution to The Civil War
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Second Continental Congress
however, the story of American independence does not begin on that day. Rather, the road to freedom from British rule began with the convening of the Second Continental Congress in May 1775. The Second Continental Congress votes for independence in 1775. The Second Continental Congress served as the colonial government during the American Revolution and drafted the Articles of Confederation, which were ratified in 1781. -
Battle of Saratoga
The American victory during the Battle of Saratoga maintained control of the vital Hudson River valley and convinced France to recognize the United States and sign the Treaty of Amity and Commerce. The flow of French supplies virtually guaranteed the British colonies' independence during the American Revolution. -
Battle of Camden
Gen. Horatio Gates was replaced by Greene. Greene inherited an army that was short on supplies, arms, and morale. He had fewer than 3,000 men, and fewer than 800 were considered able to fight. Greene immediately began to reorganize the army. He improved the supplies and restored order. One of his most important acts was to convince Gen. Daniel Morgan to return to the army. Morgan, a proven commander of light troops, had resigned in disgust when Anthony Wayne was named to head the Corps of Light -
The Treaty of Paris, signed
The Treaty of Paris officially brought a close to the American Revolution, with Great Britain recognizing the colonies' independence. Negotiated in Paris by Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, John Jay, and Henry Laurens, the preliminary treaty was signed by representatives from both nations on November 30, 1782 and granted to the fledgling United States nearly everything it wanted. The document was formally signed on September 3, 1783 and ratified by the Continental Congress on January 14, 1784. -
Northwest Ordinance
The Northwest Ordinance revised an earlier ordinance, written by Thomas Jefferson, that applied to the territories north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. Not only did the Northwest Ordinance provide for the governance of the territories, but it also made a provision for the eventual admission of between three and five states from those territories. -
Bill of Rights
The absence of a bill to that end quickly became one of the rallying points for Antifederalists opposed to the new Constitution. Federalist proponents of the document initially argued that such a bill was unnecessary and could even prove dangerous in the event that key rights were omitted. -
Battle of Tippecanoe
The Battle of Tippecanoe, which took place on November 7, 1811 between Shawnees and U.S. forces, resulted in an ambiguous victory for William Henry Harrison. -
Missouri Compromise
Missouri's application for statehood in 1819 caused considerable controversy because, if it had been admitted as a slave state, Missouri would have tipped the balance in the Senate toward slave states. Opponents of slavery wanted Missouri to eliminate the institution prior to being admitted as a state; proponents thought that was a matter for Missouri alone to decide. On March 3, 1820, the Missouri Compromise, hammered out by Speaker of the House Henry Clay, solved the problem at least temporari -
The Monroe Doctrine
On December 2, 1823, President James Monroe faced the assembled members of Congress and delivered his annual address. His speech included a series of statements that became an important principle of American foreign policy. Although never formally made into law, this policy came to be known as the Monroe Doctrine and played a key role in establishing the dominance of the United States in the Western Hemisphere. -
July 4th
Jefferson died on the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1826, shortly after noon and just a few hours before Adams. -
Battle of Buena Vista
On February 23, 1847, the two armies collided in the rugged hills near hacienda Buena Vista. Taylor held on during the desperate Mexican assaults, and Santa Anna reluctantly retreated during the night. In a pattern that would haunt the Mexican Army for the rest of the war, high-ranking commanders failed to support each other in the Battle of Buena Vista, and once again, the U.S. artillery ripped fearful holes in the Mexican ranks. By the time Santa Anna had returned to his base at San Luis Potos -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
On February 2, 1848, representatives from both countries signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. In return for $15 million, Mexico surrendered New Mexico and California—more than half its territory—to the United States. In July 1848, the last U.S. soldiers boarded ships for their return home, finally ending the U.S. occupation of Mexico and bringing the war to a close. -
Kansas- Nebraska Act
Determined to promote the rapid settlement of the American West, Congress passed the Kansas-Nebraska Act on May 30, 1854. The sponsor of the act, Senator Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois, was a proponent of popular sovereignty and suggested that Kansas and Nebraska (where slavery had previously been prohibited under the Missouri Compromise of 1820) be permitted to choose between becoming slave states or free states. Few issues stirred greater passion in the decades prior to the Civil War than the -
Scott v. Stanford
Few cases in American history have stirred more controversy than the majority opinion written by Chief Justice Roger B. Taney in Scott v. Sandford, which declared that only white people could be citizens of the United States. Dred Scott, a slave, had been taken by his master Dr. Emerson, an army surgeon, to a free state and a free territory and back to Missouri, a slave state. Scott and his wife Harriet sued Sanford (incorrectly spelled by the Court reporter as Sandford), the executor of Emerson
