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Manifest Destiny
In the 19th century, manifest destiny was a widely held belief in the United States that its settlers were destined to expand across North America. This belief was held because americans believed that it was are god given right to expand america. Pre civil war democrats where the main enactors of this belief. -
Webster Ashburton Treaty
The Webster–Ashburton Treaty, signed August 9, 1842, was a treaty resolving several border issues between the United States and the British North American colonies (i.e. the region that became Canada). The treaty was signed by United States Secretary of State Daniel Webster and British diplomat Alexander Baring, 1st Baron Ashburton. This was done to clarify what land was are's and what was Canada's so that no conflict would ensue. -
Annexation of Texas (Continued)
Until the year 1836, Texas was considered to be a part of Mexico. Tension between Mexico and the US came to rise on the topic of slavery. Mexico claimed slavery to be illegal, while the Americans kept it in the border states. Texas later declared independence in 1836. The US offered to annex with Texas in 1845. -
Wilmot Proviso: 1846
Pennsylvania Congressman David Wilmot proposed an amendment which stated "neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall ever exist" in lands won by the Mexican-American War. This was designed to put an end to slavery within the land acquired as a result of the Mexican War. -
Start of the Gold Rush
January 25th, 1848 was the start of the US American Gold Rush that would come to bring some millions and others nothing bt time and pain. Key figures of the gold rush were those time gold miners and everyday people who wanted the opportunity. -
Mexican Cession
The Mexican Cession was the territory that the US gained from Mexico as a result of the Mexican-American War. This was mainly to take from Mexico and have the US show dominance over Mexico and to show that they have truly won. The key figures were the US government officials and the President of the US, with also the Mexican President and Mexican government officials. -
The Mexican-American War 1846-48
the Mexican American war was an essential part to American growth and are expansion of powers. after the war the U.S received California, Nevada, Utah, and parts of four other states. The U.S congress enacted the war. This took place in Mexico and America. This happened so america could expand. -
Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo: 1848
The Treaty of Guadalupe-Hidalgo ended the Mexican-American War in favor of the United States. This treaty added 525,000 square miles to United States territory. Mexico also gave up all claims to Texas and recognized the Rio Grande as America's southern border. In return, the United States paid Mexico 15 million and agreed to settle all claims of U.S. citizens against Mexico. -
Founding of the Free Soil Party
The Free Soil Party, founded in 1848, opposed the westward expansion of slavery and favored land for white settlers, "free soil, speech, labor, and men." Main key figures of this were Salmon P. Chase and John P. Hale, this took place in Buffalo, New York. -
President James K. Polk Death
The death of President James K. Polk was on June 15th, 1849 and he had passed away from cholera. The same death that would later follow Zachary Taylor. -
Plains Indians Wars
The Indian Wars, were the multiple armed conflicts between European governments and colonists, and later American settlers or the United States government, and the native peoples of North America. This took place on american soil, and was enacted by the US government. This happened because america did not want to share its land with the native americans. -
President Taylor Passes
In 1850, President Zachary Taylor passes away from what is called "cholera morbus" -
Fugitive Slave Act: 1850
Of all the bills that made up the Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act was the most controversial. This act required citizens to assist in the recovery of fugitive slaves. It would deny a fugitives rights to a jury trial. The main events that occurred throughout time because of this act were mainly the slave issues. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin, the book published and written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1852, inspired by her reaction to the Fugitive Slave Act and laws. -
Franklin Pierce 1852 Election
In the presidential race of 1852, the winner of this event was President Franklin Pierce, which he defeated the whig party. -
Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase was the US purchase of land from Mexico that included the southeast parts of Arizona and New Mexico. The key figures to this event were Santa Anna and Franklin Pierce. -
The New England Emigrant Aid Society
Founded in the year 1854, this society was a group of abolitionists that raised money to help anti-slavery settlers move into the Kansas Territory. No specific person led the society. -
Formation of the Republican Party
Democrats and Whigs had existed before, this political party believed in the non-expansion of slavery, and believed in National power over state power. The key figures of this event were non only then whigs and democrats who decided to follow the lead. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act: 1854
The Kansas-Nebraska Act allowed each territory to decide the issue of slavery on the basis of popular sovereignty. With slavery, Kansas would violate the Missouri Compromise, which had kept the Union from falling apart further then is was and did. -
Ostend Manifesto
Ostend Manifesto, where President James K. Polk offered to purchase Cuba from Spain for $100 Million but Spain later refused. Franklin Pierce became president in 1852 and negotiated secretly to buy Cuba. It was later leaked to the press in the United States and President Pierce was forced to drop it. -
Bleeding Kansas
The territory in 1855 when a series of violent fights between pro-slavery states and free-state forces in Kansas try to influence the decision of whether or not Kansas would be a slave or free state. -
Caning of Charles Sumner
In May of 1856, Charles Sumner gave a speech which openly attacked Andrew Butler of South Carolina. Preston Brooks nephew of Butler, brutally beat and nearly killed Sumner with his cane. -
Dred Scott Decision: 1846-57
The Supreme Court, being in the favor of Sanford, which was declaring that slaves were not citizens of the United States and that no slave could sue or take legal action to act against this and protect themselves. Later coming to a conclusion that the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional and should be ratified. -
House Divided Speech
In June of 1858, Abraham Lincoln gave his speech, "House Divided" which stated that the United States will either be all slave or all free because of it could not be half slave and half free and still succeed. -
Lincoln-Douglas Debate
The key figures of this event were, Abraham Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas. This event was a series of debates for the US Senate seat from Illinois. This further helped Douglas to enact the Compromise of 1850 and later responsible for the Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854. Later resulting in Lincoln losing the Senate race. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown and Colonel Robert E. Lee are the key figures of this event. Brown, being a abolitionist, and a group of his supporters later captured prominent citizens and seized the federal armory and arsenal at Harpers Ferry. John Brown was hoping that the local slave population would join the raid but instead was held by local militia's. Brown and his men where tried and executed. -
Manifest Destiny
A belief that American Settlers were destined to expand across and conquer the North American Continent. Also a belief in American superiority (Anglo-Saxon). We used manifest destiny as a justification for expansion. -
The Election of 1860
The main figures of this event were John C. Breckinridge, John Bell, Abraham Lincoln and Stephan A. Douglas. With four candidates in the race, Lincoln with only 40% of the popular vote and 180 electoral votes. This was taken place mostly in Virginia with the candidates from all over the US. -
Formation of the CSA (Confederate States of America)
The CSA was a republic that was formed in 1861 that composed of the eleven Southern states that seceded from the United States. The key figures were the President of the CSA which was Jefferson Davis. -
Lincoln sworn in as President
Abraham Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United States. In his inauguration speech, Lincoln extended an olive branch to the South, but also made it clear that he intended to enforce federal laws in the states that seceded. -
Start of Civil War
The American Civil War was an internal conflict fought in the United States from 1861 to 1865. The Union faced secessionists in eleven Southern states grouped together as the CSA (Confederate States of America) . The Union won the war, which was the bloodiest in U.S. history. -
The Battle of Fort Sumter
The bombardment of Fort Sumter near Charleston, South Carolina by the CSA, and the return gunfire and subsequent surrender by the Union that started the American Civil War. It lasted two days. -
First Battle of Bull Run
The First Battle of Bull Run put Union General Irvin McDowell against the new Confederate army. The Union is defeated causing a panicked retreat back to Washington. -
Moniter vs. Merrimack
The Confederate ironclad, USS Merrimack, battles the Union ironclad, USS Monitor, in Chesapeake Bay. This battle is a draw but it shows the new power of the steel naval ships which will makes the wooden ships obsolete. -
Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburgh Landing. It was a major battle in the American Civil War, fought between the CSA and the Union on April 6–7, 1862, in southwestern Tennessee. It resulted in a Union victory. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Acts were several United States federal laws that gave an applicant ownership of land, typically called a "homestead", at little or no cost. the US government oversaw the enactment of the homestead acts. This happened on american soil, so that land ownership inequalities in the south could be fixed. -
Seven Days Battles
The Seven Days Battles were a series of six major battles over the seven days from June 25 to July 1, 1862, near Richmond, Virginia, during the American Civil War. It resulted in a Confederate victory -
Battle of Antietam
also known as the Battle of Sharpsburg, was fought on September 17, 1862, near Sharpsburg, Maryland and Antietam Creek as part of the Maryland Campaign. It was a very strategic win for the Union. -
Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was fought December 11–15, 1862, in Fredericksburg, Virginia, between General Robert E. Lee's Confederate Army of Northern Virginia and the Union Army of the Potomac, commanded by Major General Ambrose Burnside, as part of the American Civil War. The result was a confederate victory. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Abraham Lincoln issued the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation on September 22nd, 1862. It stipulated that if the Southern states did not cease their rebellion by January 1st, 1863, then Proclamation would go into effect. -
Battle of Chancellorsville
Confederate victory. The Battle of Chancellorsville was a major battle of the American Civil War, and the principal engagement of the Chancellorsville Campaign. -
Siege of Vicksburg
In May and June of 1863, Maj. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's armies converged on Vicksburg, investing the city and entrapping a Confederate army under Lt. Gen. John Pemberton. On July 4, Vicksburg surrendered after prolonged siege operations. This was the culmination of one of the most brilliant military campaigns of the war. Resulted in a Union win. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War. It resulted in a Union victory. -
Battle of Spotsylvania Court House
The Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, sometimes more simply referred to as the Battle of Spotsylvania, was the second major battle in Lt. Gen. Ulysses S. Grant's 1864 Overland Campaign of the American Civil War. -
Sand Creek Massacre
The Sand Creek massacre was a massacre in the American Indian Wars that occurred on November 29, 1864, when a 675-man force of Colorado U.S. Volunteer Cavalry attacked and destroyed a village of Cheyenne and Arapaho in southeastern Colorado Territory, killing and mutilating an estimated 70–163 Native Americans. This happened to get the indians to move out of the US claimed lands. -
Shermans March
Sherman's March to the Sea was a military campaign of the American Civil War conducted through Georgia from November 15 to December 21, 1864 by Maj. Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman of the Union Army. During the march they destroyed/burned down villages and towns to prevent Confederate assistance form the people. -
Lee Surrenders
General Robert E. Lee and his confederate forces surrender at the Appomattox Court House to the Union army. -
End of Civil War
CSA General Edmund Kirby Smith, commander of Confederate forces west of the Mississippi, signs the surrender terms offered by Union negotiators at the Appomattox Courthouse. It finally brought an end to the bloodiest four years in U.S. history. -
KKK started
the white supremacist group was started and called the KKK. It targeted mostly black people but also many other races and religions. -
Civil Rights Bill
The Civil Rights Act of 1964 ended segregation in public places and banned employment discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. It was one of the largest accomplishments of the civil rights movement. -
Seward’s Folly
Alaska was bought from Russia by the USA in 1867. -
Seward's Folly
Seward's Folly was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire on March 30, 1867, by a treaty ratified by the United States Senate, and signed by president Andrew Johnson. This happened in the US and Russia, so the US could expand. -
Black Friday
The Black Friday, September 24, 1869, gold panic was caused by the efforts of two speculators, Jay Gould and his partner James Fisk, (aka The Gold Ring) to corner the gold market on the New York Gold Exchange. The scandal took place during the Presidency of Ulysses S. Grant whose policy was to sell weekly Treasury gold to pay off the national debt, stabilize the dollar, and boost the economy. -
Dominican Republic
The Annexation of Santo Domingo was an attempted treaty during the later Reconstruction Era, initiated by United States President Ulysses S. Grant in 1869, to annex Santo Domingo as a United States territory, with the promise of eventual statehood. -
Enforcement acts
The Enforcement Acts were three bills passed by the United States Congress between 1870 and 1871. They were criminal codes which protected African-Americans' right to vote, to hold office, to serve on juries, and receive equal protection of laws. -
KuKluxKlan Act
President Ulysses S. Grant declared martial law which let normal people battle against the kkk origination. -
Panic of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered a depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 until 1879, and even longer in some countries (France and Britain). -
Reconstruction Ends, ‘Redemption’ Begins
Republicans had quietly given up their fight for racial equality and blacks' rights in the south. In 1877, Hayes withdrew the last federal troops from the south, and the bayonet-backed Republican governments collapsed, thereby ending Reconstruction. -
The Battle of the Little Bighorn
The Battle of Little Bighorn was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. Near the Little Bighorn River in eastern Montana Territory, So the US could gain land from the native americans. -
Social Darwinism and U.S. imperialism
the economic, military and cultural philosophy that the United States affects and controls other countries. Such influence is often closely associated with expansion into foreign territories. This was done by many americans who wanted to expand outside america. This happened in foreign territories. -
A Century of Dishoner
A Century of Dishonor is a non-fiction book by Helen Hunt Jackson first published in 1881 that chronicled the experiences of Native Americans in the United States, focusing on injustices. This was published in america to focus on, the US's many injustices to native americans. -
Hawaii
The Kingdom of Hawaii was closely linked by missionary work and trade to the U.S. by the 1880s. In 1893 business leaders overthrew the Queen of Hawaii and sought annexation. President Grover Cleveland strongly disapproved, so Hawaii set up an independent republic. The US now owns Hawaii as its 50th state. -
Dawes Act 1887
The Dawes Act adopted by Congress in 1887, authorized the President of the United States to survey American Indian tribal land and divide it into allotments for individual Indians. So that those who accepted allotments and lived separately from the tribe would be granted United States citizenship. This happened in america. -
Wounded Knee Massacre
The Wounded Knee Massacre occurred on December 29, 1890 on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of South Dakota. The US army killed many native americans. They did this to expand US power. -
1898 treaty of paris
The peace treaty to the Spanish-American War gaining the U.S. the territories Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines. Spain was also forced to withdraw from Cuba. -
Puerto Rico
On July 25, 1898, during the Spanish–American War, Puerto Rico was invaded by the United States with a landing at Guánica. As an outcome of the war, the Jones–Shafroth Act granted all the inhabitants of Puerto Rico U.S. citizenship in 1917. This happened so the US could expand its powers. -
Cuba
Under the 1898 Treaty of Paris, Spain relinquished all claim of sovereignty over and title to Cuba, with the island to be occupied by the United States. The US government oversaw this, and led to the U.S. retaining the right to intervene in Cuban affairs and to supervise its finances and foreign relations through the Platt Amendment. -
Philippines
On December 10, 1898, the Treaty of Paris which ended the Spanish–American War was signed. The treaty transferred control of the Philippines from Spain to the United States. This happened in the Philippines, so the US could expand its powers. -
American Samoa
The U.S. took control of its allotted region on June 7, 1900, with the Deed of Cession. Tutuila Island and Aunuu Island were ceded by their chiefs in 1900, then added to American Samoa. Manua was annexed in 1904, then added to American Samoa. Swains Island was annexed in 1925 (occupied since 1856), then added to American Samoa. This happened so the Us could expand its powers. -
benevolent assimilation
William Taft's idea as civil governor over the newly acquired Philippines wanted to "civilize". He spent millions of dollars for infrastructure, health improvements, and education. -
Virgin Islands
in 1917, the United States purchased the former Danish colony of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas, which is now the U.S. Virgin Islands. The United States—which had made an earlier approach in 1902—purchased these islands because they feared that the islands might be seized as a submarine base during World War I. -
foraker act 1917
Gave U.S. citizenship to all Puerto Ricans without giving them full self-rule. -
don enrique dupuy de lome and the letter
This escalated the Cuban issue and was an immediate cause for the Spanish-American War. de Lome sent the letter to the foreign minister of Spain criticizing the U.S. -
Canada
In 1925, to correct an unintended effect from an earlier treaty, the U.S. ceded to Canada two enclaves comprising two and one-half acres of water territory in the Lake of the Woods. This was the US losing territory to Canada, it happened in america, in an attempt to avoid conflict over american expansion. -
Mexican boundary
In 1927 under the same 1905 Convention, the U.S. acquired two bancos from Mexico at the Colorado River border with Arizona. Farmers Banco, covering 583.4 acres. This was done to expand Us powers, it happened in america.
