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Missouri Compromise
Who: The US Congress
A compromise between the North and the South that allowed Missouri to join the United States as a slavery if Maine joined as a free state. -
The Webster-Ashburn Treaty
This agreement was concluded by the U.S. and Great Britain. The treaty settled the Northeast Boundary Dispute, which had caused serious conflicts, such as the Aroostook War. It gave the Oregon territory to the U.S. but the U.S.-Canadian boarder continued along the 49th parallel. -
Treaty of Wangxia
This treaty allowed Americans to trade in China on the same terms as the British, known as the 'most favoured nation' policy. The treaty was supposed to be revised after 12 years, but China's intense dislike of foreigners meant that it continually avoided renewing the treaty. When the French and British used force to persuade the Chinese to open their country fully to trade, the Americans did not join in, but were allowed to trade under the terms of the Treaty of Tianjin. -
Texas annexed by the USA
Texas was part of Mexico. Problems began when American settlers moved into Texas with their slaves and because slavery was illegal in Mexico, the government tried to assert its authority over the settlers. The settlers resisted Mexico's attempts and declared their independence. A year later, Texas became a state of the United States. -
War with Mexico begins
Who: President James Polk
Where: beyond the Nueces River
Polk, who was a keen expansionist and strong believer in 'manifest destiny', offered Mexico $25 million for their two northernmost territories. Mexico turned down the offer. Polk then sent troops beyond the border between Texas and Mexico, Mexican forces clashed with US troops and war followed. -
USA settles dispute with Britain over Oregon
The Americans wanted to push the 49th parallel further North to Oregon but Britain already owned the territory. Americans argued that they has settles in the region first, had explored it more thoroughly and it was next to US territory. Britain argued they had initially explored it, Hudson Bay company had traded there for years and they needed the important Pacific port, Vancouver. The US and Britain signed The Webster-Ashburton Treaty, this continued the 49th-parallel but added Oregon. -
Mexican-American War
This war marked the first U.S. armed conflict fought on foreign soil. At the time, Mexico was politically divided and militarily unprepared to fight the expansionist-minded President James K. Polk, who believed the U.S. had a "manifest destiny" to spread across the continent. When the dust cleared, Mexico had lost about one-third of its territory, including nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
After winning the Mexican-American, The US and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which granted the US the territories of Upper California and New Mexico. It also established the Rio Grande as the new boundary between Texas and Mexico. The US also paid Mexico $15 million in compensation for reducing Mexico's territory by half. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was a set of agreements that consisted of four separate elements:
- California joined the USA as a free state
- New Mexico and Utah became US territory without a slave status
- The slave trade was abolished in Washington, DC
- A new Fugitive Slave Act was passed -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe after she saw a slave being brutally beaten by his owner. The book told the terrors of slave life which rallied Northerners and angered Southerners. -
The Gadsden Purchase
This was an agreement between the United States and Mexico, finalized in 1854, in which the United States agreed to pay Mexico $10 million for a 29,670 square mile portion of Mexico that later became part of Arizona and New Mexico. -
The Republican Party
A new political party, called the Republican party, began to arise as the ideals of the Whig party became out of date. Although they did share the opposition of slavery and popularity in the Northern states. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act; Bleeding Kansas (to 1861)
An amendment that nullified the 1820 Missouri Compromise; it allowed the people of the Kansas territory to vote whether they were a slave state of a free state. -
Dred Scott decision
During the Dred Scott court case, The United State Supreme Court made a decision that gave the right of slave owners to take their slaves into Western territories. This decision negated the doctrine of popular sovereignty which allowed states t decided whether they were a slave or free state. -
Treaty of Tianjin with China
The Treaty of Tianjin opened all of China to trade, allowed American Christian missionaries to come to China, and also allowed an American embassy in Peking (modern-day Beijing). The treaty was renewed in the Burlingame treaty of 1868, with the U.S. retaining its 'most favoured nation' status. -
Raid on Harpers Ferry
John Brown rallied a group that was against slavery to raid the arsenal at Harpers Ferry, in the process the group captured some of the citizens. Brown was later hung for his crime. -
Election of Abraham Lincoln
In the November 1860 election, Lincoln competed again with Stephen Douglas, the Democratic candidate, for the presidential position. Lincoln, who was the Republican candidate, won the election. -
Secession of South Carolina
South Carolina was afraid Lincoln would take away their right to slavery so they seceded; this was the beginning of the secession of many other slave states. -
Secession of six more states
After South Carolina seceded from the United States, it inspired six more states to secede. These states were; Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, George and Louisiana. -
The Confederate States of America
The states that seceded formed the Confederate States of America, a pro-slave nation. Jefferson Davis was elected the CSA's president. -
Bleeding Kansas
Border Wars broke out long Kansas' border after it was made known that a voting process would take place there in order to figure out if Kansas was to be a free or slave state. The fighting involved anti-slavery and pro-slavery, also called Border Ruffians, activists. -
Inauguration of President Lincoln
Lincoln becomes the 16th president of the United Sates. In his inauguration speech, he speaks to the seceded states telling them of his intentions to enforce federal laws in their states while also promoting peace between the split nation. -
CSA Fort Sumter
On April 11, 1861 the CSA demanded that the US forces leave Fort Sumter , and that if they did not leave, they would be removed by force. US Army Major Robert Anderson was in charge of the Fort and he refused to surrender this position. -
Civil War
An attack on Fort Sumter led to the secession of four more states while also beginning the Civil War in the US between the Union and Confederacy. -
Another Secession
After also feeling threatened by Lincoln; Virginia, Arkansas, Tennessee, and North Carolina succeeded from the Union to join the Confederacy. -
Slave States Stay
The border slave states of Maryland, Delaware, Kentucky, and Missouri remained with the Union, although they all contributed volunteers to the Confederacy. Fifty counties of western Virginia were loyal to the Union government, and in 1863 this area was constituted the separate state of West Virginia. -
Trent Affair
The Trent Affair was a diplomatic incident in 1861 during the American Civil War that threatened a war between the United States and the United Kingdom. -
Jefferson Davis elected New President
Jefferson Finis Davis was an American politician who was a Democratic U.S. Representative and Senator from Mississippi, the 23rd U.S. Secretary of War, and the President of the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. -
Slavery Abolished
Passed by Congress on April, 1862, passed in Washington DC abolished slavery in the United States. -
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act opened up settlement in the western United States, allowing any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land. By the end of the Civil War, 15,000 homestead claims had been established, and more followed in the postwar years. -
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 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. -
Wade-Davis Bill
The Wade–Davis Bill of 1864 was a bill proposed for the Reconstruction of the South written by two Radical Republicans, Senator Benjamin Wade of Ohio and Representative Henry Winter Davis of Maryland. Then vetoed by Lincoln. -
Atlanta Falls
On this day in 1864, Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman lays siege to Atlanta, Georgia, a critical Confederate hub, shelling civilians and cutting off supply lines. -
Lincoln Wins Election x2
In this match, incumbent president Republican Abraham Lincoln ran for re-election against Democratic candidate George B. McClellan, who tried to portray himself to the voters as the "peace candidate" who wanted to bring the American Civil War to a speedy end. -
CSA capital falls,
Richmond, Virginia, served as the capital of the Confederate States of America for almost the whole of the American Civil War. Not only was Richmond the seat of political power for the Confederacy, it served as a vital source of munitions, armament, weapons, supplies, and manpower for the Confederate States Army and Confederate States Navy, and as such would have been defended at all costs regardless of its political status. -
Lincolns Assassination
Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States, was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington, D.C., as the American Civil War was drawing to a close. -
13th Amendment
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. -
Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act (1866) was passed by Congress on 9th April 1866 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson. The act declared that all persons born in the United States were now citizens, without regard to race, color, or previous condition. -
U.S. purchases Alaska
The last North American acquisition was Alaska, which was then part of Russia. Russia found looking after Alaska a challenging administrative task. It was difficult to reach from Moscow and it had few settlers or resources, so it seemed sensible to sell when the U.S. made a cash offer. Americans were keen to acquire Alaska because it would expand the Pacific coastline of the USA; there was good fishing there; and It would spread U.S. rule and keep the British out of the area. -
14th amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment addresses many aspects of citizenship and the rights of citizens. -
Ulysses S. Grant becomes President
Ulysses S. Grant was the 18th President of the United States. Previously, as Commanding General of the United States Army, Grant had worked closely with President Abraham Lincoln to lead the Union Army, -
Rutherford B. Hayes
Rutherford Birchard Hayes was the 19th President of the United States. He became President at the end of the Reconstruction Era of the United States through a complex Compromise of 1877. -
The Great Sioux War
Gold had been discovered in the Black Hills (South Dakota) and gold prospectors and settlers poured into Native American territory. Fighting began between settles and Native Americans, with the U.S. initially tying to keep the settlers out. Ultimately, due to popular and political pressure by the white U.S. majority, the decision was taken to remove the Native Americans at Black Hills by force. -
The Dawes Act
This law allowed for the President to break up reservation land, which was held in common by the members of a tribe, into small allotments to be parceled out to individuals. Thus, Native Americans registering on a tribal "roll" were granted allotments of reservation land. -
Spanish-American War
On April 21, 1898, the United States declared war against Spain following the sinking of the Battleship Maine in the Havana harbor on February 15, 1898. Which, due to yellow journalism and propaganda, was blamed unknowingly on Spain. The U.S. also supported the ongoing struggle of Cuba, Puerto Rico and the Philippines for independence against Spanish rule. -
U.S. aquisition of Cuba, Hawaii, and the Philippines
When the U.S. and Spanish governments signed the Treaty of Paris on December 10, 1898, they guaranteed the independence of Cuba, and the treaty also forced Spain to cede Guam and Puerto Rico to the United States. Spain also agreed to sell the Philippines to the United States for the sum of $20 million. At McKinley’s request, the U.S. also created a joint resolution of Congress made Hawaii a U.S. territory on August 12, 1898. -
The Boxer Rebellion
In 1900, an uprising known as the Boxer Rebellion, directed largely against foreigners, broke out in China. The U.S. sent a small number of troops to assist other countries in the rescue of foreign embassies in Peking, Military intervention was considered necessary by the USA to ensure that commerce still flowed. -
The Philippine Organic Act
The Philippine Organic Act was a basic law for the Insular Government that was enacted by the U.S. Congress on July 1, 1902. The approval of the act coincided with the official end of the Philippine–American War. Philippine Organic Act provided for the creation of an elected Philippine Assembly after the cessation of the existing insurrection in the Philippines; completion and publication of a census; and two years of continued peace and recognition of the authority of the U.S. -
President Roosevelt issues the Monroe Corollary
Following the Venezuela Crisis of 1902, President Roosevelt issued the “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine in his address to Congress. The Venezuela Crisis was a naval blockade imposed against Venezuela by Britain, Germany and Italy due to Venezuela's inability to pay debts. The Roosevelt Corollary asserted the right of the U.S. to intervene to "stabilize" the economic affairs of small states in Central America and the Caribbean if they were unable to pay their international debts. -
The Root-Takahira Agreement
President Theodore Roosevelt helped negotiate the end of the Russo-Japanese war in 1905. He was concerned about Japanese Imperialism, but was keen to develop better relations. As a result, the Root-Takahira agreement was signed. The two countries agreed to respect each others interests in China and maintain the 'status quo' (or current situation) in the Pacific. -
First orld War breaks out in Europe
On August 1, 1914, four days after Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, two more great European powers—Russia and Germany—declare war on each other; the same day, France orders a general mobilization. The so-called “Great War” that ensued would be one of unprecedented destruction and loss of life, resulting in the deaths of some 20 million soldiers and civilians and the physical devastation of much of the European continent. -
USA enteres the First World War
On April 6, 1917, the U.S. joined its allies--Britain, France, and Russia--to fight in World War I. Under the command of Major General John J. Pershing, more than 2 million U.S. soldiers fought on battlefields in France. Many Americans were not in favor of the U.S. entering the war and wanted to remain neutral. -
President Wilson issues the Fourteen Points
The Fourteen Points was a statement of principles for peace that was to be used for peace negotiations in order to end World War I. The principles were outlined in a January 8, 1918 speech on war aims and peace terms to the United States Congress by President Woodrow Wilson. -
Treaty of Versailles
World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. -
The Washington Naval Conference
In 1922, as tensions in the Pacific continued after the First World War, the Washington Naval Conference aimed to settle two threats to global peace and stability: the international naval arms race and the unstable politics f the Asia Pacific region. Both of these issues were at least in part related to tensions between the USA and Japan. Nine countries attended the three-month conference: the USA, Britain, Japan, China, Portugal, France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.
