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Period: Jan 1, 1450 to
Top 7 Events
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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus
Italian merchants brought back rats carrying bubonic plague when returning from Asia. The Black Death lasted from 1348-1350. It killed 75 million people in Europe. It was the start of the Commercial Revolution and therefore influenced Europe in the race to Asia for trade items like spices. Columbus "raced" for Spain. He did not land in Asia, but he landed in the Caribbean Islands. Thinking it was Asia, he called the natives indians and interacted with them in his many voyages to America. -
Jamestown
Jamestown was the first permanent British settlement in Virginia. Jamestown was attacked several times by Algonquian indians, along with disease and starvation picking away at the people. There was a short time of peace with the indians when John Rolfe married the chief's daughter Pocahontas. Chaos was restored when Chief Powhatan died. Chief Opechancanough led more attacks on Jamestown until 1646, when he was executed. -
Slaves in Jamestown
Once tobacco was a major crop, colonists needed help harvesting the crop. A Dutch slave ship traded African indentured servants for food and tobacco. Once African indentured servants were working on plantations, they were treated the same as whites. After working for 4-7 years they were set free. But, greedy plantation owners started keeping the cheap costing indentured servants as slaves. The more labor a plantation owner had the greater the profit was when selling goods to England. -
Declaration of Independence
Before the creation of the document, tax acts riled the people of the colonies and caused them to rebel. Colonists wanted freedom. The Declaration of Independence was a document written by Thomas Jefferson stating ALL MEN are equal. It was a 28 count indite against King George stating the reasons why The United States of America is now a separate country. This document gave citizens rights that could not be taken away from them. It was the official start of the Revolutionary War. -
Missouri Compromise
Tension rose between slavery and anti-slavery states. When Missouri requested admission to the Union as a slave state in 1819, it threatened the balance between slave states and free states currently at 11 to 11. Congress admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state to keep the balance. The Missouri Compromise created a line 36°30′N to divide what would be free and slaves states, but didn't think about expanding west, it failed and was the first step to the civil war. -
Election of 1860
Republican Abraham Lincoln ran against Southern Democrat John C. Breckinridge, Constitutional Union candidate John Bell, and Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas. Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the U.S.A on November 6, 1860. By the time of Lincoln's inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president. One month later, the American Civil War began. -
Lincoln’s Assassination
Lee's surrender at Appomattox court house April 9, 1865 marked the beginning of the end. John Wilkes Booth and several other conspirators wanted to "cut the head of the Union", by assassinating the President, the Vice President, and the Secretary of state. Booth was the only person to follow through. He shot President Lincoln on April 13, 1865. He later died the next morning on Good Friday. The country was devastated. Even Southerners were disgusted with booth's actions.
