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An Italian explorer sailing for Spain who believed that Asia (India) could be reached by sailing west from Europe. His first voyage was in 1492, wherein he discovered North America (Caribbean islands) and named it the West Indies. He will make four voyages to the new world without fully realizing what he had discovered. -
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The middle passage was where slaves were forced to go on a voyage across the ocean to the new land. It was part of the triangular trade route that brought many goods from Europe to Africa. -
The southern colonies consisted of five states: Maryland, Virginia, Georgia, and North and South Carolina. They were mostly know for their cash crops including, indigo, rice, and tobacco. The warm weather, fertile soil, and long growing season made them very successful. -
Jamestown was the first ever permanent English settlement which was located in Virginia. It was established on May 14, 1607 and was ran by the Virginia Company of London. It was able to continue to be a colony because they discovered tobacco. -
Plymouth was the first colonial settlement in New England in 1620. It was formed by the pilgrims that traveled on the Mayflower to Massachusetts. Many of the settlers died during the cold winter, but those who survived made peace treaties with the Native Americans and created the Plymouth Colony. -
The New England Colonies were Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, and Connecticut. These colonies included many other ones such as the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, Province of New Hampshire, and a few others. -
The middle colonies were New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. They had fertile soil, mild winters, and warm summers which was perfect for farming. Some of them were founded as trade centers or safe havens. -
The Massachusetts Bay Colony became one of the original English settlements in 1630. It was founded by John Winthrop and his group of Puritan refugees. This colony was much more advanced than the Plymouth Colony. -
The Great Awakening was a religious revival which brought back dedication back to religion when it started to fade away. It was led by a minister named Jonathan Edwards. -
When France started to expand into the Ohio River Valley, it caused lots of conflict with the British colonies. The French lost the war to Great Britain and it was ended in 1763 with the signing of the Treaty of Paris. -
The industrial revolution was where there was a transition in manufacturing where goods were made in small homes to being made in large factories. At this time the use of steam power also started to take place. -
The Stamp Act required colonists to pay a tax on various papers, represented by an embossed revenue stamp. The act was set to pay for British troops that were stationed there during the French and Indian war. -
The Boston Massacre started out as a small brawl on King Street in Boston, but quickly escalated and resulted in a bloody slaughter. British soldiers shot at colonists that were mobbing them and they ended up killed five colonists. This was caused by an act that was passed by the British, which created tension. -
This event was a political protest in Boston Massachusetts called the Boston Tea Party. The colonists got mad at Britain for taxing them, so they dumped more than 300 chests of tea into the harbor. -
The American Revolution grew from tension between Great Britain and the Colonial government. France jumped in and helped on the colonists side, which made this an international conflict. This war lasted from 1775-1783. -
These battles signaled the start of the American Revolutionary War. The British took the first shot, but ended up losing to the American colonists. -
The Declaration of Independence is a document that was signed by the Congress to say that the US gained independence from Great Britain. It was written mostly by Jefferson, and members of the committee made some minor changes. We now celebrate the day of this document being signed, 4th of July or Independence day. -
Valley Forge is the camp that George Washington's Continental Army stayed during the harsh winter of 1777-1778. It is located in Pennsylvania (about 20 miles northwest of Philadelphia) and they arrived there 6 days before Christmas. They chose this spot because it was close enough to spy on the British troops, but far enough where a surprise attack could not happen to them. -
The Articles of Confederation was like a first constitution, and it was created and ratified by the 13 states in 1777. It showed that the states were a union and that the government did not have power over them. -
During the Battle of Yorktown, the British leader Cornwallis surrendered to George Washington while the French and American troops trapped the British. When the British surrendered this ended the Revolutionary War. -
The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The purpose of this convention was to pretty much get Americas government figured out. It was originally planned to revise the Articles of Confederation, but many people had much more to discuss. -
The first 10 amendments of the constitution is what the Bill of Rights is. It was made to protect basic rights for US Citizens. This document was drafted by James Madison. -
The Louisiana Purchase was a purchase made by the US to France, for 828,000 sq. miles of land to the west of the existing colonies. This great amount of land that doubled the size of the United States costed 15 million dollars. -
This expedition was a military expedition led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark. They were sent to explore the Louisiana Purchase that was just bought, and the Pacific Northwest. This was a huge turn in exploration for America. -
This war was between Great Britain and the United States. They had conflict because Great Britain put restrictions on the US trading with other countries. The war was ended by the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in 1814. -
The Missouri Compromise admitted Missouri into the Union to be a slave state and made Maine a free state. It also made any land above the 36' 30' line in the Louisiana purchase area banned from slavery. -
This was the presidential election where John Quincy Adams won the election against Andrew Jackson because the House of Representatives voted him, even though Jackson had more electoral and popular votes. This represents a new stage in politics because of the "corrupt bargain" that happened. -
An abolitionist is someone who fought to end or abolish slavery. -
Jackson made this act in 1830 and it was made to give Indians land to the west of the Mississippi river if they agreed to let the white settle on their homelands. If the Indians stayed, they would become citizens of that state. This act caused the Trail of Tears, which was created from forcing the resettlement on the Indians. -
This battle took place in a fort in San Antonio where the Mexicans siege the Texans fort Alamo for 13 days and launched a large attack. The Texans ended up losing because the Mexicans got into the fort and killed all soldiers inside of it. This battle was caused because Texas wanted to gain independence from Mexico, and Mexico did not like that. -
Manifest destiny was a phrase that was used in the 1840's, that meant that the United States was destined by God and was destined to expand and grow. -
The Mexican-American War was primarily caused by Texas' annexation and the Manifest Destiny that wanted to expand across the continent. This war lasted about 2 years and was ended by the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
The California Gold Rush started with James W. Marshall finding gold at Sutters Mill in California. The gold rush brought in about 300,000 people from all over the US. Many people moved there to mine, although majority of them did not get wealthy from mining. -
The Underground Railroad was a way for slaves to escape enslavement towards the end of the Civil War. This way of escaping wasn't really underground, but the people who took this path could not be seen in public, so that is where the name came from. Harriet Tubman was a slave and escaped, and then became known as a "conductor" and helped others escape to freedom. -
The Compromise of 1850 consisted of 5 bills that were passed by the Congress. They were about the topics of slavery, and allowed the US to expand its territory by accepting California into the Union as a free state. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin is an anti-slavery novel written by Harriet Beech Stowe. This changed how people saw slavery and slowly made people move towards ending it. -
Bleeding Kansas was where Kansas was going to become a new territory to the US, but the problem was that the north wanted it to be anti-slavery, and the south wanted it to be a part of the confederacy. In 1861 Kansas became part of the Union. -
The Dred Scott decision was where a former slave, Dred Scott, was not entitled to his own freedom and was told that African Americans could never be a citizen of the US. His lawyers then brought this issue to the Supreme Court where they still said he could not be a citizen as well as other African Americans. -
This debate was a series of debates between Abraham Lincoln and Stephen A. Douglas, and they were about extending slavery into the American territories. Lincoln did lose the election but his debates and speeches led to his presidency later on. -
The Confederate States of America was a group of 11 states that seceded from the US. These states were pro-slavery and fought against the Americans during the civil war. -
Fort Sumter is on a small island in South Carolina and it was a fort of the Unions. A 34 hour attack was done by the Confederacy on April 12, 1861 to kick off the Civil war. -
The Civil War was a war between the North and the South, fighting for or against slavery states' rights. It ended 4 years later when the Confederacy surrendered to George Washington. -
The Emancipation Proclamation was a document written by Abraham Lincoln during the Civil war that stated that all people that are held slaves are now free. -
The Battle of Gettysburg was fought around the town of Gettysburg during the civil war. It was considered one of the bloodiest battles and the turning point of the war. This was the battle where the north started to win and the south lost their grip on winning the war. -
The Gettysburg Address was a speech given by Lincoln to honor all of those who died in the battle and he talked about how all people are equal as stated in the Declaration of Independence. He stated that the war would result in a new birth and make everyone equal as they should be. -
This was where General Lee surrendered to the union at the Appomattox court house in 1865 and ended the Civil war.