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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. -
Jamestown Colony was the first successful English settlement in North America. It was founded in 1607 and was located in Virginia. The colony was organized by the Virginia Company of London and King James I gave the Virginia Company “the charter to establish a new colony in North America” in 1606. -
In 1620, a group of men and women that were members of a church, sailed for the New World to the Mayflower. Then in December, the Mayflower anchored at Plymouth Rock. They made peace with Native Americans and built an economy in 5 years. Plymouth then was the first colonial settlement in New England. -
The Massachusetts Bay Colony was settled in 1630 by Puritan refugees. In 1629, the Massachusetts Bay Company got a charter from King Charles I and were able to trade and colonize in New England. The Massachusetts Bay Colony then became the largest colony in New England. -
The northern half of the Carolina colony, farmers tried hard to make a living. In the southern half, corn, lumber, beef and pork, and later on, rice, were planted. There was a lot of slavery in the Carolina colony, which split into North Carolina and South Carolina in 1729. James Oglethorpe, an Englishman, later established the Georgia colony. -
In 1664, King Charles II, gave a territory between New England and Virginia, to his brother named James, who was the Duke of York. The territory was later named New York. Then in 1680, King Charles II, gave 45,000 square miles of land to a quaker named William Penn. This territory was Pennsylvania. -
Puritan separatists arrived in Plymouth in 1620 and found the Plymouth colony. Later, the Massachusetts Bay Company sent more Puritans to the Massachusetts settlements. The settlements expanded and led to more colonies. Like Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire. -
The Middle Passage brought slaves from West Africa to the West Indies. There was a lot of danger on their trip to the West Indies. Bad weather, attacks, raids, and epidemics were some of the things that happened. The Triangular Trade involved many slaves, continents, money, and goods. -
The Great Awakening was a religious revival that happened in the English colonies in the 1730s and 1740s because of “arid rationalism in New England” and there was not a lot of passion for religion. The Great Awakening happened to get more people dedicated towards religion. -
The French and Indian War began in 1754. Great Britain gained territory in North America. They paid the war expenses, which led to colonial discontent, and started the American Revolution. The French and Indian War ended with the Treaty of Paris (1763). -
The Industrial Revolution transformed economies from agriculture and handicrafts to economies based on large-scale industry, manufacturing, and factory systems. This made the industries more efficient. It started in 1760 and ended in 1840. -
In 1765, the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament to help pay for the British troops. This “required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp.” -
In 1770, a street fight occurred between a patriot mob and British soldiers. Snowballs, stones, and sticks were thrown and fires started. A lot of colonists were killed. This occurred because they were trying to make the people become radicals. -
The Boston Tea Party happened in 1773. American patriots were disguised as Mohawk Indians and threw 342 chests of tea, that belonged to the British, from ships. Americans were protesting taxation without representation and perceived monopoly. -
This was the start of the American Revolutionary war (1775). The British Army was trying to capture Samuel Adams and John Hancock in Lexington. They were also trying to destroy the stores of weapons and ammunition in Concord. -
The Declaration of Independence announced that the 13 North American colonies separated from Great Britain. It was officially voted on July 2, 1776, but was not approved until July 4 by the Continental Congress. -
The American Revolutionary War (1765-1783) started when the 13 North American colonies of the British rejected its imperial rule. This led to war and France helped the American colonies defeat the British, then led to the creation of a new nation. -
The winter encampment of the Continental Army that was under General George Washington happened at Valley Forge in 1777-1778. It was a plateau where they could train and regain from the battles. -
Virginia marked the end of the last battle of the American Revolution, after the British General Lord surrendered in 1781. It marked the start of a new nation's independence. It left George Washington with a good reputation. -
The Article of Confederation was the first U.S constitution (1781-1789). There were thirteen different articles that gave power to the states and to the federal government. It established the functions of the government after it declared independence from Great Britain. -
The Constitutional Convention was in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1787. The event was held to decide how the new nation would be governed. All the states except Rhode Island, responded to an invitation to send delegates. There were 74 deputies chosen, 55 that took part in the proceedings, and 39 that signed the Constitution. -
The first ten amendments were the Bill of Rights and they were adopted in 1791. The Bill of Rights guarantees civil rights and liberties. -
The Louisiana Purchase was purchased in 1803 for three cents per acre from France. There were 828,000 square miles of land. The Louisiana Purchase helped expand the size of the country and strengthen the country. -
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was a U.S. military expedition in 1804 to 1806. The expedition was led by Captain Meriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark. They were sent to explore the Louisiana Purchase and the Pacific Northwest. -
The War of 1812 was caused by British restrictions on U.S. trade and for wanting to expand the territory. It allowed the U.S. to rewrite its boundaries with Spain and control over the Mississippi river and Gulf of Mexico. It ended with the Treaty of Ghent in 1815. -
In order to balance the power in Congress between slave states and free states, they admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state in exchange for legislation in 1820. -
The United States Presidential Election of 1824 was considered corrupt. John Quincy Adams was elected by the House of Representatives. However, Andrew Jackson had received more popular and electoral votes. The participants were John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, John C. Calhoun, Henry Clay, and William H. Crawford. -
The Indian Removal Act happened on May 28, 1830. It was the first major legislative departure from the U.S policy of American tribes. President Andrew Jackson gave lands in the west of Mississippi in exchange for Indian territories that were within the state border. A few tribes agreed, but a few did not. The white people and the Indians would not get along and the tribes were forced to leave. -
The Battle of the Alamo lasted thirteen days. From February 23, 1836 to March 6, 1836. It was fought between Mexico and the Republic of Texas and took place at a fort in San Antonio, Texas. The Mexican force was led by General Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna. Mexico won the war. -
The phrase Manifest Destiny was coined by an editor named John L. O’Sullivan, in 1845. He described the U.S. annexation of Texas and the rest of the nation. The term was later used to justify the U.S. annexation of Oregon, New Mexico, California, Alaska, Hawaii, and the Philippines. -
The Mexican-American war (1846-1848) started after the United States annexed Texas. The southern border was claimed to be the Nueces river by Mexico, and the U.S. claimed it was the Rio Grande. Troops were sent under Zachary Taylor to occupy the land between the rivers. Then in 1846, Mexican troops crossed the Rio Grande and attacked. The Congress then declared a war. -
The California Gold Rush was a gold rush that began in 1848. It was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The gold rush brought around 300,000 people to California. The miners extracted more than 750,000 pounds of gold. During this gold rush, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. The California Gold Rush ended in 1855. -
The Underground Railroad was a system in the Northern states that slaves would use to escape from the South. The routes were all throughout fourteen Northern states. Who helped the slaves escape more were members of the free black community, in which former slave Harriet Tubman is included. She helped around 40,000 to 100,000 slaves to escape. -
In 1849, California asked to be admitted to the Union with a constitution prohibiting slavery. Senator Henry Clay admitted California as a free state. The Compromise of 1850 was passed by the United States Congress to settle slavery issues and avert secession. -
Uncle Tom was a slave who saved the life of Little Eva, while being transported on a boat to auction in New Orleans. Little Eva’s father buys Tom and Eva and Tom become friends. Eva was really sick and died, however in her deathbed, she asks her father to free all his slaves. Her father makes plans to free the slaves, but is murdered. Tom gets a new owner named Simon Legree who killed Tom, whipping him to death because he refused to say where some runaway slaves were. -
Bleeding Kansas was a small civil war and fought between pro-slavery and anti-slavery for Kansas in 1854. Kansas turned into a free state in 1861. There was $400,000 in damages. -
The Dred Scott decision in 1857 made slavery legal in all U.S. territories. Dred Scott was a former slave, whose owner took him from a slave state to a free state and back. Scott sued claiming that it made him free. The Missouri Compromise said that the Congress had no right to prohibit slavery. He was not set free. It led to a war in 1861. -
The Lincoln-Douglas debates was mainly about slavery. There were seven debates. Abraham Lincoln was the Republican candidate and Stephen A. Douglas was the Democratic senator. Douglas was accused of supporting sovereignty and the Kansas-Nebraska Act. Lincoln was accused of advocating racial equality and disruption of the Union. Douglas won the election. -
The Confederate States of America was about eleven Southern states that seceded from the Union in 1860-1861. It was led by Jefferson Davis and lasted from 1861 to 1865. -
Fort Sumter is an island fortification located in Charleston Harbor, South Carolina. It was the site where the first shots of the Civil War were shot (1861-1865). The firing was going on for 34 hours and shortly after Robert Anderson and 86 soldiers surrendered. -
The Civil War was a war between the U.S. federal government and the eleven Southern states. The reasons for the war was slavery, trade and tariffs, states’ rights, and western expansion. It began in 1861 and ended in 1865 after the Confederates surrendered. -
Emancipation Proclamation was issued in 1863 by Abraham Lincoln and it freed the slaves of the Confederate states. -
The Battle of Gettysburg in 1863 was the largest battle of the Civil War. General George Gordon Meade from the Union Army had around 85,000 men and General Robert Edward Lee from the Confederacy’s Army had around 75,000 men. There were thousands dead, injured, and missing. -
The Gettysburg Address was a speech made by President Abraham Lincoln at a cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the people who died at the Battle of Gettysburg. Abraham Lincoln’s speech was on November 19, 1863 and lasted two minutes. -
The Battle of Appomattox (1865) was one of the last battles of the Civil War. They flew for a week from Richmond and Petersburg, Virginia. The Confederate General Robert E. Lee involved Union General Ulysses S. Grant then surrendered to the Union at the Appomattox Courthouse. -
Abolitionism was a movement in 1783 to 1888 to end slave trade and emancipate slaves. The movement in the North was led by William Lloyd Garrison (founder of the American Anti-Slavery Society), John Greenleaf Whittier (writer), Frederick Douglas and Harriet Beacher Stowe (former slaves). Abraham Lincoln prevented the spread of slavery to the West, which caused the Southern states to seced from the Union. It then led to the American Civil War.