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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. -
The southern colonies consisted of Maryland, Virginia, the Carolina’s, and Georgia. These colonies strongly relied on African slave labor because vast plantations were producing corn, lumber, beef, pork, and rice.
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Jamestown, Virginia was the first successful colonial settlement settled by England that gave them their first grasp of land in the new world and barely survived. -
Middle Passage was a boat voyage across the seas from Europe to Africa to America and the West Indies. It was used to deliver African Americans and manufactured goods from Africa and Europe to America and the West Indies. The voyage was also used to import plantation goods from America to Europe. This trade route continued until the mid-19th century. -
Aboard the ship the Mayflower, about 100 men and women that we know as the pilgrims set sail in September. Two months later the pilgrims anchored the ship at Plymouth rock, creating the first permanent settlement of Europeans in New England. -
The Puritans, pilgrims, came to create the Plymouth colony in 1620. In later years the Puritan population expanded resulting in the creation of Massachusetts. The pilgrims weren’t happy with only two colonies so they went on to create Connecticut and New Haven which were combined in 1655. The pilgrims still were not satisfied and thought Massachusetts was too restrictive so they created two more colonies, Rhode Island and New Hampshire.
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Just north of the Plymouth colony, King Charles I granted the creation of the English settlement known as the Massachusetts Bay Colony that lay between the Charles and Merrimack River in Southern New England giving the colony two harbors. -
These colonies consisted of New York and Pennsylvania, and later adding Delaware and New Jersey. Between Virginia and New England, a territory was owned by Dutch traders. King Charles II gifted the land to his brother, The Duke of York, naming it New York. Just below New York, the king granted the rich Quaker, William Penn the rest of the land resting between the Delaware river, Virginia, and New York. Penn called it Penn's woods, later named Pennsylvania.
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The Great Awakening was a 20 year period where a series of religious revivals happened in the North American British colonies during the 17th and 18th Centuries. During these "awakenings," a great many colonists found new meaning in the religions of the day. -
The war was the product of an imperial struggle, a clash between the French and English over colonial territory and wealth. The French and Indian War began in 1754 and ended with the Treaty of Paris in 1763. The war, also known as the Seven Years’ War, provided Great Britain territorial gains in North America, but disputes over frontier and paying the war's expenses led to colonial conflict, and to the American Revolution. -
The Industrial Revolution was a time when the manufacturing of goods moved from small shops and homes to large factories. This shift brought about changes in culture as people moved from rural areas to big cities in order to work.
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As a result of the French and Indian War, where Britain had to pay the expenses to send soldiers across the sea to Europe to fight, the British Parliament passed the Stamp Act to help aid their financial debt after the French and Indian War. This act taxed all colonial commercial goods leaving colonists upset. This created the term "taxation without representation". -
People in colonial America were very hostile against Britain, especially after the Stamp Act was passed. The Boston Massacre was a street fight that happened between a colonial mob, throwing snowballs, stones, and sticks, and a squad of British soldiers. Several colonists were killed and this led to a campaign. -
The king was not happy about the Boston Massacre so he creates another tax that states the colonists cannot trade tea with anyone other than Britain. The colonist are not happy so they protest by throwing tea into the Boston Harbor. -
The war was an insurrection led by American patriots of the 13 colonies to help gain freedom and independence from its former tyrannical ruler, Great Britain. This led to the establishment of the United States of America.
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Known as the 'shot heard around the world' started the first battle of the American War for Independence.
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The Declaration of Independence announced Independence of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. It was signed a year after the beginning of the American Revolutionary War.
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Valley Forge was where the Continental Army, under General George Washington, made camp during the winter of 1777-1778. Valley Forge is often called the birthplace of the American Army.
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The Articles of Confederation served as the written document that established the functions of the national government of the United States after it declared independence from Great Britain.
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Cornwallis, a British general, surrendered to George Washington as French and American forces trapped the British at Yorktown. The British surrender at the Battle of Yorktown ended the American Revolutionary War.
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The Convention had been called to revise the Articles of Confederation, many delegates had much bigger plans. The meeting let to the creation of representation in Congress, the powers of the president, the Electoral College, slave trade, and a bill of rights. -
The Bill of Rights is the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution. The amendments guarantee rights and liberties, such as the freedom of religion, speech, the right to bear arms, trial by jury, and more, as well as reserving rights to the people and the states. -
The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France. The U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. This later allowed Americans to travel west. -
The Lewis and Clark Expedition was an expedition by Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, two men chosen by United States President Thomas Jefferson to explore the Louisiana Purchase, which the country had just bought from France.
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The War of 1812 was caused by British restrictions on U.S. trade and America's desire to expand its territory. The United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain. It ended with the exchange of the Treaty of Ghent.
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The Missouri Compromise allowed Missouri to become the 24th state in the United States. The compromise also banned slavery from any future territories or states north of Missouri's southern border. It also made Maine a free state and Missouri a slave state. -
In 1824, John Quincy Adams was elected President after the election when the House of Representative chose the winner. ... Andrew Jackson had won a higher percentage of the popular vote and a larger electoral vote, but still lost; thus, he denounced the outcome of the election a "Corrupt Bargain". -
The Indian Removal Act was a law in the United States that was passed in 1830. It was introduced by Hugh White and became a law when President Andrew Jackson signed it. It gave the President the power to force Native American tribes to move to land west of the Mississippi River. Not all American citizens liked the law.
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The Alamo was a mission in San Antonio, Texas that was used as a fort during the Texas revolution. The Battle of the Alamo was a 13 day siege at a mission in San Antonio that was fought between Mexican forces of about 4000, under President General Santa Anna, against a handful of 180 American rebels fighting for Texan independence from Mexico. -
Manifest Destiny was the idea that the Americans who colonized the Eastern Seaboard, won the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, and took advantage of the Louisiana Purchase were following a preordained path when they expanded further westward, all the way to the West Coast of North America
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The Mexican-American Was was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. This armed conflict was after the U.S annexation of Texas. The US wanted to expand across the North American continent but Mexico claimed it was their land thus leading to the conflict.
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The gold rush, beginning in 1849, brought a flood of workers to California and played an important role in integrating California's economy into that of the eastern United States. The California Gold Rush began with the discovery of significant gold deposits near Sacramento in 1848. -
The Compromise of 1850 was made up of 5 laws that were intended to balance the free states with the slave states. This involved making California a free state, Texas was awarded financial compensation for land that was now considered New Mexico. New Mexico did not have any laws banning slavery, the slave trade was banned in Washington D.C., and harsh fugitive laws were put in place saying that any runaway slave would be returned to their owner. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin tells the story of Uncle Tom, an enslaved person, depicted as saintly and dignified, noble and steadfast in his beliefs. While being transported by boat to auction in New Orleans, Tom saves the life of Little Eva, an angelic and forgiving young girl, whose grateful father then purchases Tom.
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Settlers from everywhere raced to Kansas. This led to supporters of Anti-slavery and pro-slavery creating conflict, trying to make Kansas a slave state and a free state. As the election neared, a group of pro-slavery "border ruffians" from Missouri attempted to cross into Kansas to vote. Violence erupted and lead to the legacy of Bleeding Kansas. This was the first event leading up to the Civil War.
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A major political concern arose in 1856 when a slave, Dred Scott, claimed he had gained freedom by living several years in a free state with his owner before returning to Missouri and his owner dying. Scott sued. The case went to the Supreme Court for a decision. The court decided slaves do not have the rights of citizens, and the Missouri Compromise was unconstitutional according to the 5th Amendment, which supports the right to property. Thus, Congress couldn't forbid slavery in any state. -
This was a debate between Stephen Douglas, a democrat, and Abraham Lincoln, a republican. Lincoln challenged Douglas for the senatorial seat that led to a series of open-air debates over slavery in Illinois. -
The Civil War was fought between the Confederacy, slave states, and the Union, free states. It was fought to help end and abolish slavery.
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Once Lincoln won the election of 1860, one by one the Southern States began to secede from the union, until there were 7 initial states in the Confederate States of America. The Confederate States of America were slave states. Jefferson Davis was it's first president.
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Fort Sumter, in Charleston, South Carolina, was a peaceful Union fort, that was attacked by the Confederate Army in April 1862. The battle lasted two days and was the first battle of the Civil War. -
A document written by Lincoln to enforce the establishment of slavery in the Confederate states. He knew this would make the Confederacy weaker and hope to inspire blacks and slaves in the Confederacy to support the union. -
Gettysburg ended Confederate general Robert E. Lee's quest to invade the North and bring the Civil War to an end. The loss there ended hopes of the Confederate States of America to become an independent nation. -
Written by Abraham Lincoln, the speech is considered one of the greatest political speeches of all time, explaining America's critical challenges in their historical context succinctly while paying tribute to the men who had died in the face of those challenges. -
The Underground Railroad refers to the efforts of enslaved African Americans to gain their freedom by escaping bondage. Wherever slavery existed, there were efforts to escape. Tubman risked her life to lead hundreds of family members and other slaves from the plantation system to freedom on this elaborate secret network of safe houses. -
Trapped by the federates near Appomattox Court House, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered his army to Union general Ulysses S. Grant, precipitating the capitulation of other Confederate forces and leading to the end of the bloodiest conflict in American history. -
Abolitionism, or the abolitionist movement, was the movement to end slavery. In Western Europe and the Americas, abolitionism was a historic movement that sought to end the Atlantic slave trade and liberate the enslaved people.
