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Proclamation of 1763
On October 7,1763, the British Government made an act, the Proclamation of 1763, that prevented the colonists from settling on the newly acquired plots from the French-Indian War. This was because the British did not want the colonists to make conflict with the Native Americans, since the Natives still claimed it as their territory. The colonists largely ignored this, and many of them still decided to settle on the new land because they thought the land was open and free to live in. -
Sugar Act (Revenue Act) of 1764
The Sugar act was created on April 5, 1764 . The British made this act to give taxes to non-British goods so they could raise money to pay off their debt. The colonists were not happy about this so they ended up protesting against it, since they did not want to pay taxes on their imports. -
Currency Act of 1764
On April 19, 1764, the Currency Act was created. It prohibited all colonial paper currency, and was made to help all of the creditors who were giving out money. The colonists were very mad about this since they could use their own money anymore, so they decided to protest this. -
Stamp Act of 1765
On March 22, 1765, the Stamp act was created to give other items in the colonies taxes. This act was created because Britain needed around $140,000,000 to pay off their debt from winning the French-Indian War. The colonists were not happy about, and just refused to pay the taxes because they were just overall angry about having to pay more taxes. -
Quartering Act of 1765
March 24, 1765 was the date when the Quartering Act was created. This act regulated that any colonist was to take in a soldier or bare some of the costs of the soldiers, and this was created to help raise money for the crown. The colonists argued about this because they said that it violated the Bill of Rights. -
Declaratory Act of 1766
March 18, 1766 was when the Declaratory Act was created to help show that the colonies were able to be taxed by Britain. This was created because it reaffirmed that the king and parliament was able to create taxes and acts form the colonies. The colonists just ignored this and they also thought it was an intimidation of a self government. -
Townshend Revenue Act of 1767
On November 20, 1767 the Townshend Revenue Act was created to tax many more of the colonists' imports, which would help support the British army. The colonists protested it because they said that this was taxation without representation. -
Boston Massacre of 1770
March 5, 1770 was when the Boston Massacre happened. It happened because the colonists living there were very enraged about these new acts, especially the Quartering Act. So as a result the colonists called some of the soldiers names, and threw some snowballs at the soldiers. The soldiers fired and killed 5 people and injured others. -
Tea Act of 1773
The Tea Act was made on May 10, 1773 and gave the right to the East India Company to send in tea boxes without paying tax. This was made to stop local merchants from selling tea and getting profits from it. This lead to the Event of the Boston Tea Party which had around $1,000,000 worth of tea dumped into the ocean. The colonists did this because they thought that the tea act was a conspiracy against the colonists' own liberty. -
Boston Tea Party of 1773
On December 16, The Boston Tea Party happened. It started when a few dozen men snuck on the Dartmouth with masks on and left the harbor to start breaking open the tea boxes and dumping them out into the water. In total they dumped out 342 boxes. This was because they were mad about the other acts and didn't want anything to do with it. As an effect the British gave the colonists the Intolerable Acts for a punishment. -
The Intolerable Acts of 1774
On September 5, 1774, the Intolerable Acts were created to punish the colonists for the Boston Tea Party. The Quebec Act required to be loyal to Britain but have religious freedom. The Boston Port Act closed the Boston Port. The Administration of Justice Act regulated that British Officials will never be found guilty. And lastly, the Massachusetts Government Act gave royally-appointed people for the government more power. The colonists got together and protested for unjust rights. -
The Battles of Lexington and Concord of 1775
On April 19, 1775 the Battle of Concord and the Battle of Lexington happened. The colonists wanted to protect their stash of weapons and gunpowder from the British so they went to Concord to defend it before the British came in and took it. The British lost the battle and lost around 300 men while the colonists only lost around 93 men. -
The Battle of Bunker Hill (Breed's Hill)
The Battle of Bunker Hill happened on June 17,1775. The colonists' goal was to protect their hills from being taken by the British, so the British wouldn't have the upper hand. Around 410 colonists were killed or injured, but around 1050 British men were killed or injured, even though the British took control over Bunker Hill. For the first two British attacks, they lost, but the last attack they won, which gave them control over the hill. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was signed on July 4, 1776. It was created to show that the colonists are breaking away from Britain and that they are now independent. It how lots of faults of the king, how the colonists are now not connected to Britain. 56 men signed it in total. -
Battle of Trenton
On December 26, 1776, George Washington lead a surprise attack on Johann Rall and his German men (who are British allies). America won, and they were able to capture around 900 German men. This battle gave the Americans a boost in spirt and made them want to continue fighting in this war against the British. -
The Battle of Saratoga
This Battle was start on September 19, 1777. The wars was John Burgoyne (British) versus Benedict Arnold and Horatio Gates (Americans). Britain wanted to gain land over the Hudson River Valley. The British was outnumbered (around 20,000-5,000). This resulted in an American Victory, and gave the Americans pride in fighting in the war and this was the turn point in the war. -
The Battle of Valley Forge
This Battle was started on December 19, 1777. It was George Washington and Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben (who trained the troops) were the American leaders against William Howe (the British leader). The Americans (they were called the Continentals) struggled without food and fuel. This battle was fought to and gain independence, and to prove the alliance between America and France. America won, and they gained confidence from winning. -
The Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown happened on September 28, 1781 to October 18, 1781. The war was mainly George Washington (American leader) versus Lieutenant General Cornwallis (British leader), but there were other men involved, too. The war was the Americans and the French versus the British. This was the last battle, and it was an American victory. -
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Abolitionism
Abolitionism was when people wanted to abolish slavery and fully get rid of it. It was successful in helping get rid of slavery. Mostly slaves, and the northerners wanted to get rid of slavery. This really separated the nation since the northerners hated slavery and really wanted it gone, while the southerners really did not want to loose their slaves, because the slaves had such a big effect on their side, like in their agriculture. -
The Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3, 1783 by John Addams, Ben Franklin, and John Lay. It said that the British didn't rule over the colonies anymore. The revolution ended with the Americans winning, and it was the official ending of the war. -
The Great Compromise
When the Constitutional Convention was happening in 1787, the men at the convention came up with the Great Compromise. It said that the amount of representatives per state, in the House of Representatives would be decided on population, and the Senate would have 2 senators per each state, no matter the size or population -
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Westward Expansion
Westward Expansion was when the Americans believed that it was a message from God to expand the nation and take the territory around them. The Louisiana Purchase, Mexican Session, California Gold Rush, and many more acts were a part of Westward Expansion. This united the nation together, and related to nationalism, when they all believed that they should expand together and grow the nation. -
The 3/5 Compromise
After lots of time arguing and trying to find a solution, the Northern and Southern states came up with a compromise in 1787 called the 3/5 Compromise. This compromise meant that every single free person would be counted, but only 3/5 of the slaves population would be counted. When the northerners and southerners were disagreeing, this caused for the nation to be spilt up, and for both sides to diagree. -
The Whiskey Rebellion
In 1791, Washington came up with the Whiskey tax to help pay for the countries' debt from the war. The people were very upset by this tax and they started to rebel against it. They started to get violent, and Washington lowered the price, but the people still did not want to pay the tax. The people kept protesting this tax and kept being violent, to the point where Washington ended up using military force to disband a violent protest and to help further enforce this tax. -
States Rights (Amendment 10)
The 10th Amendment is located in the U.S. Constitution. It stated that if there was not a law about something, like slavery, made by the federal government or U.S. Constitution, then the state was able to create its own law for it. This is linked to sectionalism. When the northern states' population got bigger, they had a bigger say in the government, and they wanted to get rid of slavery. Southern states used the 10th Amendment to protect their slave laws from the federal government. -
XZY Affair
Soon after the war, the French started to attack the Americans' ships. The Americans decides to go over to France to talk to the minister about this. The minister refused to talk to the three Americans attempting to negotiate peace, and instead sent 3 people, referred to as X, Y, and Z. The French wanted the Americans to pay 10 million dollars to speak to the minister. The Americans were very insulted by how they were treated. -
Alien and Sedition Acts
In 1798 the Americans were nervous that the European immigrants living in America would side with the French, so they passed the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Alien Act stated the the president was allowed to deport or imprison someone who was a not a U.S. citizen, and was suspicious or considered dangerous to them. The Sedition Acts stated that it was illegal to publish or speak any untrue criticism of the government. -
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
The Democratic-Republicans thought that the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional and was an abuse of power. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolution went to say that these states could cancel out the laws that. they viewed as unconstitutional. Even though these resolutions did not end up changing the law, it expired after John Addams term of being President ended. -
Embargo Act
The Embargo Act was made in 1807 by Thomas Jefferson and Congress to stop all ships from leaving America and to stop all trading with foreign countries. This was made to attempt to pressure France and Britain into becoming neutral with America's trading rights. The people thought this would pressure France and Britain because they heavily relied on America's goods. In the end this backfired on the U.S., causing them to have a severe economic hardship after this act was repealed. -
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Underground Railroad
From 1810 to 1850 there was something called the Underground Railroad, which would help slaves escape from their owners. Slaves were always eager to escape. There was many different routes that slaves could take when they were leaving their owners. This separated the north and south apart because the north might have helped and wanted the slaves to escape from the south and their owners. The north wanted no slavery and wanted all of the slaves to be gone and free, while the south wanted slavery. -
War of 1812
The U.S.'s ships were being attacked by the French. They have first tried to negotiate peace, but negotiating didn't work, so they created the Alien and Sedition Acts. Those Acts didn't help the problem. Lastly, the Americans created the Embargo Act, yet that backfired on them and caused an economic hardship to the Americans. After these attempts to stop their ships from being attacked, they decided to declare war. The Americans won the war, and created the Monroe Doctrine. -
McCulloch vs. Maryland
This trial was about Maryland taxing the Baltimore Branch of the Central government. Maryland created a law where all governments out of the state (outside of the state created governments) would be taxed a large tax. James McCulloch refused to pay the tax, so Maryland sued him. He lost the trial but then the case appealed until it eventually reached the Supreme Court. McCulloch won that time. -
Harriet Tubman
Born around 1820 to 1822, and died in 1913, Harriet Tubman did many great things in her life. She started standing up for slaves when she was twelve. Once she got older, she escaped, then she went back to take more slaves with her. She would never leave a slave behind on the journey, and took around 13 trips, freeing over 70 slaves. She helped the Union once she was free by spying. Her actions related to sectionalism, because she wanted to not have a slavery focused government, and just be free. -
Missouri Compromise
This compromise was the was the solution to the Louisiana Purchase problem. It stated that the states north of the compromise line (36º30ºN) were free states and the states south of the line would be able to vote on slavery or not. This caused for the states and nation to be split up, and the nation was not united since some of the states got to vote, while others were just slave states. The slave and free states were separated, which lead for the states to be split up once again. -
Monroe Doctrine
This doctrine was created on December 2, 1823 by President James Monroe. He created this doctrine to say that any attempts made by the Europeans to interfere with the Western Hemisphere would be viewed as a hostile act. The Monroe Doctrine also stated that the U.S. would not be interfering with them in return. -
Nat Turner's Rebellion
A black enslaved man, named Nathanial (Nat) Turner, led a rebellion on August 8, 1831, in Virginia. Nat Turner and more than 50 other black men helped him kill around 55 to 60 white people, and this is the deadliest slave revolt to happen in U.S. history. Nat Turner's Rebellion related more to separatism because after the rebellion, pro-slavery toughened and more anti-abolitionist rules stayed until the Civil War. -
Compromise of 1850
This compromise stated that California would be a free state, Utah and New Mexico would have popular sovereignty, and Texas would receive $10 million. Texas would also end the border between New Mexico, and D.C. slave trading was banned. It also passed the Fugitive Slave Law. This still had the nation spit up because there was still laws being passed about which state is free and which state is pro-slavery. -
Fugitive Slave Law
In September 18, 1850, congress created the Fugitive Slave Law. It stated that every slave that was found or kidnapped was to be returned to the original owner of the slave. This almost in a way united the nation. Since the northerners would most often get paid for returning slaves, they would want to return and find slaves and would benefit them by the money in return. The southerners would benefit because they would get their slaves back. -
Emancipation Proclamation
Around the 3rd year of the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln made the Emancipation Proclamation. It stated that all slaves in every state including the slave states are free. This united the nation together because there was no more slavery in the southern states, so there was no more tension, and the balance of slave and free states would now be equal since there would be none of each. This also could help the states agree better.