US History Midterm Timeline

By melisjensen
  • Period: 1337 to 1453

    Hundred Years' War

    • England and France waged after English tried to claim French throne
    • craved easy access to African and Asians goods
  • 1492

    The Discovery of America

    • The Europeans were motivated to explore the New World by a need to gain access to markets and to spread Christianity
    • Columbus's Voyage: sailed West to reach Asia/ landfall Bahamas
    • Observed that Indians were useful as converts and as laborers
    • Amerigo Vespucci: first to publish the idea that a new continent had been discovered
  • Period: 1501 to

    Atlantic Slave Trade

    Slave Trade
    - Raw materials from New World to England
    + Manufactored goods going back to New World
    - Tobacco from Chesapeake
    - Slaves and molasses from Caribbean to New World (New World gives food stuff)
    - Also the emergence of Mercantilism

  • Founding of Jamestown (Virginia)

    • NOT A COLONY (Virginia is the colony)
    • The 1st permanent settlement in Virginia
    • 144 emigrate (not fit for the wilderness)
    • only 38 left in 1608 Link text

  • Founding of Plymouth (New England)

    • Seperatists sailed to Holland and settled for religious freedom
    • didn't want future generations to be Hollish
    • Went to Virginia Company for help with new settlement
    • Given help to sail to present day New England are
    • this colony was called the Plymouth Colony
    • Colonists had to sign contract to serve community and the king
    • Mayflower Compact establishes civil politics

  • Founding of Massachusetts Bay Colony (New England)

    Massachusetts Bay Company: First established in England
    + Makes a move to New England
    - Wave of Puritans immigrate
    Massachusetts Bay Colony
    - John Winthrop
    + Becomes governor/ leader of Massachusetts Bay
    + Believes that Church and the State are one
    - The Plymouth Colony is observed into the Massachusetts Bay Colony
    + Lower mortality rates
    + Large families
    + Strict moral codes (religious intolerance)

  • Founding of Maryland (Chesapeake)

    • Maryland was a haven for Catholics
    • High mortality rates
    • Indentured servitude was a necessity because of tobacco cultivation labor
    • Small families

  • Bacon's Rebellion

    • Conflict between English settlers and Indians in Virginia turned into a political struggle between dissatisfied colonists; led by Nathaniel Bacon A. Governor Berkeley
    • Tries to calm Bacon
    • Virginia militia starts fighting Bacon too B. Bacon ends up dying
  • Period: to

    King William's War & King George's War

    King William's War
    - British successful in capturing Acadia and Port Royal from French
    - Acadians did not want to be under English rule
    - Mainly a stalemate
    King George's War
    - Want Iroquois to align with British
    - Fight at Fort Duquesne (Ohio country)
    - French and British push on opposite sides
    - British win and push to form new fort (but are stopped)

  • Navigation Acts

    • Put tariff on products like sugar and molasses
    • Acts like sugar acts used to enforce the Navigation Acts
  • Period: to

    French and Indian War (Seven Years War)

    English Victory
    - French advantage: forts along rivers and Huron allies
    - English advantage: no unified control of colonies, colony militia couldn't beat French
    + British soldiers were drafted
    - Iroquois will soon break neutrality and join England
    - First years, French were winning
    + William Pitt creates military reforms
    + Promote soldiers based on merit and ability
    - Causes the British victory in battle

  • Treaty of Paris

    • The French were removed from North America. The French were allowed to keep the islands of St. Pierre (off Newfoundland) and Guadalupe (West Indies)
    • Kept islands for fish processing (fish couldn't make it to France)
    • Spain gets temporary control of the French territory
    • The French possession of Louisiana was ceded to the Spanish (Spain controlled New England)

  • Sugar Act

    • Placed 3 pence per gallon duty on foreign sugar
    • Includes individual importation of molasses from the Caribbean
    • Sugar Acts were enforced
    • Colonists became angry

  • Stamp Act

    • Required the American colonists to purchase a tax stamp to be placed on printed items, legal documents, and newspapers
    • Never implemented in the colonies STAMP ACT CONGRESS
    • Assembly of colonists opposed to taxation SONS OF LIBERTY
    • Assembly of radicals
    • A form of controlled mob action
    • They would usually tar and feather officials COLONIAL BOYCOTTS
    • Colonists boycott British exporters
    • Parliament repealed the Stamp Act

  • The Boston Tea Party

    • Thomas Hutchinson says the tea is to be sold (British governor)
    • Colonists go from Church of the meeting to the harbors
    • Dump 10,000 pound sterling silver into the harbor
    • Led to the Intolerable Acts

  • Intolerable Acts

    Consequences:
    - Port of Boston closed
    - Would remain closed until the tea is paid for
    - Massachusetts Government Act
    - Colonial charter altered, council was to be appointed by the governor rather than elected and town meetings were forbidden except by gubernatorial permission
    - Justice Act
    - British officials accused of murder in the course of enforcing the law could not be
    tried in America
  • Period: to

    The First and Second Continental Congress

    FIRST
    Was held in Philadelphia in 1774
    - Created a list of grievances
    + Says Parliament is a local legislative body over England (not colonies)
    - About 12/13 colonies attended the Congress SECOND
    - George Washington was selected General of the American Army
    - They organized the colonies for war
    - Created the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms
    + Says colonists will obey British if they are given the rights of the British

    - Both sides realize war is inevitable
  • Period: to

    The Revolutionary War

    • Started with Battle of Lexington and Concord
    • Ended with the Battle of Yorktown

  • The Declaration of Independence

    Written by Thomas Jefferson
    - On May 10, 1776, the 2nd Continental Congress recommended that the colonies create states
    governments
    - On June 28, 1776, Congress received the Declaration of Independence
    1. God gives man unalienable rights
    - Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness
    - Government gets power from consent of people
    2. List of Grievances
    - Says colonists were loyal to king and he allowed Parliament to misuse power
    3. States US as independent nation

  • The Articles of Confederation

    The 2nd Continental Congress became Articles of Confederation

    - Maryland wouldn’t consent to Confederation until colonies with land holdings gave up their land
    - This was in order to get equal tax rates
    - Virginia and others gave up their land to get the Articles of Confederation passed
    - Aspects of the Articles:
    - Unicameral Congress (1 state, 1 vote)
    - Not population-oriented voting system
    - There was no national judicial branch (no federal courts) or national executive branch

  • Treaty of Paris

    The English recognized unconditional American Independence
    - Unlimited fishing right off Newfoundland
    - Boundaries: North to present day Canada, South to the 31st parallel of northern Florida, East to the Atlantic, and West to the eastern bank of the Mississippi
    - Americans were to pay their debts to English merchants and allow British loyalists to use American courts to get back their confiscated land
    - The British were to evacuate their forts in the Northwest

  • The Constitutional Convention

    • The men at the Constitutional Convention represented the wealthy, upper class of American society
    • George Washington was elected president of the Convention
    • The Constitutional Convention was held in Philadelphia between February-September 1787
    • Men of superior intellect, property, and substance were members o the Constitutional Convention: James Madison, Ben Franklin, and Alexander Hamilton
    • Those who were left out feared monarchy
    • The product of the Convention was the Constitution

  • The Great Compromise

    • There was a blending of the Virginia and New Jersey plans
    • There would be a bicameral Congress- the House of Reps & the Senate
    • The Senate: two senators from each state
    • State senators could vote separately
    • Senators were voted into office by state legislative
    • The House of Reps: population proportion, Reps were voted into office by the populations of their states
  • Period: to

    The Whiskey Rebellion

    • In this period, it was easier to mix corn and wheat to form whiskey before transporting it
    • Farmers angered when a tax is put on whiskey
    • John Nivel is the tax collector
    • People group and burn down Nivel’s house
    • Washington sent out militia troops
    • 13,000 troops to prove a point
    • Showed strength of the constitution

  • Jay Treaty

    Provisions:
    - England agreed to turnover the Great Lake Forts
    - A commission was created to settle the claims for American pre-Rev debt
    - Jay threatened war with England
    - No mention was made about American maritime rights
    - Treaty was ratified and prevented war with England
    - French becomes enraged that we have their treaty
    - Needed a 2/3 vote
    - Representatives were angry and burned efigies of John Jay

  • The Louisiana Purchase

    • Began with the Treaty of Ildefonso in 1800
    • Napoleon conquers the Spanish government and makes them sign the Treaty of Ildefonso
    • Gives Louisiana Territory back to France
    • James Monroe and Robert Livingston
    • They were given congressional authorization to purchase New Orleans and West Florida for $2 - $10 million
    • Napoleon offered to sell all of the Louisiana territory to the US for the sum of $15 million

  • War of 1812

    IMPRESSMENT
    - British took any British born and British citizens from US naval ships
    NON-IMPORTATION ACT (1806)
    - America would not buy British goods if it could be found in the US
    THE CHESAPEAKE AFFAIR (1807)
    - The American captain refused to allow the Englishmen board
    - British immediately attacked and fired four cannons into the US ship
    EMBARGO ACT (1807)
    - Completely ends trade with British
    - Destroys US economy
    NON-INTERCOURSE ACT (1809)
    - Gives British or French trade, if they cooperate

  • Treaty of Ghent

    • States that there would be a return to conditions that existed before the war (status quo antebellum)
    • Territorial claims by both countries were given up
    • The US lost the right to fish off Newfoundland
    • Commissions were created to settle boundary and fishing questions
    • British won against French during the War of 1812
    • Therefore, the Treaty wasn’t very beneficial to the US
    • The Treaty doesn’t focus on impressment or trade rights
  • Period: to

    The Mexican-American War

    • After American annexation of Texas, Mexico broke-off diplomatic relations with the US
    • US army far outclassed Mexican army
    • John C. Fremont takes expedition to northern California
    • Bear Flag Revolt joined in Union with the US
    • Fall of Mexico City ends the war
    • US now has control over Mexico

  • The Compromise of 1850

    • California wanted to enter into the union as a free state
    • The Southern states opposed this
    • THE OMNIBUS BILL admitted California as a free state
    • New Mexico and Utah territories were organized
    • The idea of popular sovereignty was used to settle the slavery issue in these areas
    • The Slave Trade was prohibited in Washington DC
    • The Omnibus Bill did not pass Congress
    • Each Bill was able to be passed separately by Stephen Douglas

  • The Kansas-Nebraska Act

    • He wanted the terminus of the transcontinental railroad to be located in the city of Chicago (a northern route)
    • South said they will allow the Transcontinental Bill to pass if the Compromise of 1820 is repealed
    • Douglas repeals the Compromise of 1820
    • The Federal Government would organize the territories of Kansas and Nebraska
    • Popular Sovereignty would be used to resolve the slavery issue
    • Douglas made repeal of the Missouri Compromise explicit
  • Period: to

    The Civil War