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Aug 3, 1492
Columbus' First Voyage to the Americas
Chris Columbus (Oct.31 1451) believed it would be faster to go west through the Altantic rather then going around Africa to get to Asia. Failing to get the support from Portugal, Columbus turned to Spain where he recieved support from Queen Isabella. Commanding 90 men and 3 ships which included the Santa Maria Columbus left west. Ten weeks later he landed in the Bahamas. Where he first thought was Asia, but later realized that it was a whole new place. -
Sep 8, 1565
St. Augustine
Spanish established the fort St. Augustine in Florida. This was the first permanent settlement in what is now the United States. This first settlement was a military outpost for Spain. -
Jamestown
Only 104 men established Jamestown; many hardships were faced during the first 17 years. First the area where Jamestown was built had thick woods, swampy lands, and powerful local Indians. Waves of settlers tried to make Jamestown a habitable and profitable place, but that failed. The initial colonists were vulnerable to local disease and since the settlers settled in Jamestown for business and money there was no permanent stake in the community to succeed. -
Captain John Smith
John Smith(January 1580 – 21 June 1631) who at the young age of 27 was already a famous world traveler. In Jamestown at this time there were only 38 initial survivors of the first settlers that established Jamestown, and at this point Jamestown has become divided until the fall of 1608 where Smith took control over the settlement. With his leadership the colony finally started showing promise, he gave the colony work and order, which helped Jamestown finally find its ground -
John Rolfe and the Tobacco Economy
John Rolfe(1585 – 1622) Jamestown planter began trying to cultivate the crop tobacco in Virginia. This cash crop soon spread throughout the James river. Tobacco growers needed large areas of farmland, and because tobacco exhausted the soil very quickly, the demand for land increased rapidly. As a result, farmers started going deeper and deeper into the interior, isolating themselves from Jamestown and penetrating farther into the native tribes' territory, causing many problems to occur. -
Plymouth
The Scrooby separatists obtained permission from the Virginia company to settle in Virginia. The "Pilgrims" sailed on a ship called the Mayflower and headed to America. When they reached America they landed north of London Company terroritory so with unclaimed land the pilgrims establish their own government with the mayflower compact. Later the pilgrims had a good relationship with the Indians, providing the first autumn harvest now called "Thanksgiving". -
John Winthrop and the Massachuetts Bay Company
In England at this time more Puritans were encouraged to migrate to the new world to freely worship their religion. So the puritians created the Massachuetts bay company where they bought out other companies that were in that region to establish a colony in New England for refugee Puritans. John Winthrop became the new governor of this territoy and with 17 ships carrying 1,000 people it was the largest single migration in the 17th century. -
Navigation Acts
The English government began trying to regulate colonial trade in the 1650s. Parliment passed the Navigation Acts in the 1660s. This closed the colonies to all trade except ones carried by English ships and required that tobacco and other items be exported from the colonies only to England. Also required that all goods sent from Europe to the colonies pass through England where they will be taxed. The last of the acts imposed duties on coastal trade and officials to enforce the Navigation Acts. -
Anthony Ashley Cooper and Carolina
Anthony Cooper(1621-1683) convinced proprietors to finance expeditions to Carolina from England. The first of which set sail with 300 people in the spring of 1670. From there Port Royal was established on the coast of Carolina, then Charlestown(Charleston) was established ten years later, which becomes the colonial capital. Carolina became one of the most divided English colonies in America. -
Bacon's Rebellion
This was a volunteer army led by Nathaniel Bacon; it was created because there was a rift with the government. While Bacon was a farmer who wanted to expand his lands the government, especially William Berekeley, did not want to anger the natives by pushing the borders farther out. From this Bacon led his army aganist the government, the first time he did this he recieved a pardon. The second he burned the city, but suddenly Bacon died of dysentery and Berekeley soon regained control in 1677. -
Georgia
Georgia became the last of the 13 colonies established in America. This colony was created to be a military barrier aganist the Spanish in Florida. It was also a place where some convicts could start anew. Oglethorpe was granted power of this land and had a heavy-handed regulation of the colony. With many military failures aganist Spain, he slowly lost grip on the colony. Georgia at this point grew more slowly then the other southern colonies, but developed along similar lines as South Carolina. -
Stono Rebellion
This was a slave rebellion which commenced in South Carolina because of the harsh treatment by the white masters. About 100 slaves rose up, seized weapons, and killed several whites while attempted to escape south to Florida. This uprising was quickly crushed and most of the slaves were executed. -
Seven Years War
The war that raged in North America was part of a larger struggle between England and France. The British victory in that struggle, known in Europe as the 7 years war, confirmed England's commerical supremacy and cemented its control over the settled regions of North America. The colonial conflict in America was considered the French and Indian War. This was the final stage of the struggle between the powers of the French, English, and Iroquois. -
Stamp Act
This Act was the act that antagonize and unify the colonies even closer. Unlike the Sugar Act which was the year before this act affected everyone in the 13colonies. Usually taxes in the colonies were to regulate commerce, but this act was a clear message to the colonist that Britian wanted to make revenue off these people under British rule -
Boston Massacre
A mob of "Liberty Boys" and others began pelting the sentries at the customs house with rocks and snowballs. The British regiment lined up several of his men in front of the customs commissioners to protect it. There was scuffling and one of the soldiers got knocked down. and in the midst several soldiers fired into the crowd killing five people. This murky event caused an uprising in the colonies resulting in more hostility between patroits and britian -
Boston Tea Party
Tea PartyThree companies of 50 men dressed up as Native Americans went aboard three British Ships, broke open tea shipments then threw them overboard as a symbol of resistance aganist Britain. -
The First Continential Congress
Delegates from all 13 colonies except Georgia were present for this meeting in Phildelphia. In this meeting they made 5 major decisions. First, they rejected a plan for colonial reunion with England. Second, they demanded appeal of the oppressive legislaton passed. Third, they prepared a defense for an attack by Britain. Fourth, they agreed on boycotting a series of products from Britain. Fifth, all of them agreed to meet again in the following spring. -
The Declaration of Independence
When the second Continental Congress met in Phildelphia, they were moving for a complete break from England. There was a committee with Thomas Jefferson to write a formal letter declaring the colonists' independence from Britain. On July 4th it was signed by all present at the meetings and was sent to England. -
Victory at Saratoga
Victory at SaratogaThis battle was considered the turning point in the war. With the colonists' victory, the French finally decided that the Americans had a chance to win and would give them reinforcements. -
The End of the Revolutionary War (Yorktown)
American and French forces quickly descended on Yorktown. Washington marched from New York down South to join Marquis in Virginia, while Admiral Grasse took a French fleet with addtional troops up Chesapeake Bay. This joint operation caught Cornwallis between land and sea. After a few days of resistance he and Britain surrended, ending the Revolutionary War and giving America its independence from England. -
Shay's Rebellion
Daniel Shay issued a set of demands that included paper money, tax relief, a moratorium on debts, and the abolition of imprisonment of debt. Shaysites which the shay's army called themselves prevented collection of debts private or public, and used force to keep courts from sitting and sheriffs from selling confiscated property. Then an army of the state dispersed shay's army. Even though his army dispersed this led to tax relief and future movements to a new Constitution -
The Drafting of the Constitution
After Shay's Rebellion convinced state delegates of the need for a stronger central government, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison organized a convention in the Philadelphia State House from May to September 1787. It was here that the "Founding Fathers" drafted the document that would ultimately shape the government of the United States of America as we know it today, complete with seperate legislative, executive, and judiciary branches. -
The Bill of Rights
Congress approved twelve amendments, ten of which were ratified by the states by the end of 1791. These amendments placed limitations on the government by forbidding it to infringe on certain fundamental rights: freedom of religion, speech, and the press; immunity from arbitrary arrest; trial by jury; and others. -
The Alien and Sedition Acts
In an attempt to silence Republican opposition, the Federalist majority in congress passed the controversial "Alien and Sedition Acts". The Sedition Act allowed the government to prosecute those who engaged in "sedition". In theory, only libelous or treasonous activities were subject to prosecution, but since such activities had no clear definition, the law, in effect, gave the government authority to stifle virtually any opposition. These acts led to the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions. -
Marbury v. Madison
The Judiciary Act of 1789 had given the court the power to compel executive officials to act in such matters as the delivery of commissions. But the court ruled that congress had exceeded its authority, that the constitution defined the powers of the judiciary, and that the legislative had no right to expand them. In seeming to deny its own authority, the court was in fact radically enlarging it. The justices had repudiated a relatively minor power by asserting a vastly greater one. -
The Louisiana Purchase
Despite Napoleon's intention to establish a French power within the North American Louisiana Territory, several set backs led to his offer to the U.S. for the territory's purchase. For fifteen million dollars and an agreement to extend certain commercial priveledges to France in the port of New Orleans, the size of the U.S. basically doubled and heralded the beginning of our westward expansion. -
The War of 1812
Growing national pride and commercial ambitions of the United States gradually created another serious conflict with Great Britain, a war that was finally settled in 1814 on terms at least mildly favorable to the U.S. despite the nation coming close to dissolution at the hands of the British military forces preceding the Treaty of Ghent. -
The Missouri Compromise
In order to appease both northern and southern legislators over the issue of whether or not to admit Missouri into the union as a slave of free state, Maine offered to enter as a free state in order to allow Missouri to enter as a slave state and thus maintain the balance of power between the number of free and slave states. It also provisioned that any further decisions on the issue of states' admittance to the union and their slave/free status would be determined by the 36,30' parallel. -
The Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine expressed the growing spirit of nationalism in the U.S. and established the idea that the U.S. was the dominant power in the Western hemisphere. It essentially stated that Europe should stay on its side of the Atlantic and that the U.S. would do the same. -
The Two-Party System
The election of Jackson in 1828, the result of a popular movement that stood apart from the usual political elites, seemed further to legitimize the "party". In the 1830s, finally, a fully formed two-party system began to operate at the national level. The anti-Jackson forces began to call themselves the Whigs. Jackson's followers called themselves Democrats, thus giving a permanent name to what is now the nation's oldest political party. -
Chief Justice John Marshall
A supreme court justice who oversaw cases such as Marbury v. Madison and Fletcher v. Peck, he was commited to promoting commerce and staunchly defended the inviolability of contracts in the later mentioned case. He played a critical role in the molding of the development of the constitution by strengthening the Supreme Court, increasing the power of the federal government, and advancing the interests of the propertied and commercial classes. -
Battle of San Jacinto
The battle of San Jacinto General Sam Houston managed to defeat the Mexian army and took Santa Anna prisoner. Santa Anna then signed a treaty, gaining Texas its independence from Mexico -
The Trail of Tears
Many Cherokee were forced to relocate to so-called "Indian Territory" in the winter of 1838. Thousands perished before reaching their undesired destination. In the harsh new reservations, the survivors remembered the terrible journey as "The Trail Where They Cried," the Trail of Tears. -
The Railroads
It would be difficult to exaggerate the impact of rails on the American economy, society, and culture. Where railroads went, towns, ranches, and farms grew up rapidly along their routes. Rails opened up new areas to year-round shipment and thus increased total market range, on top of increasing the speed at which good could be transported. This, among other factors, lead directly to the Industrial Revolution. -
The Mexican War
Mexican leaders rejected the American offer to purchase the disputed terrorities in America. Polk order Taylor's army in Texas to move across the Nueces River, where it had been stationed, to the Rio Grande. Grande then attacked a unit of American soldiers. To declare war on America. -
The Industrial Revolution
The Industrial Revolution was perhaps the most significant event in the history of the United States, if not the entire world. Through population growth, advances in transportation and communication, the devolopment of factories and mass production, the recruiting of a large labor force, and the creation of corporate bodies capable of managing large enterprises. This new economy expanded the ranks of the wealthy, helped create a large new middle class, and introduced high levels of inequality. -
The Telegraph System
Invented in 1832 by Samuel F. B. Morse, the telegraph dramatically changed the domain of communications within the nation. By 1860, more than 50,000 miles of wire connected most parts of the country. The telegraph enabled people to electronically communication at speeds that put physical communication to shame. This ability to quickly communicate greatly enhanced the nation as a whole, both economically and socially. -
Conscription Act
This act subjected all white males between the ages of 18-35 to military service ofro 3 years. -
Emancipation Proclamation
After the Union victory at the Battle of Antietam the president announced his intention to use his war powers to issue an executive order freeing all slaves in the Confederacy. He then formally sined the Emancipation Proclamation, which declared forever free the slaves in side the Confederacy.
