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Period: Jan 1, 1492 to
US History: VHS Summer: Jeremy Sestito
My timeline will be scaleing the massive and most impacting events that have transformed the middle of the continent into Colonial America. Events such as the Mayflower all the way to the Revolution will be explained in detail. -
Oct 12, 1492
Discovering America
Christopher Columbus,, 29 days into his journey, sighted America. When he first step foot on the land, he saw many indigenous people that made up the vast number of tribes that settled on the land. They were very peaceful people and they were friendly to him and his crew. He spent many days observing the people, their behavior, and the land, itself. He returned to his country to report the news on January 15, 1493. -
Colonization of Roanoke
Roanokewas discovered In 1585, when Sir Walter Raleigh and his men settled on the land. They were peaceful with the natives at first, but that later faded when Raleigh's men beheaded the native chief. When Raleigh left, he sent for Governor John White and a group of families to live with the natives, but they didn’t forget the hostility. The colonists sent for help, but when Raleigh returned, he found nothing but a deserted and ravaged land, with the word "CROATOAN" carved on a nearby tree. -
The Settlemet of Jamestown
The First Virginia Charter was sent in 1606, and in 1607, 144 English men set out on a course for Virginia for an attempt to colonize on the new land. They established Jamestown in the area of Virginia. The British Empire told the colonists that if they did not generate any wealth, they would not be supported, so they spent most of their time searching for gold. Many of the men contracted malaria, suffered through the harsh winter, and lost crops. After the first year only 38 survived. -
Michel-Guillaume de Crevecoeur
Michel-Guillaume de Crevecoeur was a French settler in the American colonies. Coming from France, when he saw America and its diversity he could not believe it. Living in one area, he encountered people of English, Welsh, Scots-Irish, German, French, Irish, Swedish, Native American, and African descent. He is keyed as saying the famous quote; "What then is the American, this new man?" -
The Revolution
Link.With the Battle of Lexington and Concord, the American Revolution began. In the early stages of the Revolution, the battle at Bunker Hill was a grim fate for the Americans, as the fort was destroyed by British troops. The British then occupied Philadelphia, which wasn’t looking good for the American forces. In early 1778 the French decided to side with America and aide them, and in 1781, General Cornwallis was surrounded and forced to surrender, basically ending the Revolution in American favor. -
The Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. Much of the Declaration sets forth a list of abuses that were blamed on King George III. This played a key role in making America the country it is today. -
Republicanism
Republicanism is the political values system that has been a major part of American politics since 1776. Basically, republicanism was about evening out the country and stopping political corruption and greed in the American Government. The Founding Fathers also used Republicanism as their main idea for establishing the country. It helped them extremely to set up the government at the beginnings of the United States. -
The Articles of Confederation
Link.While the most of the state constitutions were being assembled in America, the Continental Congress continued to meet as the main political body. Despite being the "central government" for America, it was a loose confederation and most significant power was held by the individual states. By 1777 members of Congress realized that they should have some clearly written rules for how they were organized. As a result, the Articles of Confederation were made and passed by the Congress. -
The Economic Crisis
Link. The economic problems faced by the Congress deeply touched the lives of most Americans in the 1780s. The war had disrupted much of the American economy. On the seas, the British Navy destroyed most American ships, crippling the flow of trade. On land, where both armies regularly stole from local farms in order to find food, farmers suffered tremendously. -
Federalism
Link. For Federalists, the Constitution was required in order to safeguard the independence that the American Revolution had created. While the Federalists definitely had developed a new political philosophy, they saw their most import role as defending the social gains of the Revolution. As James Madison, one of the great Federalist leaders later explained, the Constitution was designed to be a "republican remedy for the diseases most incident to republican government." -
Jeffersonian Democracy
Link. Jefferson's presidential vision impressively combined philosophic principles with pragmatic effectiveness as a politician. Jefferson's most fundamental political belief was an "absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority." Jefferson believed that the will of the people, expressed through the elections, provided the most appropriate guidance for directing the republic's course. -
African-American Freedom?
Link. "Free blacks" lived all over the US, but the majority lived amongst slavery in the South. By 1860, there were about 1.5 million free blacks in the southern states. Some slaves bought their own freedom from their owners, but this process became more rare as the 1800s progressed. Many slaves became free through manumission, the voluntary emancipation of a slave by a slaveowner. -
Jacksonian Democracy
Jacksonian Democracy is the political movement toward greater democracy for the common man typified by American politician Andrew Jackson and his supporters. It was based on the principles of expanded suffrage, Manifest Destiny, Patronage, Strict Constructionism, Laissez-faire Economics, and Banking. It was used widely during Jackson's term. -
The South Carolina Nullification Controversy
The South Carolina Nulification Controversy began on July 14, 1832, after Calhoun had resigned his office in order to run for the Senate where he could more effectively defend nullification. Jackson signed into law the Tariff of 1832. This compromise tariff received the support of most northerners and half of the southerners in Congress. A state convention declared that the tariffs were unconstitutional and unenforceable. -
The Mexican-American War
The Mexican-American War was a conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. The war was in the wake of the 1845 U.S. annexation of Texas, which Mexico considered part of its territory despite the 1836 Texas Revolution. America stormed into parts of Mexico, and they captured Mexico City, allowing an easy victory for America. Mexico agreed to make the Rio Grande as the national border, and the War was over. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin
Uncle Tom's Cabin is a novel written by Harriet Beecher Stowe in 1851. The novel is told as slave families forced to cope with separation by masters through sale. Uncle Tom loses his family to slavery. In one heroic scene, Eliza makes a dangerous run across the frozen Ohio River to prevent the sale of her son by slave traders. The novel also takes the perspective that slavery brings out the worst in the white owners. -
The Dred Scott Decision
The Dred Scott Decision, or Scott v. Sandford, was a Supreme Court Case that Dred Scott sued against his slave owner for his freedom. Dred Scott travelled to many different bases over the coast, because his slave owner, John Emerson, was an army Surgeon. When he arrived back to Missouri, he sued for his freedom under the Missouri Compromise of 1820, which banned slavery from that state. He was found guilty. -
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln occurred on Good Friday, while Lincoln was seeing a play, My American Cousin, at Ford's Theater. John Wilkes Booth slipped in to the President's Box, and stood behind Lincoln. Six inches away from his head, Booth fired a Derringer pistol just to the side of Lincoln's left ear, entering the base of his head, tearing through his brain, and lodged into his eye. He was pronounced dead the next morning. -
Slaveocracy
Slaveocracy was a phrase used to denounce the political power of the slaveholding class in the South. The argument was that this small group of rich men had seized political control of their own states and was trying to take over the national government in illegitimate fashion to use it to expand and protect slavery. Politicians who emphasized the theme included John Quincy Adams, Henry Wilson and William Pitt Fessenden. -
The Congressional Elections of 1866
The Congressional Elections of 1866 occurred one year after the American Civil War ended at Appomattox, in which the Union defeated the Confederacy. The 1866 elections were a decisive event in the early Reconstruction era, in which President Andrew Johnson faced off against the Radical Republicans in a bitter dispute over whether Reconstruction should be lenient or harsh toward the South. They passed the Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867.
