U.S. History: VHS Summer: Thomas Merlo

U.S. History: VHS Summer: Thomas Merlo

Period: Jul 1, 1492 to Jul 1, 1877

This timeline includes important dates in history regarding the creation of the New World and the problems that arised. It also shows the outcomes which changed history in America forever.

Jamestown Settlement

Jul 6, 1607

history is fun
America's first permanant English colony is founded in Virginia. It was named after King James I and sponsered by the Virginia Company of London. This is where many customs, beliefs, government, and aspirations began.

First Slaves to arrive in the New World

Jul 6, 1619

U.S. History
The first Africans to arrive in the New World did not arrive to be slaves. They arrived and served time as indentured servants until their obligations were complete. This practice eventually became slave labor in the South on the plantations.

Boston Massacre

Mar 5, 1770

historyisfun.org/yorktown-chronicles/history/glossary.htm
British troops were sent in to Boston to enforce the new policies and the citizens did not like them being there. There were many fights between the soldiers and the citizens and on this day the British troops were called to protect a sentry. The citizens started to throw rocks and snowballs at the troops and they fired into the crowd.

American Revolution

Apr 6, 1775

www.history.com/topics/american-revolution
This was the American war for Independance and started with tension between the thirteen colonies and the colonial government. The war was started in Lexington and Concord battle and continued with many more battles until 1773. The war was over in 1779 when France helped the Continental army force the British army to surrender at Yorktown. This was a major turning point in the foundation of America as we know it today.

Declaration of Independence

Jul 4, 1776

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration.htmlDrafted by Thomas Jefferson between June 11 and June 28, 1776, the Declaration of Independence is at once the nation's most cherished symbol of liberty and Jefferson's most enduring monument. Jefferson expressed the convictions in the minds and hearts of the American people.

U.S Constitution signed

Sep 17, 1787

http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/constitution.html
The Constitution stands as a model of cooperative statesmanship and the art of compromise. Supporters of the document waged a hard-won battle to win ratification by the necessary nine out of 13 U.S. states.

First elected presidnt of the United States

Apr 30, 1789

http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/presidents/georgewashington
George Washington was the first presidnt elected of the United States. Washington served two terms as President, His first term was occupied primarily with organizing the executive branch of the new government and establishing administrative procedures. Washington's second term was dominated by foreign affairs and marred by a deepening partisanship in his own administration.

Cotton Gin

Jun 20, 1793

http://inventors.about.com/od/cstartinventions/a/cotton_gin.htm
Eli Whitney is nventor of the cotton gin. The cotton gin was very important because the cotton gin gave birth to the American mass-production concept.

Underground Railroad

Jul 12, 1834

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2944.html
Harriet Tubman was one of the most importnant people of the the Underground Railroad, she made 19 seperate trips into slave territory in the 1850s. She was reponsible for freeing 300 slaves in a decade. In 1838, the Underground Railroad became formally organized with black abolitionist Robert Purvis at the helm.

Trail of Tears

Jul 6, 1838

http://www.ushistory.org/us/24f.asp
About 20,000 Cherokees were marched westward at gunpoint on the infamous trail of tears. Nearly a quarter perished on the way, with the remainder left to seek survival in a completely foreign land. The Trail of Tears is the most sorrowful legacy of the Jacksonian Era.

Mexican Americna War

Apr 25, 1846

http://www.history.com/topics/mexican-american-war
Marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean.

Compromise of 1850

Jan 29, 1850

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2951.html
For eight months members of Congress, led by Clay, Daniel Webster, Senator from Massachusetts, and John C. Calhoun, senator from South Carolina, debated the compromise. According to the compromise, Texas would relinquish the land in dispute but, in compensation, be given 10 million dollars, money it would use to pay off its debt to Mexico.

Kansas Nebraska Act

May 30, 1854

http://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=28
Pro-slavery and anti-slavery settlers rushed to Kansas, each side hoping to determine the results of the first election held after the law went into effect. Opponents of the Kansas-Nebraska Act helped found the Republican Party, which opposed the spread of slavery into the territories. As a result of the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the United States moved closer to Civil War.

Dorothea Dix

Jul 20, 1854

http://www.nndb.com/people/415/000115070/
Dorothea secured the passage by Congress of a bill granting to the states 12,250,000 acres of public lands, to be utilized for the benefit of the insane, deaf, dumb and blind; but the measure was vetoed by President Franklin Pierce. At the outbreak of the American Civil War she offered her services to the Federal government and was appointed superintendent of women nurses. In this capacity she served throughout the war.

Fort Sumter

Apr 12, 1861

http://www.nps.gov/fosu/index.htm
Confederate artillery opened fire on this Federal fort in Charleston Harbor. Fort Sumter surrendered 34 hours later. Union forces would try for nearly four years to take it back.

Black Codes

Jul 12, 1866

http://www.history.com/topics/black-codes
Black Codes were designed to restrict freed blacks' activity and ensure their availability as a labor force now that slavery had been abolished. Northern outrage over the black codes helped undermine support for Johnson's policies, and by late 1866 control over Reconstruction had shifted to the more radical wing of the Republican Party in Congress

1st president impeached

Feb 24, 1868

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-andrew-johnson-impeached
The U.S. House of Representatives votes 11 articles of impeachment against President Andrew Johnson due to a violation of the Tenure of Office Act. The House vote made President Johnson the first president to be impeached in U.S. history.

14th Amendment

Jul 9, 1868

http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/ourdocs/14thamendment.html
The 14th amendment granted citizenship to “all persons born or naturalized in the United States,” which included former slaves recently freed. In addition, it forbids states from denying any person "life, liberty or property, without due process of law" or to "deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”