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Battle of Lexington & Concord
The Battle of Lexington and Concord was the first battle of the Revolutionary War. The battle took place on April 19, 1775. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence was written to further the cause of the colonists fight with England. It was addressed to colonists who remained loyal to the king. The Declaration addresses the concept of limited government. It was based off the ideas of John Locke. Writing the Declaration of Independence meant that America could now enter into an alliance with other nations. -
Battle of Saratoga
The Battle of Saratoga was the turning point in the American Revolutionary War. -
Articles of Confederation
The Second Continental Congress established the Articles of
Confederation as its own replacement. Under the Articles of Confederation the government relied on the legislative which was very weak at the time and was unicameral. Some of the Weakness of this document was that Congress could not levy taxes, there was no national military, no executive branch to carry out the will of the nation, no judicial branch to solve the problems between states and many more. -
Battle of Yorktown
The Battle of Yorktown caused the British to surrender. The American Army and the French Army came together which caused the British to Surrender. -
Northwest Ordinance
We got the Northwest Ordinance in 1787. We get it from Great Britain. WE wanted it to admit 3-5 new western states but 5 states were added to the Union. -
Constitution
The Constitution was ratified on June 21, 1788. The Constitution fixed many problems with the Article of Confederation. National government was given the power to levy taxes, power to control interstate commerce, currency, creates a judicial branch, creates judicial branch, created a federal system where power is shared between states and the national government, created a bicameral legislative which consist of the Senate and House, and more! -
Bill of Rights
The Constitution had some flaws too like there was no bill of rights. This was a big argument on why the Democratic-Republicans said it shouldn't have gotten ratified. To fix this, the Federalist (people how supported the Constitution ratification) add the Bills of Rights to the Constitution which give outlaid the rights the citizens have in the United States. It was ratified on December 15, 1791. -
Virginia & Kentucky Resolutions
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolution was secretly written by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison because they saw the Alien and Sedition Acts were unconstitutional. They said it was unconstitutional because it violated the First Amendment. This is important to the states because it enabled them to nullify a law that they saw was unlawful. If the Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were not written, life would be very different today -
Alien & Sedition Acts
The Federalists in Congress place restrictions on Citizenship and Political speech with the Alien and Sedition Acts. The Alien Act restricted the activities of foreign residents in the US and their attempts to become citizenships and the Sedition Acts restricted freedom of speech in the United States basically outlawing any false, scandalous and malicious writing against Congress or the president and made it illegal to oppose any measures of the government. -
Louisiana Purchase
Thomas Jefferson brought this land to help France with its revolution that was going on and to get more land and money from trading that was provided by the Mississippi river.Jefferson felt buying this land was unconstitutional because it didn't state in the constitution that presidents can buy land from other countries. From this purchase we got 15 more states added to the union. -
Marbury v. Madison
This count case established Judicial review meaning that the judicial branch has the power to examine the Constitution to decide if an event is unconstitutional or not. -
War of 1812 Begins
The United States declared war on Great Britain on June 18th, 1812. This war was fought because England was fighting with our ships at sea and England war giving the Indian Tribes guns in the west. -
Battle of New Orleans
The Battle of New Orleans was fought from December 14, 1812 and January 8, 1815. This Battle was with the U.S. and Britain. Britain tried to get as much land has they could that the U.S. acquired from the Louisiana Purchase but the U.S. was fighting back to prevent that. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise was the legislation that provided Maine to enter the Union as a free stat along with Missouri as a Slave State. Slavery was prohibited north of the 36 degree 30 parallel and wasn't prohibited under that line. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was passed to warn European countries not to recolonized Latin America. Some background on why this was passed is because Britain had trade relations with Latin America. After hearing that Spain wanted to recolonize Latin America scared Great Britain because this could end their trade relations with Latin America. So Britain asked the US to help them and the United States passed the Monroe Doctrine. This document would be used in the future by many other Presidents. -
Nullification Crisis
The Nullification Crisis was during Andrew Jackson presidency which involved South Carolina and the federal government. South Carolina Nullify the federal Tariffs of 1828 and 1832. They did that because the Tariff would interfere with the way they get money. -
Texas Annexation
Texas was original part of mexico but after the Mexican American war we annexed it. From this land when added 1 state to the union. Annexing this land increased sectionalism because states argued over the issue of slavery. Individualism increased too because although Texas was annexed by the Union, Texas still acted like its own country. -
Oregon Treaty
The signing of the Oregon Treaty give us 3 state to add to the Union. This treaty was between the United States and Great Britain. This treaty was issued to settle arguments with the British, and to remove the British from continent. -
Declaration of Sentiments
The Declaration of Sentiments was drafted by Elizabeth Stanton for the women's rights convention at Seneca Falls which was in 1848. The Sentiments demanded women get equal rights with men before the law, education, and employment. The Declaration of Sentiments was based on the Declaration of Independence. -
Mexican Cession (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo)
This land was acquired from Mexico from the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. We wanted this land to finish Manifest Destiny and end Mexican War. This added 7 states to the Union. Decreased sectionalism, Increase nationalism because Manifest Destiny was completed. The date for this is the date the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo was signed. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 established California admitted as a free state, Slave trade prohibited in Washington D.C., and Texas loses boundary dispute with New Mexico. All of that was what the North got from the Compromise. The South got; No slavery restriction in Utah or New Mexico territories, Slave holding was premitted in Washington D.C. and Texas gets $10 million dollar. -
Uncle Tom's Cabin is published
Uncle Tom's Cabin was written by Harriet Beecher Stowe's. She wrote Uncle Tom's Cabin in reaction to recently fugitive slave laws at that time. This book had a major impacted on how American public viewed slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act of 1854 created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It also open up thousands of new farms and made a Midwestern Transcontinental Railroad. -
Bleeding (Bloody) kansas
Bloody Kansas was a "border war" that happen between Kansas and Missouri about slavery in the state of Kansas. This conflict was from 1854 and 1861. -
John Brown's raid at Harper's Ferry
The raid on Harper's Ferry was an effort by John Brown to initiate an armed slave revolt by taking over Harper's Ferry, Virginia. Browns party consist of 22 people and was defeated by the U.S. Marines. -
Battle of Fort Sumter
Battle of Fort Sumter was the first battle of the Civil War. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Battle of Bull Run was fought on July 21, 1861.This Battle took place in Prince William County, Virginia. This was the first major battle of the Civil War. Each side had about 18,000 poorly trained and poorly led troops here. -
Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was fought on September 17, 1862. This was the bloodiest day in United States history with 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. The two Generals in this battle was Robert E. Lee for the Confederates States and George B. McClellan for the Union. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation went into affect on January 1, 1863. The proclamation stated "all persons held as slaves are, and henceforward shall be free." The Proclamation didn't end slavery in the United States but now African Americans can fight for the Union. -
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Presidential Reconstruction (1863-1867)
Presidential Reconstruction was the plan for reconstruction that President Lincoln and President Johnson had. Their idea for reconstruction was to get the South back in the Union as fast as possibly and to get 10% to swear an oath to the Union. -
Battle of Vicksburg
The Battle of Vicksburg started on May 18,1863 and ended on July 4, 1863. This battle completed the second part of the anaconda plan which was to capture the Mississippi river. -
Battle of Gettysburg
The Battle of Gettysburg took place on July 1-3 1863. This battle took place in and around Gettysburg the town of Gettysburg, pensylvania . The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is described as the wars turning point. -
Gettysburg Address
The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. -
Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea happened from November 15 until December 21, 1864. This started when Sherman's army left the captured city of Atlanta on November 15 and ended with him capturing the port of Savannah on December 21. -
Freedman's Bureau
The Freedman's Bureau aimed to help African Americans with protection. In 1866, the Freedman's Bureau deployed Union troops in the South to make sure that African Americans were being treated right and also to make sure the south wasn't getting out of hand. -
13th amendment passed
The 13 amendment abolished slavery in the United States. This let all slavery become freedmen. After this amendment, most slaves with stay on the plantation and become sharecroppers for their old masters. -
14th amendment passed
The 14th amendment was adopted in 1868, after the Civil War, and says that former slaves have equal protection and rights. This amendment was to insure that freedmen would have the same rights as white men. -
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Congressional Reconstruction (1867-1877)
The Congressional Reconstruction was congress idea for reconstruction. Their idea of reconstruction was to punish the south harshly. -
15th amendment
The 15th amendment granted African American men the right to vote. Although African American men were granted the right to vote by the 15th Amendment, the south stop them by using the Black Codes which included things like the Grandfather Clauses, poll taxes, and literacy test. -
Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
Plessy v. Ferguson was a landmark 1896 U.S. Supreme Court case that established "separate but equal."