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Period: Jul 22, 1492 to
US History
This timespan from 1492 to 1877 explores the history and moreover formation of the United States of America. Starting from the voyage of Chistopher Columbus to the Reconstruction Era. -
Jamestown was founded
Read more144 English men and boys established Jamestown colony, the first permanent English settlement in the Americas. From it emerged a lucrative tobacco industry. It was established by the Virginia Company (a joint-stock company created to establish settlements in the New World. granted by King James I in 1606. -
First slaves in British North America
Read more Twenty slaves in Virginia Africans brought to Jamestown are the first slaves imported into Britain’s North American colonies. Like indentured servants, they were probably freed after a fixed period of service. They were needed for cheap labor for tobacco cultivation. -
Samuel Slater was born
Read moreSlater set foot in New York in late 1789, having memorized the details of Britain's innovative machines. With the support of a Quaker merchant, Moses Brown, Slater built America's first water-powered cotton spinning mill in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. He greatly contibuted to America's Industrial Revolution. -
Battles of Lexington and Concord
Read more The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They marked the crossing of a threshold, and the momentum from these events pushed both sides farther apart. -
Declaration of Independence
Read more The Declaration of Independance was a seminal legal document to be signed in the course of American History. In it, was the American ideals that contribute greatly to the American Identity. To this day, we celebrate the day the Declaration of Independence was signed as Independence Day, or the Fourth of July. -
Treaty of Paris signed
Read moreThe Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America ended the American Revolutionary War. -
The Day the US Constitution was Ratified
Read moreThe Federal Constitution was signed in September 1787 after four difficult months spent drafting and debating it. Howver it was ratified when New Hampshire signed it on 21 Jun 1788. State by state, it was ratified. It needed 9 states' ratification for it to be enacted. -
George Washington's Death
Read moreGeorge Washington passed away in his Mt Vernon home on this date. He would be remembered for his succesful commanding of the Continental Army in the American Revolution as well for his influential presidency. -
Louisiana Purchase Treaty Signed
Read more The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 intensified American westward expansion that was already well underway. According to ushistory.org, "In 1790 the population of the United States was 3.9 million, 5% of Americans lived west of the Appalachian Mountains. By 1820, however, the total U.S. population had already reached 9.6 million and fully 25 percent of them lived west of the Appalachian mountains." -
Missouri Compromise
Read moreThe Missouri Compromise was an effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. At the time, the United States contained twenty-two states, evenly divided between slave and free. -
Denmark Vesey's planned revolt
Educated and multi-lingual, Denmark Vesey earned his freedom by winning the lottery. His plan to murder white Southerners-as a revolt against slavery- was revealed. He was captured, tried, and hanged. Forty-seven African-Americans were condemned to death for alleged involvement in the plot. An estimated 9,000 individuals were involved. -
Andrew Jackson elected president
Read moreIn the presidential election of 1828, Andrew Jackson got 70% of the public vote and popular participation in the election soared to unheard 60% which more than doubled turnout in 1824. -
First issue of The Liberator published by William Lloyd Garrison
Read moreGarrison founded the New England Anti-Slavery society. In 1833, he met with delegates from around the nation to form the American Anti-Slavery Society. 75% of his readers were free African-Americans. In 1854, he publicly burned a copy of the Constitution because it permitted slavery. Thirty-four years after first publishing The Liberator, Garrison saw the Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution go into effect, banning slavery forever. -
First gold discovered in California
Read more The California Gold Rush began at Sutter's Mill, near Coloma. On January 24, 1848, James W. Marshall, a foreman working for Sacramento pioneer John Sutter, found shiny metal in the tailrace of a lumber mill Marshall was building for Sutter on the American River. During the year that followed, over 80,000 "Fort-Niners" flocked to California to share in the glory. Some would actually strike it rich, but most would not. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Higalo signed
Read moreThe war was formally concluded by the Treaty of Guadalupe Higalo. The United States received the disputed Texan territory, as well as New Mexico territory and California. The Mexican government was paid $15 million — the same sum issued to France for the Louisiana Territory. The United States Army won a grand victory. Although suffering 13,000 killed, the military won every engagement of the war. Mexico was stripped of half of its territory and was not consoled by the monetary reward. -
Seneca Falls Convention
Read moreThe convention was organized by Lucretia Mott and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, two abolitionists who met at the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention in London. As women, Mott and Stanton were barred from the convention floor, and the common indignation that this aroused in both of them was the impetus for their founding of the women’s rights movement in the United States. Their, "Declaration of Sentiments," was modeled after the words of the Declaration of Independence. -
Civil War began
Read more Civil War began 4:30 am on April 12, 1861, when Confederate artillery under the command of General Pierre Gustave T. Beauregard opened fire on Fort Sumter. Anderson surrendered. Ironically, Beauregard had developed his military skills under Anderson’s instruction at West Point. -
Assasination of Lincoln
Read more
In the audience was John Wilkes Booth, a successful actor, born and raised in Maryland, pro-slavery and white supremacy
Booth’s bullet mortally wounded Lincoln, toring through Lincoln's brain.April 26, Union cavalry trapped Booth in a Virginia tobacco barn. The soldiers had orders not to shoot and decided to burn him. Sergrant Boston Corbett took aim and fatally shot Booth. -
Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
Read moreFor the first time in history, the United States House of Representatives impeached a sitting president, Democrat Andrew Johnson. Now, Johnson faced trial before the U. S. Senate. If convicted, he would be removed from office. In 1867, Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, which Edwin Stanton, as Secretary of War, was charged with enforcing. Johnson opposed the Act and tried to remove Stanton — in direct violation of theTenure of Office Act. He was 1 vote short of being thrown out of office. -
PBS Pinchback as governer
Read moreHe was first person of African descent to become governor of a U.S. state. He was born free in Georgia. A Republican, Pinchback served as the 24th Governor of Louisiana for 15 days, from December 29, 1872, to January 13, 1873. He was later elected to the state legislature, serving in 1879-1880.
