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Beginning of the Seven Years War
Territorial conflict between the Americans and the British against the French and their allies. -
End of The Seven Years War
End of the conflict between the British and the French : it's a victory for Great Britain. -
The beginning of the conflict on American territory
A young officer George Washington begin the hostilities in America by killing a young French officer, it's the beginning of a war considered as the first real world conflict : there are battle everywhere in Europe, North America, India and Cuba -
Fall of Quebec
The Fall of Quebec a French territory that the Americans tried to invade before unsuccessfully is seen by the entire country as a providential victory : God is on the United States side. -
The Loss Of Louisiana
After the Seven Years War the French loose Louisiana to Spain -
American Revolutionary War
Tensions arise between British authority and American settlers who are denied the right to expand further west. The Americans feel like they are treated as second class citizens ;the taxes are increasing and their representation in Parliament is almost non existant. -
California, a Spanish colony
California was first a Spanish colony run by Franciscan, that colony was basically several churches called "missions". -
Boston Tea Party
The American exceeded by the treatment that they endure under British governance start to rebel : one of their first act of rebellion is throwing in the water shipment of tea coming from England. It embodies their discontentment regarding the augmentation of taxes on goods. Their moto is : "No taxation without representation". -
Battle of Lexington and Concord
Beginning of the armed conflict between Great Britain and the 13 colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence is signed by politician in Philadelphia such as John Hancock, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. It announced the separation of the 13 colonies from Great Britain. -
Oregon
Captain James Cook expedition. He explored the coast and claimed it for Britain. However between the 1780s to the mid 19th century : the US and Britain fought over who was the first to discover Oregon. -
Final Battle of The American Revolutionary war
The British and American troops fight one another in Yorktown : the British officer surrender. The Battle sound the defeat of Great Britain. -
End of the American Revolutionary War
The British are defeated and recognize the United States as an independent country by signing the Treaty of Paris. -
Treaty of Paris
The Kingdom of Great Britain and the United States sign the Treaty of Paris thus ending the American Revolutionary war. -
Treaty of San Ildefonso
The French retrieve the Louisiana territory from the Spanish -
Indian Removal
Forced migration of the Indian Tribes has been happening since the 1700s but it becomes more extensive in the 1800s with the expansion toward the West, Native Americans are forced by the US government to leave their ancestral homelands in the east part of the country and the west of the Mississippi River to go to designated Indian territory. -
Louisiana Purchase
President Thomas Jefferson send James Monroe and Robert Livingston to "spy" on Napoleon and discover his plan about the Louisiana territory; he is afraid that the Emperor could maybe planning an attack. They ended up buying the territory for 15 million dollars through an intermediary Charles-Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord. -
The Lewis and Clark Expedition
Almost immediately after the purchase of Louisiana, President Jefferson send an expedition to visit, map the territory and find a river that would allow American boats to access the Pacific Ocean. During their journey, captain Meriwether Lewis Jefferson's private secretary and William Clark an astronomer and map maker are guided by Sacagawea an Indian woman, along their way they unsuccessfully try to develop commercial relationship with numeral Indian Tribes. -
British-American war of 1812
Conflict between the US and Britain and its allies, it was a minor theater of the Napoleonian war. Americans were opposed to the British decision to impose a naval blockade and prevent France from trading in a « neutral » territory : the US felt the duty to help their ally who supported their Revolution.
The British used Natives as tools/soldiers giving them weapons to attack the American troops. -
End of the British/ American war
After Napoleon's defeat in 1814, Britain was no longer at war with France, hence their decision to suspend their policy of impressment of American sailors. Americans after this, proclaimed the victory in what they called a "second war of Independence". -
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Erie Canal construction
It linked the Hudson River ( so NYC thus the Atlantic Ocean ) with a new city Buffalo. -
Treat of Joint Occupation
Both British and Americans had to live peacefully and share the same territory. Americans controlled the coast while the British controlled the interior with the Hudson Bay Company. Meanwhile John Floyd a politician disagreed with the treaty and urged the US government to claim more of the Oregon territory. -
Mexico's independence from Spain
Mexico became independent, they gained a huge part of the southern part of North America with their independence because Spain wasn’t interested in it. They wanted to develop it so they invited the Americans their ally during their rebellion to come and exploit the land. It also served as a deterrent against the Indians installed on the territory. But to be accepted and get their lands for free Americans had to convert to christianism and speak Spanish. -
Colonization Act
This Act allowed governors to grant land tittle to foreigners for the establishments of ranchos, this Act marked the first arrival of Americans in California. -
Period: to
Steamboats mutliplication
in 1825, 75 steamboats were on the Mississippi River, by 1845 there were 187. -
Mexico abolish slavery
Mexico abolish slavery but gave to the American settlers a special waver allowing them to keep their slave; the majority were Southerners so they had slaves. -
Mexico's Reaction
By 1830, the American population in Texas is close to 20,000, they clearly outnumbered the Mexicans and started to make their own laws. hence Mexico's ban on American immigration but it was already too late. -
Indian Removal Act
President Andrew Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, a law that allowed the President to negotiate with Natives for their removal and in exchange the installation of white settlement on their land. One of the main tribe that fought the act was the Cherokee who took the case to the Supreme Court which ruled in their favor and stated that as long as the Tribe wouldn't sign a specific contract proclaiming that they agreed to the abandon of their land it would be illegal to evict them. -
Mexico's New President
Election of a new Mexican leader Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna, general of the army, at first he didn't supervise his government more focused on the military side and was criticized for it. Feeling that his position was threatened he tightened his control and became a dictator. He decided to annihilate any form of rebellion and Texas at the time was his biggest problem so he increased the number of Mexican soldiers there to pressure them into submission. -
Secularization of California's land
Mexican decided that the mission lands would be secularize, meaning that it was no longer under the church control. In other words they take the mission lands away from the missions ( church ) to sell or at least make them available to settlers. -
Self proclaimed Independence
Texans declare themselves an independent State which start a war with Mexico. The Mexican Army attacks the Alamo Mission Church and kills every person there, Americans and Tejanos are killed along with famous name such as David Crockett and Jim Bowie : it's a massacre. -
Texas independence
Texas become a Republic, their first President is Sam Houston. They immediately legalized slavery and banned every free blacks. Aware of their weakness they also ask the United State for annexation and acceptance into the Union. Their demands are rejected for 9 years until they start developing alliances with France and the United Kingdom. -
The American's Revenge
The Americans seek revenge for the Alamo Massacre so they send reinforcements with at their head Sam Houston. They defeat the Mexicans in San Juacito. -
First wave of migration to Oregon
Between 1840 and 1842 , the very first waves of migration of American citizen to Oregon took place : Landsford Hastings led the first migration of around 100 people. -
Texas' Expansion
The Texas Republic start a war in New Mexico to expand it's border and gain access to the Santa Fe trail for trade purposes, they are defeated. -
Census of Oregon population
6000 American citizen for a few hundreds British in Oregon. -
Texas join the Union
Texas is declared an American State under Polk's presidency. -
Diplomatic breakup
Mexico's President José Joaquin De Herrera severed his country diplomatic relationship with the United States. -
American population in California
By 1845, the American population was approximately 10,000 in California, so it can be said that indeed the Secularization of California's land ushered Americans in California. -
Conquest of California
The "Bear Flag" revolt : from June to July 1846, a small group of American settlers living in California rebelled against the Mexican governance and declare the territory as Independent. But shortly after that the United State military began it's occupation of California. -
Bear Flag Revolt
Though controlled by Mexico California was home to a growing population of American settlers. Mexican leaders worried that many of these settlers were not truly interested in becoming Mexican subjects and would soon push for annexation of California to the United States. These tensions came to an end with the Bear Flag Revolt that was organized by John C. Fremont with the Mountain Men in the Sacramento valley they declared California Republic. -
Start of the Mexican-American War
The conflict between Mexico and the United States start pushed by President Polk eager to expand the Union territory, he argued that the Mexicans opened the hostilities by attacking American soldiers on American soils which was a lie. -
The Oregon Treaty
James K. Polk recently new US president with expansionists ideas, believed in manifest destiny, threatened the British with war. His slogan was « 54°40 or Fight! » On June 15 the US administration signed a Treaty with Britain, the latter agreed to give up of Oregon, and relocated the HBC to the North. This Treaty established the border between British North America and the US and brought an end to the Oregon boundary dispute. -
Occupation of San Francisco
An American expedition was sent to Upper California in advance in case of if war was declared the troops would be quick to react and raise the star and stripes. -
Conquest of New Mexico
The American Army annexed New Mexico without a fight because the governor surrendered immediately and established a military campement there thus controlling the city and putting under American's protection the citizen of the territory. -
Battle of Monterrey
The battle took place in front of the city of Monterrey where the Mexican troops are trying to stop the advance of the American troops. They are defeated and forced to abandon the city. After this huge defeat they are only given an armistice of 2 month to put their army back in shape. -
Battle of Buena Vista
The Mexican army lead by Santa-Anna fight against the American army, they were defeated and had to retreat. -
Withdrawal of the American Army
Withdrawal of the United States troops from what used to be Mexican territory. -
Battle of Cerro Gordo
The American army with 8500 soldiers defeat the 12000 soldiers of the Mexican army lead by Santa Anna in Vera Cruz. -
Battle of Chapultepec
The American army attacked the Chatapultec Castle that was located directly at the entrance of Mexico City. The American army was stronger and had more soldiers so it's an almost easy victory. -
End of the Mexican-American War
Mexico has lost his territories in North-America, it's a crushing defeat. -
Gold is discovered
James Marshall discovered gold on the Sutter's sawmill, owned by Swiss immigrant John Augustus Stutter in Coloma which started the Gold Rush. -
"Judge Lynch"
Apparition of Vigilante « Judge Lynch » name given to ordinary citizen who decided to take justice into their own hands. They did this because law institutions were not present. It can be considered as a direct response of the lack of legal institutions. People who were generally lynched were Indians, Mexicans and Chinese. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo is signed outside of Mexico City by the Americans and the Mexicans : the Rio Grande is fixed as the new border between the two countries. -
Gold Rush / " Forty-niners"
Close to 100,000 people went to California from the United States, Europe, and every other corner of the globe. Gold-seekers from Australia, New Zealand, Hawaii, and China continued to sail across the Pacific. -
Federal Department of the Interior creation
There was a need to know the part of the continent Americans didn’t know much about and organise this land so they created this department in order to gather knowledge and then organise it. -
Compromise of 1850
Responding to questions of how to accommodate slavery in the western territories, Henry Clay proposes a series of measures to preserve the Union. The compromise defused a four-year political confrontation between slave and free states. This compromise, reduced a little the sectional conflict in the United States. -
California joins the Union
California became Free State without slavery with a population of approximatively 380,000 people. -
Act for the Government and Protection of Indians
California law which allowed white people (so Americans) to declare Indians as vagrants and turn them into indentured servants. Unfortunately this led to the kidnapping of Indians children and approximatively 10,000 children became indentured servant. -
The Beginning of a Compromise
A compromise is adopted, the Fugitive Slave Law is put in place : slavery is abolished in California and Utah and New Mexico have to choose if they want to keep it or not. -
California Join the Union
After 4 years of American occupation, California finally join the union in 1850 -
Indian Appropriations Act
This Act created the Indian reservation system and provided funds to move Indian tribes onto farming reservations and hopefully keep them under control. Indians were not allowed to leave the reservations without permission. -
Treaty of Laramie
Treaty negotiated between the United States government and representatives of ten Native American tribes of the Great Plains, including the Lakota, Crow, and Cheyenne. The tribes agree to provide safe passage for westward migrants and permit the construction of roads and forts in their territories in return for an annuity of $50,000 for fifty years. -
A New Border
Gadsden Spruchase fixed the borders between Mexico and the United States to how we know them today. -
Pig War
Confrontation between the UK and the US over the boarder in San Juan Islands located between Vancouver Island and the mainland it started by the shooting of a pig hence the name. There were no human casualties it was a bloodless conflict. -
Cowboys
Late 1860s, cowboys moved cattle from ranches in Texas through Oklahoma to rail depots in Kansas towns such as Abilene and Dodge City; from there, cattle were shipped by train eastward to slaughterhouses in Chicago. Life along the trail was monotonous, and riders had to contend with bad weather, dangerous work, and disease. -
Railroad Act
For every mile of track laid:
Right-of-ways of 400 feet (100m)
10 square miles of land ( ten section )
Subsidies of $ 16,000 in the plains, $ 32,000 on plateaux and $48,000 in mountainous region. -
Homestead Act
Legislation made for entice people to settle in the West, to make lands arable.
They granted 160 acres to any adult who had never taken arms against the US government (including women, Blacks, immigrants)
Typically an expression of « free soil » policy of Northerners. -
"Peace Policy"
President Ulysses S. Grant pursued a "Peace Policy" as an attempt to avoid violence. The policy included a reorganization of the Indian Service, with the goal of relocating various tribes from their ancestral homes to parcels of lands established specifically for their inhabitation. The policy called for the replacement of government officials by religious men, nominated by churches, to oversee the Indian agencies on reservations in order to teach Christianity to the native tribes. -
Treaty of Washington
Treaty signed by Ulysses S. Grant and William Gladstone, it settled the border issues and had for result a permanently peaceful relationship between Canada and US. -
Gold Rush impact on Indians
An estimated 100,000 Native Americans died during the first two years of the Gold Rush alone; by 1873, only 30,000 indigenous people remained of around 150,000. -
New Rancheros
The new ranchers trusted and respected the vaqueros and began adopting their customs and techniques. They passed their newly gained knowledge on to ranchers in the Plains. New meats, such as sheep and chicken, were introduced into the market -
Dawes Act
Signed by President Grover Cleveland allowing the government to divide reservations into small plots of land for individual Indians. The government hoped the legislation would help Indians assimilate into white culture easier and faster and improve their quality of life. -
Rush of Homsteaders
An estimated 50,000 homesteaders rush to claim nearly two million acres of unoccupied land appropriated for public settlement from ceded Native American territory in what is now central Oklahoma. It is the first of several major land runs in the region. -
Indian v. Americans in California
Between 1864 and 1890 there were conflicts between Indians and Americans. Several battles led to the massacre of thousands of Indians: the Sand Creek Massacre (1864), Battle of Washita River (1864), Battle of the Little Big Horn (1876) & Wounded Knee massacre (1890) ( 200 men, women and children by US regimen tin the attempt to confiscate their weapons ) -
Historian View on American expansion
Essay on “The Significance of the Frontier in American History,” Frederick Jackson Turner ( American historian ) assigned westward expansion the central role in the history of the United States. He contended that it had not only enlarged the nation’s territory, but had also accounted for the individualistic and democratic character of its people and its institutions. In Turner’s view, the process of moving west separated Americans from their European roots -
Indians remaining in California
in 1850 there were 100,000 Indians in California by 1900 only 16,000 remained. -
Landmarks films based on American West myth
Landmark films such as Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1966), Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969), Arthur Penn’s Little Big Man (1970), and Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971), the Old West became a stage on which 1960s critiques of American capitalism and imperialism played out. Arguably, though, the reversing of traditional western roles did not reach its apotheosis until 1991 when Dances with Wolves won eight Academy Awards. -
American expansion through arts
The Smithsonian American Art Museum presented “The West as America ". According to the exhibition’s gallery guide, the assembled works, were “a means of persuading people that westward expansion was good for the nation and would benefit all who participated in it.” This proposition put western art and western artists in the service of manifest destiny, an ideology that led painters and photographers to mask “the problems created by westward expansion.”