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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Lands in the Americas
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Jamestown
First English settlement in Virginia established in 1607, led by John Smith -
Pilgrims Land
Pilgrims have become so surrounded by legend that we are tempted to forget that they were real people. Against great odds, they made the famous 1620 voyage aboard the ship Mayflower and founded Plymouth Colony, but they were also ordinary English men and women. -
French/Indian War
The French and Indian War was the North American conflict in a larger imperial war between Great Britain and France known as the Seven Years’ War. -
Proclamation
The Royal Proclamation of 1763 was issued October 7, 1763, by King George III following Great Britain's acquisition of French territory in North America after the end of the French and Indian War/Seven Years' War, which forbade all settlement west of a line drawn along the Appalachian Mountains. -
Sugar Act
Parliament imposed new regulations and taxes on the colonists to pay for the debt they had after the French and Indian War. The first was the Sugar Act of 1764, whihc established a number of new duties and which also contained provisions aimed at deterring molasses smugglers. -
Stamp Act
The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament on March 22, 1765. The new tax was imposed on all American colonists and required them to pay a tax on every piece of printed paper they used. Ship's papers, legal documents, licenses, newspapers, other publications, and even playing cards were taxed. -
Jackson Presidency
Hero of Battle of New Orleans, Leader of new Democratic Party, liked by westerners and the "common man" -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 when British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a group of American colonists killing five men. Prior to the Boston Massacre the British had instituted a number of new taxes on the American colonies including taxes on tea, glass, paper, paint, and lead. -
First Continental Congress
To petition England for their rights; Right to "life, Liberty, and property;" Trial by jury; peaceable assemble; Consideration of their grievances and for rights they had been denied -
Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord, fought on April 19, 1775, kicked off the American Revolutionary War (1775-83). Tensions had been building for many years between residents of the 13 American colonies and the British authorities, particularly in Massachusetts. -
Declaration of Independence
The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson and adopted by the Second Continental Congress, states the reasons the British colonies of North America sought independence in July of 1776. -
Constitutional Convention
meeting of delegates in 1787 to revise the Articles of Confederation, which produced the new U.S. Constitution -
Jefferson Presidency
Third President of the United States, elected in 1800 -
Louisiana Purchase
The U.S., under Jefferson, bought the Louisiana territory from France, under the rule of Napoleon, in 1803. The U.S. paid $15 million for the Louisiana Purchase, and Napoleon gave up his empire in North America. The U.S. gained control of Mississippi trade route and doubled its size. -
Lincoln Presidency
Abraham Lincoln, a self-taught lawyer, legislator and vocal opponent of slavery, was elected 16th president of the United States in November 1860, shortly before the outbreak of the Civil War. -
Missouri Compromise
Agreement made to keep the balance of slave and free states equal. Missouri was added as a slave state and Maine added as a free state in 1821. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was the action of removing Indians from the lands East of the Mississippi River. The plan was finished by moving the Indians to what is now Oklahoma. -
Wilson Presidency
Thomas Woodrow Wilson was an American statesman and academic who served as the 28th President of the United States from 1913 to 1921. -
Dredd Scott v Sanford
Dred Scott's Opinion was that he was free because no one owned him and because he was in a free state.
Sanford's Opinion was that Dredd Scott was still a slave because if Scott became a free man then it would affect the fifth amendment. -
T. Roosevelt Presidency
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. was an American statesman, author, explorer, soldier, and naturalist, who served as the 26th President of the United States from 1901 to 1909. -
Attack on Fort Sumter (start of Civil War)
It happened on Charleston Harbor in South Carolina. It's important because had the confederacy not attacked Fort Sumter there is a chance that the Confederate States would still exist today, although by now slavery would most likely have been abolished anyway in the south. -
Emancipation Proclamation
This was a document that freed slaves in the south but not in the north. -
The Englightenment
European politics philosophy science and communication during the course of the long 18th century -
Surrender at Appomattox (end of Civil War)
After being surrounded by General Grant and his men, General Lee was forced to surrender at Appomattox courthouse. General Grant was generous enough to all Lee and his men to leave armed with their weapons and horses
Significance: After 4 tiresome years the war was finally over. The Union was saved and the slaves were free -
Lincoln Assasinated
Shortly after 10 p.m. on April 14, 1865, actor John Wilkes Booth entered the presidential box at Ford's Theatre in Washington D.C., and fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln. As Lincoln slumped forward in his seat, Booth leapt onto the stage and escaped through the back door. -
Thirteen Amendment Ratified
Passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified on December 6, 1865, the 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. -
Chinese Exclusion Act
Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was an American law signed by President Chester Arthur that prohibited Chinese workers from entering the United States. -
Sherman Anti -Trust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act, first legislation enacted by the United States Congress (1890) to curb concentrations of power that interfere with trade and reduce economic competition. -
Plessy v Ferguson
A case in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregated, "equal but separate" public accommodations for blacks and whites did not violate the 14th amendment. -
Spanish American War
The Spanish-American War (1898) was a conflict between the United States and Spain that ended Spanish colonial rule in the Americas and resulted in U.S. acquisition of territories in the western Pacific and Latin America. -
WWI Begins
World War I began in 1914, after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, and lasted until 1918. During the conflict, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). -
Panama Canal
Following the failure of a French construction team in the 1880s, the United States commenced building a canal across a 50-mile stretch of the Panama isthmus in 1904. The project was helped by the elimination of disease-carrying mosquitoes, while chief engineer John Stevens devised innovative techniques and spurred the crucial redesign from a sea-level to a lock canal. -
WWI Ends
World War I (1914-1918) was finally over. This first global conflict had claimed from 9 million to 13 million lives and caused unprecedented damage. Germany had formally surrendered on November 11, 1918, and all nations had agreed to stop fighting while the terms of peace were negotiated. On June 28, 1919, Germany and the Allied Nations (including Britain, France, Italy and Russia) signed the Treaty of Versailles, formally ending the war. -
Eighteenth Amendment
The 18th Amendment called for the banning of the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages. Known as national Prohibition, the Eighteenth Amendment banned “intoxicating liquors” with the exception of those used for religious rites. -
Treaty of Versailles
World War I officially ended with the signing of the Treaty of Versailles on June 28, 1919. Negotiated among the Allied powers with little participation by Germany, its 15 parts and 440 articles reassigned German boundaries and assigned liability for reparations. -
Nineteenth Amendment
The Nineteenth (19th) Amendment to the United States Constitution granted women the right to vote, prohibiting any United States citizen to be denied the right to vote based on sex. It was ratified on August 18, 1920 after a long struggle known as the women’s suffrage movement. -
Harlem Renaissance
The Harlem Renaissance was the development of the Harlem neighborhood in New York City as a black cultural mecca in the early 20th Century and the subsequent social and artistic explosion that resulted. -
Gitlow v New York
Gitlow v. New York, case in which the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on June 8, 1925, that the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment protection of free speech, which states that the federal “Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech,” applied also to state governments. -
Stock Market Crash
The stock market crash of 1929 is a four-day collapse of stock prices that began on October 24, 1929. It was the worst decline in U.S. history.