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The Voyage of the Mayflower
On 6th September, 1620, a group of 102 pilgrims sailed from England to America, "the New World", on the ship Mayflower.
The pilgrims left England because they wanted religious and political freedom. The long, difficult journey across the Atlantic Ocean continued for 65 days. -
Arrival to the "New World"
On 9th November, 1620, the pilgrims saw land in the distance. The ship finally reached land and some pilgrims left to explore the area. They saw a good place and decided to build a village there. Later, they called the village Plymouth.
The first winter was very cold and 45 people died from the extreme temperatures and from hunger. -
Contact with the Natives
In March 1621, the pilgrims met the Native American for the first timeand he introduced them to his tribe. The Native American taught the pilgrims hot to grow corn, beans and pumpkins. -
Immigrants.
Other people wanted to try life in the New World and many immigrants moved there. By the 1750s, the British had 13 colonies on the east of North America and about two and a half million colonists live there. But France and Spain also owned big areas of land in North America and wanted to influence the New World too. -
Against France
From 1754 to 1763, the British army and the colonists fought the French over land in North America. The British won the war and got some some of the French land. But then, the British government asked for taxes from the colonists to pay the war. The colonists thought this was ridiculous. So the 13 colonies decided to join together to fight the British. -
Declaration of Independence
The colonists declared independence form Great Britain. Their leaders published the Beclaration of Independence on this date.
Then, the fighting started. The colonists, led by George Washington, fought many long, difficult battles. -
Finally, the United States of America
In the end, they defeated the British and signed the Treaty of Paris in 1783. They called their new nation the United States of America. -
Expansion
The French still owned some land to the west of the colonies. In 1803, the French Emperor Napoleon offered to sell the land to the United States fo $15 million. The president, Thomas Jefferson, accepted the offer and signed the Louisiana Purchase Agreement. -
Trail of tears
As the New World expanded, the Native American population began to suffer. Their land and traditions were in danger. In this year the US Goverment created the first Indian territory in the area now called Oklahoma. They forced more than 15,000 Cherokee people to leave their homes in Georgia and walk 1,600 kilometres to their new territory. Around 4,000 Cherokee people died on the way and they called this journey the "Trail of Tears" -
The American Civil War 1860
There were problems in the country. The people in the north lived in towns, but in the south, they lived on plantations and owned slaves.
Abraham Lincoln became the president of the USA. He wanted to end slavery. The people in the south wanted lo leave the Union and have their own nation, called the Cenfederate States of America. But Lincoln wanted to keep the country toghether. -
The American Civil War 1861
The south got their Confederacy. It got 11 states. Richmond in Virginia was the capital. They thought they were a different nation form the Union in the north. Confederate soldiers attacked a Union fort called Fort Sumter and another war started. -
The American Civil War 1864
Thounsands of people died because the war. Both the people in the north and the south were suffering. The Confederates were losing, they had fewer soldiers than the Union. -
The American Civil War 1865
The General Robert E. Lee, the Confederate army leader, surrendered to General Ulysses Grant, the Union army leader. The war ended, but more than 600,000 Americans died. The slaves were free and the country was one nation.
