-
3rd president
Thomas Jefferson served two terms from 1801 to 1809. He cut army and navy expenditures, reduced the budget, and removed the tax on whiskey. Despite this, he helped reduce the national debt by one third. -
Louisiana Purchase
A negotiated treaty between Thomas Jefferson and France for the Louisiana Territory. It doubled the size of the U.S., stretching from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Canadian border. It costed $15 million to purchase. -
Lewis and Clark Expedition
A three-year expedition by Lewis and Clark to explore the new lands obtained through the Louisiana Purchase. -
Steamboat
Robert Fulton invention of the steamboat provided a quicker means of transportation by water. -
5th president
James Monroe served two terms from 1817 to 1825. Monroe went on a goodwill tour at the beginning of his administration, beginning an “Era of Good Feelings.” -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine prohibited European nations from interfering with affairs in North and South America and creating more colonies. -
Electric Telegraph
Samuel Colt designed a gun that could be fired multiple times without reloading, naming it the Colt Revolver. This gun would be the most commonly used revolver in the Civil War. -
California Gold Rush
The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill unleashed the largest migration in United States history and drew people from a dozen countries. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Stephen Douglas introduced a bill that divided the land west of Missouri into two territories, Kansas and Nebraska. He argued for popular sovereignty, which would allow the settlers of the new territories to decide if slavery would be legal there. -
16th president
Abraham Lincoln served from 1861 to the day of his assassination in 1865. He opposed secession of the South and slavery and freed the slaves within the Confederacy. -
American Civil War(1860-1865)
Fought between northern states and southern states that had seceded to form the Union. The civil war began as a result of the controversy over the enslavement of black people. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was issued by Lincoln and declared that slaves within the Confederacy would be forever free. -
Lincoln Assassination
While watching a play at Ford’s Theater, Lincoln was assassinated by an actor named John Wilkes Booth. -
18th president
Ulysses S. Grant served two terms from 1869 to 1877. He worked to implement radical reconstruction in the South and finished off the last remains of slavery