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Jamestown
English settlers arrived under the authority of the Virginia Company of London, chartered by King James I. They Established the first permanent English settlement in North America at a place they named Jamestown. -
Pontiac's Rebellion
Pontiac's Rebellion was an armed conflict between the British Empire and Algonquian, Iroquoian, Muskogean, and Siouan-speaking Native Americans following the Seven Years' War. He led a rebellion against the British colonists after they expanded their military presence in the Great Lakes area during and after the French and Indian War. -
Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation Line of 1763 was a British-produced boundary marked in the Appalachian Mountains at the Eastern Continental Divide. The Proclamation Line prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War. It said no colonists could build homes west of the Appalachian Mountains. And that colonists who had already moved west of the Appalachian Mountains returned to the eastern side of the mountains. -
Sugar Act of 1764
The Sugar Act cut the duty on foreign molasses from 6 to 3 pence per gallon, retained a high duty on foreign refined sugar, and prohibited the importation of all foreign rum. It aimed at ending the smuggling trade in sugar and molasses from the French and Dutch West Indies and at providing increased revenues to fund enlarged British Empire responsibilities following the French and Indian War. -
Currency Act of 1764
The Currency Act prohibited the printing and issuance of paper money by Colonial legislatures. It also set up fines and penalties for members of the Colonial government who disobeyed, despite the long-standing currency shortage. The Currency Act banned the colonies from printing their own paper money. English merchants had insisted for years that payment in colonial currency left them underpaid for their goods. -
Quartering Act of 1765
The Quartering Act stated that Great Britain would house its soldiers in American barracks and public houses. And if the soldiers outnumbered colonial housing, they would be quartered in inns, alehouses, barns, and other buildings. Though the Quartering Act did not directly tax the colonists in the form of money, it did impose the cost of food and housing for the soldiers on the legislative assemblies of every state. -
Stamp Act Congress
The British Parliament passed the “Stamp Act” to help pay for British troops stationed in the colonies during the Seven Years' War. The act required the colonists to pay a tax, represented by a stamp, on various forms of papers, documents, and playing cards. The congress protested the loss of American rights and liberties and declared that only elected representatives could impose taxes on colonists. -
Declaration Act of 1766
The Declaratory Act, passed by Parliament on the same day the Stamp Act was repealed, stated that Parliament could make laws binding the American colonies "in all cases whatsoever. It was declared by the British Parliament that accompanied the repeal of the Stamp Act. It stated that the British Parliament's taxing authority was the same in America as in Great Britain. -
Townshend Acts of 1767
It was to help pay the expenses involved in governing the American colonies, Parliament passed the Townshend Acts, which initiated taxes on glass, lead, paint, paper, and tea. Nonimportation. In response to new taxes, the colonies again decided to discourage the purchase of British imports. It was a series of measures, passed by the British Parliament, that taxed goods imported to the American colonies. However American colonists, had no representation in Parliament. -
Boston Massacre
Seven British soldiers fired into a crowd of volatile Bostonians, killing five, wounding another six, and angering an entire colony. Boston leaders wanted to control duties on imports to the town without Parliament's interference. The fight over taxes and representation led to violent outbreaks in the streets between Bostonians and royal customs officials -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was to protest the British Parliament's tax on tea. "No taxation without representation." The demonstrators boarded the ships and threw the chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. The British government considered the protest an act of treason and responded harshly. -
American Revolution
The American Revolution(also called the U.S. War of Independence)was the insurrection fought between 1775 and 1783 through which 13 of Great Britain's North American colonies threw off British rule to establish the sovereign United States of America, founded with the Declaration of Independence. The American Revolution secured the independence of the United States from the dominion of Great Britain and separated it from the British Empire. -
Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord on 19 April 1775, the famous 'shot heard around the world', marked the start of the American War of Independence. Politically disastrous for the British, it persuaded many Americans to take up arms and support the cause of independence.In this first battle of the American Revolution, Massachusetts colonists defied British authority, outnumbered and outfought the Redcoats, and embarked on a lengthy war to earn their independence. American victory. -
The Declaration of Independence
The purpose of the Declaration was to declare our independence and to explain to the world our reasons for declaring independence. Americans were upset with unfair taxation, British occupancy, and the tyranny of King George III. After years of unrest, fighting broke out in 1775 at Lexington and Concord. -
Quasi-War
Quasi-War with France, this conflict was a limited naval war against French privateers who were seizing U.S. shipping in the Caribbean. The Quasi-War is significant as the first seaborne conflict for the newly established U.S. Navy. It was an undeclared naval war between the United States and France. -
Election of Jefferson
In what is sometimes called the "Revolution of 1800", the Democratic-Republican Party candidate, Vice President Thomas Jefferson, defeated the Federalist Party candidate and incumbent, President John Adams. The election was a political realignment that ushered in a generation of Democratic-Republican leadership.The Federalist incumbent John Adams ran against the rising Republican Thomas Jefferson -
Louisiana Purchase
the United States purchased 828,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. For roughly 4 cents an acre, the United States doubled its size, expanding the nation. The deal granted the United States the sole authority to obtain the land from its indigenous inhabitants, either by contract or by conquest. -
The War Of 1812
The War of 1812 (1812-15) was fought between the United States and Great Britain, primarily over the impressment of American sailors by the British Navy, as well as disagreements over trade, western expansion, and Native American policy. The war ended inconclusively after three years of fighting. British Royal Navy arrived upon American maritime rights and cut into American trade during the Napoleonic Wars which was the main cause for the war. -
Cherokee v. Georgia
the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Cherokee Nation was sovereign. According to the decision rendered by Chief Justice John Marshall, this meant that Georgia had no right to enforce state laws in its territory. Some laws were passed that stripped local Cherokee Indians of their rights. Cherokees were rounded up and forced from their homes in Georgia, Tennessee, and other southeastern states to the tribe's current capital. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal Act was signed into law by President Andrew Jackson on May 28, 1830, authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders. A few tribes went peacefully, but many resisted the relocation policy. It established a process where the President could grant land west of the Mississippi River to Indian tribes that agreed to give up their homelands. -
Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia was a landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state. Marshall ruled that Georgia's laws were invalid to the Cherokee, a sovereign nation, and ordered Worcester and the missionaries to be freed. -
The Trail of Tears
The Cherokee nation was forced to give up its lands east of the Mississippi River and migrate to an area in present-day Oklahoma. The Cherokee Trail of Tears started in the area around the Appalachian Mountains, which includes the states of North Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia, and Alabama. The Cherokee people called this journey the "Trail of Tears," because of its devastating effects. It gave the Cherokee two years to voluntarily move to the Indian Territory. -
The Mexican American War
It started/stemming from the United States annexation of Texas in 1845 and from a dispute over whether Texas ended at the Nueces River. One of the main reasons the war began was the continued claims to Texas from both the United States and Mexican governments. -
The election of Lincoln
The national outcome of the 1860 election gave Lincoln a victory in both the popular vote and the electoral vote, with just under 40 percent of the popular vote. The election of 1860 was a pivotal presidential election in United States history, held on November 6, 1860. It directly led to the secession of several Southern states and the outbreak of the American Civil War. -
Attack of Fort Sumter
The attack on Fort Sumter resulted in a 34-hour bombing that ultimately led to its surrender, marking a significant escalation in tensions between the North and South. South Carolina could not tolerate a federal fort blocking an important seaport. And that is the reason for the attack. The attack on Fort Sumter unified many Northerners in support of the Union cause, leading to a surge in enlistments for the military. -
The Battle of Bull Run
Federal forces under General Irwin McDowell attempted to flank Confederate positions by crossing Bull Run but were turned back. The battle was a Confederate victory and was followed by a disorganized post-battle retreat of the Union forces. Department of Northeastern Virginia: Army of Northeastern Virginia. This was the first major war of the civil war. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to live on and “improve” their plots by cultivating the land. -
The Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam ended the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia's first invasion into the North and led Abraham Lincoln to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation. Antietam, the deadliest one-day battle in American military history, showed that the Union could stand against the Confederate army in the Eastern theater. It also gave President Abraham Lincoln the confidence to issue the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation at a moment of strength rather than desperation. -
Lincoln signed The Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863, as the nation approached its third year of bloody civil war. The proclamation declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." This was a major deal for the union. -
The Freedmen's Bureau
The Freedmen's Bureau provided assistance to tens of thousands of formerly enslaved people and impoverished whites in the Southern States and the District of Columbia in the years following the war. It helped freedpeople establish schools, purchase land, locate family members, and legalize marriages. -
Victory at Vicksburg
In a series of maneuvers, Union Major General Ulysses S. Grant and his Army of the Tennessee crossed the Mississippi River and drove the Confederate Army of Mississippi. Vicksburg's strategic location on the Mississippi River made it a critical win for both the Union and the Confederacy. The Confederate surrender there ensured Union control of the Mississippi River and cleaved the South in two. -
The Battle of Gettysburg
The battle of Gettysburg involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war and is often described as the war's turning point. Union Maj. Gen. George Meade's Army of the Potomac defeated attacks by Confederate Gen.Union victory. Gettysburg ended Confederate General Robert E. Lee's ambitious second quest to invade the North and bring the Civil War to a swift end. The loss there dashed the hopes of the Confederate States of America to become an independent nation. -
The 10% reconstruction plan
President Lincoln proposed a reconstruction program that would allow Confederate states to establish new state governments after 10 percent of their male population took loyalty oaths and the states recognized the permanent freedom of formerly enslaved people. However, it did not give former slaves any citizenship rights. -
The Davis Bill
Radical Republicans in Congress firmly opposed his plan and passed the Wade-Davis Bill which provided that a state would be readmitted only if a majority took an oath of loyalty in addition to ratifying the 13th Amendment. Lincoln pocket vetoed that bill, which made the Radical Republicans furious. -
Sherman’s March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea was an American Civil War campaign lasting from November 15 to December 21, 1864, in which Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led troops through the Confederate state of Georgia, pillaging the countryside and destroying both military outposts and civilian properties. -
Sand Creek Massacre
Colorado volunteer soldiers attacked this encampment of approximately 750 people. During the attack, Indians took shelter in the high banks along Sand Creek. As they fled, many were killed and wounded by artillery fire. Well over half of the 230 dead were women and children. -
The Force Act
Passed by Congress at the urging of President Andrew Jackson, the Force Bill consisted of eight sections expanding presidential power and was designed to compel the state of South Carolina's compliance with a series of federal tariffs, opposed by John C. Calhoun and other leading South Carolinians. It gave the president the power to use the military to enforce the collection of import duties if a state refused to comply with federal tariffs. -
The 13th Amendment
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution provides that "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction. It forbids chattel slavery across the United States and in every territory under its control, except as a criminal punishment. -
The KKK
The KKK was a secret society of white Southerners in the United States; was formed in the 19th century to resist the emancipation of slaves and used terrorist tactics to suppress Black people. It was a very hateful group. It was also known as the Ku Klux Klan. -
Reconstruction Act of 1867
Congress overrode President Johnson's veto and the First Reconstruction Act became law. The act implemented “Reconstruction” as a longer period of post-war transition that empowered African American men as an electorate and excluded former government officials who had aided the Confederacy. It outlined the conditions under which the Southern states would be readmitted to the Union following the American Civil War -
The 15th Amendment
The 15th Amendment states, that the right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude. It guaranteed that the right to vote could not be denied based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude. -
The 14th Amendment
The 14th Amendment states that the State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws. It was to grant citizenship to “All persons born or naturalized in the United States,” thereby granting citizenship to formerly enslaved people. -
Transcontinental Railroad
The United States began building a transcontinental railroad in 1863 to connect the East Coast with the West Coast. Work began from both sides of the country, meeting at Promontory, Utah, in 1869. During those six years, workers laid a track from Nebraska to California. The Transcontinental railroad provided many benefits including progress in commerce, travel, and American identity. -
Battle of Little Big Horn
The Battle of the Little Bighorn was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States. The Battle of Little Bighorn stemmed from encroachments by White settlers into the Black Hills as well as efforts by the United States government to force the Sioux to live on reservations and abandon their traditional ways of life. -
Compromise Tariff of 1833
Senators Henry Clay, Daniel Webster, and John C. Calhoun negotiated the Compromise Tariff of 1833 which lowered tariffs gradually over a period of ten years. South Carolina repealed its Ordinance of Nullification and accepted the Compromise Tariff of 1833. It reduced high tariff rates only marginally and left in place fairly strong protectionist barriers. -
Dawes Severalty Act
An Act to provide for the allotment of lands in severalty to Indians on the various reservations, and to extend the protection of the laws of the United States and the Territories over the Indians, and for other purposes. it encouraged the breakup of the tribes and promoted the assimilation of Indians into American society.