APUSH Timeline

  • 1492

    Columbus lands at Hispanola

  • 1496

    First Spanish Colony

  • 1512

    encomienda system established

    it was a system that was influenced by and also somewhat created the casta system. gave spanish colonizers native labour in exchange for protection and religious instruction but it mostly resulted in forced labor
  • 1520

    90% of natives die due to european illnesses

  • first english colony

  • jamestown

  • house of burgees

  • mayflower compact

  • plymouth (pilgrims)

  • massachusetts bay established (puritans)

  • navigation acts

  • bacon's rebellion

  • the enlightenment

  • Salem Witch Trials

    leads to enlightenment bc that shit was crazy
  • Virginia slave codes

  • Period: to

    great awakening

  • molasses act

  • Period: to

    Seven years war/French and Indian War

    france and britain go to war (natives on both sides) over land (ohio river valley) Britain wins but run out of money so are unable to fight the natives on the land.
  • pontiacs rebellion

    native american rebellion against the british
  • proclamation line of 1763

    colonists can't go past the appalachian mountains per the British proclamation (caused by 7 years war)
  • sugar act, quartering act, stamp act

  • boston massacre

    americans fed up with british taxes and housing soldiers, colonists throwing rocks at british soldiers, soldiers shot 4 colonists
  • boston tea party

  • first continental congress

    Still wanted to remain british subjects, Influenced by the ideas of enlightenment (natural rights and social contract)
  • Period: to

    Revolutionary War

  • declaration of independence and common sense

    written by thomas jefferson
  • battle of yorktown

  • articles of the confederation

    wanted a weak central gov
    decided everyone had to agree to pass anything
  • treaty of paris

    formerly ended the war
  • northwest ordinance

    came from articles of the confederation
    any new land had to be a new state, states cant get bigger, no slavery in the northwest territories
    first part of containing slavery
  • 3/5ths compromise

  • constitution

    NJ wanted every state to have equal votes
    Virginia wanted equal representation
    agreed on compromise, created senate and house
  • judiciary act

    created supreme court for appeals about constitutional matters
  • bill of rights

  • Period: to

    second great awakening

    widespread Protestant religious revival
    emphasized individual conversion and moral action, leading to a surge in church membership and the formation of new denominations. This revival also fueled various reform movements, including those related to abolitionism, temperance, and women's rights
  • cotton gin invented

  • proclamation of neutrality

  • washington farewell address

    • warns against political parties and foreign affairs (getting involved with europe)
  • revolution of 1800

    transition of power between political parties
  • Thomas Jefferson is elected

  • marbury v. madison

    created process of judicial review, allowed supreme court to say laws are unconstitutional
  • louisiana purchase

  • lewis and clark expedition

    westward expansion
  • Period: to

    war of 1812

    against britain
    after we were entirely separate from britain
    nationalism
    federalist party died out
  • missouri compromise

  • Period: to

    Market Revolution

    cotton gin, spinning machine
    connection of western and southern farms
    industrialization
    assembly lines became a thing
    building of canals and railroads
  • Monroe doctrine

    declared western hemisphere free from european influence
  • john quincy adams

    "corrupt bargain"
    no candidate got majority votes so senate chose him
  • Andrew Jackson's election

  • Indian Removal Act and the Trail of Tears

  • Period: to

    Transcendentalism

    • moral perfection/ human perfection
    • often supported abolition/womens rights
    • spiritual renuwal
    • moral societal reformation
    • mormons
  • Period: to

    Manifest destiny + US expansion

    • belief that god wants to expand west and spread democracy
    • justification for displacing/killing natives
  • Nat Turner's rebellion

    slave revolt
    killed a bunch of white people
    made slave laws worse
  • panic of 1837

    economic downturn due to overproduction
    end of the 2nd and last US bank
  • texas annexation

    annexed after the mexican gov mandated conversion to roman catholicism and outlawed slavery. texans revolted and it was annexed as a state
  • Period: to

    mexican-american war

    arguments over california, new mexico, and the southern border of texas. US won, texas border at rio grande and mexican cession
  • mexican cession

    california, nevada, utah, arizona, new mexico, colorado
  • seneca falls convention

    • first womens rights convention
    • short term and long term plans for women's rights
    • short term: abolish slavery
    • long term: women's suffrage
    • declaration of sentiments was the written part of this plan
  • Period: to

    gold rush

    population of california rose from 14k to 400k
    led to anti-asian sentiments
  • compromise of 1850

    • created by henry clay to solve the arguments about new states being free or slave states
    • mexican cession divided into utah and new mexico territories
    • california admitted as a free state
    • slave trade outlawed in D.C.
    • created the fugitive slave act
  • kansas-nebraska act

    • overturned missouri compromise
    • introduced popular sovereignty
  • bleeding kansas

    caused by the compromise of 1850 and kansas nebraska act, which said that when kansas and nebraska applied for statehood, whether they were free or slave states would be decided by popular sovereignty, sparked outrage bc it violated the missouri compromise.
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford

    • scott was a slave who sued for his freedom after being taken to live in a free state
    • sandford won, scott was deemed "property" that couldn't be taken away
    • meant that slavery could basically exist anywhere in US
  • panic of 1857

    • the 2nd real recession in american history
    • after the US industrialized, the US was producing more than it could sell
    • unemployment at 10%
  • 7 southern states secede from union

    south carolina, florida, georgia, alabama, texas, mississippi, and louisiana (virginia, north carolina, tennessee, arkansas joined later) secede from the union after lincoln's election, create the "confederate states of america"
  • Election of 1860, Lincoln becomes President

    • lincoln said he was ok with southern slavery, he just didn't it to spread
    • left off the ballot in the south, but still won
  • Period: to

    Civil War

  • 2nd confiscation act

    • allowed union to seize slaves and any other property from the south, any slaves that were taken were free
  • homestead act

    gave 160 acres of free land in the plains to any citizen willing to stay there and farm for 5 years
    led to loss of native american land
  • emancipation proclamation

    • made the civil war fully about slavery
    • freed slaves in confederate states and encouraged them to join the union army
    • didn't free slaves in border states (slave states in the union)
    • prevented europe from supporting the confederacy
  • sherman's march on the sea

    union general sherman captured georgia and crippled the confederacy
  • lincoln's assasination

    andrew johnson becomes president
  • black codes

    • proof of employment
    • allowed black people to be arrested very easily so that free labor was legal
  • 13th amendment

  • freedman's bureau

    aided poor whites and freed slaves
  • Period: to

    reconstruction

    • after the war ended, the question was if the south should be let back into the union easy or not
    • lincoln was leaniant
    • radical republicans were not
    • black schools, hospitals, and colleges established
    • african americans elected to political office
  • Period: to

    gilded age

  • civil rights act of 1866

    said that all african americans were citizens of the US
  • medicine lodge treaty

    set of agreements between US gov and native plains tribes
    gave US land in exchange for supplies
    treaty was a failure
  • reconstruction acts

    military occupation of the south
    required southern states to ratify the 13th and 14th amendment
  • 14th amendment

    made all people born or naturalized in the US citizens with the same rights
    had to be ratified by confederate states in order to be let back into the union bc of radical republicans
  • 15th amendment

    protected voting rights of former slaves and all men
  • panic of 1873

    caused by coinage act, gov wanted to stop inflation, greenbacks and silver were not accepted as money anymore
  • telephone invented

    alexander graham bell develops telephone
  • federal troops removed from the south

    jim crow laws, black codes
  • great railroad strike

  • compromise of 1877

    dispute over election
    republican hayes elected in exchange for reconstruction stopping
  • sharecropping began

    1870s-1940s
  • Period: to

    chinese exclusion act

    response to the fear that a growing chinese economy would hurt the economy
    made chinese immigrants ineligible for citizenship if they were already in the US
    angel island
  • Haymarket riot

    bombing after labor union protest
    showcased the rise of labor unions and protests
  • Daws act

    broke up native tribal lands into individual plots
    led to significant reduction in native lands
  • wounded knee massacre

    300 lakota people killed by US army
    last native massacre thats documented
  • white "hawaiians" stage a coup against Queen Lili'uokalani

    the queen was overthrown, started US imperialism
  • Panic of 1893

    caused many railroads to file for bankruptcy
    by 1900 2/3s of railroads were controlled by 7 entities
  • pullman strike

    railroad factory strike
  • Plessy v ferguson

    resulted in segregation becoming national and legal
    "separate but equal"
  • Period: to

    National segregation

  • hawai'i annexed

  • USS Maine exploded

    blamed on spain
    started spanish american war
    might have just been blamed on spain so as to acquire territories
  • Period: to

    spanish american war

    spain cedes the philippines, guam, puerto rico, and cuba to US