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American Revolutionary War
- April 19, 1775 – The first battles of the American Revolution were fought at Lexington and Concord, marking the beginnings of armed conflict between Great Britain and America.
- July 4, 1776 – United States declared independence from Great Britain.
- September 3, 1783 – Great Britain and the United States signed a peace treaty, the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
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Ohio Outlaws Slavery
- Slavery was abolished in Ohio by the state's original constitution.
- Ohio "provided a classic example of how anti-immigration legislation could be invoked to harass black residents.
- The state had enacted Black Laws in 1804 and 1807 that compelled blacks entering the state to post bond of $500 guaranteeing good behavior and to produce a court paper as proof that they were free.
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Louisana Purchase
- With the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, the United States purchased approximately 828,000,000 square miles of territory from France.
- What was known as Louisiana Territory stretched from the Mississippi River in the east to the Rocky Mountains in the west and from the Gulf of Mexico in the south to the Canadian border in the north.
- Part or all of 15 states were eventually created from the land deal, which is considered one of the most important achievements of Thomas Jefferson’s presidency.
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War of 1812
- In the War of 1812, the United States took on the greatest naval power in the world, Great Britain.
- During the War of 1812, some New England federalists considered seceding from the United States during a meeting called the Hartford Convention. The government of Massachusetts even sent a secret emissary to discuss a separate peace with the British.
- The popular saying “Don’t give up the ship!” was the dying words of Captain James Lawrence of the USS Chesapeake as his ship was being taken.
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British Burn Washington.
- The Burning of Washington in 1814 was an attack during the War of 1812 between British forces and those of the United States of America..
- A British force led by Major General Robert Ross occupied Washington, D.C. and set fire to many public buildings, including the White House.
- A Hurricane and Tornado put out the Fires and drove out the British.
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Free Blacks Can Vote in NY.
- New York State enlarged its franchise to white men by dropping the property qualification, but maintained it for free blacks.
- New York help start the movement for blacks to be able to particpate in freedom.
- This was able to help build America and give it the foundation we know today.
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Undergorund Railroad Established
- The term Underground Railroad began to be used in the early 1830s.
- The Underground Railroad was the term used to describe a network of meeting plages, secret routes, passageways and safe houses used by slaves in the U.S. to escape slave holding states to northern states and Canada.
- Even before the 1800s, a system to abet runaways seems to have existed. George Washington complained in 1786 that one of his runaway slaves was aided by "a society of Quakers, formed for such purposes."
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Lincoln Elected President
- On November 6, 1860, Lincoln was elected the 16th president of the United States, beating Democrat Stephen A. Douglas, John C. Breckinridge of the Southern Democrats, and John Bell of the new Constitutional Union Party.
- He was the first president from the Republican party.
- By the time of Lincoln’s inauguration on March 4, 1861, seven states had seceded, and the Confederate States of America had been formally established, with Jefferson Davis as its elected president.
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Shermans March to the Sea.
- From November 15 until December 21, 1864, Union General William T. Sherman led some 60,000 soldiers on a 285-mile march from Atlanta to Savannah, Georgia.
- The purpose of this “March to the Sea” was to frighten Georgia’s civilian population into abandoning the Confederate cause.
- Sherman’s soldiers did not destroy any of the towns in their path, but they stole food and livestock and burned the houses and barns of people who tried to fight back.
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Lincoln is Asassinated.
- On April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, fatally shot President Abraham Lincoln at a play at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C.
- At 10:15, Booth slipped into the box and fired his .44-caliber single-shot derringer into the back of Lincoln’s head.
- The attack came only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered his massive army at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War.
