US History

  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus “Founds” New World

    Christopher Columbus “Founds” New World
    the explorer who set sail with 3 ships and "discovered" the new world on october 12
  • 1492

    Columbian Exchange Begins

    Columbian Exchange Begins
    trading of plants, animals, diseases and slaves between old/new world
  • Period: 1492 to

    European Exploration Era

    where European ships traveled around the world to search for new trading routes and partners
  • 1500

    Spanish Encomienda System Begins

    Spanish Encomienda System Begins
    spanish system of control over natives in much of the americas in the 16th century
  • 1500

    Spanish Casta System Begins

    Spanish Casta System Begins
    strict social hierarchy structed on racial components and designed to ensure spanish european dominance in the new spain
  • Period: 1500 to

    Triangular Trade

    a trading route between Europe, Africa and North/ South America
  • Period: 1500 to

    Middle Passage

    routes slave ships used to transport slaves
  • 1520

    Small Pox Begins Spreading to Native Americans

  • 1521

    Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortez Conquers the Aztec Empire

    Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortez Conquers the Aztec Empire
    Hernan Cortez invaded Mexico, conquered the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain
  • 1534

    England Splits from the Catholic Church

    England Splits from the Catholic Church
    Henry wanted to divorce his wife so he decided to split the country of England from the Catholic Church
  • London Company Gains Charter for Set Up English Colony

    London Company Gains Charter for Set Up English Colony
    an English joint stock company that established colonial settlements in North America
  • Jamestown, Virginia Colony Founded

    Jamestown, Virginia Colony Founded
    first permanent English settlement in North America
  • Period: to

    Colonial Era

  • French found Quebec on the St. Lawrence River and Engage in the Fur Trade

    French found Quebec on the St. Lawrence River and Engage in the Fur Trade
    engaged in fur trading and it helped shape develop French colonial experience in many diverse way
  • Tobacco introduced to Virginia Colony by John Rolfe

    Tobacco introduced to Virginia Colony by John Rolfe
    John brought tobacco to Jamestown which stabilized the economy because it is a cash crop
  • Virginia House of Burgesses

    Virginia House of Burgesses
    The first legislative assembly elected representatives in North America
  • First African Slaves Arrive in Jamestown, Virginia Colony

  • Mayflower Compact

    Mayflower Compact
    first document to establish self-government in America
  • Plymouth, Massachusetts Colony Founded

  • New Hampshire Founded

  • Dutch New Amsterdam Becomes Capital of New Netherland

    Dutch New Amsterdam Becomes Capital of New Netherland
    Dutch governor surrenders New Amsterdam capital of Netherland to an English naval
  • “City Upon a Hill” John Winthrop

  • The Great Migration to Massachusetts Bay Colony

  • Maryland Founded

  • Thomas Hooker Founds Connecticut

  • Roger Williams Founds Rhode Island

  • Harvard College Founded in Massachusetts

  • Delaware Founded

  • Fundamental Orders of Connecticut

    Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
    limited the power of the government and extended voting rights (first constitution)
  • Maryland Toleration Act

  • North Carolina Founded

  • Iroquois Confederacy Formed

  • Navigation Acts and Mercantilism

  • South Carolina Founded

  • New York Funded

  • New Jersey Founded

  • King Phillips War

    King Phillips War
    the war marked the last major effort by the Indians and gave the colonists control of southern New England and cleared the way of English expansion in the area
  • Bacon’s Rebellion

    Bacon’s Rebellion
    it hastened the hardening of racial lines dealing with slavery the war involved both white and black indentured slaves which worried the ruling class and burning of Jamestown
  • Pueblo Revolt

    Pueblo Revolt
    many indigenous pueblo people that lived there were against the Spanish colonizers in the province of Santa Fe de Nuevo Mexico also known as Pope's Rebellion
  • Quaker William Penn Founds Pennsylvania

  • Period: to

    Enlightenment Era

  • John Locke’s Two Treatises of Government Published

  • English Bill of Rights

  • Salem Witch Trials

  • Period: to

    Salutary Neglect Policy

  • The Great Awakening

    The Great Awakening
    protestant religious revival that swept colonies(first real common colonial experience)
  • Georgia Founded as a Debtors Colony

  • Stono Rebellion

  • French and Indian War Begins

  • Period: to

    The Industrial Revolution

  • French and Indian War Ends

  • Proclamation Line of 1763

    Proclamation Line of 1763
    a law that forbid colonists to settle west of the Appalachian Mountains
  • Period: to

    Revolutionary Era

  • Period: to

    Republican Motherhood

  • Sugar Act

    Sugar Act
    tax on sugar
  • Stamp Act

    Stamp Act
    in 1765 parliament passed act to pay down war debt, it was the first tax, tax on paper
  • Quartering Act

    Quartering Act
    colonists were forced to house and feed soldiers
  • Townshend Acts

    Townshend Acts
    Townshend Acts were passed to put taxes on a variety of goods including glass, lead, paper, tea and paint
  • Boston Massacre

    Boston Massacre
    a fight between British soldiers and American colonists in Boston where 5 colonists were killed
  • Tea Act

    Tea Act
    tax on tea
  • Boston Tea Party

    Boston Tea Party
    protest against British taxes in which the Sons of Liberty boarded British ships and dumped tea into Boston Harbor in 1773
  • Intolerable Acts

    Intolerable Acts
    a series of laws set up by parliament to punish Massachusetts for its protest against the British
  • First Continental Congress

  • Thomas Paine’s Common Sense Published

  • Battle of Lexington and Concord

    Battle of Lexington and Concord
    first battle of the Revolutionary War
  • Second Continental Congress

  • Continental Army Lead by General George Washington

  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration of Independence
    document that declared independence from Britain and the formation of America
  • Benjamin Franklin Becomes French Ambassador

  • Adam Smith Publishes “The Wealth of Nations”

  • Winter at Valley Forge

  • Battle of Saratoga

    Battle of Saratoga
    turning point in American Revolution resulting in the French alliance
  • Articles of Confederation

    Articles of Confederation
    the first constitution of the United States
  • Period: to

    Abolition Movement

  • Battle of Yorktown

    Battle of Yorktown
    last battle of the Revolutionary War and surrender of British
  • Treaty of Paris of 1783

    Treaty of Paris of 1783
    America gained independence and become its own country
  • Shays’ Rebellion

    Shays’ Rebellion
    revolt by farmers to protest the high taxes and forced selling of their property
  • Constitutional Convention/ Philadelphia Convention

  • The 3/5ths Compromise

    The 3/5ths Compromise
    compromise where every 5 enslaved people counted as 3 in the states population
  • Federalist Papers

    Federalist Papers
    essays arguing that a strong central government would protect liberty
  • U.S. Constitution

    U.S. Constitution
    a plan of government for our country and replaces the articles of confederation
  • The Great Compromise

    The Great Compromise
    two house legislature for lower house representation would be based on population and the upper house would be equal
  • Bill of Rights Added to U.S. Constitution

  • The French Revolution Begins

  • Washington Elected 1st President

    Washington Elected 1st President
    hero of the revolutionary war and people saw him as very honest
  • Washington Creates Presidential Cabinet

  • Washington D.C. Becomes New US Capital

  • Period: to

    The Second Great Awakening

  • Whiskey Rebellion

    Whiskey Rebellion
    a protest and rebellion against an excise tax on whiskey that turned violent
  • Alexander Hamilton Gets Congress to Approve National Bank

    Alexander Hamilton Gets Congress to Approve National Bank
    it helped build a strong national economy
  • Cotton Gin and Interchangeable Parts Invented by Eli Whitney

  • Washington’s Farewell Address

    Washington’s Farewell Address
    Washington is offering advice to the US government in order to keep the US peaceful
  • XYZ Affair

    XYZ Affair
    US sent three diplomats to ask France to stop attacking American ships
  • First Two-Party System Created (Dem-Rep vs Federalist)

  • John Adams (Federalist) Elected 2nd President

    John Adams (Federalist) Elected 2nd President
    John Adams was the second president of the US
  • Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

  • Alien and Sedition Acts

    Alien and Sedition Acts
    they were four bills that the federalists passed in 1798 in preparation for an anticipated war with France
  • The Market Revolution Begins

  • Cult of Domesticity Begins

    Cult of Domesticity Begins
    the way a women should be for lower class
  • Election of 1800 and the Start of the Jeffersonian Era

  • Period: to

    Manifest Destiny

    the 19th century doctrine or belief that the expansion of the US throughout the American continents was both justified and inevitable
  • Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican) Elected 3rd President

    Thomas Jefferson (Democratic Republican) Elected 3rd President
    third president of the US and first to take his oath of office in Washington, DC
  • Steam Locomotive Invented in Great Britain

  • Marbury v. Madison

    Marbury v. Madison
    it established judicial review and demonstrates the power of the judicial branch
  • Louisiana Purchase

    Louisiana Purchase
    a land deal between the US and France
  • James Madison (Democratic Republican) Elected 4th President

    James Madison (Democratic Republican) Elected 4th President
    4th president of the US, helped write the federalists papers and "father of the constitution"
  • War Hawks in Congress Support War Against British

  • War of 1812 Begins

  • British Impressment of US Sailors

  • Treaty of Ghent

    Treaty of Ghent
    The Treaty of Ghent ended the war of 1812 and returned all territorial conquests made by the two sides
  • Francis Scott Key Writes the Star Spangled Banner

  • Federalist Party Collapses

  • Period: to

    Era of Good Feelings

  • Tariff of 1816

    Tariff of 1816
    a protective tariff that helped American industry by raising the prices of British goods
  • James Monroe (Democratic Republican) Elected 5th President

    James Monroe (Democratic Republican) Elected 5th President
    5th president of the US and his presidency was known as the era of good feelings
  • Adam- Onis Treaty/ Spain Ceded Florida to U.S.

  • Compromise of 1820

    Compromise of 1820
    for every new free state that was added to the union, a slave state should be added
  • Universal Male Suffrage Begins to Rise

  • Monroe Doctrine

    Monroe Doctrine
    that the US opposed further European colonization of and interference with independent nations in the Western Hemisphere
  • Henry Clay’s “American System”

  • John Quincy Adams (Democratic Republican) Elected 6th President

    John Quincy Adams (Democratic Republican) Elected 6th President
    6th president of the US, eldest son of John Adams and no majority in electoral votes, so the House of Representatives had to decide, corrupt bargain
  • Erie Canal Built

    Erie Canal Built
    allowed western farmers to ship surplus crops to sell in the North and allowed northern manufactures to ship finished goods to sell in the west
  • Lowell, Massachusetts Textile Mill Employs Women

  • Andrew Jackson (Democrat) Elected 7th President

    Andrew Jackson (Democrat) Elected 7th President
    7th president of the US, part of a new party the Democrat
  • Second Two-Party System Created (Democrats vs Whigs)

  • Indian Removal Act

    Indian Removal Act
    law passed by congress and supported by Andrew Jackson allowing the US government to move Indians to the west of the Mississippi river
  • Abolition Movement Begins

  • Congress Passes Preemption Acts

    Congress Passes Preemption Acts
    a renewable law that guaranteed the right to buy land
  • Trail of Tears Begins

  • William Lloyd Garrison Publishes Abolitionist Newspaper “The Liberator”

  • Andrew Jackson Vetos National Bank

    Andrew Jackson Vetos National Bank
    he thought it was unconstitutional and was supported by the people
  • Nullification Crisis

    Nullification Crisis
    a sectional crisis during the presidency of Andrew Jackson created by South Carolina's 1832 Ordinance of Nullification
  • Texas Revolution and Independence from Mexico

  • Horace Mann Advocates for Public Schools

  • Increased Irish and German Immigration to the North

    Increased Irish and German Immigration to the North
    half a million immigrants came to the United States
  • Federal Support Given to Samuel Morse to Construct Telegraph Lines

  • Dorothea Dix Advocates for Mentally Ill and Prison Reform

  • James K. Polk Elected US President (Democrat)

    James K. Polk Elected US President (Democrat)
    James K. Polk was the 11th president of the United States
  • Frederick Douglass writes autobiography “Narrative of the Life of an American Slave”

  • Texas Annexation by the United States

    Texas Annexation by the United States
    Texas was admitted into the United States on December 29
  • Frederick Douglass Publishes Autobiography “Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave”

  • Irish Potato Famine Begins

    Irish Potato Famine Begins
    potatoes were the major food source in Ireland and started to create a disease killing people
  • Oregon Territory Divided Between British and U.S.

  • Mexican American War Begins

  • Wilmot Proviso

    Wilmot Proviso
    bill that would ban slavery in the territories acquired after the war with Mexico
  • Seneca Falls Convention

  • Mexican Cession

    Mexican Cession
    land won by the US in the Mexican American War
  • Free Soil Movement Begins

    Free Soil Movement Begins
    a political party that was focused on opposing the expansion of slavery into the western territories
  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Mexican American War Ends

    Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo: Mexican American War Ends
    it ended the US Mexican War and transferred 500,000 square miles of land from Mexico to United States ownership
  • California Gold Rush

    California Gold Rush
    when gold was found by James Marshall over 300,000 people came to California
  • Compromise of 1850

    Compromise of 1850
    5 separate bills passed by the US congress
  • Fugitive Slave Law Passed in Compromise of 1850

    Fugitive Slave Law Passed in Compromise of 1850
    this act required that slaves be returned to their owners even if they were in a free state
  • Harriet Tubman Begins Using Underground Railroad

  • Harriet Beecher Stowe Publishes “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”

    Harriet Beecher Stowe Publishes “Uncle Tom’s Cabin”
    a novel published by Harriet Beecher in 1852 which portrayed slavery as brutal and immortal
  • Gadsden Purchase

    Gadsden Purchase
    an agreement that the US made with Mexico, agreeing to pay Mexico 10 million for a portion of Mexico
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act

    Kansas-Nebraska Act
    a bill that gave settlers a choice to decide whether slavery would be allowed within a new states border
  • Republican Party Created

  • Bleeding Kansas Begins

    Bleeding Kansas Begins
    time period when there was violence happening during the settling of the Kansas territory
  • Caning of Senator Sumner

    Caning of Senator Sumner
    democrat used a can to attack Senator Sumner
  • Dred Scott v. Sandford

    Dred Scott v. Sandford
    landmark decision of the US Supreme Court
  • John Brown’s Raid on Harper’s Ferry, Virginia

  • Republican Abraham Lincoln Wins Presidential Election of 1860

  • Democrat Jefferson Davis Elected President of the Confederacy

  • Battle of Fort Sumter

  • Lincoln Suspends Habeas Corpus

  • Seven Southern States Secede from the Union, Forming the Confederate States of America

  • Period: to

    The Civil War

  • Emancipation Proclamation

  • Homestead Act

    Homestead Act
    congress passed the homestead act offering 160 acres of free land to any citizen or intended citizen who was head of the household
  • Battle of Vicksburg

  • Gettysburg Address

  • Gen. Lee Surrenders to Gen. Grant at Appomattox Court House

  • President Abraham Lincoln Assassinated by John Wilkes Booth

  • President Andrew Johnson Becomes President

    President Andrew Johnson Becomes President
    vice president Andrew Jackson becomes 17th US president
  • Johnson Pardons the South

  • Radical Republicans Champion for Black Civil Rights in Congress

  • 13th Amendment

    13th Amendment
    abolition of slavery: slavery is not allowed in any state or territory under the government of the US
  • Sharecropping Begins in the South

  • Black Codes First Passed in the South

  • Ku Klux Klan Formed

    Ku Klux Klan Formed
    racist anti- Semitic committed to extreme violence to achieve its goals of racial segregation and white supremacy
  • “Scalawags and Carpetbaggers”

  • Freedmens Bureau Created

    Freedmens Bureau Created
    an agency created by the government that helped and protected newly freed African American find jobs, homes and education
  • Period: to

    Reconstruction Era

  • 14th Amendment

    14th Amendment
    congress passed the 14th amendment which declared that all persons born naturalized in the US were citizens= rights
  • Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson

    Impeachment of President Andrew Johnson
    radical republicans in congress attempted to impeach and remove Johnson from office using the tenure of office act in 1868
  • Transcontinental Railroad Completed

  • 15th Amendment

    15th Amendment
    black suffrage: citizens cannot be denied the right to vote because of their race, color or being once slaves
  • Hiram Rhode Revels Becomes First African American in Congress (Senate)

  • Social Darwinism Theory Gains Popularity

  • Nativism Spreads

    Nativism Spreads
    political party of protecting the interests of native-born against those of immigrants
  • Standard Oil Company Founded by John D. Rockefeller

  • The “New South” wants Industrialization

  • Jim Crow Laws Begin in South

    Jim Crow Laws Begin in South
    Jim Crows laws were state and local statutes that legalized racial segregation
  • Industrialization Begins to Boom

  • Boss Tweed rise at Tammany Hall

  • Telephone Invented by Alexander Graham Bell

    Telephone Invented by Alexander Graham Bell
    the invention of the light bulb created by Alexander Graham Bell
  • Reconstruction Ends

    Reconstruction Ends
    the period in American history that lasted from 1863 to 1877
  • Period: to

    Gilded Age

  • Light Bulb Invented by Thomas Edison

    Light Bulb Invented by Thomas Edison
    the invention of the light bulb created by Thomas Edison changed our lives
  • 3rd Wave of Immigration: “New Immigrants”

  • Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)

    Chinese Exclusion Act (1882)
    the first major act restricting immigration to the US
  • Pendleton Act

    Pendleton Act
    federal employees were chosen based upon competitive exams
  • Haymarket Massacre

    Haymarket Massacre
    strike in Chicago in favor of eight hour days where a bomb was thrown into a crowd killing one person and ended the Knight of Labor
  • Dawes Act

    Dawes Act
    to lift the native Americans out of poverty and to stimulate assimilation of them into mainstream American society
  • Interstate Commerce Act

    Interstate Commerce Act
    established the federal governments right to oversee railroad activities and required railroads to public their rate schedules and file them with the government
  • Andrew Carnegie’s Book “Gospel of Wealth”

  • Sherman Anti-Trust Act

    Sherman Anti-Trust Act
    act was suppose to prohibit trusts and monopolies; was used to halt RR strike which threatened to restrain the nations mail delivery
  • Carnegie Steel Company Founded by Andrew Carnegie

  • Homestead Steel Labor Strike

    Homestead Steel Labor Strike
    Carnegie steel company against the nations strongest trade union, the amalgamated association of iron and steel workers
  • Pullman Labor Strike

    Pullman Labor Strike
    a nationwide conflict between labor unions and railroads that began in 1894 when employees of the Pullman palace car company began by the company reducing wages
  • Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case

    Plessy v. Ferguson Supreme Court Case
    landmark decision of the U.S. supreme court that upheld the constitutionality of racial segregation