History of the United States

The war which pitted American colonists against their British masters, with French and Spanish support. Ended with the Peace of Paris.

The first battle of the Revolutionary War, a Colonial victory of their British masters.

The first attempt of a constitution for the new US, which failed miserably, due to the fact that the national government had little to no power over any of the states. Replaced by the US Constitution.

The treaty which ended the Revolution, Britain cedes all land east of the Mississippi to the US.

A Massachusetts debtor's revolt in which the US was fiscally unable to raise an army. One of the major reasons why the Articles of Confederation failed.

A law that created the Northwest Territory from lands ceded by Britain after the Peace of Paris. It determined the requirements for statehood and created a system of townships and ranges. Also, it banned slavery in the new Northwest Territory.

The U.S. Constitution is signed by 39 out of 55 delegates of the Philadelphia Convention. Replaces the Articles of Confederation.

Spearheaded by Alexander Hamilton, the creation of the Bank of the United States was part of a plan to expand the federal monetary power. He believed that a bank was necessary to stabilize and improve the nation's credit.

An insurrection of Western Pennsylvania farmers against Alexander Hamilton's Whiskey Tax. Put down by George Washington himself in Summer/Autumn 1794.

This 1794 treaty re-established good relations with Great Britain. It is named for US envoy and Chief Justice John Jay.

The Spanish equivalent of the Jay treaty was Treaty of San Lorenzo, more commonly known as the Pinckney Treaty, gave the US the right to deposit at the mouth of the Mississippi. It let the US use the Mississippi for trade.

A diplomatic episode during the Adams Administration in which a group of negotiators were sent to France. The diplomats were supposed to talk over issues that were threatening to cause war, such as America's supposed friendship with Great Britain. Agents of the French Foreign Minister Talleyrand, Agents X, Y, & Z, attempted to extort a bribe from the Americans, who refused to pay it. The Americans were offended and left France without negotiating, leading to the Quasi-War.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/ef/Property_protected_%C3%A0_la_fran%C3%A7oise.jpg/640px-Property_protected_%C3%A0_la_fran%C3%A7oise.jpg

A collection of four bills passed by congress and signed by John Adams. Restricted many freedoms, such as making it illegal to criticize the government and the President, and making it harder to immigrate. Allowed to lapse under the Jefferson Administration.

War between the US and France over the act of French privateers raiding American shipping.

The third of the three tax rebellions of the new republic, Fries's Rebellion was sparked by higher taxes created to pay for the Quasi-War. A group of Pennsylvania German-Americans organized by John Fries marched on their assessors. Put down by US Marshals and militia, 30 men went on trial for treason. Eventually they were all granted amnesty, but still soured the image of Federalist in the eyes on German-Americans.

Often called the "Revolution of 1800," the Election of 1800 brought about an era of Jeffersonian Democracy, or Democratic-Republican dominance. Jefferson believed that true democracy would come from the small, self-dependent farmer and that the aristocratic system of landowners and merchants would hurt democracy. The elitists he was opposed to were exemplified by the Federalists of Alexander Hamilton and John Adams. The beginning of the end for the Federalists was the Election of 1800, and the Democratic-Republican party would occupy the White House until the Jackson Administration. Also known as the First Party System.

Fought between the US and North African states known as the Barbary States, it was a naval war caused by the practice of Barbary pirates kidnapping people from American ships. Ended in American victory.

Established the concept of Judicial Review.

Thomas Jefferson reluctantly purchases 828,000 square miles of land from Napoleon Bonaparte for $11,250,000.

Vice President Aaron Burr mortally wounds former Secretary of the Treasury and important Federalist Alexander Hamilton in a duel. Indicted for murder, Burr flees to the South.

Looking for deserters, the HMS Leopard pursues and boards the USS Chesapeake. Four sailors are removed from the American ship. Causes outrage in the US, and Jefferson convenes a special session of Congress to chastise Britain. Leads to the Embargo Act.

Designed to hurt British and French trade during the Napoleonic Wars and force them respect American neutrality, it ended up hurting the American economy. Repealed on March 1, 1809, during the last days of Jefferson's presidency.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/74/Ograbme.jpg

Led by Democrat-Republicans such as Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, the War Hawks were a faction in the Twelfth Congress (the beginning of which is the date here), who openly advocated war with Great Britain and the Native Americans. They got what they wished for.

Pitting an Indian Confederacy led by the Shawnee Tecumseh vs. the United States Army, the US victory at Tippecanoe propelled general William Henry Harrison into stardom in the eyes of frontiersmen. It also titillated the War Hawks in Congress, who began to rattle their sabers even more.

Caused by the practice of British impressment of American sailors, British support of American Indians on the frontier, and American desires to annex parts of Canada, the War of 1812 was a military fiasco for the US. Burning Washington and beating the Americans, the British emerged on the military high ground. However, the American Indians were the real losers, having been beaten by William Henry Harrison at Tippecanoe. Ended by the Treaty of Ghent.

Resulting from increasing dissatisfaction of the conduct of the war, New England federalists convene to discuss their grievances. Hints at the disunion of the nation.

One of the few American victories of the War of 1812, it actually occurred after the end of the war. While unnecessary, it propelled American commander Andrew Jackson into being a national hero.

The treaty that formally ended the War of 1812. It restored the borders and relations of the US and UK to where it was before the war. As Britain did not make any pretenses to re-annex the US, Americans swelled with national pride, and the anti-war Federalists were discredited.

Due to the economic disarray following the War of 1812, political support arose for the creation of a Second Bank of the United States. Was found favorable during the period of national development known as the Era of Good Feelings.

Officially the "Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves," the Treaty of 1818 was negotiated between the US and GB. It most notably defined the border between the US and British Canada as the 49th parallel to the Rocky Mountains, a topic that would be revisited in the Webster-Ashburton Treaty.

Driven by global market adjustments following the Napoleonic Wars and over speculation in public lands, the Panic of 1819 was the first major economic depression in the US. It marked the change of the US from a more colonial economic status with Europe to a more dynamic economy with boom and bust cycles. The beginning of the end of the Era of Good Feelings.

Holds that Congress has the power to create a bank, and that states have no right to interfere with the bank's operation by taxing it. An important fleshing out of the Necessary and Proper Clause.

When Missouri wanted to enter the Union as a slave state, anti-slavery and pro-slavery factions clashed. Congress wanted to preserve the balance between free and slave states, so Senator Henry Clay struck up a compromise to admit Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. It also said that states should be free above the 36°30′ line.

A treaty between the US and Spain notable for ceding Florida to the US and set a border between the US and New Spain (soon-to-be Mexico). It was considered a triumph of American diplomacy and solved a long standing border dispute.

States laws in opposition to national laws are declared void.

Even though it was penned by John Quincy Adams, the Monroe Doctrine was a policy supposed to protect the Americas from European meddling. It stated that such meddling would require US intervention. It became resented by Latin America for its perceived imperialism. The start of American interventionism foreign policy.

The power to regulate interstate navigation is granted to Congress by the Commerce Clause of the Constitution.

In the Election of 1824, no candidate gained a significant advantage in the vote. When the election went to the House of Representatives, to everyone's surprise, John Quincy Adams was selected to be president over national hero Andrew Jackson. The widespread theory was that Speaker of the House Henry Clay, (see "War Hawks", Missouri Compromise, Compromise of 1850), agreed to elect JQA to be president in exchange to become his Secretary of State. The Jacksonians denounced this as a "corrupt bargain," and spent the next four years hindering JQA and supporting Jackson.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f9/ElectoralCollege1824-Large.png

Called the "Tariff of Abominations" by the Southerners, the Tariff was a high point in American protectionism supposed to protect northern industry from trade. It hurt Southern trade, creating the Nullification Crisis.

Before Andrew Jackson, all United States Presidents were wealthy land owners. After Andrew Jackson, the common man was seen as good of a President as any. Jackson and his new Democratic Party were influential in expanding suffrage (though only for white men). By 1850, all voting requirements to pay taxes and own property were dropped. The Second Party System had begun.

Begun under the Jackson Administration and ended under Van Buren, Indian Removal was the forced relocation of the Chickasaw, Seminole, Creek, Choctaw, and Cherokee tribes to lands east of the Mississippi. Begun by the Indian Removal Act of 1830, Indian Removal lasted until 1839, when the last Cherokee arrived in Oklahoma.

A slave rebellion that occurred in Southampton County, Virginia, where slaves under the leadership of Nat Turner killed 55-65 slaveholders and their families. The rebellion was crushed, and what resulted was a backlash against possible future slave rebellions. After 1831, dozens of suspected rebels were arrested and slaveholders became much more controlling of their slaves.

A political struggle about the rechartering of the Bank of the United States. Jacksonian Democrats didn't want to recharter the bank on the idea that it reinforced ideas of social inequality. Used as a major campaign stance over Henry Clay in the Election of 1932, Jackson vetoed the recharter and won a victory against Clay, the Bank, and the new Whig Party. The bank was not rechartered, and went into liquidation by 1841.

While the actual case involved a Samuel Worcester on Cherokee land, Worcester v. Georgia was an important landmark in the beginnings of Tribal Sovereignty in the United States.

A sectional crisis with southerners such as John C. Calhoun reacting against the economic protectionism of the 1828 "Tariff of Abominations." South Carolina nullified the Tariff in 1832, prompting Jackson to desire military action against the southerners. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed and the tension between the Federal and State governments was resolved with the Compromise Tariff of 1833. Still, it soured Calhoun with Jackson and provided a hint of the disunity in the country that was to come.

Due to a multitude of reasons, such as land speculation in western states, a sharp decline in cotton prices, a collapsing land bubble, and restrictive lending policies in Great Britain, the Panic of 1837 was one off the major events of the Van Buren Presidency. The American economy was able to rebound somewhat from the Tariff of 1842, but it didn't fully recover until 1844.

A group of Canadian loyalists fighting against the Upper Canadian rebels who took refuge in New York destroy the USS Caroline, loaned to the rebels. Not knowing it was American vessel, British sailors set the ship ablaze and sent it over the Niagara Falls, killing one American in the process. When Americans found out, the were outraged, and a new wave of Anti-British sentiments blew up. Lead to a period of Anglo-American diplomatic tension.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/99/Destruction_of_the_Caroline.jpg

A bizarre case about a slave rebellion against on the Spanish schooner La Amistad,it was a freedom suit involving both US and International law. The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Africans, and many New England abolitionists got together to send some of the Africans back to Africa. JQA was the lawyer for the Africans.

With William Henry Harrison's unexpected death on April 4, 1841,John Tyler found himself to be the President of the United States. As it was the first time that a Vice President became the President, a debate sprung up about whether the actual office of President became his or just the duties. Opposition members saw this Tyler as not being a President, but only being a "regent" for the President. Eventually after some pushing from Tyler, Congress recognized him as the President and not the "Acting President."

A treaty between the US and GB resolving border disputes. Among this was the resolution of the bloodless Aroostook War resulting from the borders of Maine and New Brunswick. It also reaffirmed parts of the Treaty of 1818, resolved the Lake Superior/Lake of the Woods border, defined seven crimes subject to extradition, and called for an end to the slave trade.

Following the Texas Revolution of 1836, Texas wished to be annexed by the US. Even though an earlier treaty was defeated in the Senate, Tyler brought about annexation by joint resolution. Texas was finally subsumed into the US under Polk.

The one thing that Mexicans could agree on in the early 19th century was their opposition to the American annexation of Texas. So when the US did annex Texas and inherited its border disputes, the Mexicans were not happy. The annexation, plus American scheming to get areas such as California , and new border disputes left the US and Mexico enemies. Polk sent an army under Zachary Taylor to the border, and fighting eventually broke out. The Americans beat Mexico in the war, eventually fighting all the way to Mexico City. Ended by the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo.

The expansionism of the Democrats under the Polk Presidency lead to border disputes with GB in the west. The Oregon Treaty extended the 49th Parallel to the Pacific, something that had not been decided due to the ambiguities of the Treaty of 1818 when it came to the west.

First suggested by its namesake David Wilmot in Congress, it proposed that Slavery be banned in any territories gained from Mexico. It failed in the South-controlled Senate three times, and it accelerated sectional conflict over slavery in the Southwest.

The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill leads thousands of prospectors called the '49ers to rush to California to try and strike it rich. I classify this as a political event given that the influx of population to the western states let California gain state status much sooner than it would have otherwise.

Not known for its longevity, the Free-Soil Party was founded on ideals of 'Free Soil, Free Speech, Free Labor and Free Men.' They believed strongly in stopping the expansion of slavery and argued that free men on free soil was morally superior to slavery. It was effected by the rejection of Wilmot Proviso for the Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo, but was quickly absorbed into the new Republican Party.

The treaty that ended the Mexican-American War. It ceded New Mexico and California to the US, made sure Mexico gave up claims on Texas in return for $15,000,000.

A packet of bills supported by the ever present Henry Clay and supported by President Fillmore. It allowed California to be admitted as a free state, banned the slave trade, required popular sovereignty for the slave issue for territories captured from Mexico, and made a much harsher Fugitive Slave Law. Both Northerners and Southerners were pleased.

In July 1853, Commodore Matthew C. Perry and his small fleet landed in Japan. Threatening to use force if they didn't comply, Perry negotiated the "Japan–US Treaty of Peace and Amity," which opened a few ports to US trade and guaranteed safety for shipwrecked sailors. Perry's arrival was instrumental in ending Japan's 200 year seclusion from the western world and the start of its westernization.

Negotiated by American diplomat James Gadsden, the Gadsden Purchase was 29,670 square mile purchase from Mexico for $10 million. It was purchased to provide land for a hypothetical deep southern transcontinental railroad and to resolve border issues resulting from the Mexican-American War. The land purchased includes modern cities such as Yuma and Tuscon.

Designed by Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas of Illinois, it was an act that was supposed to only create the two namesake territories. However, the creation of Kansas and Nebraska created intense debate over the issue of slavery extending to these new areas. Douglas proposed that the issue of slavery would be decided by popular sovereignty by the people in those territories, but nearly everybody objected. For instance, anti-slavery northerners cried that they were betrayed (the Missouri Compromise was supposed to solve this sort of thing), and others denounced it as a victory of the dreaded "slave power" who would buy up all of the good land for new plantations. The newly created Republican Party objected to this, as they wanted to stop the spread of slavery. It was eventually passed, but not before splitting the Democratic Party into northern and southern wings, negating the influence of the Whigs, and forcing the creation of the Republican Party.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d7/Forcing_Slavery_Freesoilers_Throats.jpg/640px-Forcing_Slavery_Freesoilers_Throats.jpg

Originally formed in opposition to the Kansas-Nebraska Act, the Republican Party wished to contain the spread of slavery. It was assembled from a collection of ex-Whigs, Free-soilers, northern Democrats, and abolitionists. John C. Frémont ran as the first Republican presidential nominee in 1856, carrying a surprising 11 northern states. The new party was of to a start and gained the Presidency with Lincoln in 1860.

Following the Kansas-Nebraska act, the new territory of Kansas was opened up for settlers. Most of the settlers were abolitionists from New England, along with some more slave-minded elements from neighboring Missouri. When it came to decide about whether or not Kansas should have slaves, thousands of Missouri "Border Ruffians" came over and voted pro-slave. Now, the Kansans didn't like this, and a separate abolitionist Constitution was drafted. Kansas had two constitutions, one free and one slave, and open violence soon broke out. Radical abolitionist John Brown came in 1855 and defeated a slave state force 7 times his size in Osawatomie. Meanwhile, a congressional investigative committee came and found out that the election was unfairly influenced by the Border Ruffians. However, Pierce failed to act on their requests and went along with the slave constitution. Conflict in both Kansas and Congress went on until 1861, when Kansas was admitted as a free state. However, additional guerrilla warfare raged on between Kansas and Missouri during the Civil War.

In Congress, Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts was beaten with a cane by Representative Preston Brooks of South Carolina. The attacks were a result of Sumner's 'Crime against Kansas' speech, in which Sumner denounced Slave Power, insinuating that slaveholders wished to rape a virgin territory and give birth to a slave state. Sumner's repeated use of sexual imagery throughout the speech was an attack on the issue of slaveholders raping their slaves, an allegation that infuriated Brooks. The beating drew a deeply polarized response from the American public and symbolized the "breakdown of reasoned discourse" in the US. Brooks was convicted of assault and soon died an unrelated death, but Sumner suffered severe head trauma and had to wait three years before returning to the Senate.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Southern_Chivalry.jpg

A slave named Dred Scott sues for his freedom since he lived in a free state and free territory during his enslavement. In one of the worst decisions ever, the Supreme Court rules that Blacks, whether free or slave, could not be American citizens and therefore not able to sue.

A series of 7 debates between Democratic Senator Stephen Douglas and Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln during the race for the Illinois state legislature. The main topic of the debates was slavery, and while Douglas won the race, Lincoln forced Douglas to reconcile with the fact that his Kansas-Nebraska Act helped cause Dred Scott and also forced him into turning the southern part of the Democratic Party against him.

Militant abolitionist John Brown (see "Bleeding Kansas") wished to start a slave revolt and bring what he saw as an evil to its knees. To do this he assembled a group 20 other men to raid the US arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia, so they could distribute the weapons to nearby slaves. However, US Marines under Robert E. Lee fought with and captured Brown, who was put on trial and summarily dispatched. Before he was executed, he wrote his last prophecy, “I John Brown am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty, land: will never be purged away; but with Blood. I had as I now think: vainly flattered myself that without very much bloodshed; it might be done.” The Civil War would start a little bit more than a year later, the fires of which were stoked by Brown and his actions.

A rare 4-way election, 1860 pitted Republican Abraham Lincoln against Northern Democrat Stephen Douglas, Southern Democrat John C. Breckenridge, and moderate John Bell from the newly-formed Constitutional Union party. The election highlighted the issue of slavery, with an ideological split between Northern and the hardliner Southern Democrats. The party split plus the 3rd (4th?) party of the election let Lincoln win with 40% of the vote. The election of Lincoln angered the Southern states, leading them to secede just months later.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/01/ElectoralCollege1860.svg

Occurring a few months after the decisive Union victory at Gettysburg, President Lincoln dedicated the national cemetery at the battlefield. In his short speech, Lincoln reinforced the ideals of human equality and that the War was for restoring the union, with a "new birth of freedom." It is now regarded to be one of the greatest speeches in American history.

Black = Wars/Battles
Pink = Federalists/Federalist related events
Dark Green = Democratic-Republicans/D-R related events
Blue = Democrats/Democratic related events
Red = Republicans/Republican related events
Yellow = Whigs/Whig related events
Lime Green = Foreign policy events
Dark Red = Economic depressions/Crises/Scandals

Grey = Court Cases

Gold = Cultural/Artistic/Academic events
Sky Blue = Movements
Brown = Frontier/Native American/Slavery related events
Dark Grey = Inventions/Technological/Industrial events

Invented by Eli Whitney, the cotton gin allowed for cotton to be much more easily deseeded. In a time where slavery had actually been evaporating, it suddenly became much easier to grow large amounts of King Cotton, leading to more slaves. Thanks a bunch, Eli.

Following the Louisiana Purchase, Thomas Jefferson sends an expedition of men headed by Meriweather Lewis and William Clark to explore the west, document things for science, and find the Northwest Passage.

A wave of widespread religious revival and fervor in the early half or the 19th century. A reaction against agnosticism and deism, many denominations of Protestantism such as Methodism and Baptism became quite widespread. Many of these Christians started reform movements such as those for Womens' Suffrage, Temperance, and Abolitionism. Utopian societies were prevalent and Mormonism had its beginnings here.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0f/1839-meth.jpg

Connecting the Hudson River to Lake Erie at Buffalo, the Erie Canal was built at the behest of governor Dewitt Clinton. It was the first means of transportation between the Eastern Seaboard and the interior that did not require portage.

A mid-19th century school of painting, it is characterized by vast wide-open landscapes and was influenced. Often cited as starting when Thomas Cole took a boat trip up the Hudson River and gathered inspiration to paint. Lating until the 1870's, Hudson River artists include Thomas Cole, Asher Durand, Frederic Erwin Church, John Frederick Kensett, and Albert Bierstadt.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a3/Thomas_Cole%2C_The_Oxbow.jpg/250px-Thomas_Cole%2C_The_Oxbow.jpg
Thomas Cole, The Oxbow

In the July of 1827, Baltimorean Edgar Allen Poe published his first work, Tamerlane and Other Poems. The author would go on to publish many more poems and stories, inclusing such works as The Raven, The Pit and The Pendulum, and The Murders in the Rue Morgue. Before his death in 1849, Poe would go on to place his thumb in such budding genres as science-fiction, horror, adventure, and detective fiction.

The Baltimore and Ohio railroad, the nation's first public railroad, is opened on this day. Railroads would soon become extremely important in the US, expanding trade, and later providing advantages for the Union during the Civil War.

Going hand in hand with the Second Great Awakening, the movement to abolish slavery picked up steam in the 1830's. Many northern Christians believed that since all men were created equal, Slavery was a great moral sin. Many famous abolitionists included the eloquent former slave Frederick Douglass, the emphatic immediate abolitionist newspaper publisher William Lloyd Garrison, and disillusioned southern Grimké sisters. The abolition movement also went with the Womens' Suffrage movement which caught on in the same time period.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c4/1831_Liberator.jpg

The Church of Christ Latter Day Saints, more commonly known as Mormonism, is founded by Joseph Smith. Roughly ten years after his legendary First Vision, Smith founded this church upon the principles of his newly-written Book of Mormon. The Mormons would be shunned by more mainline Christians and forced farther and farther westward of upstate New York, where it started.

Mt. Holyoke Seminary (later college) is founded by Mary Lyon. This is the first place of higher learning for women in the US, and Mary Lyon is now regarded to be a pioneer in the area of women's education.

One of (if not) the first Women's Rights Conventions in the world. It featured prominent American suffragettes such as Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, and Amelia Bloomer. The Declaration of Sentiments was drafted , which went on to be a founding document of the Women's rights movements.

Released in late 1851, Moby Dick (or, the Whale), is now considered to be one of the first Great American Novels. It was written by Herman Melville, a leading figure in American Romanticism.

Written by Harriet Beecher Stowe and published in a serial format, Uncle Tom's Cabin gave northerners a look into life as a slave. Up until then, many northerners didn't know much about slavery, but afterwards, they became outraged. Many southerners declared everything in it absolutely false, but that didn't stop the outrage.

The New York Central Railroad, the first connecting New York and Chicago, was finished on this day. The spread of railroads in the US was rapidly expanding. This also represented a change from the water-based internal trade networks along the Ohio and Mississippi to a railroad-based trade network capable of reaching wherever tracks could be built.

Written by the transcendentalist Henry David Thoreau, Walden is a part-autobiographical, part-spiritual discovery, part-satirical book that emphasizes the necessity of simple living and self-sufficieny. Along with his friend Ralph Waldo Emerson, Thoreau was a transcendentalist, part of a religious and philosophical movement that believed in inherent goodness of people and that society and its institutions corrupt this goodness.

Unlike the altruism and morality of most abolitionists, Hinton Rowan Helper argues in The Impending Crisis of the South that slavery should be abolished for purely economic reasons. He argues that slavery holds the south back from industrializing, which is why the North has an economic advantage. It helped push the north and south apart, as evidenced by phrases like "Freesoilers and abolitionists are the only true friends of the South; slaveholders and slave-breeders are downright enemies of their own section. Anti-slavery men are working for the Union and for the good of the whole world; proslavery men are working for the disunion of the States, and for the good of nothing except themselves."