Timeline
12,000 B.C. - Migration from Asia and the Mediterranean.
Asians and Mediterranean peoples migrated to the Americas.
c. 3000-2600 B.C. Mayan civilization
Mayan civilization flourished in Central America. The Mayans developed a scientific culture with advanced mathematics and astronomy.
Pueblo civilization
Pueblo culture in today's Southwest. The Anasazi built pueblo "apartment" complexes in the American Southwest.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/riddles-of-the-anasazi-85274508/
Viking settlemens
Around year 1000 CE, Vikings established the “Vineland” settlement in today's Newfoundland. The settlement, however, did not last for long.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-vikings-a-memorable-visit-to-america-98090935/
Mississippian civilization
Mississippian culture dominated the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The Mississippians had a complex agricultural system and grew crops such as corn, beans, and squash.
http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/history-archaeology/mississippian-period-overview
Aztec civilization
The Aztec civilization in today's Mexico was organized in city states with surrounding farmland, the Aztecs built a sophisticated system of interconnected and rivaling cities.
Columbus "discovers" America
Christopher Columbus came ashore in the Bahama Islands.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/historic_figures/columbus_christopher.shtml
European in the Americas
European explorers visited and mapped parts of the Americas. Europeans began fishing in the Great Banks off the east coast of North America in 1497.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/pds/amerbegin/exploration/exploration.htm
Hernán Cortéz invaded and conquered Mexico
The Aztec empire fell as Cortéz and his soldiers managed to build on existing conflicts among the Aztecs.
Epidemics in the New World
Smallpox and other European diseases decimated Native Americans.The epidemic made it easier for European powers to gain control over the continent.
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/06/how-europeans-brought-sickness-new-world
Jamestown, Virginia settlement
The first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The settlers of Jamestown sought investment opportunities in the New World and started growing tobacco to be sold in Europe.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rethinking-jamestown-105757282/
African workers in Virginia
Initially, African workers were not slaves, but indentured servants working on tobacco farms. Their freedoms, however, were gradually reduced as new slave laws were passed.
http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/feature/indentured-servants-in-the-us/
New England colonies
English Pilgrims and later Puritans founded colonies in today's New England. They sought to build a society dominated by strict religious beliefs, although they had different ideas on how to relate to the Church of England. The Pilgrims were separatists, i.e. wanted to establish a church separate from the English church, while the Puritans wanted to purify the church from within. The Pilgrims arrived, via Netherland, in 1620 on the ship Mayflower and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A decade later, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
http://www.newsweek.com/whats-difference-between-pilgrim-and-puritan-397974
Massacre of white colonists
Powhatan Indians massacred 300 colonists. The attack eventually led to armed conflict between the English settlers and the Powathans.
http://www.encyclopediavirginia.org/Anglo-Powhatan_War_Second_1622-1632#
Pequot War
Native Americans and Puritans waged war, the first lengthy armed conflict between the indigenous people and the new groups settling the country.
https://connecticuthistory.org/connecticut-declares-war-against-the-pequot/
European settlements
New Amsterdam (New York), Maryland, New Sweden, Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were founded.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/essays/colonization-and-settlement-1585%E2%80%931763
Higher education and public schools
Harvard College and then public schools started in Massachusetts. The region was shaped by Puritan emphasis on Christian learning and the importance of Bible reading.
Georgia founded
Georgia, the last of the 13 English colonies, was founded.
First Great Awakening
Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield gathered thousands to emotionally charged religious meetings.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/eighteen/ekeyinfo/grawaken.htm
Boston massacre
British troops fired on Boston protestors
Revolution Began
The American Revolution began in 1775. On July 4, 1776 the Second Continental Congress cut ties to the British crown with the Declaration of Independence.
Treaty of Paris
The Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the United States and granted it the territory south of Canada to the Mississippi River.
US Constitution signed
A strong federal government under the US Constitution replaced the loose league of states under the Articles of Confederation. George Washington took office as President. Federalists and Anti-Federalists competed in Congress.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/convention-and-ratification
Stock market
The New York Stock Exchange opened. It would eventually become the center of international commerce.
Geographic and legal expansion
The Louisiana Purchase from France added a huge slice of the continent’s mid-section to the US; the US Supreme Court claimed the power to declare laws unconstitutional.
https://history.state.gov/milestones/1801-1829/louisiana-purchase
End of slave import
Congress outlawed the import of African slaves, but slavery remained legal until 1863.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17988106
Native Americans responses to expansion
Shawnee leaders, Tecumseh and the Prophet, organized the eastern tribes to resist US expansion beyond the Appalachians.
The War of 1812
The USA became involved in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. Siding with the French, the US waged war against the British.
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-war-of-1812-102320130/
Second Great Awakening
A religious, emotional revival swept across the frontier. Converts joined social and utopian reform movements. Many were involved in the abolitionist movement.
http://nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/nineteen/nlinkssga.htm
Erie Canal opened
The opening the Erie Canal secured the economic power of the East.
The Trail of Tears
Native Americans removed from the South along the Trail of Tears to Indian Territory in Oklahoma
https://www.nps.gov/nr/twhp/wwwlps/lessons/118trail/118trail.htm
US takes over the Southwest
The US went to War with Mexico and eventually gained control over today's California and the Southwest. The state of Texas had declared independence from the US in 1836, but became part of the union again in 1845.
Feminist movement
The first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York.
https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/rightsforwomen/SenecaFalls.html
Civil War
Civil War raged over slavery and states’ rights.
http://archive.oah.org/magazine-of-history/issues/262/index.html
The Homestead Act
The Homestead Act granted land to people who live on and farm it for five years, spurring massive settlement of the in-land West.
Emancipation and Reconstruction
Slavery was abolished in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil War, constitutional amendments and a civil rights act were passed to secure the citizenship and rights of former slaves as part of the Reconstruction.
End of Reconstruction
Reconstruction of the South ended and Southern race laws progressively denied Blacks rights in the 1880s and 1890s.
http://www.pbs.org/tpt/slavery-by-another-name/themes/black-codes/
Trans-continental railroad
The railroad connected the Eastern and Western parts of the USA.
Closing of the Frontier
The US census bureau announced the “closing of the frontier” after a century of westward expansion.
The Battle of Wounded Knee
The Battle of Wounded Knee ended centuries of open warfare against Native Americans.
http://www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/eight/wklakota.htm
Imperialism and anti-imperialism
Anti-imperialist debate in Congress. The Spanish-American War ended Spain's overseas empire as the USA gained control over Spain's colonies the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam.
http://amhistory.si.edu/militaryhistory/printable/section.asp?id=7
The Progressive Era
Progressive Era reformed social institutions, politics and government.
https://www.nwhm.org/online-exhibits/progressiveera/home.html
American and World War I
America fought with the Allies in the First World War. 4.7 million American soldiers served in the war.
https://www.theworldwar.org/explore/exhibitions/online-exhibitions
Prohibition Era
Prohibition of alcoholic beverages became the law under the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which would eventually be repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
Women voters
Women won the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment.
https://www.loc.gov/collections/women-of-protest/about-this-collection/
Start of the Great Depression
The Wall Street Stock-market crash signalled the start of the Great Depression.
http://americanhistory.si.edu/american-enterprise-exhibition/corporate-era/great-depression
Civil liberties expanded
Progressively more of the Bill of Rights applied to state law and cases.
The New Deal
Franklin Roosevelt elected president and implemented the New Deal to bring the US out of the Great Depression. In 1937, the Supreme Court accepted New Deal powers of federal government. A larger and more powerful federal government was met with hostility from those supporting states rights and limited government.
http://content.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1906802_1906838_1906979,00.html
World War II
On December 7 Japan bombed the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii, and the US entered the Second World War.
Baby boom and consumer culture
The post-war baby boom began in the midst of increased suburbanization and a thriving consumer culture. Many former soldiers had gained a college degree and landed better paying jobs. Generous federal funding helped more Americans, primarily white Americans, buy homes in the rapidly growing suburbs.
US vs. Communism
The National Security Act (1947) transformed American government for the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine set path of US foreign policy. In the 1950s, the McCarthy era “Red scare” caused an oppressive political climate at home. American soldiers fought in the Korean War (1950-1953) to stop communism spreading. The tension between the US and the Communist world fluctuated, with the Cuba Missile Crisis in Oct. 1962 as a critical moment. The 1970s saw a time of detente before there was increased tension again before the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War around 1990.
Protest movements
US involvement and war in Vietnam, massive protests at home and abroad against the war in the 1960s; African-Americans, Native-Americans, Chicanos, Women, and gay Americans fought for civil Rights.
https://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2010/03/09/the-1960s-a-decade-of-promise-and-heartbreak
School segregation unconstitional
Racial desegregation began with the Brown v the Board of Education US Supreme Court decision.
http://www.pbs.org/wnet/supremecourt/rights/landmark_brown.html
Labor union merger
The American Federation of Labour (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) combined in a union of US unions.
http://www2.ucsc.edu/whorulesamerica/power/history_of_labor_unions.html
Science education
The National Defense Education Act funded scientific competition with the USSR, who had launched Sputnik in 1957.
JFK and LBJ
President John F. Kennedy assassinated; Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency
http://www.newsweek.com/2014/11/28/truth-behind-jfks-assassination-285653.html
The Great Society
President Johnson launched Great Society and War on Poverty social reforms, leading to an even larger federal government. Conservatives again worried about states' rights and too much power in the hands of the federal government.
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-by-era/sixties/resources/study-aid-great-society-legislation
The Civil Rights Act
The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in housing and jobs.
The Voting Rights Act
The Voting Rights Act protected voter registration, especially in the South; the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided massive funding for education reform.
http://history.house.gov/HistoricalHighlight/Detail/35187?ret=True
Assassinations and race riots
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr, and the Democratic politician Robert Kennedy were assassinated. 168 cities erupted in race riots.
http://abcnews.go.com/US/video/archival-video-abc-news-special-report-1968-assassination-38146970
Stonewall
The Stonewall Riots when gay men for the first time fought back after repeated police raids.
The New Christian Right
The rise of Christian fundamentalism and conservative religious political activity.
Suburban America
More Americans lived in suburbs than in cities or rural areas.
New federalism
The conservative President Nixon’s “New Federalism” began the return of power to the states.
https://www.brookings.edu/blog/the-avenue/2014/08/11/nixons-new-federalism-45-years-later/
Abortion legalized
Roe v. Wade decision legalized limited abortion rights for women.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/politics/2013/02/norma-mccorvey-roe-v-wade-abortion
Watergate
President Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal.
https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/watergate-constitution
AIDS scare and backlash
AIDS was first identified in the US in 1981. First labeled "the gay plague" because most of the first affected by AIDS, the disease led to a severe backlash against the gay rights movement which had experienced some gains in the 1970s. For instance, in 1986 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of so-called "sodomy laws," which outlawed homosexual relations in the case Bowers v. Hardwick.
https://www.aids.gov/hiv-aids-basics/hiv-aids-101/aids-timeline/
Ronald Reagan's legacy
Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan co-operated to bring the end of the Cold War. The Iran-Contras scandal cast a shadow over the second Reagan administration.
Bush and Gulf War
The newly elected President George H. W. Bush led the US in the Persian Gulf War to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
1990s economic boom
President Clinton presided over the longest economic boom in US History.
https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/23/opinion/remembrance-of-booms-past.html?_r=0
Welfare reform
The devolution of policymaking power to the states occurred through the welfare reform act.
Clinton impeached
Congress impeached but did not convict President Clinton.
http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/president-clinton-impeached
Presidential election
George W. Bush won the presidential election after a 5-4 divided decision of the US Supreme Court stopped Florida vote recounts and called for uniform vote counting procedures.
http://www.vanityfair.com/news/2004/10/florida-election-2000
Education reform
The No Child Left Behind Act set in action the most far-reaching national educational reform since the 1960s.
9/11 attacks
Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon. The US initiated a global war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
War in Iraq
The US-led “coalition of the willing” invaded and occupied Iraq. Evidence that suggested Saddam Hussein had access to weapons of mass destruction convinced the Bush administration to enter Iraq. However, no such weapons were found in Iraq.
End of "sodomy laws."
The Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, ended the criminalization of homosexual relations between consenting adults.
Presidential election
In the longest and most expensive presidential election in US history, 10 or more men and women announced their candidacy for each major party’s nomination. John McCain emerged as the presumptive Republican candidate. The Democrats nominated the first seriously competitive woman, former First Lady and current New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who fought a close contest with Illinois Senator Barack Obama, the first mixed race African American to run for president. Obama won the nomination, and in November he won the presidency with unprecedented use of social media.
Gun rights
In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court decided that the ban on the private possession of handguns in Washington DC was an infringement of the Second Amendment.
The Great Recession
The worsening economic crisis due to subprime mortgages became the worst financial breakdown since the 1930s.
New rules on campaign funding
In Citizens United v. the FEC the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same right to freedom of expression as individuals, also regarding contributions to campaign contributions.
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/citizens-united-v-federal-election-commission/
Health care reform
The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act (PPACA or ACA) passed with no support from Republican members of congress. The Act was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/07/the-real-story-of-obamacares-birth/397742/
Congressional and presidential elections
In the mid-term congressional elections the Democrats lost the majority in the House of Representatives and legislative support for Obama’s agenda, in part due to Tea party support for conservative Republicans in the 2012 election. In the next presidential election cycle a dozen Republicans, competed for the party’s nomination. Mitt Romney won and faced incumbent Obama in the general election. The sitting president won a electoral college and popular vote victory. In the congressional elections the Democrats improved their majority in the Senate, but the Republicans kept a majority in the House. SMS declined and gave way to smartphones and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
Sandy Hook shooting
Another school mass killing occurred at Newtown, Connecticut, when 20 young children and 6 teachers were killed by Adam Lanza.
The rise of Black Lives Matter
The Back Lives Matter movement against racism in the US justice system began on social media, after the acquittal of a neighborhood watchman for the murder of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. A policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, leading to riots in the St. Louis suburb. Riots started again and spread across the nation when a court decided not to indict the policeman. Support for Black Lives Matters grew.
Boston Marathon attack
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, two Chechen immigrant brothers, exploded bombs at the Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring hundreds.
Same sex marriage
In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is constitutional.
http://www.scotusblog.com/case-files/cases/obergefell-v-hodges/
Political cooperation and elections
Bipartisan majorities in Congress and President Obama enacted a new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Seventeen Republicans and 6 Democrats competed for the major party nominations for president, and the Libertarian and Green Parties also chose candidates
Violence against black Americans
Anger and protest against police brutality against black Americans erupted in Baltimore, Maryland after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. Riots also flared in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Michael Brown, unarmed 18-year-old black teenager shot by a white policeman. Dylann Roof, a white nationalist, massacred nine black worshippers in Charleston, South Carolina.
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/12/black-lives-matter/421839/
Presidential election
After the most contentious campaign in memory, intelligence reports accusing Russia of interfering in the election in Donald Trump’s favor, and allegations by the FBI and candidate Trump regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Republican Trump surprised pollsters and commentators, winning an Electoral College victory, even though Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million.
Dakota Access Pipeline
The Standing Rock Sioux reservation with a coalition of Native American activists successfully protested the building of the Dakota Access pipeline near its water supply and sacred sites.
Climate change agreement
The US ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which took effect on November 4. The further participation of the US was doubtful following the formation of the Trump administration in 2017.
TPP
Under President Obama, the US signed the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 11 other Pacific-rim countries, but the trade treaty was not yet in force. The TPP meant a shift of US trade policies from Europe to the Pacific rim. President Trump withdrew the US from the TPP.
Dakota Access Pipeline 2.0
President Trump reversed the decision to reroute the Dakota Access Pipeline to protect the Standing Rock Sioux’s sites and water supply.
Border wall funding
By executive order President Trump reallocated funds to begin building a wall to prevent undocumented immigrants from crossing the Mexican border.
Health care reform challenged
The new administration and Republican-controlled Congress reevaluated The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act (PPACA), 2012, meant to extend health insurance to 50 million Americans by 2014. In May 2017, the House of Representatives approved a second version of President Trump's American Health Care Act (AHCA) before it moved on to the Senate.
http://time.com/money/4766063/ahca-new-republican-health-care-bill/