American History

American history extends farther into the past than the name "America," and we add to it every day. Below are some of the highlights to help you begin your journey of exploration.

TIME PERIOD

HISTORICAL ERA

To 1630

Early America
Pre-contact. Native American Origins and Cultures. Early Exploration. The Spanish The French The English.Roanoke Island. Jamestown. Christopher Columbus. John Cabot. Sir Francis Drake. Jacques Cartier. Henry Hudson.

1630-1763

The Colonial Period
King Philip's War. Bacon's Rebellion. Mayflower Compact. Marquette and Joliet. Plymouth Colony. Massachusetts Bay Colony. Benjamin Franklin. French and Indian War.

1763-1783

Revolutionary America
Stamp Act. Boston Massacre. Boston Tea Party. 1st Continental Congress. Common Sense. American Revolution. 2nd Continental Congress. Paul Revere's Ride. War of Independence. Yorktown.

1783-1815

The Young Republic
Articles of Confederation. Constitutional Convention. Washington. Hamilton and Federalists. Jefferson and Republicans. Whiskey Rebellion. Battle of Fallen Timbers. Alien and Sedition Acts. Louisiana Purchase. Lewis and Clark. War of 1812.

1815-1860

Expansion, Political Reform, and Turmoil
Era of Good Feelings. First Industrial Revolution. Henry Clay's Missouri Compromise. Monroe Doctrine. Andrew Jackson Nat Turner Rebellion. Panic of 1837. Manifest Destiny. The Alamo. Frederick Douglass. California Gold Rush. Compromise of 1850. Dred Scott. Lincoln-Douglas Debates.

1830-1876

Sectional Controversy, War, and Reconstruction
Slavery. Underground Railroad. Bleeding Kansas. Abraham Lincoln. Civil War. Battle of Gettysburg. Radical Republicans. Reconstruction. Little Big Horn.

1871-1914

Second Industrial Revolution
Railroad Era. Thomas Edison. Henry Ford. George Westinghouse. Labor Movement. Sherman Antitrust Act. Spanish-American War.

1880-1920

Political Reform II
Populist Party. Jim Crow Laws. Progressive (Bull Moose) PartyTheodore Roosevelt. William Howard Taft. Woodrow Wilson.

1914-1933

War, Prosperity, and Depression
Panama Canal. World War I. Black Sox Scandal. Harding Scandals. Charles Lindbergh. Stock Market Crash. Babe Ruth. Amelia Earhart.

1933-1945

The New Deal and World War II
Franklin D. Roosevelt. First One Hundred Days. Albert Einstein. Manhattan Project. J. Edgar Hoover. War in Europe. Adolph Hitler. The Holocaust. Pearl Harbor. World War II. War in the Pacific. Rosie the Riveter. Harry S Truman and the Atomic Bomb.

1945-1960

Postwar America
Marshall Plan. Berlin Airlift. Korean War. Senator Joseph McCarthy. Cold War. Dwight D. Eisenhower. Brown v. Board of Education. Rosa Parks. Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy.

1960-1980

The Vietnam Era
Bay of Pigs. Lyndon B. Johnson and Civil Rights. Martin Luther King Jr.. Henry M. Kissinger and Vietnam. Roe v. Wade. Watergate. Jimmy Carter. Iran Hostage Crisis. Ronald Reagan and Conservatism.

1980-2000

End of the Century
Iran-Contra Scandal. Fall of Berlin Wall. Persian Gulf War. Bill Clinton and Impeachment. Election Turmoil in 2000.

2001-

The New Millenium
September 11, 2001. Terrorism. Afghanistan and Iraqi wars. Election of 2004. George W. Bush.