American History Reference Sheet

Jamestown, Virginia (1607)

To practice their religious beliefs freely, separating from the Church of England

An agreement among Pilgrim settlers to create a self-governing community based on majority rule

Royal (crown-controlled), proprietary (owned by individuals), and charter (self-governing)

A religious revival movement in the 1730s-1740s emphasizing personal conversion and emotional faith

Key figures include Jonathan Edwards and George Whitefield

The first representative legislative assembly in the American colonies, established in Virginia

An economic policy where colonies existed to enrich the mother country through trade restrictions

Colonists protested being taxed by Parliament while having no elected representatives there

Colonists disguised as Mohawks dumped 342 chests of British tea into Boston Harbor to protest the Tea Act

July 4, 1776

Thomas Jefferson

Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness

A turning point that convinced France to ally with the Americans against Britain

Yorktown, Virginia (1781) — Cornwallis surrendered to Washington

A pamphlet arguing for American independence, written in plain language that persuaded many colonists

The Articles of Confederation were too weak — the national government lacked power to tax or regulate commerce

Legislative (Congress), Executive (President), and Judicial (Supreme Court)

Each branch of government can limit the powers of the other branches, preventing any one from becoming too powerful

Created a bicameral legislature: Senate (equal representation) and House (proportional representation)

Enslaved persons were counted as three-fifths of a person for representation and taxation purposes

The first ten amendments to the Constitution, protecting individual liberties

Freedom of religion, speech, press, assembly, and petition

Essays by Hamilton, Madison, and Jay arguing for ratification of the Constitution

The U.S. bought 828,000 square miles of territory from France, doubling the nation's size

The belief that American expansion across the continent was both justified and inevitable, ordained by Providence

The forced relocation of Cherokee and other Native American nations from the Southeast to Oklahoma (1830s), causing thousands of deaths

Admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as free, drawing a line at 36°30' dividing slave and free territory

Explored the Louisiana Territory to the Pacific Ocean (1804-1806), mapping the land and documenting its people and resources

Slavery, states' rights, economic differences between North and South, and the question of slavery's expansion

Confederate forces fired on Fort Sumter, South Carolina, on April 12, 1861

Declared enslaved persons in Confederate states to be free, reframing the war as a fight against slavery

The 13th Amendment later abolished slavery entirely

The bloodiest battle and a turning point — Lee's failed invasion of the North ended Confederate momentum

Ulysses S. Grant

Appomattox Court House, Virginia (April 9, 1865)

Lincoln's brief but powerful speech dedicating the Gettysburg cemetery, redefining the war as a struggle for equality and democratic self-government

The 13th Amendment (1865)

The period (1865-1877) of rebuilding the South and integrating formerly enslaved persons into society after the Civil War

Equal protection under the law and citizenship for all persons born in the United States

The right to vote could not be denied based on race, color, or previous condition of servitude

State and local laws enforcing racial segregation in the South after Reconstruction

The Compromise of 1877 — Hayes became president and federal troops were withdrawn from the South

Unrestricted German submarine warfare and the Zimmermann Telegram proposing a German-Mexican alliance

President Wilson's principles for peace after WWI, including self-determination and a League of Nations

A severe worldwide economic downturn beginning with the 1929 stock market crash, lasting through the 1930s

The Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941

June 6, 1944 — the Allied invasion of Normandy, France, the largest amphibious assault in history

The U.S. dropped atomic bombs on Hiroshima (Aug 6) and Nagasaki (Aug 9, 1945); Japan surrendered

A series of government programs and reforms (1933-1939) to provide relief, recovery, and reform during the Great Depression

A geopolitical struggle between the U.S. and Soviet Union (1947-1991) fought through proxy wars, arms races, and ideological competition

The U.S. strategy to prevent the spread of communism to new countries

A conflict where U.S.-led UN forces defended South Korea against communist North Korea and Chinese forces

A 13-day confrontation when the U.S. discovered Soviet nuclear missiles in Cuba — the closest the world came to nuclear war

The U.S. fought to prevent communist North Vietnam from unifying Vietnam under communist rule

The fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989

Racial segregation in public schools is unconstitutional, overturning 'separate but equal'

In 1955, she refused to give up her bus seat to a white passenger in Montgomery, Alabama, sparking a bus boycott

Nonviolent civil disobedience and peaceful protest, inspired by Gandhi and Christian principles

Outlawed discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex, or national origin in public places and employment

Prohibited racial discrimination in voting and eliminated literacy tests and other barriers

A massive rally of over 200,000 people where MLK delivered his 'I Have a Dream' speech at the Lincoln Memorial

Terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon killed nearly 3,000 people and led to the War on Terror

Apollo 11 made the U.S. the first nation to land humans on the moon, a triumph in the Space Race with the Soviet Union

A political scandal involving President Nixon's administration covering up a break-in at Democratic headquarters, leading to Nixon's resignation in 1974

He pursued a military buildup, challenged the Soviet Union directly, and negotiated arms reduction treaties