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US History in 10

1400's - 1600's

Native Americans lived happy, but not peacefully as any other culture they had outside conflicts or were fighting for territory. (ex: Navajo, Cherokee, Seminole) They had their own beliefs like the Cheyenne, who believed in a supreme being and that spirits lived in plants and animals. They had activities for each member of the tribe disregarding age and a council that made the decisions.

When Columbus discovered America (continent), which the Vikings did it before but kept it a secret that is why they called Greenland and Iceland that way, so if maps were stolen, people would go to Greenland which is not actually green instead of Iceland. Back to Columbus, he thought he discovered East Indies that is why he called them Indian. Ponce de Leon settled in Florida, and the famous "Pilgrims" were running away from Britain because of their beliefs settled in Jamestown, so the British Empire colonized the northeastern part of the country forming 13 colonies. Do you remember Pocahontas? Well, that story happened here. She served as an emissary between two cultures.

1600's - 1770's

As we know, the British and Natives did not got along very well, so the French sided the Natives initiating the French-Indian War. A few years later, the 7 Years War began, which was an International War between France, Spain and Great Britain over the colonies. Maybe its not important now, but if you visit Europe, it will come back.

For the new colony it was not going so well, besides wars, the King applied tax to everything and treated everyone who was not born in England different. One night some colonists were having problems with one British soldier which eventually escalated to a massacre of colonists by the rest of the guard. Another event was the famous Boston Tea Party which was not a Party at all. Colonists dumped tea the ocean from one of the shipments that was charging overtax. Now you know why Americans drink more coffee haha. They were tired of taxation without representation. These events finally lead to the American Colony (U.S. not Canada) declaring its independence.

1770's - 1780's

​Important people during and after the War of Independence: ​

George Washington (General during U.S.A. Independence and first President)
Thomas Jefferson (Document = Decalaration of Independence)
Benjamin Franklin (wealthy, politician, and leader)
John Adams (leader, lawyer, and second President).

Great Britain lost and accepted the 13 colonies' Independence.

1800's - 1840's

​Natives continued to battle colonist in order to stop US expansion to the West, these conflicts last until 1900s. Talking about expansion, Lewis and Clark with the help of a Native called Sacagawea explored West until they arrived to what is now Portland, Oregon. ​

Texas and California wanted independence from Mexico. Mexicans did not agreed and overran Texans on the Alamo. Americans did not kept their arms crossed, so they declared war. Mexico was broke and could not afford a war. US won at Mexico City (Castillo de Chapultepec) and forced them to sign the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo which gave the US a 1/3 of its actual territory.

1840's - 1900's

​Right after California became part of the US, the gold rush began! Everybody wanted to move to California to find Gold. Chinese workers came to build Railroads and Mr. Levi Strauss, a German immigrant became popular. Due to hardwork as the industrial revolution was at its peak, jeans and overalls became very popular. ​

As good things were happening, others not so good. The North of the country said - No more slavery! But the South of the country said - No way! ​

Civil War broke out. And two young soldiers formed during the American - Mexican War were now enemies: Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee. President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation which gave slaves freedom. A few motnhs later, the Battle of Gettysburg marked that the odds were favoring the North. After the North wins and US became one nation again, President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated on a theatre. Oil was discovered in Pennsylvania.

1900's - 1920's

​U.S. economy was growing stronger. There are a few businessman that got well known during this era and still famous in our times. Henry Ford innovated with the T model, Cornelius Vanderbilt made his fortune out of railroads, John D. Rockefeller, who is one of the wealthiest, oil businessman, Andrew Carnegie distributed most of the steel in the nation, and finally J.P. Morgan who was a banker and financier. ​

World War I (WWI) broke out in Europe; however the U.S.A. did not enter until almost the end of the war. They supported Allies and finally defeated the Central Powers. They signed the Treaty of Versailles which was the first mark of the road to WWII.

1929 - 1945

If you have noticed, this is the only part so far that has exact dates and that is because it marks important dates on history. First, we start off with the beginning of the crash of stock Market (1929), everybody lost a lot of money and most of the population became poor. Europe and Asia are a mess. National Socialism by Hitler grew stronger in Northern Europe, Fascism by Benito Mussolini in Southern Europe, and Imperialism in Japan (these three known as Axis Powers). WWII began with the invasion of Poland.

The U.S. only watched and supplied the war until a morning of Dec. 7th 1941, Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and finally U.S.A. declared war. Once again were fighting with the allies against the Axis Powers. After D-Day, the famous Normandy Beach Invasion, the balance started to lean towards the allies. U.S. fought on Europe and on Asia. Finally U.S.A won by dropping the first two atomic bombs on Hiroshima 6th and Nagasaki 9th, August 1945.

1950's - 1970's

WAR WAR AND MORE WAR... The only thing you will read in this part is conflict or war, but it helps us explain the current world now, and if they are mentioned in here, it means U.S. took part of it.

Cold War was an ideology war between Communism and Capitalism and started right after WWII which lasted until the 1990's. Remember all the movies about spies, well this actually happened during this era. Stealing secrets was the thing.

Korean War: North Korea invaded the South and some countries took actions to liberate the South.

Civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. (No more ONLY whites establishments, No more segregation = Let's all be friends!).

Remember the Hippies (peace and love), well they were protesting against U.S. going to Vietnam. Imagine that right after WWII, U.S. went to Korea and then Vietnam, not to mention that they were already on a ideological war with the Soviet Union which included Space Race (whoever got first to the moon).
U.S. excuse on the War of Vietnam was that Communist north wanted to invade capitalist south.

John F. Kennedy got shot and few years later on 1969 the Apollo 11 Mission landed on the moon. Finally the U.S. left Vietnam without a victory.

1980's - 2000's

During the 80s the pop culture emerged from the ground. MTV, Disco, the Simpsons and Communism was loosing strength. A clear example was the fall of the Berlin Wall.

During the 90's another war came up, the Gulf War (Middle East): Iraq invaded and annexed Kuwait. The US and other countries went to war against Iraq.

9/11 of 2001, the Twin Towers got attacked and destroyed by two hijacked airplanes and the U.S. declared War on terrorism fighting against Iraq and Afghanistan (Al Qaeda). After the Bush administration, the first African American President got elected Barrack Obama.

2100's - Current Era

Worldwide tensions grow between nations. A new radical terrorist group became popular, ISIS.

Osama Bin Laden got killed by a U.S. military operation. Obama concluded his second term and one of the most controversial political races began: Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump. Donal Trump became the 45th President of the United States.

A virus known as Coronavirus or COVID-19 hits the world putting humans under quarantine.

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