History Facts
Tell me about U.S. astronauts
Tell me about the Pilgrims
In 1620, the Pilgrims sailed from Plymouth, England and signed the Mayflower Compact before founding Plymouth Colony in North America.
Tell me about the Louisiana Purchase
In 1803, the purchase of Louisiana from France prompted westward exploration by pioneers such as Lewis and Clark and Congressman Davy Crockett.
Tell me about the Monroe Doctrine
After victory in the War of 1812, the United States wrote the Monroe Doctrine, which warned Europeans not to attempt to colonize the Americas.
Tell me about NATO
In 1949, the United States and its allies formed NATO to resist the spread of Soviet communism.
Tell me about General Robert E. Lee
In 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
Tell me about immigrants coming to America
From 1820 to 1930, more than 37 million immigrants came to America, seeking freedom and the opportunity to increase their personal wealth.
Tell me about George Washington
In 1789, in New York, George Washington was granted the full powers and responsibilities of the presidency by the U.S. Constitution.
Tell me about General Robert E. Lee
In 1865, General Robert E. Lee surrendered to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House in Virginia.
Tell me about Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the United States to join the Allies in World War II.
Tell me about Columbus
In 1492, Columbus made the first of four trips to the Caribbean on three Spanish ships named the Nińa, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.
Tell me about the Civil War
In 1861, the Civil War began when President Abraham Lincoln went to war with the Southern states that had seceded from the Union.
Tell me about the Boston Tea Party
In 1773, colonists disguised as Mohawks tea from the British East India Company into the Boston Harbor.
Tell me about the Missouri Compromise
In 1820, Henry Clay worked out the Missouri Compromise, allowing Missouri to enter the Union as a slave state and Maine as a free state.
Tell me about Brown v. Board of Education
In 1954, in Brown v. Board of Education, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the segregation of public schools by race is unconstitutional.
Tell me about the 14th Amendment
In 1868, the 14th Amendment made all former slaves U.S. citizens and paved the way for the Civil Rights Movement.
Tell me about tycoons
During the late 1800s, tycoons like Vanderbilt, Rockefeller, Carnegie, and Swift fueled the nation's Industrial Age by developing American resources.
Tell me about the Declaration of Indepencence
In 1776, the Continental Congress published the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, announced the colonists' intent to separate from England.
Tell me about the secession of the Southern states
The Compromise of 1850, the Fugitive Slave Act, and the Dred Scott decision preceded the secession of the Southern states.
Tell me about the United States and World War I
In 1917, President Wilson asked Congress to enter World I against the Central Powers two years after German U-boats sank the Lusitania, killing American citizens.
Tell me about September 11, 2001
On September 11, 2001, terrorists hijacked four airplanes. They flew two into the World Trade Center in New York City and one into the Pentagon in Washington, DC. The fourth plane crashed into a Pennsylvania field.
Preamble to the U.S. Constitution
We the People of the United States, in order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
The Bill of Rights
What are:
1. Freedoms
2. Own guns
3. Quartering soldiers
4. Warrants
5. Cannot testify against self
6. Right to speedy trial
7. Right to a jury
8. Cruel, unusual punishment
9. People's rights
10. States' rights
Tell me about Manifest Destiny
President Polk believed that the Mexican War and the Gadsden Purchase in the mid-1800s affirmed American's manifest destiny to spread across the continent.
Tell me about the 19th Amendment
Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. Anthony led the woman's suffrage movement in the United States, resulting in the Nineteenth Amendment in 1920 that granted women the right to vote.