Period 1:
1491-1607
Period 2: 1607-1754
Period 3: 1754-1800
Period 4: 1800-1848
Period 5: 1844-1877
200

This agricultural system, used by many Native American societies, involved growing corn, beans, and squash together for sustainability.

What is the Three Sisters?

200

This was the first permanent English settlement in North America, founded in 1607 in Virginia.

Jamestown

200

This war between Britain and France, fought in North America from 1754 to 1763, led to Britain gaining vast territorial claims but also heavy debt.

What is the French and Indian War?

200

This 1803 acquisition doubled the size of the United States after it was purchased from France.

What is the Louisiana Purchase?

200

This idea justified U.S. expansion across the continent, often framed as a divine mission to spread democracy and civilization.

What is Manifest Destiny?

400

This exchange, following Columbus’s voyages, led to the widespread transfer of crops, animals, diseases, and people between the Old and New Worlds.

What is the Columbian Exchange?

400

This system of land distribution granted 50 acres to settlers for each person they brought to the colonies, encouraging migration and labor.

What is the Headright System?

400

In this 1796 message, this president warned against permanent foreign alliances and the dangers of political parties.

What is Washington’s Farewell Address?

400

This 1823 policy warned European nations against further colonization in the Western Hemisphere.

What is the Monroe Doctrine?

400

This 1857 Supreme Court decision ruled that African Americans were not citizens and that Congress could not ban slavery in the territories.

What is Dred Scott v. Sandford?

600

This pre-Columbian civilization, located in present-day Mexico City, built the capital of Tenochtitlán on a lake.

Who are the Aztecs?

600

This 1676 uprising in Virginia was led by frontier settlers frustrated with Native American policies and colonial leadership, and raised concerns about indentured servitude, creating greater dependency on enslaved labor.

What is Bacon’s Rebellion?

600

This peaceful transfer of power from the Federalists to the Democratic-Republicans marked the election of Thomas Jefferson as president.

What is the Revolution of 1800?

600

This Supreme Court case established the principle of judicial review, allowing the Court to declare laws unconstitutional.

What is Marbury v. Madison?

600

This 1848 treaty between the United States and Mexico ended the Mexican-American War and resulted in the U.S. gaining vast territories in the Southwest.

What is the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo?

800

This Spanish labor system required Indigenous people to work for colonists, often in mines and plantations, in exchange for supposed protection and conversion to Christianity.

What is the encomienda system? 


800

This series of laws passed by the English government restricted colonial trade to benefit the mother country and reflected mercantilist theory.

What are the Navigation Acts?

800

This 1787 agreement resolved the issue of representation by creating a bicameral legislature with both equal and proportional representation.

What is the Great Compromise?

800

This 1830 law led to the forced relocation of Native Americans, including the Cherokee, along what became known as the Trail of Tears.

What is the Indian Removal Act?

800

This 1866 legislation extended federal protection to formerly enslaved people by defining citizenship and guaranteeing equal protection under the law.

What is the Civil Rights Act of 1866?

1000

This Spanish priest and former encomendero became a vocal critic of the mistreatment of Indigenous peoples and wrote A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies.

Who is Bartolomé de las Casas?

1000

In his sermon “A Model of Christian Charity,” this leader emphasized unity, social hierarchy, and the idea that the success of the colony depended on mutual responsibility.

John Winthrop

1000

This compromise between Hamilton and Jefferson helped secure support for assumption of state debts in exchange for locating the nation’s capital along the Potomac River.  

What is the Compromise of 1790? 

1000

This vice president anonymously authored the South Carolina Exposition and Protest, arguing that states could nullify unconstitutional federal laws.

Who is John C. Calhoun?

1000

This 1853 agreement between the United States and Mexico secured land in present-day southern Arizona and New Mexico for a potential southern transcontinental railroad route.

What is the Gadsden Purchase?