1600s
This 1620 document created self-government for the Pilgrims.
Mayflower Compact
This 1773 protest involved colonists dumping British tea into a harbor.
Boston Tea Party
This 1803 deal doubled U.S. territory.
Louisiana Purchase
This 1917 law made criticizing the U.S. government during WWI a federal offense.
Espionage Act (Sedition Act of 1918)
This 2000 Supreme Court decision ended the Florida recount and decided the election.
Bush v. Gore
This cash crop saved Jamestown from collapse.
Tobacco
He wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Thomas Jefferson
This idea claimed the U.S. was destined to expand coast-to-coast.
Manifest Destiny
FDR’s first 100 days launched this sweeping set of programs to stabilize the economy.
New Deal
This 2001 law greatly expanded government surveillance powers after the 9/11 attacks.
PATRIOT Act
This group founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony seeking religious freedom.
Puritans
This 1777–78 winter encampment tested the Continental Army’s survival.
Valley Forge
This Lincoln speech begins with “Four score and seven years ago."
Gettysburg Address
This 1947 plan provided billions in aid to rebuild Western Europe after WWII.
Marshall Plan
This event, beginning in 2007, was triggered by collapsing mortgage-backed securities.
Subprime mortgage crisis / Great Recession
This 1676 uprising in Virginia was caused by frontier settlers angry at the governor.
Bacon's Rebellion
This treaty ended the American Revolution in 1783.
Treaty of Paris
He was the commanding general of the Confederate Army during the Civil War.
Robert E. Lee
This 1964 report claimed that the U.S. ship Maddox was attacked, escalating the Vietnam War.
Gulf of Tonkin incident
This 2001 authorization allowed the President to use military force against those responsible for 9/11.
Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF)
This “lost colony,” founded in the late 1500s but investigated in the early 1600s, mysteriously disappeared.
Roanoke
This compromise created a two-house Congress.
Great Compromise (Connecticut Compromise)
This 1820 agreement tried to maintain free/slave state balance.
Missouri Compromise
This Supreme Court case (1973) ruled that the death penalty was unconstitutional as then applied.
Furman v. Georgia
This 2003 policy doctrine justified pre-emptive U.S. military action, especially in Iraq.
Bush Doctrine