Colonial America
This 1765 British law required American colonists to purchase special stamped paper for every legal document, newspaper, pamphlet, and even playing cards
Stamp Act
This 1803 land purchase from France doubled the size of the United States and opened vast new territories for westward expansion.
Louisiana Purchase
This 1857 Supreme Court case declared that African Americans could not be citizens and upheld the constitutionality of slavery in the United States.
Dred Scott v. Sandford
This activist, lecturer, and writer, who played a key role in the women's suffrage movement, organized the Seneca Falls Convention in 1848.
Elizabeth Cady Stanton
This former enslaved person, who escaped to freedom and became a prominent abolitionist and speaker, published his autobiography "Narrative of the Life of _____, an American Slave" in 1845
Frederick Douglass
This 1770 event, in which British soldiers killed five colonists, is often cited as a key moment of escalating tensions between the American colonies and Britain
Boston Massacre
This 1812 conflict between the United States and Britain was sparked by issues including trade restrictions, impressment of sailors, and American territorial expansion
War of 1812
This 1862 legislative act granted 160 acres of public land to settlers who agreed to farm the land for at least five years
Homestead Act
This book, published in 1851 by suffragist and abolitionist Sojourner Truth, advocated for women's rights and addressed issues of racial and gender equality.
"Ain't I a Woman?" by Sojourner Truth
This white abolitionist, known for his violent tactics against pro-slavery groups in Kansas, led a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, in 1859 in an attempt to start a slave rebellion
John Brown
This 1774 series of laws, also known as the Coercive Acts, were passed by the British Parliament in response to the Boston Tea Party.
Intolerable Acts
This 1846-1848 conflict between the United States and Mexico resulted in significant territorial gains for the U.S., including present-day California, Arizona, and New Mexico
Mexican-American War
This 1863 document, issued by President Abraham Lincoln, declared that all slaves in Confederate-held territory were to be set free
Emancipation Proclamation
This political reformer and women's rights advocate, known for her work on behalf of married women's property rights, was the first woman to argue before the Supreme Court in 1869
Belva Lockwood
This 1831 rebellion led by Nat Turner, an enslaved preacher, resulted in the deaths of approximately 55 to 65 white people and led to harsher slave codes in the Southern states
Nat Turner's Rebellion
This 1787 convention, held in Philadelphia, resulted in the drafting of the United States Constitution.
Constitutional Convention
This 1820 congressional agreement sought to maintain the balance of power between slave and free states by admitting Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state
Missouri Compromise
This period, lasting from 1865 to 1877, saw efforts to rebuild the South and address the status of freedmen after the Civil War
Reconstruction
This women's rights activist co-founded the American Equal Rights Association and was a prominent speaker for abolitionism and suffrage
Susan B. Anthony
This abolitionist and women's rights advocate, who was born into slavery but escaped to freedom in the North, became a prominent speaker and writer, famously declaring "ain't I a woman?" in her speeches
Sojourner Truth
This 1796 farewell address warned against the dangers of political parties and foreign entanglements.
George Washington's Farewell Address
This 1836 battle during the Texas Revolution saw a small Texan force led by William B. Travis defend the Alamo mission against a much larger Mexican army
Battle of the Alamo
This 1870 constitutional amendment guaranteed voting rights to African American men
15th Amendment
This constitutional amendment, proposed in 1878, sought to guarantee voting rights regardless of gender but was not ratified until 1920
19th Amendment
This network of secret routes and safe houses, established in the early to mid-19th century, helped enslaved African Americans escape to free states and Canada
Underground Railroad