Presidents
Places
Wars
Peaceful Events
Innovations
100
Despite leading America through its greatest crisis, this president was also the first to be assassinated.
Who was Abraham Lincoln?
100
This northeastern port city was ground zero for the American Revolution, as a famous massacre and "tea party" took place here in the early 1770s.
What is Boston?
100
This war cost more American lives than any other in our history, as the North and South fought bitterly for four years after longstanding tensions over slavery turned violent in 1861.
What is the Civil War?
100
This governing document was written by a convention in Philadelphia in 1787, and (plus amendments) remains the supreme law of the land in America to this day.
What is the US Constitution?
100
This new office was invented by the Founding Fathers, who wanted to replace the role of the king with a deserving leader that could be removed if they behaved badly.
What is the presidency?
200
The "father of his country" led America to independence, first as a general, then as our first president.
Who was George Washington?
200
This old Dutch trading center became the center of the American economy, attracting great numbers of businesses, immigrants, and entrepreneurs for all of American history.
What is New York City?
200
Tensions over Texas (and other southwestern lands) led the US to invade and conquer large areas of land from this neighbor.
What is Mexico?
200
This event brought large numbers of prospectors to the West Coast in 1849, who were hoping to strike it rich by finding precious metal for themselves.
What was the California Gold Rush?
200
The invention of a gin to easily remove the seeds from this plant allowed a huge new cloth industry to grow in the American north, while also greatly expanding slave plantations in the South.
What is cotton?
300
While he was a legendary general, his presidency was plagued by corruption and lingering post-war tension.
Who was Ulysses Grant?
300
This western territory was consumed by violence in the 1850s as angry abolitionists and pro-slavery settlers fought for control of its government.
What is Kansas?
300
This bloody battle, named for the small Pennsylvania town nearby, was a major loss for the Confederate army (and inspiration for one of the most famous speeches in American history).
What is Gettysburg?
300
The arrival of this small ship filled with Puritan families (or Pilgrims) to Plymouth, Massachusetts, started a rush of settlement in New England in 1620.
What is the Mayflower?
300
These new tracks enabled Americans to travel long distances on steam trains, finally ending our reliance on horses and wagons.
What are railroads?
400
This former general was beloved by poorer, lower-class Americans (who even gifted him an enormous wheel of cheese!), starting the Democratic party in the 1830s.
Who was Andrew Jackson?
400
This famous path brought large number of settlers into America's new western territories during the 1800s.
What was the Oregon Trail?
400
While this "second war of independence" ended inconclusively, it proved to Americans that their young country could stand up to the great powers of Europe.
What was the War of 1812?
400
This presidential decree, signed in 1862, promised freedom for all Southern slaves and set the stage for slavery to be abolished across the United States.
What is the Emancipation Proclamation?
400
This new type of boat, created during the Civil War, quickly brought an end to wooden sailboats, which humans had used to travel for thousands of years.
What are ironclads?
500
This third president was a leading anti-Federalist for years, but is best known today for his purchase of the Louisiana territory (doubling the size of the country).
Who was Thomas Jefferson?
500
This small town in the swamps of Virginia was the first permanent English settlement in the future United States of America.
What is Jamestown?
500
This colonial war for control over the Great Lakes region solidified British rule across North America, but also set the stage for the future split between Britain and its original American colonies.
What was the French & Indian War?
500
This grand bargain between North and South in 1820 created a careful balance between free states and slave states, which would keep the peace between them for nearly 30 years.
What was the Missouri Compromise?
500
This social movement pushed back against the unprecedented numbers of Irish and German immigrants arriving to America in the 1840s.
What is nativism?