United States History - Essay Example

United s History In the year 1600 in New Mexico and Arizona, the members of Franciscan order belonging from the Spanish settlement present in Mexico, established their mission in the areas of the Hopi Indian tribe. San Bernardino which is considered to be the first permanent mission was established at Awatobi in the year 1629. In the year 1607, after spending five months at the sea, three ships that were being led by Captain Christopher Newport reached the Cape Henry which is present on Virginia Coast. The Godspeed, the Susan Constant and the Discovery later moved to James River which led them to Jamestown Island. Jamestown later became the first English settlement in United States that was established by London Company in the Southeast Virginia. It was later in the year 1620 that the Puritan expedition from England searching for the New World reached Cape Cod that is located near Provincetown. The Puritan later explored the coastline in order to find an appropriate settlement location. Later that year, the landing party searched the coast in order to find a settlement. The entire party moved to Plymouth Harbor, which is identified as the first land, where the Pilgrims set their foot on. In October 1621, the first Thanksgiving celebration was held for three days. The foundation of Maryland was laid as the Catholic colony that promoted the religious tolerance. Two years after the establishment of Maryland, the foundation of Harvard College took place in Cambridge, Massachusetts. It was in the same year that Roger Williams founded Rhode Island as a colony. It was declared a democratic colony after eight years believing in the church and state’s separation. In 1640, the first book named the Bay Psalm Book was printed in United States. It was during this period that Massachusetts became the first colony which legalized slavery. The constitution was drafted for the General Assembly of Rhodes Island, which separated the church from the state and permitted the public referendums and initiated the legislations. Later slavery was also legalized in Connecticut and in other recognized American colonies. It was later in the year 1652 that the first law imposing a restriction on slavery was passed in Rhode Island, making slavery illegal for the coming ten years. The establishment of Pennsylvania took place in 1683, after William Penn signed the treaty with Delaware Indians. It was in the end of the 16th century that the Jamestown was abandoned when the state house was burned. French settlements were also established in Louisiana and Mississippi (Colonial). The Boston Massacre took place on March 5 1770 when the British troops stormed into the Boston mob who was protesting against them at the customs commission. This event is considered to be the foundation of the first battle in the history of American Revolution that took place just five years after that. In the year 1771, the colonies started to grow and hundreds of miles of roads were under construction in New Hampshire alone. In Connecticut the General Assembly directed Jonathan Trimball, the governor to collect the public papers and letters, which affected the interest of the colony. The foundation of the first independent Anglo-American government took place in East Tennessee by Watauga Association, who was in the need of mutual protection. It was during this time that the House of Burgesses present in the Colony of Virginia reacted negatively to the policies of the British by establishing a committee that contacted other colonies who had the similar defense. This led to the issuance of Virginia Resolution by establishing the committee of correspondence. In the year 1772, a satirical essay was written and published by Benjamin Franklin in “The Public Advertiser” (America at the Turn of the Century: The National Setting). In the seventeenth century the war of independence took place between the Great Britain and the thirteen British colonies existed on the eastern seaboard present in North America. The battles of Concord and Lexington that took place between the colonial minutemen and British Army marked the beginning of war. In the late seventeenth century, the British acknowledged the independence of America in the treaty of Paris that officially turned out to be the end of war. In the year 1777, the first official flag of American and the Article of Confederation was accepted by the Continental Congress. It was later that the Supreme Court held a meeting for the first time in New York City at Merchants Exchange Building. The first case was held in the year 1792 in the court that consisted of one chief justice and five other associate justices. The first national census that was conducted in America stated that the population of the country has exceeded 4 million. In the late seventeenth century the Bill of Rights consisting of first ten amendments was ratified. The second inauguration of Washington was held in Philadelphia. The invention of the Cotton Grin by Whitney drastically increased the demands of the slaves in the industry. John Adams became the second president of Philadelphia in 1797 (Philadelphia Timeline, 1700s). In 1800’s election Adams was defeated by Jefferson. The most important decision he took as a President was the Louisiana Purchase, which increased the United State twice in size. The map of the Louisiana Purchase was sent by Jefferson to Clark and Lewis. The trade of United States to France and England was also stopped by United States, in order to not get involved between the wars that were being fought between two countries. A war broke out between United States and England in the year 1812, at the time when James Madison was the President of America. This was the war of 1812. One of the greatest problems of the eighteenth century was slavery. By the year 1861, about three million African were being traded as slaves in America. They were held slaves by the white Americans which meant that they worked for other people and received no money in return. The slave rebellion also initiated by the slaves that was being led by Nat Turner; however none of these rebellions were successful until the nineteenth century. America was distributed in two parts where the people present in the North wanted to end slavery, whereas those present in the South were in favor of it. Another argument that existed between the North and South America was regarding the role of government; where the south was in the favor of a stronger state government whereas the North favored the stronger central government (Timelines of the 1800s). There was also a religious movement named the Second Great Awakening that initiated in the 1800’s. It began in New York but later spread in England and Midwest. In was during that time of the Second Great Awakening that hundreds and thousands of people in American became part of the religious meetings called the revivals. The supporters of the Second great Awakening wanted to bring back the Golden Age in American by the help of the religion. Other religious movements like the Mormons and Holiness Movement also initiated at that time and the religious groups like Methodist Church also grew. The Second Great Awakening also led to change in the judicial systems and in the behavior of the society, contributing to its betterment. It was led to the development of Temperance movement that protested against the consumption of alcohol and considered it evil. Other movement that initiated in the eighteenth century was the abolitionism whose mission was to end slavery. People like William Lloyd and Harriet Beecher wrote articles and books against slavery. They also formed the political movements which included the Free Soil Party, Liberty Party and also the Republican Party. By the year 1820, slavery became quite rare in North, however it still continued in the South (Taylor). In the nineteenth century the concepts like “cult of domesticity” became popular. It stated that the married women must stay home and concentrate of raising their children. At that time, the American women were under the influence of their husbands and had no rights. By the starting of the nineteenth century, women like Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott initiated the movement for the rights of women. They also demanded to end slavery in America. By that time the World War II began and America made the decision of staying out of it, as most of the American thought that the position of their country must be neutral in the war. However America took the side of Allied Powers, by financially supporting them in exchange of the use of their air bases. It was in the year 1941 that Japan attacked the Pearl Harbor, which was an American base present in Hawai. The United States dropped it role of being neutral and declared a war against the Axis Power. When American entered the World War II, it automatically ended the Great Depression by creating many new jobs for its citizen. The battles that were being fought by United States were the naval and air battle with Japan, however United States mainly fought in the countries like Africa and Europe. In the year 1944, the British and the American forces successfully invaded Normandy. Roosevelt dies in 1945 and Harry Trumann became the President of America. It was then that the United States made the decision of dropping two bombs on Japan, as the result of which Japan gave up and the war ended. It was in the late 1980s and the early 1990s that the cold war came to an end because of the Russian leader Mikhail Gorbachev’s policy named Perestroika, which caused the fall of the Berlin War and broke the Soviet Union into different countries. At this time most of the Americans were working in service jobs. The use of computers and internet became popular in the early 1990s. Bill Clinton became the President of America in 1992. It was in the 1990s that the Middle East became the focus of the American policies. A war was fought by the United States against Iraq which was named Operation Desert Storm or the First Gulf War, in order to stop Sadam Hussein from invading Kuwait. It was under his presidency that United States sent its soldiers to Bosnia as the part of its United Nations’ mission. The United States also agreed on forming a trade pact named North American Free Trade Agreement (The 1900s - The World Begins to Fly). Work Cited America at the Turn of the Century: The National Setting. 2013. 17 December 2014 . Colonial. 2013. 17 December 2014 . Philadelphia Timeline, 1700s. 2013. 17 December 2014 . Taylor, Dr. Quintard. United States History: Timeline: 1700 - 1800. 2013. 17 December 2014 . The 1900s - The World Begins to Fly. 2013. 17 December 2014 . Timelines of the 1800s. 2013. 17 December 2014 . Read More