US History

It is believed that the North American Indian cultures flourished in the USA as early as 12,000 BC.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus reached the Bahamas. In the 1500s, the Spanish explorer Juan Ponce de León landed on the coast of Florida and subsequently, Spain established the first permanent European colony in North America at Saint Augustine in Florida.

In the 1600s, a small pox epidemic devastated the Native American population and the first slaves were brought from Africa to Jamestown.

In 1700s, Britain gained control of the territories on the east of the Mississippi River; the American Revolution began; the Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress; American Independence was acknowledged by Great Britain with the signing of the Treaty of Paris; The Constitution of the United States was ratified; George Washington was elected the first President of the United States and the US Army was established.

In the 1800s, Washington D.C. became the official capital of the U.S.A.; Abraham Lincoln was elected President; the pro-slavery 11 southern states seceded from the Union; the Civil War began; the Emancipation Proclamation, which freed the slaves, was issued; the Civil War ended; the American Constitution was amended to prohibit slavery and the Statue of Liberty was dedicated to the nation.

In the 1900s, the Wright Brothers made their first flight; The U.S.A. acquired the Panama Canal Zone and the Panama Canal opened; the World War I began, The U.S.A. declared war on Germany and joined the war; the US Constitution was amended to give voting rights to women; the stock market crash led to the Great Depression; the Star-Spangled Banner was adopted as the national anthem; World War II began; The U.S.A. dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in Japan; World War II ended and the United Nations was established; the Cold War between America and Soviet Union began and ended; Lt. Col. John Glenn became the first US astronaut to orbit the earth; President John. F. Kenny was assassinated; the Civil Rights Act became a law; the Vietnam War started and ended; Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. became the first people to walk on the moon; Operation Desert Storm began to drive out the Iraqis from Kuwait.

On September 1, 2001, the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were hit by a hijacked aircraft prompting the USA to launch operations in Afghanistan to find Osama Bin Laden, the founder of Al-Qaeda, and defeat the Taliban.

In 2008, Barack Obama was elected as the President of the U.S.A.

In 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement drew the attention of the world on the American financial crises. Nine years after invading Iraq, the US military forces withdrew from the country. In the same year, the US forces finally found and killed Osama bin Laden.

In 2012, Barack Obama was re-elected as the President of the U.S.A.

In September 2014, the USA launched air strikes on ISIS strongholds. In October 2014, the US Midterm elections were held.

History of USA

From the first European colonists in the New World, expansion westward was a perpetual goal. Beginning with the Land Ordinance of 1785, which provided for the sale of land in the Northwest

Territory, the ground rules were set, including standards for land sales. When the local lands were claimed and settled, colonist looked to push westward to conquer more of the nation. Expeditions of explorers were sent to map out the continent and find the best routes across the country, notably the Lewis and Clark Expedition in the early 1800s. The Louisiana Purchase in 1803 doubled the size of the United States, moving its westward boundary all the way to the Mississippi River.

Westward expansion in the United States was at its height during the Jacksonian Era from 1820 to the 1850s, spurred on by land policies like the Indian Removal Act and a cultural atmosphere of idealism that led to the idea known as Manifest Destiny. Manifest Destiny, a term coined by journalist John O’Sullivan in 1845, described the belief in a divine obligation to expand westward to the Pacific Ocean. The European settlers believed they had a duty to Christianize the natives, which carried an intrinsic sense of superiority, that is, a belief that the natives were inferior and needed their help.

Fueled by this sense of national responsibility, colonists set out on a quest to fulfill their purpose. Prompted by the Mexican-American war, which began in 1846, and then the California Gold Rush starting in 1848, the population pushed westward at an accelerated rate. The westward movement was also fueled by new modes of transportation, from the steamboat to railroads and covered wagons. These pioneers forged their own paths, creating new communities along the way in the Wild West.