American History

1492 – 2008

Discovery

• Columbus sails from Spain in 1492

1507 Ponce de Leon discovers Florida Columbus

1607 First permanent English settlement, Jamestown, Virginia1620 Pilgrims land at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts

Early American Exploration

New Country

• French-Indian War 1750s• American Revolution 1776 – 1783– Lexington and Concord– Yorktown

George Washington

Continental Congress

Ben Franklin

Constitution

• Approved in 1791

James Madison

Great CompromiseSenateHouse

Checks and BalancesSupreme Court

Bill of Rights

American West

• 13 Colonies began to look West• Agreed new states would have equal rights• Early explorers: mountain men Daniel Boone

Indians

Settlement of the West

• By 1890, all open land was gone.• Train• Telegraph• Ranchers and Farmers

Civil War

• 1861-1865• Union vs. Confederacy

Growth

• World Power• Spanish-American War 1898

CubaPhilippines

Immigration• 1830s Irish• 1850s Italians• 1860s Asians• 1880s Eastern Europeans

– Russians– Jews

• First Immigration Law 1920s

World War I

• 1914-1919• U.S. enters in 1917

German Bunker

Air war

Depression

• 1929 – 1941 NRA

CCC WPA

World War II

• 1939 – 1945• U.S. enters in 1941

Franklin Roosevelt

Flag raising at Iwo JimaChurchill, Roosevelt and Stalin at Yalta

Map of Europe

Korean War• 1951-1954• United Nations vs. Russia and China

Chinese troops

Changes in the Country• Civil Rights Women’s Rights

Baby Boom generation

Space Age

Vietnam War

• Started with French• U.S. joined in 1958• SDS• Ended in 1975

Political Changes

• Resignation of the President and Vice President 1974

Richard Nixon (far right)And Spiro Agnew

Conservative Surge

Ronald Reagan1980 -1988George H. W. Bush1988 -1992

Reagan

Bush

Today

Positive• Lone superpower• Media domination• Technological leadershipNegative• Declining world status• Political turmoil• Economic decline Pittsburgh

Future

• Population: 300 million• Abundant natural resources• Unlimited military power• Pollution• Gap between rich and poor• Growing minority populations• Educational decline