Two Worlds Meet (1000-1607) The first Europeans traveled to North America in about 1000 CE, when Leif Eriksson and his Viking crew discovered a land they called Vinland, after the grapes that grew there. The Vikings eventually abandoned their settlements in eastern Canada and returned to their homes in Greenland. No more Europeans arrived for…

Colonial America (1607-1763) By the early 1600s, Europeans had established colonies along the waterways of North America. These settlements struggled to survive their first winter but soon prospered. Settlers came to the New World for religious freedom or economic opportunity, or to acquire great fortune for the “mother country.” Many felt a moral duty to…

Slavery Emerges! As colonial farms and industries thrived, the need for workers grew. Slavery had existed around the world throughout history; in the 1600s, Europeans introduced it to the New World to provide cheap labor. Wrenched from their homes in faraway Africa, slaves were shipped to the Americas then sold and traded like property. The…

CREATING A NEW NATION (1763-1800) The cordial relationship between Great Britain and the American colonies soured shortly after the French and Indian War. The English king needed to raise money to pay for the war and offset the cost of protecting and governing Britain’s huge empire. The decision to tax colonists was met at first…

The Decision to Declare Independence By the spring of 1776, the Americans had been in the war for a year. A growing number were convinced that they were fighting to be permanently free of Britain’s rule, and that the time had come to issue a declaration of independence. In January, Thomas Paine had published Common…

THE TREATY OF PARIS AND BEYOND The Revolutionary War had ended after six hard years, and it took two more years to finish a formal peace treaty. The British were in no rush to satisfy the Americans, and they hoped delay would persuade the states to pay the Loyalists for the property they had lost…

The ConstitutionIn May 1787, 55 delegates from 13 states met at Philadelphia’s State House. It was a gathering of uniquely gifted men, including George Washington, who served as chairman. Instead of trying to adjust the weak Articles of Confederation, they started anew to frame a completely new form of government – the United States Constitution….

AMERICA GROWS (1800-1850)A flood of settlers moved westward across the Appalachian Mountain barrier in the early 19th century in pursuit of America’s “Manifest Destiny.” New roads, canals, and railroads were built, allowing Americans to travel farther and transport goods and belongings faster. The invention of the cotton gin made cotton such a profitable crop that…

The Union Shattered (1850-1876)“In your hands… and not in mine is the momentous issue of civil war.” With those words of warning to the leaders of the South, President Abraham Lincoln took the oath of office in 1861. Southerners insisted that slavery be allowed in new territories in the West; Lincoln and the Republican Party,…

Settling the West (1869-1900)Americans have always been a frontier people, living on the edge of the unknown. In the late 19th century, the frontier was the area that had been bypassed in the rush to the Pacific earlier in the century. Ranchers and cowboys moved north into the frontier from Texas, to be closer to…

America’s industrial age (1865-1900)After the Civil War, the American landscape, once dominated by farms and villages, became increasingly industrialized. Factories and mills churned out products on a huge scale.New inventions created new businesses and helped improve everyday life. Many business leaders drove out competitors, forming monopolies and amassing great fortunes. Between 1870 and 1900, the…