D2.His.2.3-5. Compare life in specific historical time periods to life today.
D2.His.3.3-5. Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
D2.His.4.3-5. Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
D2.His.5.3-5. Explain connections among historical contexts and people’s perspectives at the time.
D2.His.6.3-5. Describe how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created.
D2.His.13.3-5. Use information about a historical source, including the maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose to judge the extent to which the source is useful for studying a particular topic.
Reporting on a person involved in the causes at the time
D4.6.3-5. Draw on disciplinary concepts to explain the challenges people have faced and opportunities they have created, in addressing local, regional, and global problems at various times and places.
D2.His.3.3-5. Generate questions about individuals and groups who have shaped significant historical changes and continuities.
D2.His.4.3-5. Explain why individuals and groups during the same historical period differed in their perspectives.
D2.His.5.3-5. Explain connections among historical contexts and people’s perspectives at the time.
D2.His.6.3-5. Describe how people’s perspectives shaped the historical sources they created.
D2.His.13.3-5. Use information about a historical source, including the maker, date, place of origin, intended audience, and purpose to judge the extent to which the source is useful for studying a particular topic.
Reporting on a person involved in the causes at the time
D4.6.3-5. Draw on disciplinary concepts to explain the challenges people have faced and opportunities they have created, in addressing local, regional, and global problems at various times and places.
1500 - 1600 | 1600 - 1700 | 1700 - 1800 | 1800 - 1900
1500
Year Event
1501 African Slaves in the New World
Spanish settlers bring slaves from Africa to Santo Domingo (now the capital of the Dominican Republic).
1522 Slave Revolt: the Caribbean
Slaves rebel on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola, which now comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic.
1562 Britain Joins Slave Trade
John Hawkins, the first Briton to take part in the slave trade, makes a huge profit hauling human cargo from Africa to Hispaniola.
1581 Slaves in Florida
Spanish residents in St. Augustine, the first permanent settlement in Florida, import African slaves.[top]
1600
1619 Slaves in Virginia
Africans brought to Jamestown are the first slaves imported into Britain’s North American colonies. Like indentured servants, they were probably freed after a fixed period of service.
1662 Hereditary Slavery
Virginia law decrees that children of black mothers “shall be bond or free according to the condition of the mother.”
1700
1705 Slaves as Property
Describing slaves as real estate, Virginia lawmakers allow owners to bequeath their slaves. The same law allowed masters to “kill and destroy” runaways
.1712 Slave Revolt: New York
Slaves in New York City kill whites during an uprising, later squelched by the militia. Nineteen rebels are executed.
1739 Slave Revolt: South Carolina
Crying “Liberty!” some 75 slaves in South Carolina steal weapons and flee toward freedom in Florida (then under Spanish rule). Crushed by the South Carolina militia, the revolt results in the deaths of 40 blacks and 20 whites.
1775 American Revolution Begins
Battles at the Massachusetts towns of Lexington and Concord on April 19 spark the war for American independence from Britain.
1775 Abolitionist Society
Anthony Benezet of Philadelphia founds the world’s first abolitionist society. Benjamin Franklin becomes its president in 1787.
1776 Declaration of Independence
The Continental Congress asserts “that these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States”.
1783 American Revolution Ends
Britain and the infant United States sign the Peace of Paris treaty.results in the deaths of 40 blacks and 20 whites.
1784 Abolition Effort
Congress narrowly defeats Thomas Jefferson’s proposal to ban slavery in new territories after 1800.
1790 First United States Census
Nearly 700,000 slaves live and toil in a nation of 3.9 million people.
1793 Fugitive Slave Act
The United States outlaws any efforts to impede the capture of runaway slaves.
1794 Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney patents his device for pulling seeds from cotton. The invention turns cotton into the cash crop of the American South—and creates a huge demand for slave labor.
1800
1808 United States Bans Slave Trade
Importing African slaves is outlawed, but smuggling continues.
1820 Missouri Compromise
Missouri is admitted to the Union as a slave state, Maine as a free state. Slavery is forbidden in any subsequent territories north of latitude 36°30´.
1822 Slave Revolt: South Carolina
Freed slave Denmark Vesey attempts a rebellion in Charleston. Thirty-five participants in the ill-fated uprising are hanged.
1831 Slave Revolt: Virginia
Slave preacher Nat Turner leads a two-day uprising against whites, killing about 60. Militiamen crush the revolt then spend two months searching for Turner, who is eventually caught and hanged. Enraged Southerners impose harsher restrictions on their slaves.
1835 Censorship
Southern states expel abolitionists and forbid the mailing of antislavery propaganda.
1846-48 Mexican-American War
Defeated, Mexico yields an enormous amount of territory to the United States. Americans then wrestle with a controversial topic: Is slavery permitted in the new lands?
1847 Frederick Douglass’s Newspaper
Escaped slave Frederick Douglass begins publishing the North Star in Rochester, New York.
1849 Harriet Tubman Escapes
After fleeing slavery, Tubman returns south at least 15 times to help rescue several hundred others.
1850 Compromise of 1850
In exchange for California’s entering the Union as a free state, northern congressmen accept a harsher Fugitive Slave Act.
1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin Published
Harriet Beecher Stowe’s novel about the horrors of slavery sells 300,000 copies within a year of publication.
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act
Setting aside the Missouri Compromise of 1820, Congress allows these two new territories to choose whether to allow slavery. Violent clashes erupt.
1857 Dred Scott Decision
The United States Supreme Court decides, seven to two, that blacks can never be citizens and that Congress has no authority to outlaw slavery in any territory.
1860 Abraham Lincoln Elected
Abraham Lincoln of Illinois becomes the first Republican to win the United States Presidency.
1860 Southern Secession
South Carolina secedes in December. More states follow the next year.
1861-65 United States Civil War
Four years of brutal conflict claim 623,000 lives.
1863 Emancipation Proclamation
President Abraham Lincoln decrees that all slaves in Rebel territory are free on January 1, 1863
.1865 Slavery Abolished
The 13th Amendment to the United States Constitution outlaws slavery.