Brief history
In September 1620 a group of pilgrims sailed from England to America, "The New World", on a ship called the Mayflower. They were escaping from England because they wanted political and religious freedom. They left England in September and didn't get to the New World until November.
The Pilgrims Fathers cultivated the land and kept animals to buy and sell their skins. They thought all people were equal, so they had no slaves. They called their village Plymouth, in the state of Massachusses.
The Pilgrims were often ill and hungry and many of them died during the first year. However, native Americans helped them so in the autumn of 1621 the Pilgrims had a big dinner to give thanks to native Americans. This day was called Thanksgiving and Americans still celebrate this year on the fourth Thursday in November.
Other people wanted to try life in the New World so more and more British people came to live on the east coast of North America in the 17th century, starting colonies in some states (Maryland, North and South Carolina, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, among others). By 1770, there were 13 colonies along the east coast of North America, but they were all governed by Britain.
However, Britain was far away and the people of the colonies started to get angry because they had to pay very high taxes to the British government. In December 1773 a group of men threw 342 boxes of tea into the sea at Boston because they didn't want to pay the British tax on it. This was known as The Boston Tea Party.
More and more the colonists wanted independence from the British government, so in the end the 13 colonies decided to join together to fight the British. On 4th July, 1776, the colonists declared independence from Great Britain.
A man called Thomas Jefferson wrote the famous "Declaration of Independence". There were many difficult battles but the Americans finally won the war in October 1871. In 1789 they made George Washington their first president.
These 13 colonies became the first 13 states and they called their new nation the United States of America.
Spain and France also owned some American land but little by little the USA bought this land.
The country grew quickly, but there were big differences between the north and the south. In 1861 a terrible war started. At least 600,000 people died in this war.
The war began because the southern states had black slaves to work in the cotton fields, but slaves weren't allowed in the North. In 1860, Abraham Lincoln was elected 16th president of the USA. His party was the Republican Party and this party didn't want people to have slaves.
The fighting began on 12th April, 1861. The south had a lot of money from selling cotton to Britain, but the North had more men, factories and one of the best presidents, Abraham Lincoln. He spoke about rights and freedom. The North won the war in the end, after many terrible battles. Unfortunately, five days after the war Lincoln was shot dead. After his death people continued to argue about the rights of black people.
TASK. In groups (minimum 2, maximum 5) you have to create a timeline which include the major events in American History. Click here, sign up and start working.
Students' timelines: