1st Semester Tipping Points

Columbus 1492

Associated with the beginning of European interest in the Americas. Sent by Spain, but of Italian origins. It leads to an exchange between the Old and New Worlds that creates cultural change around the world.

1st Slaves 1619

The growing of tobacco as a cash crop in Virginia is the inspiration.

Declaration of Independence 1776

Inspired as a result of the French and Indian War and the British attempt to pay for that war with taxes. The Boston Massacre, Boston Tea Party, and eventually the shots at Lexington and Concord and the final steps leading to this event.

Constitution 1789

Created a stronger national government- Federalists. Replaced the Articles of Confederation, and establishes the Federalist government we have today.

Cotton Gin 1793

Known for having fostered the growth and the spread of slavery at a time when it appeared to be dying off.

Missouri Compromise 1820

Used to create a balance between free and slave states, included the state of Maine as a free state. It also specified that slavery could no longer expand north of 36’30 North Latitude in territory bought in the Louisiana Purchase.

Manifest Destiny 1835

A belief among U.S. citizens that the United States would one day own from East coast to West coast of North America.

Compromise of 1850

Used to create a balance between free and slave states, including adding Texas (slave) and California (free) as states. It also applied the idea of Popular Sovereignty to the eventual states created out of the Utah and New Mexico territories.

Election of 1860

Immediately inspires the state of South Carolina to secede from the Union.

Emancipation Proclamation 1863

Declared the freedom of all slaves being held in States of rebellion. So it did not free slaves in border states fighting on the Union side of the War.

Battle of Little Bighorn (1876)

Indian leaders Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse defeated Custer’s troops who tried to force them back on to the reservation, Custer and all his men died.

Compromise or 1877

An agreement that resolved the disputed 1876 presidential election, resulting in the withdrawal of federal troops from the South.

Tammany Hall (1860s & 1870s)

NYC’s powerful democratic political machine. A group of corrupt politicians in defrauding the city. Example: Responsible for the construction of the NY court house; actual construction cost $3 million. Project cost tax payers $13 million.

The American Federation of Labor (1886)

Founded in Columbus, Ohio, in December 1886 by an alliance of craft unions disaffected from the Knights of Labor, a national labor association; the largest union grouping in the United States for the first half of the 20th century.

Wounded Knee (1890)

Massacre of Native Americans in the state of South Dakota. Marked the end of the Indian Wars and the close of the western frontier.

Plessy vs. Ferguson (1896)

Supreme Court Case that upheld Jim Crow segregation laws as legal so as they were “separate but equal”.

Sinking of the Maine (1898)

A U.S. Battleship exploded while at dock in Havana harbor. Yellow journalists blamed the Cubans for sabotage, contributing to pro-war fever.

3rd Part Presidential Election (1912)

Wilson won because the Republican vote was split between Taft and Roosevelt, not because a majority of the public endorsed him. Noted for the strong showing of a 3rd Party, the Progressive Party.

Zimmerman Note- 1917

An effort by the Germans to inspire Mexico to declare war on the United States. In return, German would help Mexico regain the SW of the U.S.

Great Migration-1919

This is brought on by the great demand for workers in the Industrial North and vastly changes the lives of African Americans.