16.3 – Timeline Review
What Happened When?
Learning history is not about memorizing dates. It is more important to have a general sense of time of when events happened and see how events are related to each other. Hopefully, the historical timelines that you reviewed at the beginning of each module helped you with these connections. There are many, many dates and events in history, but the following activity will help you review those events that were highlighted in the previous modules.
The timeline activity is divided into 3 time periods:
- Pre-1700s and 1700s
- 1800s
- 1900s and 2000s
In each time period chart, you will see selected events, dates, and descriptions of those events. Review each event and find its correct description. Write the letter in the space before the description. One correct match has already been done for you in each chart.
You may do this activity as a class, in small groups, or individually. CLICK HERE for a printed version (and for the answers).
Selected events from the Pre-1700s and 1700s
| EVENT/DATE(S) | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| A. 1400s – EUROPEAN EXPLORATION | __________ American colonists wrote this document to be free from English rule and to say that people have the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” |
| B. 1607 – JAMESTOWN | __________ Looking for trade routes, Europeans make contact with the Indigenous people of the Americas. Before that, civilizations of people such as the Maya, Inca, Olmec, and Aztec had been living in North, Central, and South America for thousands of years. |
| C. 1619 – SLAVERY | __________ This document is the highest law in the United States, divides the U.S. government into executive, legislative, and judicial branches, and provides a system of checks and balances that stops one branch from becoming too powerful. |
| D. 1776- DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE | __________ These are the first ten amendments (additions) to the Constitution. These amendments guarantee individual freedoms and protect people if they are accused of a crime. |
| E. 1775-1783 – AMERICAN REVOLUTION | __________ The first permanent English settlement in North America. After this, more and more English colonies were established which forced the Indigenous peoples off of their homeland. |
| F. 1789 – U.S. CONSTITUTION | _____C____ This system of forced labor was introduced to the American colonies by Europeans. |
| G. 1791 – BILL OF RIGHTS | __________ After declaring their independence, the American colonists fought a war against the British. With the signing of a peace treaty, the war ended and America became an independent nation. |
Selected Events from the 1800s
| EVENT/DATE(S) | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| A. 1803 – LOUISIANA PURCHASE | __________ A period of time after the Civil War when amendments to the Constitution were added that gave equal rights to all people and protected voting rights for Black men. It was also a time when Black men were elected to government offices in Southern states. |
| B. 1807 – INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION | __________ A war between the Southern and Northern people in the United States over keeping slavery legal in the South. The Southern states would start to leave the U.S. after the election of Abraham Lincoln and the war would continue for four years. |
| C. 1861-1865 – U.S. CIVIL WAR | _____B_____ A time when businesses started to produce more goods in factories and instead of people working by themselves, they were working in large companies. It was also a time when cities started to grow quickly as people moved from rural areas to work in factories. |
| D. 1862 – EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION | __________ This addition to the Constitution was added at the end of the Civil War and which abolished (eliminated) slavery in the United States. |
| E. 1865 – 13TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION | __________ This document, sent by President Lincoln, ordered the Southern states to free the enslaved people. They did not, but many enslaved people freed themselves by escaping to the Northern states. |
| F. 1865-1877 – RECONSTRUCTION | __________As the American people moved west, Indigenous groups were removed from their lands and forced to live on reservations. Native children were placed into schools where they were required to speak only English, change their names, and abandon their culture. |
| G. 1880s – NATIVE AMERICAN BOARDING SCHOOLS | __________ This land between the Mississippi River and Rocky Mountains was purchased by President Thomas Jefferson from France and that almost doubles the size of the United States. |
Selected events from the 1900s and 2000s
| EVENT/DATE(S) | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| A. 1914-1918 – WORLD WAR I | __________ A global event that began with the rise of dictators such as Adolf Hitler and the invasion of countries by Germany, Japan, and Italy. The U.S. got involved after the Japanese bombed a military base in Hawaii and the war ended when the United States dropped atomic bombs on Nagasaki and Hiroshima, two Japanese cities. |
| B. 1921 – 19TH AMENDMENT TO THE U.S. CONSTITUTION | __________ Attacks by terrorist groups in New York, Washington, D.C., and Pennsylvania. In response to these attacks, the United States spent much of the following years in military conflicts in places like Iraq and Afghanistan. |
| C. 1924 – NATIVE AMERICAN CITIZENSHIP | __________ This addition to the Constitution gave women the right to vote in the United States. |
| D. 1939-1945 – WORLD WAR II | __________ A time when the United States and the Soviet Union would try to influence different countries around the world to follow American capitalism or Soviet communism. Because both countries had nuclear weapons they did not fight each other and the Cold War ended when the Soviet Union collapsed. |
| E. 1945-1991 – COLD WAR | __________ A global event that began when European countries wanted more power and land. Thinking the conflict was a European one, the U.S. did not want to get involved but later did and helped its allies (Great Britain and France) defeat Germany. |
| F. 1950s-1960s – CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT | _____C____ Native Americans are recognized as U.S. citizens but many states still made it very difficult for Native people to vote. |
| G. 2001 – TERRORIST ATTACKS | __________ A time when groups and individuals fought against racial inequality and segregation in the United States through protest and boycotts. Pressure from these actions led to laws that prohibited segregation discrimination based on race and ended racial discrimination in voting. |
Good job with the timeline activity! As a reward, CLICK HERE for a completed reference timeline. You can review it and/or print it!
