A Brief History of the United States and Canada

1. PART ONE: COLONIAL AMERICA

a. JAMESTOWN AND VIRGINIA
b. THE PILGRIM FATHERS AND NEW ENGLAND
i. Mayflower and Plymouth
ii. The Europeans introduced many diseases
iii. Salem Witch Trials
c. NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY
i. The British captured New Netherland and renamed it New York
d. THE GREAT AWAKENING
i. In the mid 18th century there was a great religious revival in the North
American colonies
ii. The Seven Years War against France
e. NO TAXATION WITHOUT REPRESENTATION
f. THE BOSTON MASSACRE AND THE BOSTON TEA PARTY
i. A group of people in Boston threw snowballs at British soldiers; The
soldiers opened fire, killing 5 people and wounding 6 of them
g. THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS
i. Declaration of Independence
2. PART TWO: THE EARLY USA
a. THE AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR
b. THE FOUNDATION OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
i. Articles of Confederation
ii. Constitution
1. Bill of Rights
c. THE LOUISIANA PURCHASE
d. THE WAR OF 1812
e. THE GROWTH OF THE USA
i. Lewis and Clark
ii. Cotton gin
iii. Spain ceded Florida
f. TEXAS JOINS THE USA
g. THE MEXICAN WAR
i. Mexico ceded New Mexico and California
h. THE PACIFIC COAST OF THE USA
i. California gold rush
ii. Oregon Trail
i. THE INDIAN WARS
i. Andrew Jacksons Indian Removal Bill
j. THE MISSOURI COMPROMISE
i. A line was drawn across the continent; states north of it were to be free,
south of it they were to be slave
 Dred-Scott case decided that slaves were not and never could be US
ii.
citizens
k. THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR
i. Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House
ii. Lincoln did not live to see the end of the war; John Wilkes Booth
assassinated him
l. THE END OF SLAVERY
i. Emancipation Proclamation declared that slaves would be made free
ii. 13th amendment banned slavery
m. RECONSTRUCTION IN THE SOUTH
i. 'Black codes' restricted black people's rights, such as depriving them of
the right to vote or to sit on juries
3. PART THREE: THE RISE OF THE USA
a. THE LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY
i. Immigrants from Europe poured into the USA
ii. Chinese immigration into the USA was ended by the Chinese Exclusion
Act of 1882
iii. The first transcontinental railroad was built
b. THE PLAINS INDIANS
i. Westward expansion inevitably meant a series of wars were fought; the
plains tribes were all forced to move onto reservations
1. Conditions on the reservations were appalling. Rations were
inadequate and in some cases there was near starvation.
ii. The massacre at Wounded Knee
iii. Dawes Act
c. THE SPANISH WAR
d. 20TH CENTURY USA
i. Panama Canal
ii. 14th amendment allowed women to vote
e. THE FIRST WORLD WAR
f. THE 1920s
i. The eighteenth amendment started prohibition, the banning of alcohol
g. THE WALL STREET CRASH
i. Black Tuesday; the stock market crash
h. THE DEPRESSION
i. Hoovervilles
ii. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was elected President
i. THE NEW DEAL
i. Social Security Act
ii. Fair Labor Standards Act created a minimum wage
j. THE USA IN THE SECOND WORLD WAR
i. Pearl Harbor
ii. Japanese internment camps had over 100,000 Japanese Americans
4. PART FOUR: THE MODERN USA
a. THE TRUMAN DOCTRINE
i. Cold War
ii. Korean War
b. MCCARTHYISM IN THE USA
i. McCarthy claimed that he had a list of communists employed by the State
Department; McCarthy then began a witch-hunt in which many people lost
their jobs
c. THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT IN THE USA
i. Little Rock Central High School desegregation; the Little Rock 9
ii. Baptist Minister Martin Luther King Jr.
iii. Malcolm X
iv. Civil Rights Act gave all people equal rights in voting, education, public
accommodation and federally assisted programs
v. American Indian Movement; Red Power movement
d. JOHN F. KENNEDY AND LYNDON B. JOHNSON
i. Peace Corps
ii. Equal Pay Act
iii. Bay of Pigs
iv. Kennedy assassinated
v. Economic Opportunity Act of 1964
vi. The Medicare Act of 1965
vii. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 finally removed obstacles to black people
voting
e. THE VIETNAM WAR
i. 'Domino Theory' said that if one country fell to communism neighboring
states would also fall
ii. The Vietnam War became increasingly unpopular at home; anti-war
demonstrations were held
f. WATERGATE
i. The president became involved in a scandal; Nixon resigned on 9 August
1974.
ii. Recession in the mid-1970s
iii. Cold War came to a sudden end in 1989 when communism collapsed in
Eastern Europe; The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 leaving the USA the
world's only superpower
g. THE USA IN THE 21ST CENTURY
i. 9/11 attacks
ii. Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts
iii. Immigration
iv. Recession of 2008
v. Barack Obama elected the first African American president
1. THE DISCOVERY OF CANADA
a. The first people in Canada crossed the Bering Straits from Asia. In the north the
Inuit lived by hunting seals, walruses and whales. They also hunted caribou. On
the west coast people hunted deer, bear and beaver. They also fished. On the
plains people lived by hunting buffalo. In the east people grew crops of beans,
squash, maize and sunflower seeds.
b. In 1001 a man named Leif Eriksson landed in the new land, which he named
Vinland (it was part of Canada). However Eriksson did not stay permanently.
Later the Vikings did establish a colony in North America but they abandoned it
because of conflict with the natives.
c. Canada was forgotten until the end of the 15th century. In 1497 the English king
Henry VII sent an Italian named John Cabot on an expedition across the Atlantic
to Newfoundland. Cabot discovered rich fishing waters off the coast of Canada.
d. Then in 1534 and in 1535-36 a Frenchman named Jacques Cartier (1491-1557)
sailed on two expeditions to Canada. On 10 August 1535 (St Lawrence's Day) he
sailed into the St Lawrence River, which he named after the saint.
2. CANADA IN THE 17th CENTURY
a. No permanent European settlements were made in Canada until the early 17th
century. In 1603 a Frenchman named Samuel de Champlain (1567-1635) sailed
up the St Lawrence River. In 1604 he founded Port Royal in Acadia (Nova
Scotia). In 1608 de Champlain founded Quebec. (The name Quebec is believed
to be an Algonquin word meaning a narrow part of a river). In 1642 the French
founded Montreal. The new colony in Canada was called New France. By 1685
the population of New France was about 10,000. By 1740 it was 48,000.
b. In the early 17th century French missionaries such as the Jesuits attempted to
convert the natives of Canada to Christianity - without much success. Meanwhile
the French settlers traded with the natives for furs and farmed the land.
Unfortunately they also brought European diseases like smallpox, to which the
natives had no resistance.
c. However the English were also interested in Canada. In 1610 Henry Hudson
discovered Hudson Bay. (In 1611 his crew mutinied and set him adrift). In 1631
Thomas James led another expedition. James Bay is named after him. Then in
1629 the English captured Quebec. However it was returned to France in 1632.
d. In 1670 the English founded the Hudson Bay Company. The company was given
exclusive rights to trade with the inhabitants of the Hudson Bay area. They traded
with the natives for skins and furs. Meanwhile rivalry between the British and the
French in Canada continued.
3. CANADA IN THE 18th CENTURY
a. France was forced to recognize British control of Hudson Bay and Newfoundland.
The French were also forced to cede Nova Scotia to Britain.
b. However more conflict between Britain and France was inevitable. During the
Seven Years War (1756-1763) the two nations fought for control of Canada. In
1758 the British captured the French fortress of Louisbourg on Cape Breton
 Island. Then in 1759 General Wolfe captured the city of Quebec. (Wolfe's victory
at Quebec ensured that Canada would become British rather than French). Then
in 1760 the British captured Montreal. Finally in 1763 the French were forced to
surrender all their territories in Canada to Britain by the Treaty of Paris.
c. The British were then left with the problem of how to deal with the French
Canadians. Wisely they decided to treat them gently and the Quebec Act of 1774
allowed the French Canadians to practice their own religion (Roman
Catholicism). The French Canadians were also allowed to keep French civil law
alongside British criminal law. By 1775 Canada had a population of about 90,000.
The colony was flourishing.
d. When the American Revolution began in 1775 the Americans hoped the French
Canadians would join them. However they were disappointed. An American army
entered Canada in September 1775 and captured Montreal in November.
However an attempt to capture Quebec in December failed and the American
soldiers retreated in 1776.
e. After the American Revolutionary War about 40,000 Americans who remained
loyal to Britain migrated from the newly independent country to Canada.
f. Then in 1791 the British parliament passed another act, which divided the
Lawrence River Valley into two parts, Upper and Lower Canada. (Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick were not affected).
g. Meanwhile exploration continued. George Vancouver (1757-1798) sailed along
the west coast of Canada in 1791-94. Vancouver Island is named after him.
Alexander Mackenzie (1755-1820) traveled from Great Slave Lake along the
Mackenzie River and reached the Arctic Ocean in 1789. In 1793 he crossed the
continent by land and reached the Pacific.
h. During the American War of 1812 the Americans invaded Canada but they were
repulsed.
4. CANADA IN THE 19th CENTURY
a. Meanwhile in the early 19th century the population of Canada grew rapidly
boosted by many migrants from Britain. A shipbuilding industry flourished in
Canada and canals were built to help commerce.
b. However in the early 19th century many Canadians became dissatisfied with their
government. In 1791 both Lower and Upper Canada were allowed an elected
legislature. However the king appointed councils with executive powers. Yet both
French and English speaking Canadians wanted a more democratic form of
government.
c. Eventually in 1837 some Canadians rebelled. Louis Joseph Papineau led an
uprising of French Canadians. However the rebellion was soon crushed. In Upper
Canada William Lyon Mackenzie, who became the first Mayor of Toronto in 1834,
led the insurrection. In 1837 he led an uprising, which was quickly crushed.
Mackenzie himself was killed.
d. However Canada finally gained democratic government in 1867 when Ontario,
Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick were federated as the Dominion of
 Canada. Canada then had a strong central government, which ruled from
Ottawa, the new capital. The first prime minister of Canada was Sir John
Macdonald.
e. Manitoba was made a province in 1870. British Columbia joined the
confederation in 1871. Alberta and Saskatchewan joined in 1905.
f. In the late 19th century and the early 20th century the population of Canada grew
rapidly. The Canadian economy also expanded rapidly helped by the spread of
railways. A transcontinental railway, the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed
in 1885.
g. Many Britons migrated to Canada and in the early 20th century many Eastern
Europeans also migrated there. Vast areas of land were turned over to farming
and manufacturing industries boomed.
h. Meanwhile in 1896 gold was found in the Klondike district of the Yukon and a
gold rush ensued.
5. CANADA IN THE 20th CENTURY
a. More than 60,000 Canadian men died in the First World War. Meanwhile
Manitoba was the first province of Canada to allow women to vote in provincial
elections in 1916. Women in Canada were given the right to vote in federal
elections in 1918. By 1925 all provinces except Quebec had granted women the
right to vote in provincial elections. Quebec finally gave women that right in 1940.
b. Canada suffered in the depression of the 1930s. Canada suffered from a huge
drop in exports of timber, grain and fish. By 1933 unemployment had soared to
23%. The government introduced relief works but economic hardship continued
throughout the 1930s. The depression only ended when the Second World War
began in 1939. However during World War II 45,000 Canadians were killed.
c. In the late 20th century the population of Canada grew rapidly. In 1951 it was 16
million. By 1961 it had risen to 18 million. After 1945 people from Southern and
Eastern Europe flocked to live in Canada. From the 1960s many immigrants
came from South Asia.
d. Meanwhile during the 1950s and 1960s the Canadian economy boomed and
Canada became an affluent society. Meanwhile television began in Canada in
1952. However things turned sour in the 1970s. In the early 1980s Canada
suffered a deep recession and unemployment rose to 11%.
e. In 1995 the people of Quebec voted in a referendum not to secede from Canada.
Then in 1999 North West Territories was divided into two and a new territory
called Nunavut was created.
f. In 1993 Kim Campbell became the first woman prime minister of Canada.
6. CANADA IN THE 21st CENTURY
a. Like other countries Canada suffered in the recession of 2009. However Canada
soon recovered. In April 2012 unemployment in Canada stood at 8.1%. However
by September 2013 it had fallen to 6.9%. Today Canada is a prosperous country
and it has vast natural resources. Today the population of Canada is around 35
million.