History of united states

History of the United States

EditWatch this pageThe flag of the United States during the American RevolutionThe flag that the United States uses nowThe history of the United States is what happened in the past in the United States, a country in North America.Native Americans have lived there for thousands of years, long beforeEuropeans went there. In 1492,Christopher Columbus went to America. In 1607, English people went toJamestown, Virginia. This was the first successful English town in North America. The American colonies weresettled mostly by England. People fromFrance, Spain, and the Netherlands also lived in America. While the colonies were growing, many Native Americans died of disease or lost their land.By 1733, there were 13 colonies. In 1775, at Lexington and Concord, a war between the colonies and England called the Revolutionary War started. This war started because the American colonists believed that they were not being treated equally to the Englishmen living in England. On July 4, 1776, people from the thirteen coloniescreated the United States Declaration of Independence created by Thomas Jefferson. This said that they were free from England. George Washingtonhelped lead the Americans during the Revolutionary War, which the Americans won.After the Revolution, the United States set about becoming a new nation withGeorge Washington becoming its first president. The leaders of the states created a constitution in 1787 and a Bill of Rights in 1791. These were based on the idea of "social contracts". In the early 1800s, the new nation faced many controversial issues, such as slavery.During the 1800s, the United States gained much more land in the West and began to become industrialized. In 1861, several states in the South left the United States to start a new country called the Confederate States of America. This caused the American Civil War. After the war and reconstruction, many people immigrated to the United States from Europe, looking for work. Some Americans became very rich in this Gilded Age and the country developed one of the largest economiesin the world.In the early 20th century, the United States became a world power, fighting in World War I and World War II. Between the wars, there was an economic boom called the Roaring Twenties when people became richer and a bust called the Great Depressionwhen most were much poorer. The Great Depression ended with World War II during Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidency.After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union entered a time known as the Cold War. Most of this happened during the Dwight D. Eisenhower andJohn F. Kennedy presidencies. The Cold War included an expensive arms raceand space race. During the Lyndon B. Johnson presidency, the wars in Koreaand Vietnam cost even more money and effect on the United States. During this time, African-Americans, Chicanos, and women fought for more rights. In 1973, President Richard Nixon resigned as president due to the Watergate Scandal. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States started to make fewer things in factories than they used to. The United States then went through the worstrecession it had since the Great Depression during the Gerald Ford andJimmy Carter administration.During the 1980s, the United States was dominated by the Reagan Era led by President Ronald Reagan. During the era, the American economy grew and American-Soviet relations got better. The Cold War ended, helping the United States out of recession by reducinginflation during the Bill Clintonpresidency. The Middle East became important in American foreign policy, especially after the September 11 attacks in 2001 during the George W. Bush administration. In 2009, Barack Obama became the first black president of the United States.

Pre-Columbian AmericaEdit

A Native American hunting buffaloSee also: History of North AmericaThe Pre-Columbian Era is the time before Christopher Columbus went to America in 1492. At that time, Native Americans lived on the land that is now the United States. They had differentcultures: Native Americans in the Eastern United States hunted game anddeer; Native Americans in the Northwestfished; Native Americans in the Southwest grew corn and built houses called pueblos; and Native Americans in the Great Plains hunted buffalo.[1][2]Around the year 1000, many people think that the Vikings visitedNewfoundland. However, they did not settle there.[3]