U.S. History Archives

A Brief History of Independence Day

July 4 is universally recognized to be the day in which the United States gained independence from Great Britain in 1776 and is celebrated as Independence Day. It is one of eleven federal holidays and one of the most widely observed holidays in the country. It has been celebrated since at least 1777, making it one of the longest continually celebrated holidays in the country.

SCOTUS: The Time When It Declared Texas’s Secession Illegal (Texas v. White)

Texas v. White was a landmark Supreme Court case decided in 1869 in which the court established that, shockingly, the secession of a state from the United States is unconstitutional and despite Texas’s declaration of secession from the Union during the Civil War, Texas had never actually left the Union and all acts by the state legislature declaring otherwise were “absolutely null.”

It’s Time to Abolish Daylight Saving Time

On Sunday, millions of Americans (except Arizonans, Hawaii residents, and residents of most U.S. territories) “sprang forward” one hour in order to observe daylight saving time for the next eight months, until the first Sunday in November, when everyone “falls back” again onto standard time. Daylight saving time is, however, an old, antiquated concept and it is well past time that America—and the rest of the world—rids itself of.

SCOTUS: Why the Supreme Court Matters (Marbury v. Madison)

The Supreme Court of the United States is the highest and most important court of the U.S. It has the power of judicial review and sets precedents for all other court cases in its decisions via common law. However, the power of judicial review, meaning the power to strike down laws, statues, executive orders, etc. that the court finds to be unconstitutional, was not given to the courts in the Constitution. Why, then, does the court have this power?

US History In the Colonial Period

Episode 2: The Colonial Period

In around fifty posts, we will go over the basics of U.S. History and give a brief overview of the main events that occurred from the first settlers arriving in America to the modern-day. This series is based on the AP U.S. History curriculum.

In today’s post, we are going to cram almost 200 years of American history into one post. Continuing on from the previous post, we are going to continue our discussion on the American colonial period. As this section is generally glossed over in most cases, we will only cover the major events of the colonial period.

The Beginnings of US History: The First Colonies

The first people arrived on the American continent around 15,000 BCE. Native American tribes existed for over a thousand years before Europeans got there. Although they had no metalworking abilities, no written language, no wheels (and thus no transportation), and no domestication of animals, they did have basic civilizations, farming, and trade networks.

After Columbus’s discovery* of the Americas back in 1492, the Spanish claimed islands in the Caribbean and in modern-day Mexico, Florida, and the southern United States. The Spanish explored areas as far as the Appalachians, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon, and even as far as the Great Plains. In fact, much of the southwestern United States was once part of Spain (and later Mexico), explaining why cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, Santa Fe, El Paso, San Antonio, and so on had Spanish names. This began a period of European exploration of the new continent. Also, this period was also characterized by Native American revolts against European settlers, who often brought disease and destruction along with them to America.

The first British colony was established in Roanoke, North Carolina, in 1585, but the colony fell apart later, leaving only a mysterious message carved into a tree (check out this amazing video by Lemmino to find out more about the lost colony of Roanoke here). Britain’s first successful American colony was in Jamestown, Virginia, which was established in 1607. It was established by the Virginia Company to search for gold (said gold, obviously, did not exist). At the time, most colonists came to America to search for gold and other valuables, and later, to escape religious or political oppression back home in England. Because they were so ill-prepared, they had to rely on Native Americans to teach them how to farm after the colonists suffered from disease and starvation.

By 1610, many colonists had died and the population had severely dwindled. To persuade people to move to America, 50 acres of land were given to each person. Luckily, because tobacco was found in the colony, the colony was able to live on and maintain a steady stream of income for the colony. The first shipment of African slaves to Jamestown occurred in 1619 to help with tobacco farming. By 1624, the colony produced over 200,000 lbs. of tobacco per year! Also, due to this, over one-half of all European colonists were indentured servants.

Another famous colony to be established in America was Plymouth, Massachusetts, settled by the Pilgrims and Puritans in 1620. The Pilgrims (and Puritans) were fleeing England due to religious prosecution. Both groups were Protestants and felt that the Church of England was too Catholic for them, and so decided to head to America. They originally intended to sail to Virginia on their ship, the Mayflower, however, they went off-course and landed in Plymouth instead, and established the Mayflower Compact, a set of rules all the people on the Mayflower would follow. This can be considered the first “government” in the United States.

The colonists in Plymouth suffered from starvation and disease and had to rely on local Wampanoag Indians, led by Squanto, to teach them how to grow food. The first Thanksgiving was held by the colonists in Plymouth in 1621 on the fourth Thursday in November after they finally had enough food. The Plymouth colony was succeeded by the much more successful Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1691.

The Massachusetts Bay Colony was established near what is now Boston in 1630. They established charter self-government from England, which gave them more autonomy compared to Virginia, and elected John Winthrop as its governor. Due to the poor farming land of New England, the area became a center for commerce and industry. Because of this, Boston became one of the most important ports.

The only other major Southern colony established during this time, outside of Virginia, was in Maryland, established in 1632. Like Virginia, it was based on plantations fueled by slave labor. In many ways, Americans like to believe that the United States was founded by groups of people seeking religious freedom from the oppressive British. However, this was only partly true. For example, the Puritans based their society on the Church, which meant that non-church members had no representation or say. Plus, the first colonies were set up for money.

*Columbus was not the first to discover America. Read more about it here.

How July 4th Came to Be

Independence Day, or the Fourth of July, is a federal holiday commemorating the United States’ Declaration of Independence from Great Britain and takes place annually on July 4. On this July 4th, let’s take a look at some of the history commemorating America’s oldest holiday.