Six questions of American history

On a cold evening in December 1773, a group of men climbed aboard three ships docked in Boston Harbor. Armed with hatchets, the men began breaking into the ships' valuable cargo-342 crates of tea. They dumped the tea into the black water of the harbor and then marched back home through the city streets. This Boston Tea Party" was a bold act of protest by American colonists against British rule. It pushed the colonies and Great Britain a step closer...

In September 1774, American colonial leaders gathered in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From New Hampshire to Georgia, colonists were angry about the taxes they were forced to pay to Great Britain. But Britain's King George III and the British government refused to listen to the colonists. Decisionmakers from each American colony held a congress-a formal meeting-to discuss what the colonies should do. Some leaders wanted to make peace with Britain. Others...

When Abraham Lincoln became president in March 1861, the United States was on the brink of the Civil War. Six states had already left the Union. The North and the South fought over the question of slavery. More than anything, Lincoln wanted to reunite the states. He refused to recognize the Confederacy as a separate country. Yet the Constitution didn't give the president the power to end slavery. But what could Lincoln do by law? Why was slavery so...

By the mid-1800s, thousands of white settlers were traveling westward through the Great Plains. Pioneers built farms and ranches, and companies laid railroads and dug mines. But the plains were the homeland and hunting grounds for many Native Americans. To protect their traditional lands, Native American warriors attacked white homes and settlements. The U.S. government tried to keep the peace by promising to keep white settlers and soldiers out of...

On May 26, 1838, U.S. soldiers surrounded Cherokee villages across Georgia. The soldiers came to force Cherokee families to move to a new territory in Oklahoma. The Cherokees had little time to gather their belongings before being herded into camps. From there, 13,000 were forced on the thousand-mile journey to Oklahoma. They had little food and no shelter from the weather. Many-especially children-grew sick and died. The forced march became known...

In December 1620, a group of English settlers stepped out of their boats and climbed up the shore to a point overlooking a small harbor. Known as the Pilgrims, they had traveled far on the Mayflower. Behind them was the vast Atlantic Ocean. Before them was the wilderness of North America. They called their new home the Plymouth Colony. But who were the Pilgrims? Why had they left England? And what lay ahead for them over the long winter in Plymouth?...

In June 1776, colonial delegates to the Continental Congress began writing a document to set up a new country-with a government independent from Britain. The Articles of Confederation created a limited centralized government, with states keeping most of the power. After sixteen months of debate, delegates finally passed the Articles on November 15, 1777. But afterward, many conflicts arose. It became clear that the country needed-but also feared-a...

In the late 1400s, Christopher Columbus was sure he could find a trade route from Spain to the Far East by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. On his first voyage, he landed on an island in the Caribbean Sea. He soon realizedn that this was not Asia and returned to Spain for more supplies. Even after three more attempts, Columbus never found a westward route to Asia. But his discoveries forever changed European views of the world and led to settlement...