Eras in American History

Americans before contact: 1400 – 1500  Communities are matrilineal  Farming begins in Mesoamerica  Olmecas, Mayans, Toltecs, Aztecas

Communities in North America  Cahokia  Chacoans  Choctaws

Colonial Period: 1500 – 1700  Building Communities  Indians removed from their homelands  Indentured servitude  Slavery

Revolutionary Period: 1700 – 1800  The concept of Republicanism  Declaration of Independence  Constitution

Pre-Industrial Period: 1800- 1840’s  Louisiana Purchase  The development of cotton  Textile mills  The concept of landownership  Indian Removal  Railroads, Steamboats, Canals, Cities develop

The Settling of the West and Western expansion: 1840’s – 1860’s  War with Mexico  Mexicans are displaced from their lands  Mexicans become Mexican - Americans