Discover how the Erie Canal opened the passage to the West, bringing people new opportunities.

In May 1787, men from all over the United States arrived in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on serious business. Just eleven years earlier, colonial leaders had met in Philadelphia to declare their independence from Great Britain. But now the young country was in trouble. The U.S. government was weak, and its guiding document-the Articles of Confederation-was failing. Throughout the summer of 1787, state representatives and leaders argued, shouted, and...

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.

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 George Washington was twenty-two years old, he served as an officer in the British colonial army. He helped Great Britain in its struggle against France for control of North America. Both armies had set up forts and had formed alliances with the Native Americans, but until 1754, there had not been any battles. Everything changed when British soldiers ambushed the French at Fort Necessity on July 3. Within days, the French fought back, brutally...

Examines the Lewis and Clark Expedition, describing their equipment and gear, the people involved, the hardships they overcame, and the sights they saw in the American West between 1804 and 1806.

Discover the facts about the 1787 Convention and the writing of the Constitution.

In December 1606, three ships carrying 105 men and boys set sail from Dover, England. The ships headed for the eastern shores of North America. There the men planned to establish a new colony known as Virginia. Sailing into the Chesapeake Bay, the settlers excitedly observed a vast wilderness of thick grasses, green forests, and wide rivers. But as the newcomers built their settlement, they struggled with disagreements, hard labor, food shortages,...

Answers questions regarding the Oregon Trail and the circumstances surrounding it.

When the Missouri Territory applied for statehood in 1818, the United States had an equal number of free states and slave states. The territory's leaders wanted Missouri to be a slave state. But that would have destroyed the balance of representation in Congress. A heated debate broke out. The southern representatives and Missouri's leaders thought states should be able to decide the slavery question for themselves. Northern members of Congress thought...