Year: 1689

What happened: John Locke proposed the concept of Human Rights. According to Locke, all people are equal in the sense that they are born with certain "unalienable" inherent rights. That is, God-given rights that can never be stolen or even given away. "Life, liberty, and property," according to Locke, are among these essential inherent rights.

Significance and Impact: The American colonial religious landscape was saturated by Enlightenment ideas of rationality, intellectual and religious freedom, and these values were essential in the American Revolution and the formation of a nation without an established religion. The Enlightenment ideas functions as not only an inspiration toward the American’s independence that takes back their deprived human rights, but also possess the significance of being the basis of the nationally agreed, or shared, ideals of the entire country. Until today, America still emphasizes the cruciality of liberty and individual property rights, which was also two of the five founding ideals.

Year:1773

What happened: The Intolerable Acts were a set of punitive measures enacted by the British Parliament in the aftermath of the Boston Tea Party in 1774. The rules were intended to penalize Massachusetts colonists for their resistance during the Tea Party protests against the Tea Act, a tax measure established by Parliament. The acts permitted the Royal Navy to blockade Boston Harbor because "his Majesty's subjects' commerce cannot be carried on safely there." 1 On June 1, 1774, the blockade began, essentially blocking Boston's harbor to commercial commerce. It also prohibited any shipments to foreign ports or provinces. And the colonies were not able to engage and vocalize for themselves.

Significance and impact: The Brits dubbed their retaliatory actions in response to the Boston Tea Party the Coercive Acts. Boston Harbor was restricted to shipping until the tea proprietors were paid. Only food and firewood could be brought into the port. Town gatherings were prohibited, and the royal governor's authority was expanded. More significantly, the colonizes were deprived and repressed to their extreme and ultimately began their war for independence.

Year: 1775-1783

What is it: It is a major war of American Revolution. It was a war between America and Britain, and it was ended up with the formal ratification of Treaty of Paris in September 3, 1783, when Britain accepted American independence as a country.

Why Significant: It was the foundation of US as a country, a monument which symbolized the core values of American ideals of independence and freedom. Because of this war, American was no longer regulated by Britain as a colony. 

Year: 1787

What is it: It was an agreement that was reached among state delegates that determined three out of every five slaves was counted when determining a state’s total population for legislative representation and taxation. 

Why important: It intensify the impression of the construction of a new government that impressed people with high equality and freedom, even the agreement is contradicted to the idea of equality itself. 

Year: 1815

What happened: Even the root of the railway development can be derived to 1630 when England began to use wooden rails, but the railway system was not introduced into America until 1815 when  Colonel John Stevens gained the first charter in North America to build the New Jersey Railroad company.

How significant: Railway was crucial in American Revolution, since it could allow more efficient transportation between continentals. Railways also gave rise to trans-continental commerce to develop more efficiently.

Year: 1846-1848

What is it: It was a war between US and Mexico, since Mexico for the territory of Texas. The war was ended with US victorious.

Why significant? The treaty effectively halved the size of Mexico and doubled the territory of the United States. This territorial exchange had long-term effects on both nations. The war and treaty extended the United States to the Pacific Ocean, and provided a bounty of ports, minerals, and natural resources for a growing country.

Year: 1865

What happened: What tent cities and the Emancipation Proclamation had started, the 13th Amendment concluded. On December 6, 1865, the United States abolished slavery by amending the Constitution to state, "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted." The 13th Amendment was printed in a limited quantity of signed commemorative copies. Only a few people survive. This autographed copy was delivered to Schuyler Colfax, Speaker of the House of Representatives and longtime abolitionist who was essential in getting the resolution passed by Congress.

Significance and impacts to society: the 13th amendment signals an end to the American Civil War, and announces the abolishment of slavery. The former slaves were set free, and laws that protects their rights were passed as well. The inequality between races decreased, and the sharp conflicts between the southern and northern parts of the country was mediated.

Year: 1873

What happened: The panic began with an issue in Europe, when the stock market fell. Investors began to liquidate their holdings in American projects, notably railways.

Significance and impact: The 1873 financial panic and following economic collapse contributed to the formal end of Reconstruction. Business bankruptcies, unemployment, and tighter credit heightened class and racial tensions across the country, but notably in the South, and fueled calls for government retrenchment.It also precipitated the first "Great Depression" in the United States and elsewhere. The economic slowdown, which lasted from September 1873 to 1878/9, became known as the Long Depression following the 1929 stock market disaster.