If you happened to have attended school in the US, you would probably say that the history of the US started in 1492 when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.  This is an easy starting point for American history, even though Native Americans had inhabited the Americas well before Columbus, Cortes, or even the Norsemen arrived on its shores.

With the introduction of Europeans also came the introduction of many destructive forces that eventually would wipe out a significant portion of the Native American population, as the New World had largely been isolated from the diseases of the Old World and the destructive technological advances like gunpowder, which had originated in the East.  These forces forged the way for European domination of the Americas.

Beginning in 1519, England, France, The Netherlands, Spain, and Portugal established colonies in the Americas.  Trade was the main concern for most of the Europeans settlers.  The English, however, were more invested in the idea of land acquisition and were the first to establish large agricultural settlements, which paved the way for much of US history. Due to the violence of early colonization and disease, there was a shortage of cheap native labor

Jamestown, VA was the first permanent English settlement and was shortly followed by Massachusetts, which was settled by the Puritans.  These two colonies were followed by New Hampshire, Maryland, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, North Carolina, South Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and Georgia to round off the original 13 colonies.  Throughout the late 1600s and early 1700s, the English and the French were constantly battling over the colonies, and to a certain extent, it was with the aid of the French that the colonies declared freedom from Great Britain in 1776 during the American Revolution and established the United States of America under the Articles of the Confederation.

In 1787 the current U.S. Constitution was drafted, creating the office of President, a two house Congress and a federal court system.  George Washington, who had commanded the American army during the revolution, was president of the convention that drafted the Constitution and would eventually be elected the first President of the United States.  The first capital of the U.S. under the Constitution was New York City.  The capital would move several times before the creation of a permanent capital city in a malaria infested swamp which is now known as Washington D.C.  Thomas Jefferson, who had written the Declaration of  Independence and who would eventually be elected the third President, complained that the Constitution did nothing to protect the rights of citizens.  Congress eventually proposed ten amendments to the Constitution setting forth the rights of citizens.  These amendments are commonly refered to as the Bill of Rights. 

The Louisiana Purchase of 1803 was perhaps the best bargain in terms of land acquisition for the newly established states -- at 3 cents an acre, the colonies were able to purchase what now comprises about 22% of the modern US from France. The states continued to grow with the independence of Texas from the Mexicans and the Mexican War that occured a decade later.  With the Mexican Concession, the United States had established the boundaries for the continental 48 states.  And although Alaska was purchased from the Russians in 1867, it did not become a state until 1959 along with Hawaii.

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