United States history

The flag of the United States during the American Revolution
The history of the United States is what happened in the past in the United States, a country in North America. Native Americans have lived there for thousands of years, long before Europeans went there. English people in 1607 went to the territory nowadays called Jamestown, Virginia. Other European settlers went to the colonies, mostly from England and later Great Britain. France, Spain, and the Netherlands also colonized North America. Many Native Americans were killed, died of disease or lost their land.

By 1733, there were 13 colonies. In 1775, a war between the colonies and Britain called the Revolutionary War started. This war started because the American colonists were upset over changes in British policies. On July 4, 1776, people from the thirteen colonies created the United States Declaration of Independence. This said that they were free from Great Britain. George Washington helped lead the Revolutionary War, which the Americans won.

After the Revolution, the leaders of the states created a constitution in 1787 and a Bill of Rights in 1791. These were based on the idea of "social contracts". George Washington became its first president. In the early 1800s, the new nation faced many controversial issues, such as slavery.

During the 1800s, the United States gained much more land in the West and began to become industrialized. In 1861, several states in the South left the United States to start a new country called the Confederate States of America. This caused the American Civil War. After the war, Immigration resumed. Some Americans became very rich in this Gilded Age and the country developed one of the largest economies in the world.

In the early 20th century, the United States became a world power, fighting in World War I and World War II. Between the wars, there was an economic boom called the Roaring Twenties when people became richer and a bust called the Great Depression when most were much poorer. The Great Depression ended with World War II.

The United States and the Soviet Union entered the Cold War. This was very expensive. The wars in Korea and Vietnam cost even more. During this time, African-Americans, Chicanos, and women fought for more rights. In 1974, President Richard Nixon resigned as president due to the Watergate Scandal. In the 1970s and 1980s, the United States started to make fewer things in factories than they used to. The United States then went through the worst recession it had since the Great Depression.

During the 1980s, the American economy grew and American-Soviet relations became better during the presidency of Ronald Reagan. The Cold War ended, helping the United States out of recession by reducing inflation. The Middle East became more important in American foreign policy, especially after the September 11 attacks in 2001. In 2009, Barack Obama became the first black president of the United S