Colonists had run their own local assemblies for over a century before 1775. Is that long habit of self-government a long-term condition or an immediate cause of the Revolutionary War?

Colonists had argued with Parliament over taxes for ten years. Which event was the immediate trigger that turned that argument into open war in April 1775?

Britain ended the French and Indian War in 1763 carrying a huge war debt. What did Parliament do next that angered the colonists?

In December 1773, colonists destroyed a shipment of British tea in Boston Harbor. What did Parliament do in 1774 in response?

The Boston Tea Party of 1773 happened because Parliament passed the Intolerable Acts of 1774.

Under the Articles of Confederation, Congress could not tax or regulate trade between the states. What did that long-running weakness lead to in 1787?

Anti-Federalists refused to support the new Constitution unless it listed protections for individual rights. What was the effect of that demand?

Epidemics of smallpox and measles killed a large share of Indigenous people in the Americas after 1492. What condition made those epidemics so deadly?

Between 1600 and 1800, plantations in the Americas grew sugar, tobacco, and rice for European markets. What was one major effect of that plantation system?

In 1803 the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France. What was a direct effect of that purchase?

The Erie Canal opened in 1825, linking Lake Erie to the Hudson River. What was its main effect on trade?

Arguments over the spread of enslavement into new western territories had divided the country for decades. What was the immediate trigger of the Civil War in April 1861?

South Carolina voted to leave the Union on December 20, 1860. Which event came just before it and set off that vote?

What was one direct effect of the Union victory in the Civil War in 1865?

Montgomery's segregation laws had forced Black riders to give up bus seats for years. What was the immediate cause of the bus boycott that began in December 1955?

The Montgomery bus boycott lasted 381 days. What brought bus segregation in Montgomery to an end in late 1956?

In the late 1800s, Northern factories needed large numbers of workers. What effect did that demand have on nearby cities?

New England's thin rocky soil and short growing season made large plantation farming impossible. What long-term effect did that condition have on the region's economy?

Gold was found at Sutter's Mill in 1848, and California became a state in 1850. Why can the gold discovery not be an effect of statehood?

Gold was found in California in 1848. What was the immediate effect over the next two years?