|
Assignment for United States History timeline:
|
|
1492 |
Columbus "discovers" America. | |
|
1497-1503 |
Amerigo Vespucci explores the coastline of the American continents. | |
|
c. 1500 - c. 1550 |
The Conquistadors colonize South and Central America. | |
|
1587 - 90 |
Establishment and disappearance of the Lost Colony. | |
|
1607 |
English colonists establish Jamestown. | |
|
1609 |
Henry Hudson explores the Hudson River and Hudson Bay. | |
|
1611 |
John Rolfe produces the first harvests of commercial tobacco. | |
|
1619 |
The first African slaves arrive in North America. Jamestown's House of Burgesses becomes the first elected governing body in America. | |
|
1620 |
The Mayflower arrives in America. | |
|
1621 |
The Pilgrims celebrate their first harvest. | |
|
1629 - 42 |
The "Great Migration" of Puritans to America. | |
|
1637 |
The first "Indian War." | |
|
1640s - 1670s |
New France (Québec) expands southward to the Gulf of Mexico. | |
|
1664 |
The English claim New Amsterdam (New York). | |
|
1692-93 |
The Salem Witch Trials. | |
|
1754 - 63 |
The French and Indian War. | |
|
1763 |
Britain gives French Louisiana to Spain in exchange for Florida. |
|
1763 |
King George's Proclamation Line | |
|
1764 - 67 |
Britain imposes a series of unpopular taxes. | |
|
1770 |
The Boston Massacre | |
|
1773 |
The Boston Tea Party | |
|
1774 |
Britain imposes the Intolerable Acts. The First Continental Congress is convened. | |
|
1775 - 81 | ||
|
1775 |
Paul Revere's "Midnight Ride." The Second Continental Congress is convened. | |
|
1776 |
Betsy Ross sews the first American flag. Signing of the Declaration of Independence. Washington crosses the Delaware. | |
|
1778 |
France recognizes the "United States of America." | |
|
1781 |
Signing of the Articles of Confederation. |
|
1783 |
Britain officially relinquishes all claims to the United States in the Treaty of Paris. | |
|
1786 |
Shay's Rebellion | |
|
1787 |
The Constitutional Convention is convened. | |
|
1789 |
Signing of the United States Constitution. George Washington becomes the first President of the United States. | |
|
1790 |
Washington DC is established. | |
|
1790 |
Signing of the Bill of Rights | |
|
1792 |
Formation of the first Republican (or Democratic-Republican) Party. | |
|
1793 |
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin. | |
|
1798 - 1800 |
The Quasi-War between the United States and France | |
|
1800 |
John Adams becomes the first resident of the Executive Mansion (White House). Spain gives Louisiana back to France. | |
|
1803 |
Marbury v. Madison | |
|
1803- 06 |
The Lewis and Clark Expedition | |
|
c. 1810 - 40 |
Era of the Mountain Men | |
|
1810 - 1850 |
Era of the Underground Railroad | |
|
1812 - 15 |
The "War of 1812" between the United States and Britain. | |
|
1814 |
British forces set fire to to the Executive Mansion. Francis Scott Key writes "The star Spangled Banner." | |
|
1820 |
The Missouri Compromise | |
|
1820s |
American families settle in the Mexican state of Texas. | |
|
1823 |
The Monroe Doctrine | |
|
1828 - 33 |
The Nullification Crisis divides North and South | |
|
1830 |
The Indian Removal Act | |
|
1833 |
Formation of the Whig Party | |
|
1835 - 36 |
The Texas Revolution | |
|
1838 |
The Trail of Tears tragedy | |
|
1845 |
The phrase "Manifest Destiny" is coined. Publication of the Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. | |
|
1846 - 48 | ||
|
1846 |
The Bear Flag Rebellion. The Donner Party attempts to reach California. | |
|
1847 |
Mormons establish the Mormon Trail and Salt Lake City. | |
|
1848 |
Gold is discovered in California. | |
|
1849 | ||
|
1850 |
The Fugitive Slave Act | |
|
1852 |
Publication of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin. | |
|
1854 |
The Kansas-Nebraska Act. Formation of the Republican Party. | |
|
1857 |
The Dred Scott decision | |
|
1859 |
Abolitionist John Brown raids the arms depot at Harpers Ferry. |
|
1860 |
Election of Abraham Lincoln. Secession of South Carolina. | |
|
1861 |
Secession of a further ten states. | |
|
1861 - 65 | ||
|
1862 |
The Emancipation Proclamation. | |
|
1863 |
The Homestead Act. Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. | |
|
1865 |
Assassination of President Lincoln. The Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery. |
|
1865 - 77 |
The period of Reconstruction | |
|
1866 |
The Civil Rights Act | |
|
1867 |
The first cattle-shipping railhead is established in Kansas. | |
|
1867 - 87 |
Era of the cross-country cattle drive. | |
|
1868 |
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson | |
|
1869 |
Completion of the first Transcontinental Railroad. | |
|
1870 |
John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil. The Fifteenth Amendment makes voting a constitutional right regardless of color. | |
|
1873 |
Publication of Mark Twain's The Gilded Age: A Tale of Today. | |
|
1876 |
Custer's Last Stand | |
|
1880 |
Thomas Edison patents his commercial light bulb. | |
|
1881 |
Assassination of President James A. Garfield. | |
|
1883 |
Creation of America's four time zones. | |
|
1885 |
The world's first skyscraper is built in Chicago. | |
|
1886 |
The Statue of Liberty is erected. The American Federation of Labor is founded. | |
|
late 1880s |
The "War of Currents" | |
|
1890 |
The Sherman Antitrust act. | |
|
1892 |
Ellis Island Immigration Bureau opens. | |
|
1896 |
Plessy v. Ferguson | |
|
1898 |
The Spanish American War | |
|
1901 |
Assassination of President William a McKinley. J. P. Morgan and Andrew Carnegie found US Steel. | |
|
1906 |
Publication of Upton Sinclair's meatpacking exposé The Jungle. The Meat Inspection Act and the Pure Food and Drug Act. | |
|
1909 |
The NAACP is founded. | |
|
1913 |
The Federal Reserve System is established. The Sixteenth Amendment introduces income tax. The Ford Motor Company pioneers the moving assembly line. | |
|
1914 |
The Panama Canal is opened. |
|
1914 - 18 |
World War I | |
|
1915 |
The sinking of the Lusitania. | |
|
1917 |
Interception of the "Zimmerman Telegraph." The United states enters the War. | |
|
1918 |
Wilson's Fourteen Points | |
|
1919 |
The Treaty of Versailles. The Eighteenth Amendment introduces Prohibition. The Nineteenth amendment grants women the right to vote. | |
|
1923 |
Commercial "talkies" are pioneered in New York City. | |
|
1927 |
The Jazz Singer is the first feature-length film with synchronized sound. | |
|
1929 |
St. Valentine's Day Massacre takes place in Chicago. |
|
1929 |
The Wall Street Crash | |
|
1930s |
The Great Depression The Dust Bowl | |
|
1931 |
"The Star-Spangled Banner" is officially adopted as the national anthem. | |
|
1932 |
Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal | |
|
1933 |
The Twenty-First Amendment repeals Prohibition | |
|
1935 - 1939 |
Congress passes four Neutrality Acts. | |
|
1939 - 1945 | ||
|
1941 |
Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The United States enters the War. | |
|
1944 |
D-Day in Normandie, France | |
|
1945 |
Atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. |
|
1945 |
The United Nations is founded. | |
|
1945 - 90 |
Era of the Cold War | |
|
1947 |
The Marshall Plan | |
|
1948 |
The US Army is desegregated. | |
|
1948 - 49 |
The Berlin Airlift | |
|
1950 - 53 |
The Korean War | |
|
1950 - 54 |
The McCarthy Witch Hunts | |
|
1954 |
Brown v. Board of Education | |
|
1955 |
The first American troops are sent to Vietnam. the Montgomery Bus Boycott. | |
|
1956 |
Public transportation is desegregated. | |
|
1957 | ||
|
1961 |
The Bay of Pigs invasion | |
|
1962 |
The Cuban Missile Crisis | |
|
1963 |
Martin Luther King's "I have a dream" speech. Assassination of President John F. Kennedy. | |
|
1964 |
The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution. The Civil Rights Act. | |
|
1965 |
The Voting Rights Act. Establishment of the Medicare and Medicaid programs. Assassination of Malcolm X. | |
|
1965 - 73 |
The Vietnam War | |
|
1966 |
The Black Panthers are founded. | |
|
1968 |
Assassination of Martin Luther King | |
|
1969 |
Neil Armstrong becomes the first man on the moon. | |
|
1969 - 70 |
Nixon's "secret war" in Cambodia | |
|
1972 |
Break-in at the Watergate complex. | |
|
1973 |
Roe v. Wade | |
|
1974 |
The House of Representatives begins impeachment proceedings against President Nixon. President Nixon resigns August 9, 1974. |