| Term | Definition |
|---|
| 12000 B.C. | North American Indian Cultures flourish. |
| 1000 | Leif Ericsson lands in Newfoundland. |
| 1492 | Columbus lands on Santo Domingo in the Caribbean. |
| 1513 | Juan Ponce’ De Leon lands in Florida. |
| 1565 | St. Augustine Florida 1st European settlement in North America. |
| 1607 | Jamestown 1st English colony in America. |
| 1619 | House of Burgesses meets. First African slaves brought to Jamestown. |
| 1620 | Pilgrims land on Plymouth Rock. |
| 1664 | New Amsterdam becomes New York. |
| 1763 | French and Indian War ends. England gains Canada and lands east of the Mississippi. |
| 1770 | Boston Massacre. British kill protesting colonists. |
| 1773 | Boston Tea Party. Colonists protesting British taxes dump tea into Boston Harbor. |
| 1775 | Battle of Lexington and Concord begins American Revolution. |
| 1776 | Declaration of Independence is signed. |
| 1781 | British surrender at Yorktown. |
| 1783 | Treaty of Paris is signed. |
| 1786 | Shays’ Rebellion. |
| 1787 | U.S. Constitution is written. |
| 1789 | Washington becomes first President under current constitution |
| 1791 | Bill of Rights is ratified. |
| 1800 | Capital moves from Philadelphia to Washington D.C. |
| 1801 | Jefferson becomes president in peaceful transition of power. |
| 1803 | Marbury Vs. Madison establishes precedent of Judicial Review. Louisiana purchase. |
| 1804 | Lewis and Clark expedition begins. |
| 1812 | U.S. declares war on Britain. |
| 1815 | Andrew Jackson defeats British at New Orleans. War of 1812 ends. |
| 1819 | Spain cedes Florida to U.S. McColloch v. Maryland upholds the national bank’s right to exist. |
| 1820 | Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) is admitted as a free state so that Missouri can be admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30' |
| 1823 | President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers |
| 1824 | Gibbons v. Ogden broadly defines Congress's right to regulate interstate commerce |
| 1825 | Erie Canal, linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie, is opened for traffic |
| 1830 | President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River |
| 1831 | Nat Turner, an enslaved African American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. |
| 1836 | Texas declares its independence from Mexico |
| 1838 | More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from Georgia to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Approximately 4,000 die from starvation and disease along the “Trail of Tears.” |
| 1845 | U.S. annexes Texas by joint resolution of Congress The term “manifest destiny” appears for the first time. It expresses the belief held by many white Americans that the United States is destined to expand across the continent. |
| 1846 | U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest |
| 1848 | Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California |
| 1850 | Compromise of ____: California is admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico territories are left to be decided by popular sovereignty, and the slave trade in Washington, DC, is prohibited. |
| 1854 | Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska (May 30). The legislation repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and renews tensions between anti- and proslavery factions. |
| 1857 | Dred Scott v. Sanford: Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that Congress does not have the right to ban slavery in states and, furthermore, that slaves are not citizens. |
| 1859 | Abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers capture federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W. Va.), in an attempt to spark a slave revolt (Oct. 16). |
| 1860 | South Carolina secedes from the Union |
| 1861 | Confederates attack Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C., marking the start of the Civil War. |
| 1863 | Emancipation Proclamation is issued, freeing slaves in the Confederate states |
| 1865 | Lincoln is assassinated (April 14) by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC. |
| 1867 | U.S. acquires Alaska from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million |
| 1869 | Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads are joined at Promontory, Utah, creating first transcontinental railroad |
| 1870 | Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote |
| 1871 | Chicago fire kills 300 and leaves 90,000 people homeless |
| 1876 | Lt. Col. George A. Custer's regiment is wiped out by Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn River, Mont. |
| 1886 | Statue of Liberty is dedicated (Oct. 28). American Federation of Labor is organized |
| 1890 | Last major battle of the Indian Wars occurs at Wounded Knee in South Dakota The frontier is closed. |
| 1896 | Plessy v. Ferguson: Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South |
| 1898 | Spanish-American War: USS Maine is blown up in Havana harbor. U.S. declares war on Spain (Spain gives up control of Cuba, which becomes an independent republic, and cedes Puerto Rico, Guam, and (for $20 million) the Philippines to the U.S. |
| 1903 | U.S. acquires Panama Canal Zone (treaty signed Nov. 17). Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, N.C. |
| 1914 | World War I: begins in ____, U.S. enters World War I in 1917. War ends in 1919 |
| 1916 | Jeannette Rankin of Montana is the first woman elected to the U.S. House of Representatives |
| 1918 | Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead. In U.S., 500,000 perish. |
| 1919 | Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, granting women the right to vote |
| 1925 | Tennessee passes a law against the teaching of evolution in public schools (March 23), setting the stage for the Scopes Monkey Trial |
| 1927 | Charles Lindbergh makes the first solo nonstop transatlantic flight in his plane The Spirit of St. Louis |
| 1929 | Stock market crash precipitates the Great Depression |
| 1931 | The Star-Spangled Banner is adopted as the national anthem |
| 1935 | Social Security Act is passed |
| 1938 | First minimum wage in the U.S. at 25 cents per hour |
| 1941 | Japan attacks Hawaii, Guam, and the Philippines (Dec. 7, 1941). U.S. declares war on Japan (Dec. 8). Germany and Italy declare war on the United States; U.S. reciprocates by declaring war on both countries |
| 1945 | U.S. drops atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan (Aug. 6). U.S. drops atomic bomb on Nagasaki, Japan (Aug. 9). Japan agrees to unconditional surrender |
| 1948 | The Marshall Plan, which provides for European postwar recovery (April 2). Soviets begin blockade of Berlin in the first major crisis of the cold war (June 24). In response, U.S. and Great Britain begin airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin (June 26). |
| 1949 | North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is established |
Combine with other sets
