United States History Timeline

 

Continental United States

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1600s

• 1607-Settlement of Jamestown, Virginia

1610s

• 1619 First African slaves arrive at Jamestown, Virginia

1620s

• 1620 The ship Mayflower transporting the Pilgrim Fathers from Plymouth, England arrives in today's North Virginia
• 1620-Settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts

1680s

• King James II reduces colonial autonomy
• 1688-Glorious Revolution deposes James II and replaces him with William and Mary

1690s

• 1697-Treaty of Ryswick

1710s

• 1713-Treaty of Utrecht

1720s

1730s

1740s

• 1748-Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle

1750s

• 1752-Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment
• 1759-Battle of the Plains of Abraham, part of the Battle of Quebec (1759)

1760s

• 1760-King George III crowned
• 1763-Treaty of Paris (1763) ends French and Indian War
• 1765-Stamp Act passed

1770s

• 1773-Boston Tea Party
• 1774-First Continental Congress
• 1776-Declaration of Independence
• 1778-Treaty of Alliance

1780s

• 1781-Articles of Confederation adopted
• 1781-Bank of North America chartered
• 1783-Treaty of Paris (1783) ends United States Revolutionary War
• 1786-Shay's Rebellion
• 1787-Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey become states
• 1788-Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York become states
• 1789-Constitution adopted
• 1789-George Washington becomes President
• 1789-Judiciary Act
• 1789-Hamilton tariff
• 1789-Jay Gardoqui Treaty
• 1789-North Carolina becomes a state

1790s

• 1790-Rhode Island becomes a state
• 1791-First Bank of the United States chartered
• 1791-Vermont becomes a state
• 1792-Kentucky becomes a state
• 1793-Eli Whitney invents cotton gin
• 1793-Fugitive Slave Act passed
• 1793-Chisholm v. Georgia 2 US 419 1793 paves way for passage of Eleventh Amendment
• 1794-Whiskey Rebellion
• 1794-Battle of Fallen Timbers
• 1795-Jay Treaty
• 1796-Tennessee becomes a state
• 1797-John Adams becomes President
• 1797-XYZ Affair
• 1798-Alien and Sedition Acts
• 1798-Eleventh Amendment passed
• 1799-George Washington dies

1800s

• 1800-Library of Congress founded
• 1801-Thomas Jefferson becomes President
• 1803-Marbury v. Madison 5 US 137 1803 allows U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate law passed by Congress for first time, the Judiciary Act of 1789
• 1803-Louisiana Purchase Treaty
• 1803-Ohio becomes a state
• 1804-Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton duel
• 1804-Lewis and Clark set out
• 1806-Noah Webster's first dictionary
• 1806-Cumberland Road passed
• 1807-Embargo Act
• 1807-Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves

• 1809-James Madison becomes President
• 1809-Non-Intercourse Act

1810s

• 1810-Macon's Bill Number 2
• 1810-Fletcher v. Peck 10 US 87 1810 marks first time U.S. Supreme Court invalidates state legislative act
• 1811-Battle of Tippecanoe
• 1811-First Bank of the United States expires
• 1812-War of 1812 begins
• 1812-Daniel Webster elected to Congress
• 1812-Louisiana becomes a state
• 1814-Treaty of Ghent settles War of 1812
• 1816-Second Bank of the United States chartered
• 1816-Martin v. Hunter's Lessee 14 US 304 1816 establishes U.S. Supreme Court's power to review state court decisions
• 1816-Indiana becomes a state
• 1817-James Monroe becomes President
• 1817-Rush-Bagot Treaty
• 1817-Harvard Law School founded
• 1817-Bonus Bill
• 1817-Mississippi becomes a state
• 1818-Cumberland Road opened
• 1818-Illinois becomes a state
• 1819-Adams Onis Treaty
• 1819-McCulloch v. Maryland 17 US 316 1819 prohibits state laws from infringing upon Federal constitutional authority
• 1819-Dartmouth College v. Woodward 17 US 518 1819 protects principle of honoring contracts and charters
• 1819-Alabama becomes a state

1820s

• 1820-Missouri Compromise
• 1820-Maine becomes a state
• 1821-Missouri becomes a state
• 1822-Denmark Vesey executed
• 1823-Monroe Doctrine announced
• 1824-First presidential nomination political convention
• 1824-Gibbons v. Ogden cements Congressional control over interstate commerce
• 1825-John Quincy Adams becomes President
• 1825-Erie Canal opened
• 1826-John Adams and Thomas Jefferson die on July 4
• 1828-Tariff of Abominations passed
• 1829-Andrew Jackson becomes President

1830s

• 1831-Nat Turner's revolt
• 1832-Black Hawk War
• 1833-Oberlin College founded
• 1833-Force Bill passed
• 1836-Battle of the Alamo, Battle of San Jacinto
• 1836-Samuel Colt invents revolver
• 1836-Gag Rule imposed
• 1836-Specie Circular issued
• 1836-Arkansas becomes a state
• 1837-Martin Van Buren becomes President
• 1837-Caroline Affair
• 1837-Michigan becomes a state
• 1838-Aroostook War
• 1839-Amistad case

1840s

• 1841-William Henry Harrison becomes President and dies
• 1841-John Tyler becomes President
• 1842-Webster-Ashburton Treaty
• 1844-Samuel Morse sends first telegraph message
• 1845-James Knox Polk becomes President
• 1845-US Naval Academy opens
• 1845-Florida and Texas become states
• 1846-First baseball game played
• 1846-Wilmot Proviso suggested
• 1846-Walker tariff
• 1846-Iowa becomes a state
• 1848-Seneca Falls convention
• 1848-Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo
• 1848-Wisconsin becomes a state
• 1849-Elizabeth Blackwell becomes doctor
• 1849-Zachary Taylor becomes President

1850s

• 1850-Millard Fillmore becomes President
• 1850-Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
• 1850-Compromise of 1850 passed
• 1850-California becomes a state
• 1851-New York Times founded
• 1851-Moby Dick published
• 1853-Franklin Pierce becomes President
• 1853-Commodore Matthew Perry opens Japan
• 1853-Gadsden Purchase

• 1854-Kansas Nebraska Act
• 1854-Ostend Manifesto
• 1854-Kanagawa Treaty
• 1856-Preston Brooks canes Charles Sumner
• 1857-James Buchanan becomes President
• 1857-Dred Scott v. Sanford 60 US 393 1857 declares that blacks are not citizens of the United States and cannot sue
• 1858-Transatlantic cable laid
• 1858-Minnesota becomes a state
• 1859-Harper's Ferry Raid
• 1859-Comstock Lode discovered
• 1859-Oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania
• 1859-Oregon becomes a state

1860s

• 1860-Pony Express begins
• 1861-Abraham Lincoln becomes President
• 1861-United States Civil War begins
• 1861-Morrill tariff
• 1861-Kansas becomes a state
• 1862-Homestead Act
• 1862-Pacific Railway Act
• 1862-Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act
• 1863-National Banking Act
• 1863-West Virginia becomes a state
• 1864-Wade Davis Bill
• 1864-Sand Creek Massacre
• 1864-Maximilian Affair
• 1864-Nevada becomes a state
• 1865-Abraham Lincoln assassinated
• 1865-Andrew Johnson becomes President
• 1865-United States Civil War ends
• 1865-Ku Klux Klan founded
• 1865-Freedman's Bureau

• 1866-Civil Rights Act
• 1866-Ex Parte Milligan 71 US 2 1866 rules that civilians cannot be tried in military tribunals when civilian courts are available
• 1867-Tenure of Office Act
• 1867-Congressional Reconstruction Act
• 1867-US purchases Alaska
• 1867-Nebraska becomes a state
• 1868-Burlingame Treaty
• 1868-University of California chartered
• 1868-Typewriter invented
• 1869-Ulysses S. Grant becomes President
• 1869-Wyoming grants women's suffrage
• 1869-Golden spike nailed in

• 1869-James Fisk and Jay Gould's "Black Friday"

1870s

• 1870- First graduate programs (Yale, Harvard)
• 1871- Great Chicago fire
• 1872-Yellowstone National Park created
• 1872-Amnesty Act
• 1872-Alabama Claims
• 1875-Aristides wins first Kentucky Derby
• 1875-Resumption Act
• 1876-Central Park completed
• 1876-National League Baseball founded
• 1876-Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
• 1876-Munn v. Illinois 94 US 113 1876 deals with corporate entities and grain elevator rates
• 1876-Colorado becomes a state
• 1877-Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President
• 1877-Reconstruction ends
• 1878-Bland-Allison Act
• 1878-Morgan silver dollars first minted
• 1879-Edison invents light bulb

1880s

• 1880- US population exceeds 50 million
• 1881-James Garfield becomes President
• 1881-James Garfield assassinated
• 1881-Chester A. Arthur becomes President
• 1881-Clara Barton creates Red Cross
• 1881-Tuskegee Institute founded
• 1882-John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
• 1882-Chinese Exclusion Act
• 1883-Civil Rights Cases 109 US 3 1883 legalizes doctrine of segregation
• 1883-Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
• 1883-Brooklyn Bridge opens
• 1885-Grover Cleveland becomes President for the first time
• 1885-Washington monument completed
• 1885-Stanford University founded
• 1886-Haymarket Riot
• 1886-American Federation of Labor founded in Columbus, Ohio
• 1887-Congress creates Interstate Commerce Commission
• 1887-Dawes Act
• 1887-Hatch Act
• 1888-Looking Backward published
• 1888-National Geographic Society founded
• 1889-Benjamin Harrison becomes President
• 1889-North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington become states
• 1889-Johnstown flood
• 1889-Jane Addams founds Hull House

1890s

• 1890-Sherman Antitrust Act
• 1890-Sherman Silver Purchase Act
• 1890-McKinley tariff
• 1890-Yosemite National Park created
• 1890-Idaho and Wyoming become states
• 1890-Wounded Knee Massacre
• 1891-Basketball invented
• 1891-Baltimore Crisis

• 1892-Homestead Strike
• 1893-Grover Cleveland becomes President for the second time
• 1893-Depression begins
• 1894-Coxey's Army
• 1894-Pullman strike
• 1894-Wilson-Gorman tariff, including Income Tax
• 1895-Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company strikes down part of Wilson-Gorman Tariff
• 1896-Plessy v. Ferguson 163 US 537 1896 legalizes segregation in railway cars
• 1896-William Jennings Bryant Cross of Gold speech
• 1896-Gold discovered in Klondike
• 1896-Utah becomes a state
• 1897-William McKinley becomes President
• 1897-Boston subway completed
• 1897-Dingley tariff
• 1898-DeLome Letter
• 1898-Treaty of Paris (1898) ends Spanish-American War

1900s

• 1900-US population exceeds 75 million
• 1900-Foraker Act
• 1900-Gold Standard Act
• 1901-William McKinley assassinated
• 1901-Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
• 1901-John Pierpont Morgan creates US Steel
• 1901-Platt Amendment
• 1901-Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
• 1902-Drago Doctrine
• 1902-First Rose Bowl game played
• 1902-Newlands Reclamation Act
• 1903-Great Train Robbery opens
• 1903-Ford Motor Company formed
• 1903-First World Series
• 1903-Elkins Act
• 1903-Big Stick Diplomacy
• 1903-Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty
• 1903-Hay-Herran Treaty
• 1904-Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
• 1905-Niagara Falls conference
• 1906-Algeciras Conference
• 1906-Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act
• 1906-Hepburn Act
• 1907-Gentlemens Agreement
• 1907-Oklahoma becomes a state
• 1908-Ford Model T appears on market
• 1908-Root-Takahira agreement
• 1908-Federal Bureau of Investigation established
• 1908-Aldrich Vreeland Act
• 1909-William Howard Taft becomes President
• 1909-Peary reaches North Pole
• 1909-W. E. B. DuBois founds NAACP
• 1909-Payne-ldrich tariff

1910s

• 1910-Boy Scouts of America chartered
• 1910-Mann Elkins Act
• 1910-Mann Act
• 1911-Supreme Court breaks up Standard Oil
• 1912-Titanic sinks
• 1912-New Mexico and Arizona become states
• 1913-Woodrow Wilson becomes President
• 1913-Federal Reserve created
• 1913-Underwood tariff
• 1914-Mother's Day created
• 1914-Federal Trade Commission created
• 1914-ABC Powers
• 1915-The Birth of a Nation opens
• 1915-Lusitania sunk
• 1916-US acquires Virgin Islands
• 1916-Jeanette Rankin elected
• 1916-Louis Brandeis appointed to Supreme Court
• 1916-Adamson Railway Labor Act
• 1916-Federal Farm Loan Act
• 1917-Zimmerman telegram
• 1917-Espionage and Sedition Acts
• 1917-Lansing-Ishii Agreement
• 1918-Fourteen Points
• 1919-League of Nations

1920s

• 1920-US Population tops 100 million
• 1920-Sacco and Vanzetti arrested
• 1920- First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• 1920-Volstead Act
• 1920-Esch Cummins Act
• 1921-Warren G. Harding becomes President
• 1921-Emergency Quota Act
• 1922-Fordney McCumber tariff
• 1923-Warren G. Harding dies
• 1923-Calvin Coolidge becomes President
• 1923-Yankee Stadium opens
• 1924-Immigration Act Basic Law
• 1924-Indian Reorganization Act
• 1925-Scopes trial
• 1925-Nellie Tayloe Ross elected
• 1927-Sacco and Vanzetti executed
• 1927-Jazz Singer opens
• 1928-Steamboat Willie opens
• 1928-Kellogg-Briand Pact
• 1929-Herbert Hoover becomes President
• 1929-Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
• 1929-Immigration Act

1930s

• 1930-Hawley-Smoot tariff
• 1930-Pluto discovered
• 1931-Empire State Building opens
• 1932-Stimson Doctrine
• 1932-Norris-Laguardia Act
• 1932-Bonus Army marches on DC
• 1932-Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean
• 1932-Norris LaGuardia Anti Injunction Bill
• 1932-Reconstruction Finance Corporation
• 1933-Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes President
• 1933-Agricultural Adjustment Act
• 1933-Civil Works Administration
• 1933-Civilian Conservation Corps
• 1933-Farm Credit Administration
• 1933-Home Owners Loan Corporation
• 1933-Tennessee Valley Authority
• 1933-Public Works Administration
• 1933-National (Industrial) Recovery Act
• 1933-Zangara kills Anton Cermak
• 1933-Frances Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor
• 1933-Montevideo Conference
• 1934-Glass Steagal Act
• 1934-Securities and Exchange Commission
• 1934-Federal Housing Administration
• 1934-Johnson Act
• 1934-Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
• 1934-Tydings-McDuffie Act
• 1934-John Dillinger killed
• 1935-Works Progress Administration
• 1935-Neutrality Act
• 1935-Motor Carrier Act
• 1935-Social Security Act
• 1935-National Labor Relations Act
• 1935-Huey Long assassinated
• 1935-Congress of Industrial Organizations formed
• 1935-Alcoholics Anonymous founded
• 1936-Robinson Patman Act
• 1936-Life Magazine begins
• 1937-Neutrality Acts
• 1937-Hindenburg explodes
• 1937-Japanese planes sink Panay in China
• 1937-Golden Gate bridge completed
• 1938-Wheeler Lea Act
• 1938-Fair Labor Standards Act
• 1939-Hatch Act
• 1938-War of the Worlds broadcast
• 1939-Cash and Carry

1940s

• 1940-Selective Service Act
• 1940-Alien Registration (Smith) Act
• 1941-Lend Lease Act
• 1941-Pearl Harbor attacked
• 1941-Atlantic Charter
• 1942-Office of Price Administration
• 1942-Cocoanut Grove fire
• 1943-Cairo Conference
• 1943-Casablanca Conference
• 1944-Bretton Woods Conference
• 1944-Dumbarton Oaks Conference
• 1944-GI Bill of Rights
• 1945-Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies
• 1945-Harry S Truman becomes President
• 1946-Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech
• 1946-Benjamin Spock's Child Care book published
• 1947-Presidential Succession Act
• 1947-Taft Hartley Act
• 1947-National Security Act
• 1941-Atlantic Charter
• 1947-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
• 1948-Berlin Blockade

1950s

• 1950-McCarron Internal Security Act
• 1951-Mutual Security Act
• 1952-ANZUS Treaty
• 1952-Immigration and Naturalization Act
• 1953-Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President
• 1954-Saint Lawrence Seaway Act
• 1954-Baghdad Pact
• 1956-Interstate Highway Act
• 1957-Eisenhower Doctrine
• 1957-Civil Rights Act
• 1958-National Defense Education Act
• 1959-Landrum-Griffin Act
• 1959-Alaska and Hawaii become states

1960s

• 1961-John F. Kennedy becomes President
• 1961-Peace Corps
• 1961-Alliance for Progress
• 1961-Bay of Pigs
• 1961-Berlin Crisis
• 1962-Trade Expansion Act
• 1962-Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1963-John F. Kennedy assassinated
• 1963-Lyndon Johnson becomes President
• 1963-Atomic Test Ban Treaty
• 1964-Great Society proposed
• 1964-Civil Rights Act
• 1964-Full Employment Act
• 1965-Immigration Act
• 1965-Voting Rights Act
• 1965-Medicaid and Medicare enacted
• 1969-Richard Nixon becomes President

1970s

• 1970-Environmental Protection Agency enacted
• 1974-Richard Nixon resigns Presidency
• 1974-Gerald R. Ford becomes President
• 1977-Jimmy Carter becomes President
• 1978-Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act
• 1979-Iran-Hostage crisis begins
• 1978-Camp David Accords (1978)

1980s

• 1980-Refugee Act
• 1981-Ronald Reagan becomes President
• 1981-Kemp Roth Tax Cuts
• 1986-Tax Reform Act of 1986
• 1986-Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act
• 1989-George Bush becomes President

1990s

• 1993-Bill Clinton becomes President

2000s

• 2001-George W. Bush becomes President
• 2001-World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks
• 2002-Homeland Security Act

See also

Timeline of United States diplomatic history

 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, which means that you can copy and modify it as long as the entire work (including additions) remains under this license. See http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html for details. It uses material from the Wikipedia article Timeline_of_United_States_history

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