Important Dates

1492

Christopher Columbus “discovers” the new world.

1607

Jamestown founded

1763

End of French and Indian War the led to the end of salutary neglect

1776

Declaration of Independence written, start of Revolutionary War

1787

Constitution written at the Constitutional Convention

1848

End of the Mexican-American War

1860

Start of Civil War, Abraham Lincoln’s election and subsequent secession of southern states

1865

End of Civil War

1877

End of Reconstruction with the Compromise of 1877

1898

Spanish-American War

1901

Progressive Era starts

1917

America enters World War I

1929

Stock markets crash leading to the Great Depression

1941

Pearl Harbor causing America to join World War II

1989/1991

Fall of Berlin and end of the Cold War