dates histoire

1565

first permanent European settlement in North America

1607

Jamestown, Virginia, founded by English settlers who start growing tobacco

1620

Pilgrims Fathers arrive in North America on the Mayflower

17th-18th centuries

beginning of the Transatlantic Slave Trade; Hundred of thousands of Africans brought over and sold into slavery to work on cotton and tobacco plantations

1756-1763

Seven Year's War between Britain and France over the control of territory up to the Mississippi River

War of Independence

1775- 1783

1774

First Continental Congress

1775

American Revolution: Georges Washington leads colonist Continental Army to fight against the British troops

4 July 1776

Thomas Jefferson's American Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress ; colonies declare independence

1781

Rebel British colonies create a confederation, codified in Articles of Confederation, after defeating the British at the Battle of Yorktown

1783

Britain accepts the loss of colonies in the Treaty of Paris

1787

Founding Fathers draw up new Constitution for United States of America

1789

Georges Washington elected first president of USA

1791

Bill of Rights guarantees individual freedom

1803

France sells Louisiana territories to USA : Louisiana Purchase

1808

Atlantic slave trade abolished

1846 - 1848

US - Mexican War : US acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory which belonged to Mexican War ( ex : California and New Mexico ), US and Mexico fight over these territories

1861 - 1865

Civil War

1854

Opponents of slavery or abolitionists found the Republican Party

1860

Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln elected president

1860 - 1861

11 pro slavery southern states secede from Union and from Confederate States of America > this is the trigger to the Civil War ; opposed to the abolitionists northern states

1863

emancipation proclamation issued by Lincoln : declared slaves in Confederate states to be free

1865

Confederates defeated ; slavery abolished under the 13th Amendment

1917 - 1918

US intervenes in World War I

1920

Women given the right to vote under the 19th Amendment + Prohibition : sale and manufacture of alcoholic liquors outlawed

1929 - 1933

Financial Crack and Great Depression : 13 Million people become unemployed after Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 triggers what becomes known as the Great Depression

1933

President Franklin D Roosevelt launches "New Deal" recovery program which includes major public works

1941

Pearl Harbor : Japanese warplanes attack US fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii; US declares war on Japan

1945

US drops two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; Japan surrenders

1947

US enunciates policy of aid for nations it deems threatened by communism in what became known as the Truman Doctrine; Cold War with Soviet Union begins

1948

Marshall Plan : America's program to support post- war European countries

1950 - 1954

McCarthyism : Senator Joseph McCarthy carries out a crusade against alleged communists in government and public life

1950 - 1953

War in Korea : US forces play leading role against North Korean and Chinese troops

1954

School Desegregation : racial segregation in schools becomes unconstitutional ; start of campaign of civil disobedience to secure civil rights for Americans of African descents

1960

Democratic Party candidate John F Kennedy elected president

1961

Bay of Pigs Invasion : an unsuccessful attempt to invade Cuba by Cuban exiles, organized and financed by Washington

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis : US compels Soviet Union to withdraw nuclear weapons from Cuba in what has become known as the Cuban missile crisis

1963

President John F Kennedy assassinated ; Lyndon Johnson becomes president

1964

US steps up its military intervention in Vietnam
+ Civil Rights Act signed into laws; it aims to halt discrimination on grounds of race, color, religion, nationality

1968

Black civil rights leader Martin Luther King assassinated

1969

Republican Party candidate Richard Nixon elected president, amid growing public opposition to Vietnam War