1492
Columbus, Spanish, Columbian Exchange
1607
Jamestown, the first permanent English colony
1619
First slaves in Jamestown & House Of Burgesses
1620
Plymouth founded (Puritans) in New England
1676
Bacon's Rebellion
1680
Pueblo Revolt
1754
French and Indian War begins(7 years war)
1763
Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War, Pontiac's Rebellion, & Proclamation Line
1765
Stamp Act, first direct tax, "no taxation without representation"
1775
American Revolution begins; Lexington and Concord, Second Continental Congress; Articles of Confederation
1776
Thomas Paine's Common Sense & the Declaration of Independence
1783
Treaty of Paris: end of American Revolution & beginning of U.S. under Articles of Confederation
1787
Northwest Ordinance & Constitution
1788
Constitution ratified by 9 states & takes effect
1791
Bill of Rights added to Constitution
1790s
First Two-Party System, Hamilton vs Jefferson
1800
Election of Thomas Jefferson
1803
Louisiana Purchase, Marbury v. Madison
1808
slave importation ends (Slavery Compromise 1789)
1812
War of 1812 begins
1815
Treaty of Ghent ends of War of 1812; Hartford Resolutions arrive in DC, end of Federalist Party, beginning of Era of Good Feelings
1820
Missouri Compromise
1823
Monroe Doctrine
1824
"Corrupt Bargain" election, beginning of Democratic Party (pro-Jackson movement)
1828
Andrew Jackson elected, Era of the Common Man
1820s-1830s
Second Two Party System, Jackson vs Clay
1844
Election of Polk; Manifest Destiny
1846
Mexican-American War begins
1848
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Mexican Cession, end of Mexican-American War; Seneca Falls Convention
1850
Compromise of 1850
1854
Kansas-Nebraska Act; Republican Party
1857
Dred Scott v. Sanford
1860
Election of Abraham Lincoln, secession begins
1861
Beginning of Civil War, Battle of Fort Sumter
1862
Homestead Act, Pacific Railway Act, Treasury System, Morrill Act; Antietam
1863
Battle of Gettysburg, Gettysburg Address, Battle of Vicksburg, Emancipation Proclamation
1865
Civil War ends; assassination of Lincoln; 13th Amendment
1877
End of Radical Reconstruction; Compromise of 1877; Jim Crow begins
1890
Wounded Knee; Closure of the West (frontier "closed"); Sherman-Antitrust Act
1892
People's Party (Populist Third Party) nationwide
1896
Plessy v. Ferguson
1898
Spanish American War/ beginning of imperialism
1917
US enters WWI; 14 points
1918
WWI ends
1919
First Red Scare; Red Summer
1920
19th amendment; treaty of Versailles not ratified
1920s
more urban than rural culture conflicts
1929
Stock Market Crash; beginning of Great Depression
1933
FDR’s new deal begins
1941
Pearl Harbor, US enters WWII; Depression ends
1945
end of WWII.; atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; beginning of Cold War (“iron curtain” descends)
1949
NATO; USSR atomic bomb; China=communist
1950
Korean War begins
1953
Korean War ends; armistice and DMZ
1954
Brown v. Board of Education
1957
Sputnik; beginning of space race
1963
March on Washington; JFK assassinated
1964
Gulf of Tonkin Resolution; LBJ’s Great Society, Civil Rights Act of 1964
1965
Voting Rights Act; Immigration Act
1968
MLK and RFK assassinated, Tet Offensive, Chicago riot, silent majority, race riots, anti-war escalates
1973
Vietnam War ends with armistice
1974
Watergate scandal
1975
Fall of Saigon
1980
Election of Ronald Reagan; resurgence of conservatism
1989
Berlin Wall falls, end of the Cold War
2000
Bush v. Gore
2001
9/11, patriot acts
2008
Great Recession, Election of Barack Obama