United States History Time Line: 1400s - 1850

1430

Portuguese start voyages down the west coast of Africa

1492

Columbus arrives in Western Hemisphere

1509-1547

Henry VII rules England; Protestant reformation begins in England

1558-1603

Reign of Queen Elizabeth I; Ireland conquered by England

1607

Jamestown founded

1612

Tobacco made a profitable crop by John Rolfe

1619

First group of blacks brought to Virginia; First legislative assembly meets in Virginia

1620

First Pilgrims in Plymouth

1622

Indian attacks in Virginia end hopes of becoming a bi-racial society

1629

Great Puritan migration to Massachusetts Bay

1636

Harvard founded

1676

Bacon’s Rebellion

1686

Creation of Dominion of New England

1688

Glorious Revolution in England

1700

250,000 settlers in English colonies

1704

First colonial newspaper

1720s

Colonial economic life quickens

1739-1744

Great Awakening

1756-1763

French and Indian War

1763

Proclamation Line established

1763-1764

Pontiac’s Rebellion

1764-1765

Sugar Act and Stamp Act Controversies

1766

Declaratory Act

1767

Townshend Act

1767

New York Assembly suspended

1770

Boston Massacre

1772

Committees of Correspondence formed

1773

Boston Tea Party

1774

Coercive Acts

1774

First Continental Congress convenes

1775

Revolution begins with fighting at Lexington and Concord

1776

Declaration of Independence

1777

British defeated at Saratoga

1778

French join the war against the British

1781

Battle of Yorktown

1781

Articles of Confederation ratified

1783

Peace signed in Paris

1784

Northwest Ordinance of 1784

1785

Northwest Ordinance of 1785

1787

Northwest Ordinance

1786

Annapolis Convention

1787

Shays’ Rebellion

1787

Constitutional Convention

1788

Federalist Papers written

1788

Constitution ratified

1789

George Washington inaugurated as President of the United States

1789

French Revolution begins

1790

Capital placed on the Potomac River

1793

Citizen Genet

1794

Whiskey Rebellion

1794

Indians defeated at Fallen Timbers

1795

Jay Treaty

1795

Pinckney Treaty

1798

Undeclared war with France

1798

Alien and Sedition Acts

1798

Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions

1800

Jefferson elected

1803

Louisiana Purchase

1807-1809

Embargo in Effect

1808

Slave trade ended

1809

Non-Intercourse Act

1810

Macon’s Bill No. 2

1812

War with England

1814

Treaty of Ghent

1820

Missouri Compromise

1820s

First labor unions formed

1820s

Romanticism flourished in America

1823

Monroe Doctrine

1828

Andrew Jackson elected

1830s

Railroad era begins

1831

Nat Turner’s rebellion

1831

Liberator founded

1832

Nullification Crisis

1834

Whig Party formed

1835

Texas Revolution, Republic of Texas established

1840s

Manifest Destiny

1840s

Telegraph and railroads create a commuications revolution

1846

Mexican War begins

1848

Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo ended Mexican War. U.S. acquires California and territory of New Mexico which includes present-day Nevada, Utah, Arizona, New Mexico, and part of Colorado

1849

Gold discovered in California

1850

Compromise of 1850

1850

California admitted to the union

1850

Fugitive Slave Law Strengthened