APUSH High-Yield Anchor Timelines

*1492

• Columbus; Columbian Exchange (exchange of crops, disease, populations)

*1607

• Jamestown (first successful English colony, tobacco economy develops)

1618/1619

Headright system; House of Burgesses; first Africans in VA (land incentives, self-government, start of racial slavery)

*1620

• Plymouth; Mayflower Compact (colonists agree to self-rule)

*1630

• Massachusetts Bay (Puritan religious colony, “city upon a hill”)

1651–1660s

Navigation Acts (colonial trade restricted to benefit Britain)

*1676

• Bacon’s Rebellion (frontier revolt leads elites toward racial slavery)

*1692

• Salem Witch Trials (fear and tensions in Puritan society)

*1730s–1740s

• First Great Awakening (religious revival weakens established authority)

*1754

• Albany Plan; French & Indian War begins (union attempt; Britain vs France in colonies)

*1763

• Proclamation Line (colonists barred west of Appalachians)

*1764–1765

• Sugar Act; Stamp Act (taxes on trade and printed goods)

1766

Declaratory Act (Parliament claims authority over colonies)

*1767

• Townshend Acts (tax imports like glass, tea, paper)

*1770

• Boston Massacre (British soldiers kill five colonists)

*1773–1774

• Tea Act; Boston Tea Party; Intolerable Acts (tea monopoly protest; Britain punishes Boston)

*1774–1775

• First Continental Congress; Lexington & Concord (Colonies coordinate; war begins)

*1776

• Common Sense; Declaration of Independence (Paine promotes independence; colonies formally separate)

*1777

• Saratoga (major victory convinces France to support U.S.)

*1781

• Articles of Confederation; Yorktown (weak central gov; British surrender)

*1783

• Treaty of Paris (Britain recognizes U.S. independence)

*1787

• Northwest Ordinance; Constitutional Convention (rules for territories; new government created)

*1788–1789

• Constitution ratified; Washington inaugurated (federal system begins)

*1791

• Bill of Rights (first ten amendments protect freedoms)

1794–1798

Whiskey Rebellion; Jay Treaty; XYZ Affair; Alien & Sedition Acts (federal authority tested; foreign tensions; limits dissent)

*1800

• Revolution of 1800 (peaceful transfer from Federalists to Republicans)

*1803

• Marbury v. Madison; Louisiana Purchase (judicial review; U.S. buys land from France)

1804–1806

Lewis & Clark Expedition (explore Louisiana territory to Pacific)

1807

Embargo Act (halts trade, hurts U.S. economy)

*1812–1815

• War of 1812 (U.S. vs Britain over trade, impressment)

1815

Battle of New Orleans (boosts nationalism after war technically ends)

*1819–1820

• Panic of 1819; Missouri Compromise (economic crash; Missouri slave, Maine free, 36°30′ line)

*1823

• Monroe Doctrine (Europe warned against colonizing Americas)

1824

Gibbons v. Ogden (federal government regulates interstate commerce)

*1828–1833

• Tariff of Abominations; Nullification Crisis (South Carolina rejects tariff, federal authority upheld)

*1830

• Indian Removal Act (forces tribes west to Oklahoma Trail of Tears)

1831–1832

Nat Turner Rebellion; Worcester v. Georgia (slave revolt; court supports tribes, Jackson ignores)

1832–1836

Bank War (Jackson vetoes and destroys national bank)

*1837

• Panic of 1837 (economic collapse after speculation, bank failures)

*1845–1848

• Texas annexation; Mexican-American War; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (U.S. gains CA, Southwest from Mexico)

*1848

• Seneca Falls Convention (Declaration of Sentiments demands women’s rights)

*1850

• Compromise of 1850 (CA free; popular sovereignty NM/UT; stricter Fugitive Slave Act)

1852

Uncle Tom’s Cabin (novel increases Northern opposition to slavery)

*1854

• Kansas-Nebraska Act (popular sovereignty leads to “Bleeding Kansas” violence)

*1857

• Dred Scott v. Sandford (no Black citizenship; Congress can’t ban slavery in territories)

1858

Lincoln-Douglas Debates (national debate over slavery expansion)

1859

John Brown’s Raid (attempt to start slave uprising at Harper’s Ferry)

*1860–1861

• Lincoln elected; secession; Confederacy formed (Southern states leave Union)

*1861–1865

• Civil War (Union vs Confederacy over slavery, union)

1862

Homestead Act; Pacific Railway Act (free land for settlers; railroad construction funded)

*1863

• Emancipation Proclamation; Gettysburg/Vicksburg (frees slaves in rebellion; Union turning point)

*1865

• Appomattox; Lincoln assassinated; 13th Amendment (war ends; slavery abolished)

*1865–1877

• Reconstruction (federal effort to rebuild South, protect Black rights)

1865

Freedmen’s Bureau; Black Codes (aid freedmen; Southern restrictions on Blacks)

1866

KKK forms; Civil Rights Act (violent resistance; federal rights protection)

1867

Reconstruction Acts (South divided into military districts)

*1868

• Johnson impeached; 14th Amendment (citizenship and equal protection)

*1870

• 15th Amendment (Black men gain voting rights)

*1877

• Compromise of 1877 (troops withdrawn; Reconstruction effectively ends)

*1869

• Transcontinental Railroad (connects coasts, boosts national economy)

1873

Panic of 1873 (economic depression after railroad overexpansion)

*1877

• Great Railroad Strike (nationwide labor protest crushed by troops)

*1882

• Chinese Exclusion Act (bans Chinese immigration)

*1886

• Haymarket Affair; AFL founded (labor protest violence; skilled union forms)

1887

Dawes Act (divides tribal land to assimilate Native Americans)

*1890

• Sherman Antitrust Act; Wounded Knee (outlaws monopolies; last major Native conflict)

1892/1894

Homestead Strike; Pullman Strike (labor vs industry; federal intervention)

*1896

• Plessy v. Ferguson (legalizes segregation “separate but equal”)

*1898

• Spanish-American War (U.S. gains overseas empire like Philippines)

1899–1901

Open Door Policy; Boxer Rebellion (U.S. promotes equal trade in China)

*1901

• Platt Amendment (U.S. controls Cuba’s foreign policy)

*1904

• Roosevelt Corollary (U.S. intervenes in Latin America)

*1906

• Pure Food & Drug Act; Meat Inspection Act (regulates food safety)

*1913

• 16th & 17th Amendments; Federal Reserve (income tax; direct elections; central bank)

1914–1918 / 1917

WWI; U.S. enters (1917 after submarine warfare, Zimmerman Telegram)

*1919

• Treaty rejected; Red Scare (U.S. rejects League; fear of communists)

*1920

• 19th Amendment (women gain voting rights)

*1924

• Immigration Act (strict quotas favor Northern Europeans)

*1929

• Stock Market Crash (collapse triggers Great Depression)

*1933–1939

• New Deal (relief, recovery, reform programs)

*1933

• FDR begins; AAA/CCC/TVA (farm aid; jobs programs; regional development)

*1935

• Social Security; Wagner Act (pensions; protects unions)

1937

Court-packing plan (FDR attempts to expand Supreme Court)

*1941–1945

• WWII; Pearl Harbor; atomic bombs (U.S. fights Axis, ends war with Japan)

1944/1945

GI Bill; United Nations (veteran benefits; global cooperation body)

*1947

• Truman Doctrine; National Security Act (contain communism; creates CIA/NSC)

*1948–1949

• Marshall Plan; Berlin Airlift (aid Europe; supply West Berlin)

*1949

• NATO formed (military alliance against USSR)

*1950–1953

• Korean War (North vs South, Cold War proxy conflict)

*1954

• Brown v. Board (segregation unconstitutional in schools)

*1955–1956

• Montgomery Bus Boycott (civil rights protest led by MLK)

1957

Little Rock; Sputnik (school integration crisis; start of space race)

1961–1962

Bay of Pigs; Cuban Missile Crisis (failed invasion; nuclear standoff)

1963–1965

March on Washington; JFK assassinated; Civil Rights Act; Voting Rights Act (major civil rights reforms)

*1964–1973

• Vietnam War escalation (U.S. increases troops to stop communism)

1968

Tet Offensive (undermines public support for Vietnam War)

*1972–1974

• Watergate; U.S. v. Nixon; resignation (abuse of power scandal)

*1973

• Roe v. Wade (abortion legalized nationwide)

1979

Iran Hostage Crisis (U.S. diplomats held in Iran)

*1980

• Reagan elected (conservative policies, tax cuts, deregulation)