APUSH Dates

US History

1492

Christopher Columbus lands on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola - Three way cultural exchange begins (Europe, Africa, Americas)

1503

Importation of African chattel slaves to the Americas begins

1585-1586

British colony of Roanoke (in North Carolina) established and fails

1607

Jamestown Colony founded in Virginia - joint-stock company (Virginia Company)

1609-1610

Starving Time

1612

John Rolfe plants Tobacco in Jamestown

1618

Headright system begins

1619

• First African slaves arrive in Jamestown; 3 of 4 arrivals were indentured servants

• House of Burgesses established in Virginia

1620

• Pilgrims land in Massachusetts and establish Plymouth Colony

• Signed the Mayflower Compact

1629

Puritans (non-separatists) establish Massachusetts Bay Colony which thrives

1632

Maryland founded by Lord Baltimore as a haven for Catholics

1636

Rhode Island founded by Roger Williams, complete separation of Church and State

1636-1637

Pequot War: Puritans fight with Pequot in God’s name

1639

Anne Hutchinson is kicked out of New England for teaching her own interpretation of the Bible which “undermined the leaders of the colony”

1660

Navigation Act (first list of Enumerated Goods)

1674-1677

Bacon’s Rebellion (The Virginia Rebellion)

1675-1676 (or 78)

King Philip’s War (Metacom War)

1681

Pennsylvania founded by William Penn as a refuge for pacifist Quakers

1688

Glorious Revolution (Britain) ends monarchical absolutism and gives Protestants control of Parliament

~1721-1763

Salutary Neglect: Navigation Acts essentially ignored

~1730-1750

First Great Awakening, Religious revival reacting to Puritan rigidity

1732

Georgia founded

1754

Albany Plan of Union - first attempt to unite the colonies

1754-1763

French and Indian War

1763

Proclamation of 1763: all land west of Appalachians reserved for Native Americans

1764

Sugar Act: Taxed molasses, sugar, and coffee imported to the colonies to help pay for the war

1765

• Stamp Act: Tax on all printed goods; colonists respond violently/force repeal

• Leads to Stamp Act Congress

• Quartering Act: Colonists must house and supply soldiers sent to keep them in line

1766

Stamp Act repealed

1767

Townshend Acts: Import tax on common products

1770

Boston Massacre

1773

• Tea Act: Seen as a threat to colonial economic liberties (tea prices do not rise dramatically)

• Boston Tea Party

• Committees of Correspondence formed to help improve internal colonial communication

1774

• Coercive (Intolerable) Acts: Closed the Port of Boston and began martial law; threatened colonial self government

• 1st Continental Congress

1775

• Lexington and Concord: “shot heard ‘round the world” begins Revolutionary War

• 2nd Continental Congress begins

1776

• January 10th: Thomas Paine’s Common Sense published

• July 4th: Declaration of Independence issued by the 2nd Continental Congress

1777

• Battle of Saratoga: Colonial victory leads to French support (Treaty of 1778)

• Articles of Confederation adopted by 2nd Continental Congress

1781

• Articles of Confederation ratified by States

• Battle of Yorktown: Last battle (Colonial victory)

1783

Treaty of Paris ends war

1786

Shays’ Rebellion: Poor farmers fight with MA legislature convinces many that the Articles of Confederation need to be replaced

1787

• Northwest Ordinance establishes a policy/plan for settling western land

• Constitutional Convention

1788

Constitution Ratified

1789

George Washington elected president (1789-1797) - No Party Affiliation

1791

Bill of Rights ratified

1793

• Washington’s Proclamation of Neutrality

• Citizen Genêt

• Cotton Gin invented by Eli Whitney

1794

Whiskey Rebellion (poor farmers protesting Whiskey Tax)

1795

• Jay’s Treaty (attempt to improve relations with Britain; solves little)

• Treaty of Greenville signed

1796

• Treaty of San Lorenzo (Pinckney’s Treaty)

• George Washington’s farewell address warns against the evils of political parties and involvement abroad

• John Adams elected president (1797-1801) - Federalist

1797

XYZ Affair

1798

• Alien and Sedition Acts

• Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions (first test of the idea of nullification)

1800~1830

The Second Great Awakening (starts in 1790 but becomes much more prominent in 19th century)

1800~1900

Romanticism

1800

Thomas Jefferson elected president (1801-1809) - Democratic Republic, The “Revolution of 1800”

1801

• Midnight Appointments

• Marshall Court begins (1801-1835)

1803

• Marbury v. Madison established judicial review

• Louisiana Purchase

1806

Non-Importation Act: No British goods could be imported if they were available elsewhere

1807

• Chesapeake and Leopard Incident

• Embargo Act (repealed 1809)

• Congress outlawed the external slave trade; price of slaves increases (take affect on January 1st 1808)

1808

James Madison (1809-1817) elected president - Democratic Republican

• International Slave trade outlawed; takes affect on January 1st

1809

Non-intercourse Act replaced the Embargo Act

1810

Macon’s Bill No. 2 replaces the Non-Intercourse Act

1811

Charter of the First National Bank expires

1812-1814

War of 1812

1814-1815

Hartford Convention, Federalist Party collapses

1814

Treaty of Ghent (December 24th) ends the war

1815

Battle of New Orleans (January 8th) makes Andrew Jackson a national hero

1815

Starts “Era of Good Feeling“

1816

• Second National Bank chartered

• Protective Tariff (first in U.S. history)

• James Monroe elected president (1817-1825) - Democratic Republic

1819

• McCulloch v. Maryland sets the precedent for use of Necessary and Proper (Elastic) Clause

• Adams-Onís Treaty trades FL to U.S. for part of modern TX

1820

Missouri Compromise: Highlights developing sectional conflict

1823

Monroe Doctrine - attempt to prevent future European colonization in the Western Hemisphere

1824

• “Corrupt Bargain” → John Quincy Adams’ becoming president (1825-1829) - Democratic Republic

• Ends “era of good feelings”

1825-1829

The American System

1828

• Tariff of Abomination

• 2nd Party System Begins - Jacksonian Democrats vs. Anti-Jacksonians → National Republicans → Whigs (1833)

• Andrew Jackson elected president (1829-1837) - Democrat

1830~1900

Transcendentalism

1830

Indian Removal Act ratified

1831

Nat Turner’s slave revolt in Virginia; 55 whites killed; masters begin to crack down

1832

• 2nd National Bank: charter renewal vetoed (bank ends in 1836)

• Nullification Crisis

• Worcester v. Georgia

1833

Compromise Tariff (1833) ends immediate threat but leaves nullification

1836

• Texas gained its independence from Mexico

• The “Gag Rule”: No discussion of anti-slavery topics in Congress

• Martin Van Buren elected president (1837-1841) - Democrat

1837

Panic of 1837

1839

Mormon Migration to Utah begins

1840

William Henry Harrison elected president (1841) - Whig

1841

• Harrison dies of viral pneumonia

• V.P. John Tyler becomes president (1841-1845) - Whig (technically)

1844

James K. Polk elected president (1845-1849) - Democrat

1845

Irish Potato Famine begins

• Texas annexation approved; territory added as a slave state

1846

• Oregon border set at 49th Parallel

• Wilmot Proviso introduced

1846-1848

Mexican-American War

1848

• Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (Mexican cession)

• Free Soil Party formed

• Seneca Falls Convention

• Zachary Taylor elected president (1849-1850) - Whig

1849

Know-Nothing (American) Party formed under the name “The Secret Order of the Star-Spangled Banner” (1849-1960)

1850

• Taylor dies of acute gastroenteritis

• V.P. Millard Fillmore becomes president (1850-1853) - Whig

• Compromise of 1850 - Strict Fugitive Slave Law passed

1852

Franklin Pierce elected President (1853-1857) - Democrat

1854

• Kansas-Nebraska Act passed; begins policy of “popular sovereignty” on slavery

• Gadsden Purchase completes continental U.S.

• Bleeding Kansas begins

• Republican Party forms

1856

James Buchanan elected president (1857-1861) - Democrat

• Caning of Charles Sumner

1857

Dred Scott Decision

1858

Lincoln-Douglas Debates

1859

John Brown’s Raid on Harpers Ferry

1860

• Abraham Lincoln elected president (1861-1865) - Republican

• December 20th: South Carolina is the first state to secede

1861

• March 11th: Confederate Constitution ratified

• April 10th - 14th: Battle of Ft. Sumter and the first shots of the Civil War

• June 8th: Tennessee is the last state to secede

• July 21st: Battle of Bull Run, VA

1862

• September 17th: Battle of Antietam, MD

• September 22nd: Emancipation Proclamation signed

• Homestead Act

1863

• January 1st: Emancipation Proclamation goes into effect; focus of war shifts

• May-July: Battle of Vicksburg, MS

• July 1st - 3rd: Battle of Gettysburg, PA

• November 19th: Lincoln gives the Gettysburg Address

1864

November 15th - December 22nd: Sherman’s March to the Sea, GA

1865

• March Freedmen’s Bureau established

• April 12th: Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse

• April 15th: Lincoln assassinated

• V.P. Andrew Johnson becomes President (1865-1869) - National Union