APUSH Timeline

1492

Columbus arrives in the New World; starts exchange of crops, animals, and ideas between Old and New Worlds. Spain becomes dominant colonial power.

1587

Roanoke (Lost Colony) founded by Sir Walter Raleigh, first English attempt at settlement, disappears mysteriously.

1588

English defeat the Spanish Armada, boosting England's naval dominance and colonial ambitions.

1607

Jamestown founded; first permanent English settlement in North America; funded by Virginia Company.

1609

Starving Time in Jamestown; Powhatan Confederacy aids settlers; tobacco emerges as a cash crop.

1620

Mayflower arrives at Plymouth; Pilgrims establish settlement based on religious freedom.

1649

Maryland Toleration Act grants religious freedom to Christians.

1688

Glorious Revolution overthrows James II; William and Mary take the throne.

1692

Salem Witch Trials occur; fueled by religious, political, and gender tensions.

1754

Start of Seven Years' War between Britain and France over territory (Ohio Valley).

1763

Treaty of Paris ends Seven Years' War; Britain gains control of Canada; Proclamation of XXXX limits westward expansion.

1765

Stamp Act taxes printed materials in colonies; protests lead to repeal, followed by Declaratory Act.

1770

Boston Massacre becomes propaganda tool for Patriot cause.

1773

Boston Tea Party protests Tea Act; leads to Intolerable Acts.

1775

Battles of Lexington and Concord begin Revolutionary War.

1776

Declaration of Independence asserts liberty and rights of people.

1777

Battle of Saratoga marks turning point; Articles of Confederation drafted as first national constitution.

1778

Franco-American Alliance brings France into war on American side.

1781

Battle of Yorktown ends major fighting in Revolutionary War.

1783

Treaty of Paris officially ends Revolutionary War; U.S. gains independence.

1787

Constitutional Convention drafts U.S. Constitution with Great Compromise and 3/5 Compromise.

1788

George Washington elected president; Hamilton's financial plan begins.

1791

Bill of Rights added to Constitution.

1798

XYZ Affair heightens tensions with France; Alien and Sedition Acts passed.

1800

Jefferson elected; peaceful transfer of power; Marbury v. Madison follows.

1803

Louisiana Purchase doubles U.S. size; Lewis and Clark explore.

1812

war begins over British interference; ends with Treaty of Ghent.

1815

Battle of New Orleans boosts U.S. nationalism; Andrew Jackson becomes hero.

1816

Era of Good Feelings begins; one-party politics

1819

Panic of XXXX during Monroe

1820

Missouri Compromise admits Missouri as slave and Maine as free state; sets 36º30’ line.

1823

Monroe Doctrine asserts U.S. dominance in Western Hemisphere.

1828

Andrew Jackson elected; rise of common man; universal white male suffrage.

1830

Indian Removal Act leads to Trail of Tears.

1832

Nat Turner’s Rebellion heightens tensions over slavery.

1836

Battle of the Alamo during Texas fight for independence.

1845

Annexation of Texas leads to tensions with Mexico.

1846

Mexican-American War begins; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends it in 1848.

1848

Seneca Falls Convention held; start of organized women's rights movement.

1850

Fugitive Slave Law passed; part of Compromise of XXXX.

1852

Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin.

1854

Bleeding Kansas begins; violence over slavery in new territories.

1857

Dred Scott Decision rules slaves are not citizens; Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.

1860

Abraham Lincoln elected president; Southern states begin seceding.

1861

Civil War begins with attack on Fort Sumter.

1863

Emancipation Proclamation issued; Battle of Gettysburg.

1865

Civil War ends; Lincoln assassinated.

1867

Military Reconstruction Act enforces new Southern governments; Alaska purchased.

1877

Compromise of XXXX ends Reconstruction; federal troops leave South.

1876

Battle of Little Bighorn; Sioux defeat Custer's forces.

1886

Haymarket Square Riot; bomb explodes during labor protest, leading to deaths and crackdown.

1887

Dawes Act breaks up tribal lands, aims to assimilate Native Americans.

1887

Interstate Commerce Act creates federal regulation of railroads.

1890

Wounded Knee Massacre ends Indian resistance in the West.

1890

McKinley Tariff raises protective tariffs; Sherman Antitrust Act passed.

1894

Pullman Strike; federal troops break strike on railway industry.

1896

William Jennings Bryan gives 'Cross of Gold' speech.

1896

Plessy v. Ferguson establishes 'separate but equal'.

1898

Spanish-American War leads to U.S. acquisition of overseas territories.

1898

Annexation of Hawaii.

1902

Platt Amendment gives U.S. control over Cuban affairs.

1903

Wright brothers' first powered flight.

1904

Roosevelt Corollary asserts U.S. right to intervene in Latin America.

1917

U.S. enters World War I; Espionage Act passed.

1918

Fourteen Points proposed by Wilson for postwar peace.

1919

Schenck v. United States upholds limits on free speech during wartime.

1920

Nineteenth Amendment grants women’s suffrage.

1920

Red Scare targets suspected communists and radicals.

1920

Prohibition begins under 18th Amendment.

1929

Stock Market Crash triggers the Great Depression.

1932

FDR elected; launches New Deal to combat Great Depression.

1935

Social Security Act provides financial support to elderly and unemployed.

1939

World War II begins in Europe.

1941

Attack on Pearl Harbor brings U.S. into WWII.

1944

D-Day invasion of Normandy begins Allied liberation of Europe.

1945

U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki; WWII ends.

1947

Truman Doctrine supports nations resisting communism; Marshall Plan aids Europe.

1950

Korean War begins; U.S. supports South Korea against communist North.

1950

McCarthyism rises; fear of communist infiltration.

1954

Brown v. Board of Education overturns school segregation.

1955

Montgomery Bus Boycott sparks Civil Rights Movement.

1957

Sputnik launched by USSR; starts space race.

1961

JFK becomes president; Bay of Pigs invasion fails.

1961

Vietnam War escalates.

1962

Cuban Missile Crisis nearly leads to nuclear war.

1963

March on Washington; Martin Luther King Jr. delivers 'I Have a Dream'.

1963

JFK assassinated; LBJ becomes president.

1964

Civil Rights Act outlaws segregation and discrimination.

1965

Great Society programs expand federal social programs.

1968

MLK and RFK assassinated; Tet Offensive shifts public opinion on Vietnam.

1968

Chicago Democratic Convention marked by protests.

1969

Apollo 11 moon landing.

1972

Watergate break-in leads to Nixon’s resignation.

1973

Roe v. Wade legalizes abortion nationwide.

1979

Iranian Hostage Crisis begins.

1980

Ronald Reagan elected president; marks conservative shift.

1989

Cold War ends; Berlin Wall falls.

1991

Persian Gulf War demonstrates U.S. military power.

1994

NAFTA established free trade between U.S., Canada, and Mexico.

1995

Oklahoma City bombing, deadliest domestic terror attack at the time.