APUSH Timeline (Important Events & Significance)

Period 1 Name and Dates

Conquest/Colonization - 1491-1607

Colombus lands in the Americas

1492 - First European contact in the Americas

Founding of Jamestown

1607 - First permanent English settlement in America

Period 2 Name and Dates

Colonial America 1607 - 1754

1st enslaved Africans (in Jamestown)

1619 - Sets the stage for the system of slavery in North America

Pueblo Revolt

1680 - Most successful indigenous revolt against Europeans - drive Spanish away for 12 years & establishes better terms upon their return

First Great Awakening

1730s - Based on Puritan ideals - reaction to Enlightenment - Had powerful & emotional sermons - Anti-authority ideals helped lead to American Revolution (George Whitefield = important English-American evangelist and Methodist minister during this)

Beginning of French and Indian War

1754 (ended 1763) - British increase taxes on colonists to pay off war debts after victory; leads to colonial resentment —> American Revolution

Period 3 Name and Dates

Revolutionary American - 1754-1800

Declaration of Independence

1776 - Summarized colonists’ motivations for seeking independence - drew on Enlightenment ideals

Battle of Yorktown

1781 - British General Cornwallis surrenders, & Americans officially win the Revolutionary War

Constitutional Convention

1787 - Replaces the weak Articles of Confederation with a stronger Constitution

Revolution of 1800

1800 - Democratic-Republican Jefferson wins over Federalist opponents in Presidential Election - first time power in America successfully & peacefully transfers from one party to another

Period 4 Name and Dates

American Expansion - 1800-1848

Missouri Compromise

1820 - Temporary solution to sectional divide over slavery; shows Era of Good Feelings

Era of Good Feelings

1815-1825 - Sense of unity and political peace post War of 1812 - Federalist Party had largely collapsed - basically the only party was the Democratic-Republican Party - set the stage for future political divisions in U.S.

Andrew Jackson elected

1828 - Expanded democracy for white male citizens, reorganized banking system to lessen federal control, & forced Indian Removal Act of 1830 (including Trail of Tears)

Second Great Awakening

1830s - Protestant revival movement - Diverse sects such as Mormons emerge - Women play a large role in - Increased political participation of common citizens —> helps lead to new reforms

Seneca Falls Convention

1848 - Led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton & Lucretia Mott - First women’s rights convention in the U.S. - Marked the beginning of efforts by women to achieve equality - Resulted in the Declaration of Sentiments stating women’s grievances

Period 5 Name and Dates

Civil War - 1844-1877

Election of James K. Polk (Expansionist)

1844 - Polk ran on a platform of Manifest Destiny - Oversaw significant expansion to the U.S., including the Oregon territory (1848) & the Mexican-American War (1846-1848)

Compromise of 1850

1850 - Attempted to address sectional divisions by admitting California as a free state, allowing popular sovereignty in New Mexico/Utah, ending the slave trade in D.C., & strengthening the Fugitive Slave Act - Ultimately heightened tensions rather than resolving them - “kicking the can down the road”

Election of Abraham Lincoln; South Carolina secedes

1860 - Begins Civil War

Lee’s surrender at Appomattox Court House, Virginia

1865 - Ends the Civil War

Abraham Lincoln’s assassination

1865 - Ushered in a new era of Reconstruction in the South

Compromise of 1877

1877 - Ended Reconstruction era, resulting in a loss of protection for African-Americans in the South (as Union troops unoccupied the South) & leading to the rise of Jim Crow laws (Connection to the Corrupt Bargain and Jackson’s candidacy in 1824 against J. Quincy Adams)

Period 6 Name and Dates

Gilded Age - 1865-1898

First Transcontinental Railroad complete (Golden spike at Promontory Point, Utah)

1869 - Joined the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads - Connected the East & West coasts leading to massive economic/industrial growth

Chinese Exclusion Act

1882 - First major restrictive immigration law in American history, setting the precedent for future similar acts - Remained in place until 1943

Closing of the western frontier

1890 - Ended era of westward expansion, leading U.S. to shift to imperialism to gain new territories/resources (Jackson Turner’s 1893 Frontier Thesis)

Homestead Strike

1892 - Created a lasting impact on how the nation viewed the relationship between labor & management

Plessy v. Ferguson

1896 - (Homer Plessy 1/8th Black railroad cart situation) - Established “Separate but Equal” doctrine - i.e., racial segregation is constitutional

Period 7 Name and Dates

Progressive Era, World War - 1890-1945

Spanish American War Begins

1898 - U.S. gains Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines - U.S. established as a major world power

U.S. enters WWI

1917-1919 - U.S. emerges with stronger industrialization/economy, leading economic power - WWI was also a catalyst for social change/reform such as Great Migration & women’s suffrage

19th Amendment Ratified

1920 - Constitutional Amendment guarantees women the right to vote

Great Depression begins

1929 - Following stock market crash, profound economic crisis

FDR becomes President; New Deal begins

1933 - New Deal policies expand federal government’s role in the economy, laid groundwork for a welfare state, established key institutions - Overall government is now more involved with its citizens - end of U.S. isolationism & neutrality; start of U.S. interventionism (S. America & Europe) - similar to future government involvement such as Great Society during L.B.J.’s presidency

U.S. Enters WWII

1941 - Marks U.S. emergence as a global superpower, sets stage for Civil Rights Movement (Ex. “Double V” campaign) - U.S. establishes concentration camps for Japanese-Americans

U.S. drops 2 atomic bombs on Japan

1945 - Ended WWII in “Pacific Theatre” (AKA V-J Day) - Led to massive civilian casualties/long-term suffering for Japanese citizens, both highlighting the dangers of nuclear weaponry & marking the beginning of the nuclear age

Period 8 Name and Dates

Cold War & the Fight for Civil Rights - 1945-1980

Brown v Board

1954 - Desegregates schools; Southern states resist

Vietnam War

1950s-1970s - Proxy war of the Cold War; led U.S. to be more cautious in foreign involvement in the future, led to new social/civil rights movements & a new counterculture

Civil Rights Act passed

1964 - Victory for Civil Rights activists, prohibiting discrimination in public spaces, enforcing desegregation, & ending Jim Crow laws - broadens effects of Brown v. Board (which was specifically for public schools)

Also 1965 Voting Rights Act prohibiting states from imposing qualifications or practices to keep people from voting because of race - huge help to African Americans and led to a sharp increase in the number of African Americans who voted

Iran hostage crisis

1979 - Carter’s failure to rescue hostages increases sense of vulnerability & anti-Iranian sentiment - This legacy continues today

Period 9 Name and Dates

It’s up to you - 1980-Now

Reagan becomes President

1981 - Sign of rising conservatism in the U.S., start of modern conservative movement & “Reaganomics”

Destruction of the Berlin Wall

1989 - Marks symbolic end to Cold War

9/11 Terrorist Attacks

2001 - Begins American War on Terror (Officially known as GWOT (Global War on Terrorism) - global military campaign), heightens Islamophobia in the U.S.

Election of Barack Obama

2008 - First African-American president elected in the United States