AP United States History Timeline

  • 1492: Christopher Columbus arrives in the Americas, marking the beginning of European exploration and colonization.

  • 1501: Enslaved Africans first arrive by European settlers

  • 1587: Roanoke colony is established, significant as England’s first attempt to settle North America

  • 1598: Edict of Nantes

  • 1607: Jamestown is established

  • 1608: French colonized Quebec City

  • 1614: Dutch settles in modern-day Albany

  • 1618: the Virginia Company introduces the headright system

  • 1619: Virginia established the House of Burgesses

  • 1619: English colonies introduce slavery

  • 1620: Sailing of the Mayflower

  • 1808: American participation in the transatlantic slave trade officially ends, despite the continued existence of slavery in the United States.

  • 1629-1642: The Great Puritan Migration

  • 1635: Connecticut received charters

  • 1649: Acts of Tolerance passed

  • 1651-1673: Navigation Acts passed

  • 1664: England wages war to get NY territory

  • 1676: Bacon’s Rebellion

  • 1685: King James II proclaims NY a royal colony

  • 1699: Wool Act passed

  • 1729: Carolina colony splits into North and South

  • 1730s: First Great Awakening

  • 1732: Georgia is formed

  • 1733: Molasses Act passed

  • 1739: Stono Uprising

  • 1754: Albany Plan of Union

  • 1754-1763: French and Indian War

  • 1764: Sugar Act passed

  • 1765: Stamp Act passed

  • 1765: Quartering Act passed

  • 1770: Boston Massacre

  • 1772: Townshend Acts

  • 1774: First Continental Congress

  • 1775: Shot Heard Round the World

  • 1775: Second Continental Congress

  • 1776: Declaration of Independence

  • 1777: Articles of Confederation ratified

  • 1778: Franco-American Alliance

  • 1781: Battle of Yorktown

  • 1783: Treaty of Paris

  • 1789: Constitution into effect

  • 1789: Judiciary Act passed

  • 1791: Bill of Rights ratified

  • 1793: Invention of the cotton gin

  • 1802: Louisiana Purchase

  • 1803: Marbury v. Madison

  • 1804: 12th Amendment ratified

  • 1804: Lewis and Clark expedition

  • 1807: Embargo Act

  • 1809: Nonintercourse Act

  • 1812: War of 1812

  • 1819: Panic of 1819

  • 1819: Adams-Onis Treaty

  • 1825: Erie Canal construction

  • 1828: Tariff of Abominations

  • 1830: Indian Removal Act

  • 1830: Mormonism is founded

  • 1831: Nat Turner’s Rebellion

  • 1837: Panic of 1837

  • 1845: Texas gets statehood

  • 1846: Mexican-American War begins

  • 1848: Seneca Falls Convention

  • 1850: Compromise of 1850

  • 1852: Publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin

  • 1854: Bleeding Kansas

  • 1855: Transportation Revolution

  • 1857: Dred Scott v. Sanford decision

  • 1859: John Brown’s Raid

  • 1861-1862: Confiscation Acts

  • 1863: Emancipation Proclamation

  • 1864: Sherman’s March

  • 1865-1877: Reconstruction Era

  • 1867: Grange Movement

  • 1869: Knights of Labor founded

  • 1887: Interstate Commerce Act

  • 1890: Sherman-Antitrust Act

  • 1890: McKinley Tariff

  • 1894: Wilson-Gorman Tariff

  • 1895: US v. EC Knight Co.

  • 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson

  • 1914: Antitrust Act

  • 1917: Espionage Act

  • 1918: Sedition Act

  • 1920: 19th amendment ratified

  • 1921: Washington Conference

  • 1924: Emergency Quota Act

  • 1928: Kellogg-Briand Pact

  • 1929: Stock market crash, Great Depression

  • 1932: Bonus Expeditionary Force Attack

  • 1933: 21st Amendment

  • 1933: Banking Act

  • 1934: Good Neighbor Policy

  • 1940: Lend-Lease Act

  • 1940: Selective Training and Service Act

  • 1942: Manhattan Project

  • 1943: Tehran Conference

  • 1943: Labor Disputes Act

  • 1944: D-Day

  • 1944: Serviceman’s Readjustment Act

  • 1945: Yalta Conference

  • 1946: Filipino independence

  • 1947: Taft-Hartley Act

  • 1948: Desegregation of US army

  • 1949: Formation of NATO

  • 1950: Korean War

  • 1955: Montgomery Bus Boycott

  • 1957-1960: Civil Rights Acts

  • 1960: Greensboro Sit-In Movement

  • 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis

  • 1962: Formation of SDS

  • 1963: Equal Pay Act

  • 1963: JFK Assassination

  • 1964: Civil Rights Act

  • 1964: 24th amendment ratified

  • 1964: Mario Savio speech

  • 1965: Voting Rights Act

  • 1965: Griswold v. Connecticut

  • 1965: ground troops arrive in Vietnam

  • 1966: NOW Formation

  • 1968: MLK Assassination

  • 1968: Tet Offensive launched

  • 1968: My Lai Massacre

  • 1970: EPA Formation

  • 1971: Release of the Pentagon Papers

  • 1973: Roe v. Wade

  • 1973: War Powers Resolution

  • 1973-1974: Watergate Scandal

  • 1992: Beating of Rodney King

  • 1993: NAFTA

  • 1996: Telecommunications Act

  • 1999: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

  • 2001: 09/11 massacre