APUSH Dates Study Guide Notes

Unit 1: 1491-1607

  • Start Date: 1491
    • Reason: Last year before European contact.
  • End Date: 1607
    • Reason: Founding of Jamestown.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1492: Voyage of Columbus
    • 1494: Treaty of Tordesillas
    • 1512: Encomienda Begins
    • 1525: Transatlantic Slave Trade

Unit 2: 1607-1754

  • Start Date: 1607
    • Reason: Founding of Jamestown.
  • End Date: 1754
    • Reason: Beginning of Seven Years War.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1607: Founding of Jamestown
    • 1608: Founding of Quebec
    • 1619: First Slave Sold in Virginia
    • 1620: Founding of Plymouth Colony
    • 1640s: Beaver Wars
    • 1664: New Amsterdam Captured (Now New York)
    • 1675: Metacom’s War
    • 1676: Bacon’s Rebellion
    • 1680: Pueblo Revolt
    • 1730s: First Great Awakening

Unit 3: 1754-1800

  • Start Date: 1754
    • Reason: Beginning of Seven Years War.
  • End Date: 1800
    • Reason: Jefferson “Revolution” of 1800.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1754: Seven Years War
    • 1763: Pontiac’s Rebellion
    • 1763: Proclamation of 1763
    • 1765: Stamp Act
    • 1773: Boston Tea Party
    • 1775: Battles of Lexington & Concord
    • 1776: Declaration of Independence
    • 1778: Alliance Between France & US
    • 1781: Battle of Yorktown
    • 1783: Treaty of Paris
    • 1786: Shays Rebellion
    • 1787: Constitutional Convention
    • 1789: Washington’s First Term Begins
    • 1791: Bill of Rights Ratified
    • 1794: Whiskey Rebellion
    • 1796: Washington’s Farewell Address
    • 1798: Alien and Sedition Acts
    • 1800: Jefferson is Elected President

Unit 4: 1800-1848

  • Start Date: 1800
    • Reason: Jefferson “Revolution” of 1800.
  • End Date: 1848
    • Reason: Seneca Falls Convention.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1803: Louisiana Purchase
    • 1807: Embargo Act
    • 1808: International Slave Trade Ends
    • 1812: War of 1812
    • 1815: Treaty of Ghent / Battle of New Orleans
    • 1820: Missouri Compromise
    • 1823: Monroe Doctrine
    • 1828: Election of Andrew Jackson
    • 1831: Nat Turner’s Rebellion
    • 1832: Nullification Crisis
    • 1832: Indian Removal Act
    • 1830s: Second Great Awakening Peaks
    • 1836: Texas wins Independence
    • 1848: Seneca Falls Convention

Unit 5: 1844-1877

  • Start Date: 1844
    • Reason: Election of James Polk (Expansionist).
  • End Date: 1877
    • Reason: Compromise of 1877.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1845: Annexation of Texas
    • 1846: War with Mexico Begins
    • 1848: Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
    • 1850: Compromise of 1850
    • 1855: Bleeding Kansas
    • 1857: Dred Scott Decision
    • 1859: John Brown’s Failed Uprising
    • 1860: Election of Abraham Lincoln
    • 1860: South Carolina Secedes
    • 1863: Emancipation Proclamation
    • 1865: Lee’s Surrender at Appomattox
    • 1865: Assassination of Lincoln
    • 1867: Reconstruction Acts Passed
    • 1868: Impeachment of Johnson
    • 1868: 14th Amendment Ratified
    • 1871: Enforcement Act (Ku Klux Klan Act)
    • 1873: Panic of 1873
    • 1877: Compromise of 1877

Unit 6: 1865-1898

  • Start Date: 1865
    • Reason: End of the Civil War.
  • End Date: 1898
    • Reason: Spanish American War Begins.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1869: First Transcontinental RR Completed
    • 1869: Knights of Labor Founded
    • 1873: Panic of 1873
    • 1876: Sioux Wars / Little Bighorn
    • 1877: Great Railroad Strike
    • 1886: Haymarket Square Riot
    • 1886: American Federation of Labor Founded
    • 1887: Dawes Act
    • 1887: Interstate Commerce Act Passed
    • 1889: Hull House Opened
    • 1890: Sherman Antitrust Act Passed
    • 1892: Homestead Strike
    • 1893: Panic of 1893
    • 1894: Pullman Strike
    • 1896: Plessy v. Ferguson
    • 1896: Bryan’s “Cross of Gold” Speech

Unit 7: 1890-1945

  • Start Date: 1890
    • Reason: Census of 1890 / Closing of Frontier.
  • End Date: 1945
    • Reason: End of World War 2.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1898: Spanish American War
    • 1901: McKinley Assassinated / TR President
    • 1903: Philippine War Ends
    • 1905: US Forest Service Created
    • 1906: Work on Panama Canal Begins
    • 1906: Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle
    • 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire
    • 1917: US Enters World War 1
    • 1919: Treaty of Versailles Signed
    • 1919: Prohibition Begins
    • 1920: First Red Scare Peaks
    • 1920: 19th Amendment Ratified
    • 1920s: Great Migration Peaks
    • 1924: National Origins Act Passed
    • 1929: Stock Market Crash
    • 1933: FDR’s New Deal Begins
    • 1937: FDR’s Court Packing Scheme
    • 1941: US Enters World War 2
    • 1944: D-Day
    • 1945: FDR Dies / VE Day / VJ Day

Unit 8: 1945-1980

  • Start Date: 1945
    • Reason: Start of Cold War.
  • End Date: 1980
    • Reason: Election of Reagan (End of Detente).
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1946: First Levittown
    • 1946: Churchill’s “Iron Curtain” Speech
    • 1947: Marshall Plan
    • 1947: Taft-Hartley Act
    • 1949: Chinese Revolution
    • 1950: Internal Security Act (Red Scare)
    • 1952: First Hydrogen Bomb Tested
    • 1953: Korean War Ends
    • 1954: Brown v. Board of Education
    • 1956: Montgomery Bus Boycott Ends
    • 1956: Interstate Highway Act
    • 1957: Soviets Launch Sputnik
    • 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
    • 1963: March on Washington
    • 1964: Civil Rights Act of 1964
    • 1964: Launch of Great Society Programs
    • 1964: Gulf of Tonkin Resolution
    • 1965: Voting Rights Act of 1965
    • 1965: Immigration Act of 1965
    • 1968: Violence/Protests at DNC Convention
    • 1969: Moon Landing
    • 1969: Woodstock
    • 1970: EPA signed into law by Nixon
    • 1972: Nixon’s China Visit
    • 1973: Roe v. Wade
    • 1973: Oil Embargo
    • 1974: Resignation of Nixon
    • 1979: SALT 2 Treaty

Unit 9: 1980-Present

  • Start Date: 1980
    • Reason: Election of Reagan (New Politics Era).
  • End Date: Present
    • Reason: The future hasn’t happened yet.
  • Key Chronological Dates:
    • 1981: First Personal Computer
    • 1982: SDI (Star Wars)
    • 1991: Collapse of the Soviet Union
    • 1993: NAFTA Signed into Law
    • 2001: September 11th Terrorist Attacks
    • 2003: Iraq War