APUSH Exam Study Guide: Chronological Dates and Key Events

Unit 1: 1491-1607

• Start Date: 1491
  • Reason: The year before European contact with the Americas.
• End Date: 1607
  • Reason: Founding of Jamestown.
• Key Chronological Dates:
  • 1492: Voyage of Columbus
  • 1494: Treaty of Tordesillas
  • 1512: Encomienda system begins
  • 1525: Transatlantic Slave Trade

Unit 2: 1607-1754

• Start Date: 1607
  • Reason: Founding of Jamestown.
• End Date: 1754
  • Reason: Beginning of the 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 (King Philip's War)
  • 1676: Bacon's Rebellion
  • 1680: Pueblo Revolt
  • 1730s: First Great Awakening

Unit 3: 1754-1800

• Start Date: 1754
  • Reason: Beginning of the Seven Years' War.
• End Date: 1800
  • Reason: Jefferson's "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's "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