1800-1876

By auroragilmour

  • Louisiana Purchase

    Jefferson buys Louisiana from France, doubling the size of the country in one barely-constitutional action.

  • Lewis and Clark Expedition

    U.S. explorers Lewis and Clark head west on their two year, 8,000-mile expedition, to explore the new Louisiana Purchase territory.

  • Battle of Tippiecanoe

    At the Battle of Tippecanoe, Indigenous peoples led by Tecumseh fight and lose a major battle opposing White settlement.

  • Waterloo

    Napoleon Bonaparte surrenders after a devastating loss at the Battle of Waterloo, ending the Napoleonic Wars in Europe.

  • Erie Canal

    The Erie Canal opens, making New York the Empire State

  • The Alamo

    A tragic siege at the Alamo becomes a legendary battle in the Texas War for Independence.

  • Gold Rush

    U.S. President James K. Polk confirms that quantities of gold have been discovered and Gold Fever strikes thousands who rush to California.

  • Compromise of 1850

    The ominous Compromise of 1850 over enslavement delays the Civil War.

  • Uncle Tom's Cabin

    U.S. abolitionist and writer Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–1896) publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin as a book and sells 300,000 copies in its first year.

  • Kansas Nebraska Act

    The Kansas-Nebraska Act breaks the previous compromises over enslavement.
  • Period: to

    Civil War

    The United States is torn by the Civil War.

  • Lincoln is assassinated

    Five days after the war ends, President Lincoln is assassinated.

  • Grant elected President.

    A hero of the Civil War, Ulysses S. Grant (1822–1885) becomes president of the United States.