1800-1876

By Jmo1510

  • Third President

    Thomas Jefferson takes his seat as the third U.S. president, where he will stay until 1809.

  • Louisiana Purchase

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

  • Expedition

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

  • Hamilton Killed

    U.S. founding fathers Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton fight a duel; Hamilton is killed and Burr is ruined.

  • National Road

    U.S. founding fathers Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton fight a duel; Hamilton is killed and Burr is ruined.

  • Battle of Tippecanoe

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

  • White House Burned down

    The British burn the White House and the Capitol, but first lady Dolley Madison saves the Gilbert Stuart portrait of George Washington.

  • The Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise precariously balancing the practice of enslavement holds the Union together, temporarily at least.

  • The Erie Canal

    The Erie Canal opens, making New York the Empire State.

  • Assassination gone wrong

    An English-born house painter attempts to assassinate the president but Andrew Jackson beats him up.

  • Battle At The Alamo

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

  • The Gold Rush Begins

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

  • Uncle tom's Cabin written

    U.S. abolitionist and writer Harriet Beecher Stowe 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.

  • The Race For President

    The upstart politician Abraham Lincoln debates Stephen A. Douglas, in a series of debates that included enslavement in the country.

  • A Civil War is coming

    Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry, Virginia, hoping to initiate a revolt of enslaved people that would put America back on the path to war.

  • Civil War begins

    The United States is torn by the Civil War.

  • President Lincoln's Assassination

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

  • Grant Becomes President

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

  • First National Park

    President U.S. Grant establishes Yellowstone Park as the first National Park.

  • General Custer is killed

    Lt. Colonel George A. Custer meets his end in an ill-considered fight with assembled Indigenous troops at the Battle of the Little Bighorn.

  • Electoral college comes up clutch

    Rutherford B. Hayes wins the hotly contested 1876 presidential election, although not the popular vote.