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Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is founded in Washington -
Jefferson Elected
The US House of Representatives votes for Jefferson as president -
The Factory Act
The British parliament passes the first Factory Act, limiting a child's working day in a factory to twelve hours -
The Political Register
William Cobbett launches a weekly newspaper, The Political Register -
Lewis and Clark
Lewis and Clark make their way through the Rockies and reach the Pacific -
Lewis and Clark Return
Lewis and Clark get back to St Louis with a wealth of information about the unopened west of the continent -
The Clermont
Robert Fulton launches a steamboat, the Clermont, on New York's Hudson river -
America Wins at Lake Erie
American warships win a victory over the British on Lake Erie -
Star-Spangled Banner is Written
US lawyer Francis Scott Key writes The Star-Spangled Banner -
First Macadamized Road
John McAdam builds the first macadamized road -
Monroe is Elected
Republican candidate James Monroe wins the US presidential election -
Frankenstein is Published
Mary Shelley publishes Frankenstein -
Monroe Warns Against Interference
US president James Monroe warns European nations against interfering in America -
Republicans Split
The Republican party in the USA splits into National Republicans and Democratic Republicans -
Adams Wins Election
John Quincy Adams wins the US presidential election -
White Males Gain Voting Rights
Adult white males now have the vote in almost all the states of the USA -
Jacksonian Democracy
Andrew Jackson, elected president of the USA, introduces the era known as Jacksonian democracy -
Hymn America is Sung
Samuel Francis Smith's patriotic hymn America is sung for the first time on July 4 in Boston -
Cholera Epidemic
The USA suffers the first of several cholera epidemics -
US Railway
The first long-distance US railway carries its first passengers -
Van Buren Wins Election
Martin van Buren wins the US presidential election on the Democratic ticket -
Telegraph
US inventor Samuel Morse gives the first public demonstration, in Philadelphia, of his electric telegraph -
The Great Removal
Five American Indian tribes are forcibly escorted to a new Indian Territory west of the Mississippi in the process that becomes known as the Great Removal -
Oregon Trail
The Great Migration across the north American continent to the Pacific establishes the Oregon Trail -
YMCA
The Young Men's Christian Association is founded in London by British drapery assistant George Williams -
Telegraph
Samuel Morse and his assistant Alfred Vail complete the first telegraph line -
Frederick Douglass Autobiography
Escaped slave Frederick Douglass publishes the first of three volumes of his autobiography -
Gold Rush
Gold is found on the property of John Sutter and news of it launches the first gold rush -
Communist Manifesto
The Communist Manifesto, by Marx and Engels, is published in Paris with the ringing slogan: 'Workers of the world, unite!' -
Compromise of 1850
The US Congress passes the Compromise of 1850, designed to defuse the growing crisis over slavery -
Republican Party
An anti-slavery movement adopts a resonant name, calling itself the Republican party -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The controversial Kansas-Nebraska Act passes into law, enabling citizens of these territories to decide whether or not to allow slavery -
Buchanan Wins Election
Democrat candidate James Buchanan wins the US presidential election -
Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln comes to national prominence through his debates on slavery with Stephen Douglas -
Lincoln Runs for President
Lincoln becomes the Republican presidential candidate -
Lincoln Wins Election
Republican contender Abraham Lincoln is elected US president with only 39% of the popular vote and no electoral votes in eleven southern states -
The Confederates
Seven southern states, meeting in Montgomery, Alabama, agree to form the Confederate States of America -
First Civil War Battle
A two-day engagement at Shiloh is the first Civil War battle to bring massive casualties, with more than 23,000 dead, wounded or missing -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act grants 160 acres in the west of the USA to any family farming them for five years -
Gettysburg Address
President Lincoln, in honouring the Union dead at Gettysburg, captures in three minutes the essence of American democracy -
Lincoln is Re-elected
President Lincoln is re-elected for a second term -
Black Codes
The southern states pass new Black Codes, designed to limit the freedom granted to African-Americans by the victorious north -
Fourteenth Amendment
The Fourteenth Amendment to the US constitution assures equal rights as citizens to all born or naturalized in the USA -
Reconstruction Acts
The US Congress passes Reconstruction Acts, dividing the defeated South into military districts and insisting on elections by universal male suffrage -
Grant Wins Election
Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant wins the US presidential election -
Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment to the US Constitution makes it illegal to deny the right to vote on racial grounds -
NRA Established
Civil War veterans in the USA establish the National Rifle Association to promote marksmanship -
First National Park
The US Congress establishes Yellowstone as the world's first national park -
Hayes Wins Election
Republican candidate Rutherford B. Hayes defeats Democrat Samuel J. Tilden in a US presidential election