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The U.S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC.
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Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president in Washington, DC.
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United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, which extends west from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and comprises about 830,000 sq mi. As a result, the U.S. nearly doubles in size.
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Second inauguration.
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Set out from St. Louis, Mo., on expedition to explore the West and find a route to the Pacific Ocean.
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Lewis and Clark reach the Pacific Ocean
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James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president.
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U.S. declares war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion.
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Second Inauguration
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Francis Scott Key writes Star-Spangled Banner as he watches British attack on Fort McHenry at Baltimore.
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Treaty of Ghent is signed, officially ending the war.
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James Monroe is inaugurated as the fifth president.
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In an effort to maintain the balance between free and slave states, Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) is admitted as a free state so that Missouri can be admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 36°30'.
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Second inauguration.
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Great Britain formally acknowledges American independence in the Treaty of Paris, which officially brings the war to a close.
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Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, the first U.S. constitution.
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In his annual address to Congress, President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers.
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John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president.
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Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public railroad in the U.S.
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Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as seventh president.
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President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River.
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Nat Turner, an enslaved African American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. He and his band of about 80 followers launch a bloody, day-long rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The militia quells the rebellion, and Turner is eventually hanged. As a consequence, Virginia institutes much stricter slave laws.
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William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing the Liberator, a weekly paper that advocates the complete abolition of slavery. He becomes one of the most famous figures in the abolitionist movement.
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Second inauguration.
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Texas declares its independence from Mexico.
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Texan defenders of the Alamo are all killed during siege by the Mexican Army.
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Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth president.
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William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth president.
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William Henry Harrison dies one month later and is succeeded in office by his vice president, John Tyler.
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James Polk is inaugurated as the 11th president
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U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest.
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War concludes with signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
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Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated members of the Underground Railroad.
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Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the 12th president.
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President Taylor dies and is succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore.
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Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments.
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Franklin Pierce is inaugurated as the 14th president.
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Gadsden Purchase treaty is signed; U.S. acquires border territory from Mexico for $10 million.
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Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
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James Buchanan is inaugurated as the 15th president.
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Abolitionist John Brown and 21 followers capture federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Va. (now W. Va.), in an attempt to spark a slave revolt.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president.
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South Carolina secedes from the Union.
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Jefferson Davis is elected president of the Confederacy.
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Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president.
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Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states.
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Homestead Act becomes law, allowing settlers to claim land (160 acres) after they have lived on it for five years.
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Emancipation Proclamation is issued, freeing slaves in the Confederate states.
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President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.
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Lincoln's second inauguration.
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Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC, and is succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson.
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Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting slavery.
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U.S. acquires Alaska from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million.
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President Johnson is impeached by the House of Representatives.
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Johnson is acquitted at his trial in the Senate.
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Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, defining citizenship.
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Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated as the 18th president.
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Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote.
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Second inauguration.
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Lt. Col. George A. Custer's regiment is wiped out by Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn River, Mont.