-
The U.S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC.
-
The United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, which is about 830,000 sq mi. large, making the U.S. nearly double its size.
-
Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis on expedition to explore the West and find a route to the Pacific Ocean.
-
James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president of the United States.
-
The U.S. declares war on Britain because of the British interference with American maritime transportation of goods and westward expansion.
-
Treaty of Ghent is signed, saying that all conquered territory was to be returned and that boundaries should be set, officially ending the war.
-
James Monroe is inaugurated as the fifth president of the United States of America.
-
In an effort to maintain the balance between free and slave states in the North and South of the United States, Maine became a free state, while Missouri became a slave state.
-
Continental Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, which are the components of the first U.S. constitution.
-
President Monroe addresses to Congress and declares that the American continents are off-limits for further colonization by the Europeans.
-
John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president of the United States of America.
-
Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public railroad in the U.S.
-
US's seventh President, Andrew Jackson, signs the Indian Removal Act, which allows the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River.
-
Texas declares its independence from Mexico.
-
More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from Georgia to new Indian territory. About 4,000 of them die from starvation and disease during their journey.
-
This idea appears for the first time in an article by John L. O'Sullivan. It portrasy the beliefs of Americans of having the authority and responsability to lead all other nations into democracy.
-
The Wilmot Proviso, attempted to ban slavery in territory gained in the Mexican War but was refuted by Southerners
-
Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska.
-
South Carolina secedes from the Union.
-
The conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states causes the civil war.
-
The Union and Confederate forces were still in conflict because of the American Civil War. The battle involved the largest number of casualties of the entire war.
-
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting slavery.
-
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote.
