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Aug 3, 1492
Columbus sets sail for the new world.
Columbus set sail to the New World to get goods from India. He landed in America, and never realised it. -
Mar 1, 1493
Columbus returns to Spain
Columbus returned to his homeland with a plethora of spices, gold, and slaves which he claimed were "Indians". -
Jan 1, 1507
America is called "America" in books.
The name "America" is first used in a geography book referring to the New World with Amerigo Vespucci getting credit for the discovery of the continent. -
Puritans settle in Massachussetts
Puritans will settle in this colony for religious freedoms, due to religious issues in Europe. -
Yale is founded
Yale college is founded in Connecticut -
Benjamin Franklin is born.
Benjamin Franklin is Born in Boston. -
FIrst Public Library
The first American public library is founded in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin. -
Washington is Born
George Washington is born in Virginia. -
Iron Act
The Iron Act is passed to limit the American iron industry to protect the English's iron industry. -
Currency Act
The Currency Act prohibits the colonists from issuing any legal tender paper money. This act threatens to destabilize the entire colonial economy of both the industrial North and agricultural South, thus uniting the colonists against it. -
Sons of Liberty group is founded.
The Sons of Liberty, an underground organization opposed to the Stamp Act, is formed in a number of colonial towns. Its members use violence and intimidation to eventually force all of the British stamp agents to resign and also stop many American merchants from ordering British trade goods. -
The Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurs as a mob harasses British soldiers who then fire their muskets pointblank into the crowd, killing three instantly, mortally wounding two others and injuring six. After the incident, the new Royal Governor of Massachusetts, Thomas Hutchinson, at the insistence of Sam Adams, withdraws British troops out of Boston to nearby harbor islands. The captain of the British soldiers, Thomas Preston, is then arrested along with eight of his men and charged with murder. -
Tea Act takes affect.
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Battle on Bunker Hill
The first major fight between British and American troops occurs at Boston in the Battle of Bunker Hill. American troops are dug in along the high ground of Breed's Hill (the actual location) and are attacked by a frontal assault of over 2000 British soldiers who storm up the hill. The Americans are ordered not to fire until they can see "the whites of their eyes." As the British get within 15 paces, the Americans let loose a deadly volley of rifle fire and halt the British advance. The British -
First American Constitution
The assembly of New Hampshire adopts the first American state constitution. -
Common Sense
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" is published in Philadelphia. The 50 page pamphlet is highly critical of King George III and attacks allegiance to Monarchy in principle while providing strong arguments for American independence. It becomes an instant best-seller in America. "We have it in our power to begin the world anew...American shall make a stand, not for herself alone, but for the world," Paine states. -
Declaration of Independance
The Decleration of Independanceis signed. -
Washington crosses the Deleware
Washington takes his troops across the Delaware River into Pennsylvania. The next day, over concerns of a possible British attack, the Continental Congress abandons Philadelphia for Baltimore. Among Washington's troops is Thomas Paine, author of Common Sense, who now writes "...These are the times that try men's souls: The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of his country: but he that stands it NOW deserves the love and thanks of man and woman. -
Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance
American and French representatives sign two treaties in Paris: a Treaty of Amity and Commerce and a Treaty of Alliance. France now officially recognizes the United States and will soon become the major supplier of military supplies to Washington's army. Both countries pledge to fight until American independence is won, with neither country concluding any truce with Britain without the other's consent, and guarantee each other's possessions in America against all other powers. -
England stops hostility
England officially declares an end to hostilities in America. -
Slavery ends for the Continental Army.
In Virginia, the House of Burgesses grants freedom to slaves who served in the Continental Army. -
Washington D.C. declared new capital.
June. The U. S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C. -
Louisiana Purchase
Jefferson asks Congress for funds for an expedition to explore the Mississippi River and beyond in search of a route to the Pacific. Meriwether Lewis, Jefferson's private secretary, begins planning the expedition, which forms late in 1803. -
James Madison is elected President.
James Madison is elected President – tensions continue to build with Britain. As Jefferson's successor, Madison won the 1808 presidential election handily, despite a challenge from his estranged friend, James Monroe. Throughout his first term Madison was preoccupied by disputes with France, Great Britain, and Spain. By 1810 France had repealed its commercial restrictions, at least nominally, and in the same year Madison seized the province of West Florida from Spain, thereby consolidating Americ -
War of 1812
U.S. declares war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion -
Star Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key writes Star-Spangled Banner as he watches British attack on Fort McHenry at Baltimore -
James Monroe is elected preident.
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Monroe Doctrine
In his annual address to Congress, President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers. -
Erie Canal
Erie Canal, linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie, is opened for traffic -
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public railroad in the U.S. -
Indian Removal Act
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. By the late 1830s the Jackson administration has relocated nearly 50,000 Native Americans. -
Nat Turner's Uprising
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. -
Trail of Tears
More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from Georgia to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Approximately 4,000 die from starvation and disease along the “Trail of Tears.” -
William Henry elected President
William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth president. -
Mexican War
U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest -
Zachary Taylor elected President.
Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the 12th president. -
Taylor dies.
President Taylor diesnand is succeeded by his vice president, Millard Fillmore. -
Gladsen Purchase
Gadsden Purchase treaty is signed; U.S. acquires border territory from Mexico for $10 million. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. The legislation repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and renews tensions between anti- and proslavery factions. -
Abraham Lincoln Elected President.
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South Carolina secedes from the Union.
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Civil War Starts
Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states. Confederates attack Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C., marking the start of the war. -
15th Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote -
Chicago FIre
Chicago fire kills 300 and leaves 90,000 people homeless. -
Little Big Horn
Lt. Col. George A. Custer's regiment is wiped out by Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn River, Mont. -
James A. Garfield is elected president.
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U.S. Adopts Standard Time
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Grover Cleaveland
Grover Cleavland is inogurated as the 22nd president of the United States. -
Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
Statue of Liberty is dedicated. -
Federation of Labor
American Federation of Labor is organized. -
NAWSA is founded.
National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is founded, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president. -
Frontier Closed
In reporting the results of the 1890 census, the Census Bureau announces that the West has been settled and the frontier is closed. -
Sherman Antitrust Act
Sherman Antitrust Act is signed into law, prohibiting commercial monopolies -
Ellis Island becomes chief immigration station of the U.S.
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Plessy v. Fergusson
Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South -
Gavelston Tornado
Galveston hurricane leaves an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 dead. -
Panama Canal
U.S. acquires Panama Canal Zone. -
First aeroplane invented by Write Brothers
Wright brothers make the first controlled, sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, N.C. -
Beareau of Investigation
Bureau of Investigation, forerunner of the FBI, is established -
Taft Elected President
William Howard Taft is inaugurated as the 27th president. Mrs. Taft has 80 Japanese cherry trees planted along the banks of the Potomac River. -
Wilson elected president
Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th president -
Seventeenth Amendment
Seventeenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, providing for the direct election of U.S. senators by popular vote rather than by the state legislatures -
Panama Canal opens to public
Panama Canal opens to traffic -
World War I
World War I: U.S. enters World War I, declaring war on Germany -
Influenza Outbreak
Worldwide influenza epidemic strikes; by 1920, nearly 20 million are dead. In U.S., 500,000 perish. -
Armistice to World War I
Armistice ending World War I is signed
