American History Timeline

  • Period: to

    Early Republic

  • Constitution Approved🟧

    There was a debate and the convention finally decided to approve the new Constitution.
  • George Washington

    George Washington
    1st president, Federalist party, 1789-97
  • Hamilton's Financial Plan🟩

    Focused on establishing a stable economy. Assuming state debts, establishing a national bank, and promoting industry through tariffs and subsidies.
  • John Adams

    John Adams
    2nd president, Federalist, 1797-1801
  • The Second Great Awakening 🟦

    A protestant religious revival during the late 18th to early 19th century in the U.S.
  • Collapse of Federalist Party🟧

    The party was defeated by democratic republicans
  • Thomas Jefferson

    Thomas Jefferson
    3rd president, Democratic Republican, 1801-09
  • Louisiana Purchase🟩

    Jefferson bought the Lousiana Territory from Spain
  • James Madison

    James Madison
    4th president, Democratic Republican 1809-17
  • Period: to

    Manifest Destiny/Westward Expansion🟪

  • Capital Burned🟥

    Capital burned during the War of 1812
  • Period: to

    Era of Good Feelings

  • James Monroe

    James Monroe
    5th president, Democratic Republican 1817-25
  • Panic of 1819🟧

    Widespread financial crisis in U.S.
  • Temperance Movement🟦

    First urged moderation, then encouraged drinkers to resist temptation, then demanded that local, state, and national government prohibit alcohol outright during the 1820s.
  • Missouri Crisis 🟦

    Controversy arose within Congress over the issue of slavery
  • John Quincy Adams

    John Quincy Adams
    6th president, National Republican, 1825-29
  • Andrew Jackson

    Andrew Jackson
    7th president, Democratic 1829-37
  • Period: to

    Jacksonian

  • Trail of Tears🟪

    Forced displacement of about 60,000 people
  • Jackson Vetoes the Second National Bank🟩

    President Andrew Jackson vetoed a bill to re-charter the Second Bank of the United States. Part of what is known as the "Bank War", which showed Jackson's belief that the bank favored wealthy interests.
  • Martin Van Buren

    Martin Van Buren
    8th president, Democratic 1837-41
  • Indian Removal Act🟪

    Authorizing the president to grant lands west of the Mississippi in exchange for Indian lands within existing state borders.
  • John Tyler

    John Tyler
    10th president, Whig, 1841-45
  • William Henry Harrison

    William Henry Harrison
    9th president, Whig
  • James K. Polk

    James K. Polk
    11th president, Democratic, 1845-49
  • Mexican-American War🟥

    Invasion of Mexico by U.S. Army
  • California Gold Rush🟩

    Gold was found in California
  • Seneca Falls Convention🟦

    Launched the women's rights and suffrage movement in the U.S.
  • Zachary Taylor

    Zachary Taylor
    12th president, Whig, 1849-50
  • Compromise of 1850🟦

    Laws passed by U.S. Congress in order to stop slavery
  • Millard Fillmore

    Millard Fillmore
    13th president, Whig, 1850-53
  • Franklin Pierce

    Franklin Pierce
    14th president, Democratic, 1853-57
  • Kansas-Nebraska Act🟦

    Created two new territories
  • James Buchanan

    James Buchanan
    15th president, Democratic, 1857-61
  • The Great Famine and Irish Immigration🟪

    A peak in Emigration occurred as a result of the Great Famine of 1845-1852.
  • Abraham Lincoln

    Abraham Lincoln
    16th president, Republican, 1861-65
  • Battle of Fort Sumter🟥

    Open fire around Charleston Harbor
  • Period: to

    Civil War🟥

  • Emancipation Proclamation🟦

    Written by Abraham Lincoln to abolish slavery
  • Period: to

    Progressive Era

  • 13th Amendment🟦

    Abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except for the punishment of a crime.
  • Assassination of Abraham Lincoln🟧

    April 14th, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated while watching the play, "Our American Cousin". The assassination was carried out by John Wilkes Booth.
  • Andrew Johnson

    Andrew Johnson
    17th president, Democratic, 1865-69
  • Reconstruction Acts🟩

    A series of U.S. congressional acts passed in 1867 and 68 to address the aftermath of the Civil War.
  • 14th Amendment🟦

    Adresses citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the laws.
  • Ulysses S. Grant

    Ulysses S. Grant
    18th president, Republican, 1869-77
  • 15th Amendment🟦

    Prohibits the federal and state governments from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote based on "race, color, or previous condition of servitude".
  • Jim Crow🟩

    State and local laws introduced in the southern U.S. that enforced racial segregation.
  • Period: to

    Gilded Age

  • Rutherford B. Hayes

    Rutherford B. Hayes
    19th president, Republican, 1877-81
  • Great Railroad Strike🟩

    Strike against railroad wages being cut
  • Settlement House Movement🟪

    A reformist social movement that began in the 1880s and peaked around the 1920s in the United Kingdom and the United States.
  • Chester A. Arthur

    Chester A. Arthur
    21st president, Republican, 1881-85
  • James A. Garfield

    James A. Garfield
    20th president, Republican
  • Chinese Exclusion Act 🟦

    Chinese labor workers were banned from entering the U.S.
  • Benjamin Harrison

    Benjamin Harrison
    23rd president, Republican, 1889-93
  • Grover Cleveland

    Grover Cleveland
    22nd president, Democratic, 1885-89
  • Haymarket Riot🟩

    Aftermath of bombing at labor demonstration
  • AFL🟧

    American Federation of Labor formed
  • Hull House🟪

    House opened to help poor immigrants
  • How the Other Half Lives🟧

    Book showing the living conditions and suffering of poor residents of New York City
  • Grover Cleveland

    24th president, 1893-97, Democratic
  • William McKinley

    William McKinley
    25th president, Republican, 1897-1901
  • Spanish American War 🟥

    A conflict between the U.S. and Spain, resulting in America acquiring new land.
  • Theodore Roosevelt

    Theodore Roosevelt
    26th president, Republican, 1901-09
  • William Howard Taft

    William Howard Taft
    27th president, Republican, 1909-13
  • Woodrow Wilson

    Woodrow Wilson
    28th president, Democratic, 1913-21
  • Period: to

    WWI🟥

  • Assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand🟥

    Archduke killed on the street starting WWI
  • German Invasion🟥

    Belgium was invaded by Germans, making Britain ally with France
  • Sinking of RMS Lusitania🟥

    British boat sunk by Germans
  • 19th Amendment🟦

    Women are allowed to vote
  • Period: to

    Roaring 20s

  • KKK🟥

    Ku-Klux-Klan preached Americanism based on racism
  • Warren G. Harding

    Warren G. Harding
    29th president, Republican, 1921-23
  • Tulsa Race Massacre🟥

    2-day long white supremacist terrorist massacre
  • Introduction of the ERA 🟦

    Equal Rights Amendment, in effort to secure full rights for women
  • Calvin Coolidge

    Calvin Coolidge
    30th president, Republican, 1923-29
  • Jazz🟦

    Jazz music was finally created
  • Herbert Hoover

    Herbert Hoover
    31st president, Republican, 1929-33
  • Period: to

    Great Depression

  • The Dust Bowl🟩

    A severe ecological and economic disaster in the 1930s was caused by a drought, poor agriculture, and high winds. This led to widespread soil erosion and many dust storms in the American Great Plains.
  • Roosevelt 🟧

    Roosevelt is elected President after defeating Herbert Hoover
  • The New Deal🟧

    1933-1936
    A series of programs and legislation were implemented by President Franklin D. Roosevelt to address the Great Depression. Provided: relief for the needy, economic recovery, and financial reforms.
  • Franklin D. Roosevelt

    Franklin D. Roosevelt
    32nd president, 1933-45 Democratic
  • Invasion on Poland🟥

    Hitler invades Poland
  • Chicano Movement🟦

    Sparked national conversations on the political and social autonomy of Hispanic groups everywhere in the United States. Ended in the 1970s
  • U.S. Enters War🟥

    America enters war after the attack on Pearl Harbor
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    WWII🟥

  • Battle of Midway🟥

    Major naval battle in Pacific
  • Japanese Internment🟪

    U.S. relocated people of Japanese descent in 10 concentration camps
  • Zoot Suit Riots🟦

    Series of riots that took place June 3–8, 1943, in Los Angeles, California
  • German Surrender🟥

    The unconditional surrender of the German Third Reich was signed
  • Harry S. Truman

    Harry S. Truman
    33rd president, Democratic, 1945-53
  • Period: to

    Cold War🟥

  • Berlin Airlift🟥

    The U.S. and UK airlifted food to Berlin
  • Korean War 🟥

    A conflict fought from 1950 to 1953 on the Korean peninsula. Some refer to it as the "Forgotten War".
  • Vietnam War 🟥

    It pitted the communist government of North Vietnam against South Vietnam and the U.S. From the 1950s to 1975
  • Dwight D. Eisenhower

    Dwight D. Eisenhower
    34th president, Republican, 1953-61
  • Red Power Movement 🟦

    Led by Native American youth who demanded self-determination. Ended in the 1970s
  • John F. Kennedy

    John F. Kennedy
    35th president, Democratic, 1961-63
  • Cuban Missile Crisis🟥

    Confrontation between the U.S. and Soviet Union
  • Lyndon B. Johnson

    Lyndon B. Johnson
    36th president, Democratic 1963-69
  • The Stonewall Riots🟥

    Series of spontaneous riots and demonstrations against a police raid
  • Richard M. Nixon

    Richard M. Nixon
    37th president, Republican. 1969-74
  • Gerald R. Ford

    Gerald R. Ford
    38th president, Republican, 1974-77
  • Jimmy Carter

    Jimmy Carter
    39th president, Democratic, 1977-81
  • Ronald Reagan

    Ronald Reagan
    40th president, 1981-89, Democratic
  • Second National March on Washington 🟦

    For lesbian and gay rights, there was a large political rally in Washington, D.C.
  • George Bush

    George Bush
    41st president, Republican,1989-93
  • Fall of Berlin Wall🟥

    The first step towards German reunification
  • Period: to

    Contemporary History

  • Persian Gulf War🟥

    Armed conflict between Iraq and the 42-country coalition led by the U.S.
  • Bill Clinton

    Bill Clinton
    42nd president, 1993-2001
  • Clinton🟧

    Bill Clintons 2nd inauguration
  • 9/11🟥

    The Twin Towers brought down by terrorist planes
  • George W. Bush

    George W. Bush
    43rd president, Republican, 2001-09
  • Barack Obama

    Barack Obama
    44th president, Democratic, 2009-2017
  • Donald Trump

    Donald Trump
    45th president, Republican, 2017-21
    47th president, republican, 2025-present
  • Joe Biden

    Joe Biden
    46th president, Democratic, 2021-25