-
The capital city is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, D.C.
-
A slave blacksmith called Gabriel Prosser organized a slave revolt in Virginia protesting against slavery. The conspiracy was uncovered and the conspirators were hanged. Virginia's slave laws were tightened further.
-
Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president of the United States.
-
The United States pays France $15 million to purchase the Louisiana territory. This made the United States almost double in size.
-
Thomas Jefferson serves another term as US President.
-
Louis and Clark set out from St. Louis, Missouri, on a journey to the West to find a possible road to the Pacific Ocean.
-
James Madison is inaugurated as President of the United States.
-
The United States declares war to the British for interference in their expansion to the west.
-
Francis Scott Key writes the poem "Star-Spangled Banner" as he watches the British attacking Fort McHenry.
-
The war ended with the signing of the Treaty of Ghent in which border issues were settled.
-
James Monroe is inaugurated as the fifth president of the United States.
-
Spain agrees to cede the land of Florida to the United States due to issues with resources.
-
Maine is admitted as a free state and Missouri is admitted as a slave state. All other lands north of latitude 36º30' are not allowed to be slave states.
-
Congress adopts the Articles of Confederation, which is the first constitution of the United States.
-
John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president of the United States.
-
Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as the seventh president of the United States.
-
President Andrew Jackson signed the Indian Removal Act, which permitted the forced removal of Native American Indians from their lands on the West.
-
Nat Turner, a black slave, initiated a bloody rebellion against slavery that lasted for two days in Southampton County, Virginia.
-
Texas declared its independence from Mexico, making it a free land.
-
All Texan defenders are killed by the Mexican army laying siege on the Alamo.
-
The term Manifest Destiny first appears in a magazine article. It represents the idea that the United States are entitled to expand throughout the continent from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean.
-
Congress decides to annex Texas to the territories of the United States.
-
The United States goes to war with Mexico to obtain the California territory.
-
The United States acquires the Oregon Territory through the Oregon Treaty, taking it from the British.
-
The Mexican War ends with the signing of the Guadalupe Hidalgo Treaty in which Mexico cedes the territories of California, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, and Arizona for $15 million.
-
Harriet Tubman escapes slavery and becomes an icon for abolition.
-
Harriet Beecher Stowe's book, Uncle Tom's Cabin, is published and becomes a pushing force toward abolition.
-
Abraham Lincoln is elected president after receiving public attention in debates.
-
South Carolina secedes from the Union due to the cause that its state's rights were not being respected when it came to slavery.
-
South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, and Louisiana secede from the Union and form the Confederate States of America.
-
Confederates attack Fort Sumter in South Carolina and begin the Civil War.
-
The Emancipation Proclamation frees all slaves in the Confederate States.
-
President Abraham Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.
-
Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrenders to Ulysses S. Grant.
-
Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at a theater in Washington, D.C.
-
The thirteenth amendment, prohibiting slavery, is passed.
-
The United States acquires the Alaska Territory from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million.
-
The Chicago Fire killed about 300 people and left hundreds of thousands homeless.
