American History Timeline

By lucashn
  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus discovers America

    Christopher Columbus discovers America
  • 1497

    John Cabot claims North America for England

  • 1501

    Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America

  • 1519

    Ferdinand Magellan is the first to go around the world Alonzo de Pineda explores gulf Coast of America

  • 1524

    Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay

  • 1528

    Panfilo de Narvaez conquers Cuba and explores Florida Alvar Cabeza de Vaca explores Texas, Arizona and New Mexico

  • 1534

    Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River

  • 1539

    Hernando de Soto explores south-eastern North America

  • 1540

    Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores south-western North America Discovery of the Grand Canyon by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas

  • 1541

    Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explores Kansas

  • 1542

    Cabrillo explores and discovers the Californian coast Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, California

  • 1559

    Tristan de Luna explores North America

  • 1563

    Francisco de Ibarra explores New Mexico

  • 1576

    Sir Martin Frobisher explores Baffin Bay and the Hudson Strait

  • 1577

    Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the world - December 13 1577 to September 26 1580

  • Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe (both in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh) explore the coast of North Carolina

  • Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island

  • March 25: Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America

  • June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Walter Raleigh

  • Juan de Archuleta explores Colorado

  • Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown

  • Henry Hudson explores North eastern North America including the Hudson River

  • The House of Burgesses, the first representative assembly in America, meets for the first time in Virginia

  • The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England. The Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts is established by Pilgrims from England

  • English seize New Amsterdam (city and colony) from the Dutch and rename it New York

  • The Glorious Revolution in England leads to a constitutional monarchy and passing of the Bill of Rights

  • French and Indian War: Final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham (1759) and, by the Treaty of Paris.

  • February 10: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada east of the Mississippi River added to the British empire. Pontiac's Rebellion against the British

  • October 7: The Proclamation of 1763 issued by King George III after the end of the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War to organize the new North American empire and stabilize relations with Native Americans. ins.

  • No British settlements allowed west of the Appalachian mountains. Settlers already in these areas required to return east

  • February: James Otis urges a united response to the recent acts imposed by England. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to James Otis

  • July: James Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved." August: Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods

  • March 22: The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. March 24: The Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops and supply them with food. July: The Sons of Liberty is formed - a secret organization opposed to the Stamp Act

  • December: Over 200 Boston merchants refuse to pay the Stamp Tax

  • 1766 March 18. Stamp Act repealed January: New York assembly refuses to fully enforce the Quartering Act. August: Violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and members of the Sons of Liberty.

  • July: Merchants in Boston and New York boycott British goods September: English warships sail into Boston Harbor leaving two regiments of English troops to keep order.

  • March: "The Boston Massacre" - Four workers shot by British troops in Boston

  • December 16: The Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.

  • March: The Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans)

  • The American Revolution, the American War of Independence, led by George Washington was fought between Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.

  • July 6: Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms stating that Americans are "resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves."

  • June 15: George Washington appointed general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.

  • April 19 Shots fired at Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed. "Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.

  • February 9: English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion

  • May 2: The American revolution gains support from King Louis XVI of France 1776 July 4. Thomas Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of Independence

  • November 15: Articles of Confederation - Congress is made sole authority of the new national government.

  • February 6: France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution soon becomes a world war.

  • September 14: Benjamin Franklin appointed American representative in France.

  • September 27: John Adams is appointed to negotiate peace with England.

  • September 23: Plans discovered indicating Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Benedict Arnold joins the British

  • October 17: American victory at Yorktown terms discussed for the British surrender. October 19: The British army surrenders at Yorktown - a devastating effect on the British

  • February 27: English Parliament votes against further war in America.

  • November 10: The final battle of the Revolutionary War when Americans retaliate by attacking a Shawnee village in Ohio

  • November 30: Preliminary peace treaty signed in Paris recognising American independence and the British withdrawal from America.

  • February 4: England officially declares an end to hostilities in America September 3: The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain

  • January 14: The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress and the American Revolutionary War officially ends

  • First President of the US is George Washington 1789-1797

  • The first thirteen states were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island

  • Judiciary Act of 1789

  • Bill of Rights ratified

  • Fugitive Slave Act passed

  • Whiskey Rebellion

  • Second President of the US is John Adams 1797-1801

  • Logan Act

  • Library of Congress founded

  • Third President of the US is Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809

  • Louisiana Purchase Treaty

  • Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory

  • Barbary Wars

  • Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves

  • U.S. slave trade with Africa ends

  • Fourth President of the US is James Madison 1809-1817

  • Battle of Tippecanoe

  • War of 1812 begins

  • Treaty of Fort Jackson ends Creek War

  • Fifth President of the US is James Monroe 1817-1825

  • Jackson Purchase in Kentucky 1818 Five more states were admitted to the US - Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi

  • Adams-Onis Treaty, including acquisition of Florida Illinois admission to the US

  • Sixth President of the US is John Quincy Adams 1825-1829

  • Seventh President of the US is Andrew Jackson 1829-1837

  • Indian Removal Act Oregon Trail opens

  • Nat Turner's revolt

  • Black Hawk War Seminole War begins Department of Indian Affairs established

  • Texas War for Independence begins

  • Battle of the Alamo Panic of 1837 Michigan admission to the US

  • 1838-1839: The Trail of Tears

  • Tenth President of the US is John Tyler 1841-1845

  • Ninth President of the US is William Henry Harrison 1841

  • Eleventh President of the US is James Knox Polk 1845-1849

  • Mexican-American War begins and ends in 1848

  • Treaty of Cahuenga ends Mexican-American War Iowa admission to the US

  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War

  • Gold discovered in California Wisconsin admission to the US

  • Twelfth President of the US is Zachary Taylor 1849-1850

  • Thirteenth President of the US is Millard Fillmore 1850-1853

  • California admission to the US

  • Fourteenth President of the US is Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 Gadsden Purchase

  • Sack of Lawrence, Kansas Pottawatomie Massacre

  • Fifteenth President of the US is James Buchanan 1857-1861

  • Minnesota admission to the US

  • Oregon admission to the US Harper's Ferry Raid

  • Pony Express begins

  • Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) established under President Jefferson Davis

  • Sixteenth President of the US is Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865

  • Kansas admission to the US

  • American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter.

  • Battle of Gettysburg West Virginia admission to the US

  • Sand Creek Massacre

  • Abraham Lincoln assassinated

  • Seventeenth President of the US is Andrew Johnson 1865-1869

  • United States Civil War ends

  • Civil Rights Act of 1866

  • Ku Klux Klan founded

  • Nebraska admission to the US

  • Alaska Purchase from Russia

  • Eighteenth President of the US is Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877

  • Great Chicago Fire

  • Treaty of Washington with Great Britain regarding the Dominion of Canada

  • Yellowstone National Park established

  • Red River Wars

  • Civil Rights Act of 1875

  • Battle of the Little Bighorn

  • Nineteenth Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881

  • Colorado admission to the US

  • Nez Perce War

  • Twentieth President of the US is James Abram Garfield 1881

  • Chinese Exclusion Act and European Restriction Act

  • Twenty-Second President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1885-1889

  • Washington monument completed

  • Wounded Knee Massacre

  • Yosemite National Park created

  • North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho admission to the US

  • Wyoming admission to the US

  • Twenty - Fourth President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1893-1897

  • Utah admission to the US

  • Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike

  • Twenty - Fifth President of the US is William McKinley 1897-1901

  • Spanish-American War

  • Boxer Rebellion in China

  • Twenty - Sixth President of the US is Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909

  • Ford Motor Company formed

  • 1903 - First World Series

  • Panama Canal Zone acquired

  • Oklahoma admission to the US

  • Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established

  • Twenty - Seventh President of the US is William Howard Taft 1909-1913

  • Titanic sinks

  • Arizona, Alaska and New Mexico admission to the US

  • Twenty - Eighth President of the US is Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921

  • WWI started 28 July 1914 - 11 November 1918

  • The Birth of a Nation movie directed by D.W. Griffith opens

  • US enters World War I

  • U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark

  • Treaty of Versailles

  • First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

  • Twenty- Ninth President of the US is Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921-1923

  • Thirtieth President of the US is Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929

  • Indian Reorganization Act

  • The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson is the first "talkie" to be released

  • Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight

  • Thirty- First President of the US is Herbert Clark Hoover 1929-1933

  • Immigration Act

  • Great Depression begins

  • Empire State Building opens

  • Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean

  • Thirty - Second President of the US is Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945

  • Japan and Germany withdraw from League of Nations

  • Dust Bowl begins

  • Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act

  • John Dillinger killed

  • Indian Reorganization Act

  • Social Security Act

  • London Conference on disarmament

  • Hindenburg disaster

  • Germany invades Poland; World War II begins

  • Attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. enters World War II

  • D-Day Battle of the Bulge

  • Thirty - Third President of the US is Harry S. Truman 1945-1953

  • U.S. takes Okinawa

  • U.S. joins the United Nations

  • Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki

  • Germany and Japan surrender, ending World War II

  • The Cold War began between the United States and the Soviet Union

  • Atomic Energy Act

  • Nuremberg trials

  • Berlin Blockade

  • NATO formed

  • Germany divided into East and West

  • Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power and start Communist witch hunts (1950-1954)

  • Korean War begins

  • Thirty - Fourth President of the US is Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961

  • Armistice in Korea

  • SEATO alliance

  • Warsaw Pact

  • US installs Diem as leader of South Vietnam

  • Civil Rights Act of 1957

  • Russians launch Sputnik

  • NASA formed

  • Cuban Revolution

  • Hawaii, the last state was admitted giving the American flag 50 stars

  • Civil Rights Act of 1960

  • Thirty - Fifth President of the US is John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963

  • Peace Corps

  • Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon

  • OPEC formed

  • Cuban Missile Crisis

  • President J Kennedy assassinated

  • Thirty - Sixth President of the US is Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969

  • March on Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech

  • Civil Rights Act of 1964

  • Detroit race riot

  • Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated

  • Civil Rights Act of 1968

  • Thirty - Seventh President of the US is Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974

  • Neil Armstrong walks on the moon

  • Kent State shootings

  • Watergate burglary

  • Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with USSR

  • Vietnam War ends with US pulling out in 1973

  • Watergate Scandal breaks in 1973

  • Skylab first space station launched

  • Richard Nixon resigns Presidency over Watergate

  • Thirty - Eighth President of the US is Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977

  • Thirty - Ninth President of the US is Jimmy Carter 1977-1981

  • Three Mile Island nuclear accident

  • 1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins

  • Fortieth President of the US is Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989

  • Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley

  • Iran-Contra scandal breaks

  • Space Shuttle Challenger accident

    Space Shuttle Challenger accident

  • Forty - First President of the US is George Herbert Walker Bush 1989-1993

  • Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit

  • Iraq invades Kuwait leading to 1991 Gulf War

  • Gulf War

  • Hurricane Andrew causes devastation in Florida and Louisiana

  • Los Angeles riots

  • Forty - Second President of the US is William Jefferson Clinton 1993-2001

  • World Trade Center bombing

  • Oklahoma City bombing

  • President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate

  • Forty - Third President of the US is George Walker Bush

  • September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon

  • Invasion of Afghanistan Operation "Enduring Freedom"

  • Occupation of Iraq, 2003-2004

  • Hurricane Katrina

  • Forty - Fourth President of the US is Barack Obama