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Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, ending the Civil War.
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In the days, months, and years following the Civil War, the American South was repatriated and rebuilt.
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President Abraham Lincoln is shot while watching a play at Ford's Theatre in Washington, DC. He dies the next day.
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The first national park, Yellowstone National Park, is created.
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Fulfilling a campaign promise, new President Rutherford B. Hayes puts an end to Reconstruction on his first day in office.
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President James A. Garfield is shot in a train station in Washington, DC. After many new and experimental treatments, he dies two and a half months later.
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A brief gunfight between local lawmen and outlaw cowboys near the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona, ends with three outlaws dead. It quickly becomes one of the most famous shootouts in American history.
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In a ceremony led by President Grover Cleveland, the Statue of Liberty is dedicated on Liberty Island in New York Harbor.
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Grover Cleveland becomes the first president to be elected to two nonconsecutive terms.
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The Republic of Hawaii is annexed by the United States. On December 10th, Spain agrees to cede Guam, The Philippines, and Puerto Rico to the United States in the aftermath of the Spanish-American War.
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President William McKinley is visiting the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, NY, when he is shot by a crazed anarchist while shaking hands with the public. The president dies about a week later from blood poisoning.
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Orville and Wilbur Wright successfully test the first controlled airplane on the beaches of Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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The British passenger ship, RMS Titanic, hits an iceberg en route to New York City and sinks off the coast of Newfoundland. Over 1,500 people are killed in the disaster.
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The United States declares war on Germany, beginning the United States' involvement in World War I
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The Treaty of Versailles is signed in France, ending World War I.
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The 19th Amendment to the Constitution is passed, giving women the right to vote.
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President Warren G. Harding dies unexpectedly in a San Francisco hotel while touring the country.
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The New York Stock Exchange experienced a sudden price crash on a day that became known as "Black Tuesday". The crash sets off the Great Depression.
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One of the most iconic buildings in the world, the Empire State Building, opens in New York City.
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After being elected overwhelmingly in 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) begins a number of public assistance programs as part of his "New Deal" to aid millions of Americans affected by the Great Depression. FDR also becomes the only president is U.S. history to be elected to more than two terms, being unprecedentedly reelected in 1940 and 1944. He is also instrumental in the Allied Powers' success once the U.S. enters World War II in late 1941.
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The popular board game from Parker Brothers, Monopoly, is introduced to the public. Its street names are based on the streets of Atlantic City, New Jersey.
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Japanese airplanes launch a devastating surprise attack on the United States naval base at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. President Roosevelt asks Congress and war is declared the next day, pulling the U.S. into World War II.
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The United States enters into war with Japan after the attack on Pearl Habor and soon Germany also declares war on the U.S. After countless battles, attacks, and campaigns, the war finally ends for good in August 1945.
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President Franklin D. Roosevelt dies suddenly of a cerebral hemorrhage while vacationing in Warm Springs, Georgia.
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After years of secrecy in the "Manhattan Project", the U.S. drops the first atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, in an effort to end WWII. The plan succeeds, and Japanese forces surrender about a month later.
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The United States and other United Nations forces help South Korea fight off the invasion of North Korea to help prevent the spread of communism.
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The Soviet Union launches the first man-made satellite into orbit, beginning the Space Race between the U.S. and the Soviet Union.
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President John F. Kennedy is shot and killed while riding in an open car in Dallas, Texas.
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Fulfilling a promise made by the late President Kennedy, the U.S. successfully lands two people on the moon, ending the Space Race. To this day, the United States is the only country to have been to the moon.
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To avoid impeachment due to his role in the Watergate scandal, President Richard Nixon resigns the presidency, becoming the first president to do so.
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Iranian rebels storm the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, Iran, and take 52 Americans hostage. They are held for 444 days before being released during new President Ronald Reagan's Inauguration.
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In a major setback for the U.S. space program, the space shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after blasting off from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
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While making a speech in front of the Berlin Wall's Brandenburg Gate, President Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall" in order to allow families to reunite and life to return to normal in Berlin. The wall finally comes down two years later, and the Soviet Union collapses in 1991.
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Iraqi forces invade the small nation of Kuwait at the mouth of the Persian Gulf, and the U.S. comes to Kuwait's aid and the war is over in less than seven months.
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The twenty-seventh amendment to the U.S. Constitution is passed to control and limit congressional pay raises. To this day, it is the most recent constitutional amendment.
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In 1992, Democrat Bill Clinton is elected president. He presides over an enormous economic boom and one of the few budget surpluses in American history. He is also an essential part of creating the North Atlantic Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that provides for greater trade opportunities for many American and European countries.
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First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton becomes the first sitting First Lady to win her own election, being elected to represent the state of New York in the U.S. Senate.
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In the worst domestic terrorist attack in U.S. history, two planes crash into the two twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City, causing both buildings to collapse. A third plane hits the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, while the passengers on a fourth plane believed to be headed for the White House or the U.S. Capitol manage to force the plane down in a field outside Shanksville, Pennsylvania. Almost 3,000 innocent people are killed in the event dubbed as a "New Pearl Harbor".
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Hurricane Katrina makes its first landfall in Florida, and later crosses the Gulf of Mexico to devastate the entire United States Gulf Coast, especially New Orleans, Louisiana, where the city's levees are breached and massive flooding takes over much of the area. An estimated 1,400-1,800 people are killed, and over $108 billion dollars in damage makes Katrina the costliest natural disaster on record.
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Illinois Senator Barack Obama becomes the first black man to be elected President.
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Barack Obama takes the Oath of Office before a crowd of millions to becomes the United States' first black president. He calls for "hope over fear" in his inaugural address.
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Osama Bin Laden, the leader of terrorist organization al-Qaeda and supposed mastermind behind the September 11th, 2001 terror attacks, is killed by a U.S. Navy Seal team in Pakistan.
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In one of the most bitter, heated, and scandalous presidential elections in U.S. history, Republican New York businessman Donald Trump defeats Democratic Secretary Hillary Clinton, despite Clinton winning by over three million in the popular vote and Trump's own campaign filled with intolerant, hateful rhetoric. The election and its outcome still divides the country today.