-
470 BCE
Socrates
Socrates was a Greek philosopher from Athens who is credited as the founder of Western philosophy and among the first moral philosophers of the ethical tradition of thought. -
384 BCE
Aristotle
Aristotle was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Lyceum, the Peripatetic school of philosophy, and the Aristotelian tradition. -
248 BCE
Terracotta Soldiers
The Terracotta Army is a collection of terracotta sculptures depicting the armies of Qin Shi Huang, the first Emperor of China. It is a form of funerary art buried with the emperor in 210–209 BCE with the purpose of protecting the emperor in his afterlife. -
4 BCE
Birth Of Jesus
It is thought that Jesus Christ was born around 4 – 6 BC in Bethlehem, about six miles from Jerusalem. His parents, Joseph and Mary, took him to Egypt to avoid a massacre of infant boys ordered by King Herod. The family returned to their home in Nazareth in what is now northern Israel after King Herod’s death. -
28
Jesus Is Baptized
Radical teacher John the Baptist – a relative of Jesus – attracts crowds out into the desert. He urges them to give up their bad behavior and attitudes. He says he is preparing the way for a greater teacher. Jesus leaves Nazareth and goes out into the desert. John says this is the teacher he’d been talking about. The Bible book, John, quotes John saying, ‘Look, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world… this is one I meant…’ He baptizes Jesus in the River Jordan at Bethany -
30
Jesus Is Crucified
Jesus and his followers head to Jerusalem for the annual Passover festival. Crowds welcome him as the Messiah. Jesus infuriates the religious authorities by overthrowing tables in the temple and condemning the leaders’ hypocrisy. A disciple, Judas, agrees to betray Jesus. After celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples, Jesus is arrested. He goes before Jewish and Roman authorities charged with blasphemy. The Jewish authorities demand the death penalty. Jesus is crucified on good Friday. -
1175
Berlinghiero
Berlinghiero also known as Berlinghiero Berlinghieri or Berlinghiero of Lucca, was an Italian painter in the Italo-Byzantine style of the early thirteenth century. He was the father of the painters Barone Berlinghieri, Bonaventura Berlinghieri, and Marco Berlinghieri. -
1205
Genghis Khan Invades China
The Mongol Empire under Genghis Khan started the conquest with small-scale raids into Western Xia in 1205 and 1207. By 1279, the Mongol leader Kublai Khan had established the Yuan dynasty in China and crushed the last Song resistance, which marked the onset of all of China under the Mongol Yuan rule. -
Jun 15, 1215
Magna Charta
In 1215, King John signed the Magna Charta, a royal charter of rights, to make peace between between the unpopular king and a group of rebel barons. -
1217
French English Battles
With the death of King John, civil war soon divided England. The French with prince Louise intervened and occupied part of England. The French were defeated by the English at the Battle of Lincoln and then lost their fleet at the naval Battle of Sandwich. They were forced to withdraw. -
1270
King Louis IX Dies
Louis IX died in 1270 while on the Eighth Crusade. His reign was marked by a huge expansion of royal power. The King's power increased at the expense of both the Church as well as local communal movements. The royal justice system was also greatly expanded. This was a period marked by material and cultural advances in France. -
1298
Chinese Develop a Cannon
The Chinese developed the first prototype canon. While the Chinese were at the forefront of the early use of gunpowder, it was the Europeans who soon developed pistols and other guns that gave them a decisive military advantage. The cannon first appeared in China sometime during the 12th and 13th centuries. It was most likely developed in parallel or as an evolution of an earlier gunpowder weapon called the fire lance. -
1346
Black Plague
The Black Plague arrives in England when 12 ships from the Black Sea docked at the Sicilian port of Messina. People gathered on the docks were met with a horrifying surprise. Sailors aboard the ships were dead, and those still alive were gravely ill and covered in black boils. Sicilian authorities ordered the fleet of “death ships” out of the harbor, but it was too late. Over the next five years, the Black Death would kill more than 20 million people in Europe. -
1376
John Wycliffe Translated the Bible
John Wycliffe, pre-Reformation religious reformer and an Oxford professor, was someone who believed that the teachings of the Bible were more important than the earthly clergy and the Pope. Wycliffe translated the Bible into English, as he believed that everyone should be able to understand it directly. -
1390
Jan van Eyck
Jan van Eyck was a painter active in Bruges who was one of the early innovators of what became known as Early Netherlandish painting, and one of the most significant representatives of Early Northern Renaissance art. -
Apr 13, 1452
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor and architect. -
Mar 4, 1460
Prince Henry - The Navigator
He was a Portuguese prince noted for his patronage of voyages of discovery among the Madeira Islands and along the western coast of Africa. He also founded the school of navigation. -
May 21, 1471
Albrecht Durer
Albrecht Dürer, sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, printmaker, and theorist of the German Renaissance. Born in Nuremberg, Dürer established his reputation and influence across Europe in his twenties due to his high-quality woodcut prints -
1492
(3) Christopher Columbus - 1st Voyage
In 1492, Columbus made the first of four trips to the Caribbean. He sailed three Spanish ships, the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. He was determined to find a direct water route west from Europe to Asia, but he never did. Instead, he stumbled across the Americas. -
Sep 24, 1492
(3) Christopher Columbus - 2nd Voyage
Columbus left from Cádiz in Spain for his second voyage (1493-1496) on September 24, 1493, with 17 ships and about 1200 men. His aim was to conquer the Taíno tribe and colonize the region. He arrived in Hispaniola in late November to find the fort of La Navidad destroyed with no survivors. -
May 30, 1498
(3) Christopher Columbus - 3rd Voyage
Columbus spent most of 1496 and 1497 restoring his reputation with the court and building support for a third voyage. He left Spain on May 30, 1498, with a fleet of three supply ships headed for Hispaniola and three ships whose goal was to discover if there was a landmass south of it. -
May 9, 1504
(3) Christopher Columbus
Between August 14th and October 16th, he explored Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. He then arrived in Panama, where he expected to find his long sought-after passage. Columbus spent five months exploring Panama. He continued exploring to the south along the coasts of present-day Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and Panama. Columbus and his crew traded for food and gold whenever possible. They encountered several native cultures, observed stone structures and maize being cultivated on terraces. -
Oct 31, 1517
Protestant Reformation
The Reformation was a religious reform movement that swept through Europe. It resulted in the creation of a branch of Christianity called Protestantism, a name used collectively to refer to the many religious groups that separated from the Roman Catholic Church. -
1519
Cortes Conquers Mexico
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War, was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the events by Spanish conquistadors, their indigenous allies, and the defeated Aztecs. -
1564
Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was born in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England. He was an English playwright, poet, and actor, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's greatest dramatist. -
(3) Roanoke Island Founded
Roanoke Island colony is founded by an expedition organized by Sir Walter Raleigh (Raleigh never visited North America himself) during his attempt to colonize the area of Virginia and North Carolina. The colony fails. -
(3) Anne Hutchinson
Anne Hutchinson (1591–1643) was a Puritan religious leader and preacher who was tried and convicted for heresy and has been portrayed as a defender of feminism and freedom of religion. -
(3) Roanoke Colony Found Deserted
John White's return trip to the Roanoke Island Colony finds no signs of the colonists, beyond the words CROATOAN and CRO carved into tree trunks. The fate of its people is unknown to this date, and is often referred to as the "Lost Colony of Roanoke Island." -
Rembrandt van Rijn
Rembrandt van Rijn, was a Dutch Golden Age painter, printmaker, and draughtsman. An innovative and prolific master in three media, he is generally considered one of the greatest visual artists in the history of art and the most important in Dutch art history. His most famous work is the Night Watch, a painting of epic proportions and one of the most famous artworks of the Dutch Golden Age. This daring work from 1642 broke new ground for its perception of motion and its dramatic use of contrast. -
(3) Jamestown
Jamestown, Virginia, founded by English settlers, who begin growing tobacco. The settlement tells the story of 17th-century Virginia, from the arrival of English colonists in Jamestown in 1607 to the cultural encounters and events that planted the seeds of a new nation. -
(3) Virginia House of Burgesses formed
The House of Burgesses was the elected representative element of the Virginia General Assembly, the legislative body of the Colony of Virginia. With the creation of the House of Burgesses in 1642, the General Assembly, which had been established in 1619, became a bicameral institution. -
(3) Pilgrims
In 1620, the Pilgrims from Plymouth England sailed to America in hopes of finding religious and political freedom. -
(3) Puritan Migration to Massachusets
The separatists traveled to the New World on a rented cargo ship called the Mayflower and landed off the coast of Massachusetts in November, where they established Plymouth Colony, the first colony in New England. This event marks the beginning of the Great Puritan Migration. -
Johannes Vermeer
Johannes Vermeer was a Dutch Baroque Period painter who specialized in interior scenes of middle-class life. During his lifetime, he was a moderately successful genre painter, recognized in Delft and The Hague. His first canvases are full and colorful. Later on, his works become more tranquil and the depictions simpler. The light's clear, cool, and a little bit mysterious. Because of his painting technique, he became famous around the world and he was called the Master of light. -
(3) Calvert Found Maryland
All the Maryland colonists wanted, the Calverts explained, was to worship freely as Catholics and live in peace and harmony with their neighbors. Cecil Calvert, the second Lord Baltimore, founded Maryland as a place for Catholics to worship freely. -
(3) Pequot Indian War
The Pequot War was an armed conflict that took place between 1636 and 1638 in New England between the Pequot tribe and an alliance of the colonists from the Massachusetts Bay, Plymouth, and Saybrook colonies and their allies from the Narragansett and Mohegan tribes. -
(3) Fundamental Orders of Connecticut
Adopted in January 1639, the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut stated the powers and limits of government. The preamble of the Fundamental Orders officially formed a confederation under the guidance of God—standing in stark contrast to today's ideas about the separation of church and state. -
(3) English Civil War
The English Civil War was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians and Royalists led by Charles I, mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of religious freedom. It was part of the wider Wars of the Three Kingdoms. -
(3) 1st Navigation Act
In 1651, the British Parliament, in the first of what became known as the Navigation Acts, declared that only English ships would be allowed to bring goods into England and that the North American colonies could only export their commodities, such as tobacco and sugar, to England. -
Boyle's Ideal Gas Law
Boyle's law, also referred to as the Boyle–Mariotte law, or Mariotte's law, is an experimental gas law that describes how the pressure of a gas tends to decrease as the volume of the container increases. This empirical relation, states that the pressure (p) of a given quantity of gas varies inversely with its volume (v) at constant temperature; i.e., in equation form, pv = k, a constant. -
(3) English conquer New Netherlands
In 1664, the English took the colony from the Dutch by force, even though the two countries were not at war and few if any shots were fired. Even after New Netherland became an English possession, Dutch settlers remained, and life in the colony did not much change. It remained distinctively Dutch. -
(3) Horse Races Begin in America
Horse racing in the United States dates back to 1665, which saw the establishment of the Newmarket course in Salisbury, New York, a section of what is now known as the Hempstead Plains of Long Island, New York. This first racing meet in North America was supervised by New York's colonial governor, Richard Nicolls. -
(3) Bacon's Rebellion
Bacon's Rebellion was an armed rebellion held by Virginia settlers that took place from 1676 to 1677. It was led by Nathaniel Bacon against Colonial Governor William Berkeley, after Berkeley refused Bacon's request to drive Native Americans out of Virginia. -
(3) King Philip's War
King Philip's War was an armed conflict in 1675–1676 between indigenous inhabitants of New England and New England colonists and their indigenous allies. -
(3) Pennsylvania Settled
English Quaker William Penn founded Pennsylvania in 1681 when King Charles II granted him a charter for over 45,000 square miles of land. Penn had previously helped found Quaker settlements in West New Jersey and was eager to expand his Quaker colony. -
George Handel
George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer well known for his operas, oratorios, anthems, concerti grossi, and organ concertos. His most renowned work is the oratorio Messiah, written in 1741 and first performed in Dublin in 1742. In 1784, 25 years after Handel's death, three commemorative concerts were held in his honor at the Parthenon and Westminster Abbey. -
Johann Sebastian Bach
Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the Brandenburg Concertos; instrumental compositions such as the Cello. Some of his most famous works included the Brandenburg Concertos, The Well-Tempered Clavier, and the Mass in B Minor. -
(3) Salem Witch Trials
The infamous trials began during the spring of 1692, after a group of young girls in Salem, Massachusetts, claimed to be possessed by the devil and accused several local women of witchcraft. A special court convened to hear the cases, and the first convicted witch, Bridget Bishop, was hanged in June. -
Baroque Era
Baroque music is a period or style of Western classical music from approximately 1600 to 1750 originated in Western Europe. This era followed the Renaissance music era, and was followed in turn by the Classical era, with the galant style marking the transition between Baroque and Classical eras. -
Invention of the Piano
Cristofori is the creator of the first piano. He is credited for switching out the plucking mechanism with a hammer to create the modern piano around the year 1700. The instrument was actually first named "clavicembalo col piano e forte" (literally, a harpsichord that can play soft and loud noises). -
William Boyce
William Boyce was an English composer and organist. Like Beethoven later on, he became deaf but continued to compose. He knew Handel, Arne, Gluck, Bach, Abel, and a very young Mozart all of whom respected his work. -
Handel's Water Music First Played on the Thames
Handel's Water Music is made up of three orchestral suites, written for an outdoor performance for King George I on the Thames. Handel composed his wonderfully jolly Water Music around 1717. and it was first performed on 17 July that year, after George I requested a concert on the River Thames. -
(3) John Hancock
John Hancock, born January 12, 1737, died October 8, 1793, was an American statesman who led during the Revolutionary War and the first signer of the U.S. Declaration of Independence. -
(3) Charles Wilson Peale
Charles Willson Peale was an American painter, soldier, scientist, inventor, politician and naturalist. He is best remembered for his portrait paintings of leading figures of the American Revolution, and for establishing one of the first museums in the United States. -
(3) Thomas Pinckney
Thomas Pinckney was an American soldier, politician, and diplomat who negotiated Pinckney’s Treaty (Oct. 27, 1795) with Spain. After military service in the American Revolutionary War, Pinckney, a younger brother of the diplomat Charles Pinckney, turned to law and politics. -
Muzio Clementi
Muzio Filippo Vincenzo Francesco Saverio Clementi was an Italian-born English composer, virtuoso pianist, pedagogue, conductor, music publisher, editor, and piano manufacturer, who was mostly active in England. -
French and Indian War
This war pitted the colonies of British America against those of New France, each side supported by military units from the parent country and by Native American allies. At the start of the war, the French colonies had a population of roughly 60,000 settlers, compared with 2 million in the British colonies. The outnumbered French particularly depended on the natives. -
Lisbon Earthquake
The 1755 Lisbon earthquake, also known as the Great Lisbon earthquake, impacted Portugal, the Iberian Peninsula, and Northwest Africa on the morning of Saturday, 1 November, Feast of All Saints, at around 09:40 local time. It killed 30, 000 people. -
(3) Aaron Burr
Aaron Burr, in full Aaron Burr, Jr., was the third vice president of the United States (1801–05), who killed his political rival, Alexander Hamilton, in a duel in 1804 and whose turbulent political career ended with his arrest for treason in 1807. -
Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, baptized as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition resulted in more than 800 works of virtually every genre of his time. -
Bridgewater Canal Finished
The Bridgewater Canal is sometimes described as England’s first canal. Named after its owner, Francis Egerton the third Duke of Bridgewater, the Bridgewater Canal was the forerunner of canal networks. Opened on 17th July 1761, the Bridgewater Canal has a special place in history as the first canal in Britain to be built without following an existing watercourse, and so became a model for those that followed it. -
(3) Proclamation of 1763
The Proclamation Line of 1763 was a British-produced boundary marked in the Appalachian Mountains at the Eastern Continental Divide. Decreed on October 7, 1763, by King George III, the Proclamation Line prohibited Anglo-American colonists from settling on lands acquired from the French following the French and Indian War. -
(3) Townshend Acts
A series of four acts, the Townshend Acts were passed by the British Parliament in an attempt to assert what it considered to be its historic right to exert authority over the colonies through suspension of a recalcitrant representative assembly and through strict provisions for the collection of revenue duties. -
(3) Stamp Act
The Stamp Act of 1765 was an act of the Parliament of Great Britain which imposed a direct tax on the British colonies in America and required that many printed materials in the colonies be produced on stamped paper produced in London, carrying an embossed revenue stamp. -
Beethoven Born
Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical music repertoire and span the transition from the Classical period to the Romantic era in classical music. -
(3) Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre was a confrontation in Boston on March 5, 1770, in which a group of nine British soldiers shot five people out of a crowd of three or four hundred who were abusing them verbally and throwing various missiles. -
(3) Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a political protest that occurred on December 16, 1773, at Griffin's Wharf in Boston, Massachusetts. American colonists, frustrated and angry at Britain for imposing “taxation without representation,” dumped 342 chests of tea, imported by the British East India Company into the harbor. -
(3) Intolerable Acts
The Intolerable Acts (passed/Royal assent March 31–June 22, 1774) were punitive laws passed by the British Parliament in 1774 after the Boston Tea Party. The laws were meant to punish the Massachusetts colonists for their defiance in the Tea Party protest in reaction to changes in taxation by the British Government. -
(3) Battle of Bunker Hill
Breed’s Hill in Charlestown was the primary locus of combat in the misleadingly named Battle of Bunker Hill, which was part of the American siege of British-held Boston. Some 2,300 British troops eventually cleared the hill of the entrenched Americans, but at the cost of more than 40 percent of the assault force. The battle was a moral victory for the Americans. -
(3) First Continental Congress
The First Continental Congress was a meeting of delegates from 12 of the 13 British colonies that became the United States.The primary accomplishment of the First Continental Congress was a compact among the colonies to boycott British goods beginning on December 1, 1774, unless parliament should rescind the Intolerable Acts. -
(3) Tea Act and Boston Tea Party
The Tea Act of 1773 was an Act of the Parliament of Great Britain. The principal objective was to reduce the massive amount of tea held by the financially troubled British East India Company in its London warehouses and to help the struggling company survive. In response, colonists dressed as mohawks dumped Tea from the company into the Boston Harbor. -
(3) Battles of Lexington and Concord
The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. The battles were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy, and Cambridge. -
(3) Revolutionary War
The American Revolution was an ideological and political revolution that occurred in colonial North America between 1765 and 1783. The Americans in the Thirteen Colonies formed independent states that defeated the British, gaining independence from the British Crown and establishing the United States of America, the first modern constitutional liberal democracy. -
French Alliance
The Franco-American alliance was the 1778 alliance between the Kingdom of France and the United States during the American Revolutionary War. Formalized in the 1778 Treaty of Alliance, it was a military pact in which the French provided many supplies for the Americans. -
(3) Paul Revere's Midnight Ride
The Midnight Ride was the alert to the American colonial militia in April 1775 to the approach of British forces before the battles of Lexington and Concord. The ride occurred on the night of April 18, 1775, immediately before the first engagements of the American Revolutionary War. -
(3) Paine's Common Sense
Among the most influential authors and reformers of his age, Thomas Paine was born in England but went on to play an important role in both the American and French Revolutions. In 1774, he emigrated to America where, for a time, he helped to edit the Pennsylvania Magazine. On January 10, 1776, he published his pamphlet Common Sense, a persuasive argument for the colonies' political and economic separation from Britain. -
(3) South Carolina Founded
In 1665 Edward Hyde, 1st earl of Clarendon, and seven other members of the British nobility received a charter from King Charles II to establish the colony of Carolina (named for the king) in a vast territory between latitudes 29° and 36°30′ N and from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean. -
(3) Declaration of Independence
In 1776, the Continental Congress published the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, announcing the colonists intent to form a new nation and separate from the tyrannical king of England. -
(3) Nathan Hale Executed
On September 21, 1776, having penetrated the British lines on Long Island to obtain information, American Capt. Nathan Hale was captured by the British. He was hanged without trial the next day. Before his death, Hale is thought to have said, “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country,” a remark similar to one in the play Cato by Joseph Addison. -
(3) Articles of Confederation
The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union was an agreement among the 13 original states of the United States of America that served as its first frame of government. It was approved after much debate by the Second Continental Congress on November 15, 1777, and sent to the states for ratification. -
(3) Siege Of Yorktown
After winning a costly victory at Guilford Courthouse, North Carolina, on March 15, 1781, Lord Cornwallis entered Virginia to join other British forces there, setting up a base at Yorktown. Washington’s army and a force under the French Count de Rochambeau placed Yorktown under siege, and Cornwallis surrendered his army of more than 7,000 men on October 19, 1781. -
(3) John Hanson
In November 1781, John Hanson became the first President of the United States in Congress Assembled, under the Articles of Confederation. -
(3) Treaty Of Paris
The Treaty of Paris, signed in Paris by representatives of King George III of Great Britain and representatives of the United States of America on September 3, 1783, officially ended the American Revolutionary War and the overall state of conflict between the two countries. -
(3) Ordinance of 1784
The Ordinance of 1784 called for the land in the recently created United States which was located west of the Appalachian Mountains, north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River to be divided into separate states. As reported on March 1st, the Ordinance outlawed slavery in the territory and stated that “free males of full age” could form a temporary government by adopting the constitution of an existing state. -
(3) Land Ordinance of 1785
The Land Ordinance of 1785 was passed by the U.S. Congress under the Articles of Confederation. It laid out the process by which lands west of the Appalachian Mountains were to be surveyed and sold. The method of creating townships and sections within townships was used for all U.S. land after May 20, 1785. It set up a standardized system whereby settlers could purchase title to farmland in the undeveloped west. -
(3) Virginia Religious Freedom Acts
The Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom is a statement about both freedom of conscience and the principle of separation of church and state. Written by Thomas Jefferson and passed by the Virginia General Assembly on January 16, 1786, it is the forerunner of the first amendment protections for religious freedom. -
(3) Constitutional Convention
The Constitutional Convention took place in Philadelphia from May 25 to September 17, 1787. Although the convention was intended to revise the state's first system of government under the Articles of Confederation, they ended up creating a new government rather than fixing the existing one -
(3) The Consitution
The Constitution of the United States is the supreme law of the United States of America. It superseded the Articles of Confederation, the nation's first constitution, in 1789. Originally comprising seven articles, it delineates the national frame of government -
(3) Georiga Founded
In 1788, England founded the last of its colonies, Georgia, in North America. The project was the brainchild of James Oglethorpe, a former army officer. -
(3) George Washington
In 1789 in New York, George Washington, an American political leader, military general, statesman, and Founding Father of the United States, was granted the full powers and responsibilities of the presidency of the U.S. Constitution. -
French Revolution
The French Revolution was a period of radical political and societal change in France that began with the Estates General of 1789 and ended with the formation of the French Consulate in November 1799. Many of its ideas are considered fundamental principles of liberal democracy, and its values and the institutions it created dominate French politics to this day. -
(3) Washington Becomes National Capital
Washington was established as the capital of the United States as the result of a compromise following negotiation by members of the U.S. Congress as they tried to define the concept of a “federal enclave.” On July 17, 1790, Congress passed the Residence Act, which created a permanent seat for the federal government. George Washington carefully chose the site on the Potomac River’s navigation head, near two well-established colonial port cities, George Town and Alexandria, Va. -
(3) First Bank of United States
The President, Directors, and Company of the Bank of the United States, commonly known as the First Bank of the United States, was a national bank, chartered for a term of twenty years, by the United States Congress on February 25, 1791. It followed the Bank of North America, the nation's first de facto national bank. -
(3) Battle of Fallen Timbers
The Battle of Fallen Timbers was the final battle of the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between Native American tribes affiliated with the Northwestern Confederacy and their British allies, against the nascent United States for control of the Northwest Territory. -
(3) Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion was the first test of federal authority in the United States. This rebellion enforced the idea that the new government had the right to levy a particular tax that would impact citizens in all states. -
(3) Commodore Matthew Perry
Matthew C. Perry, in full Matthew Calbraith Perry, (born April 10, 1794, South Kingston, R.I., U.S.—died March 4, 1858, New York City), was a U.S. naval officer who headed an expedition that forced Japan in 1853–54 to enter into trade and diplomatic relations with the West after more than two centuries of isolation. -
(3) Jay's Treaty
On November 19, 1794 representatives of the United States and Great Britain signed Jay’s Treaty, which sought to settle outstanding issues between the two countries that had been left unresolved since American independence. The treaty proved unpopular with the American public but did accomplish the goal of maintaining peace between the two nations and preserving U.S. neutrality. -
(3) XYZ Affair
The XYZ Affair (1797-1798) involved an American peace delegation in France, three agents of the French Foreign Minister (labeled as X, Y, and Z in President John Adams' initial communications with Congress), and the French Foreign Minister's demand for a bribe from the American delegation. -
(3) Alien and Sedition Acts
Alien and Sedition Acts, (1798), four internal security laws passed by the U.S. Congress, restricting aliens and curtailing the excesses of an unrestrained press, in anticipation of an expected war with France. After the XYZ Affair (1797), war with France had appeared inevitable. -
(3) Asa Whitney
Asa Whitney was a highly successful dry-goods merchant and transcontinental railroad promoter. He was one of the first backers of an American transcontinental railway. A trip to China in 1842–44 impressed upon Whitney the need for a transcontinental railroad from the Atlantic to the Pacific. -
(3) John Adams
John Adams (1735-1826) was a leader of the American Revolution and served as the second U.S. president from 1797 to 1801. The Massachusetts-born, Harvard-educated Adams began his career as a lawyer. -
(3) Quasi War
The Quasi-War was an undeclared naval war fought from 1798 to 1800 between the United States and the French First Republic, primarily in the Caribbean and off the East Coast of the United States. -
Romanticism
Romanticism, attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century. Romanticism can be seen as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality that typified Classicism in general and late 18th-century Neoclassicism in particular. -
First Electric Battery
The concept of electricity dates back to ancient Greece when Thales noticed that an electric charge was produced when he rubbed amber. The current battery was invented by Alessandro Volta in 1800 when he developed his voltaic pile. Volta started his work in 1794 when he noticed an electrical interaction between two metals that were submerged in an acidic solution. Using this principle, he designed his battery which had alternating zinc and copper rings immersed in an electrolyte. -
(3) John Marshall's Midnight Judges
In 1801, John Marshall—at the time simultaneously serving as President John Adams's Secretary of State and Chief Justice of the United States—signed the commissions of the “midnight judges,” setting in motion events that would lead to the landmark Supreme Court case Marbury v. Madison. -
(3) Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, musician, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809.The principal author of the Declaration of Independence, Jefferson was a proponent individual rights for people. He motivated American colonists to break from the Kingdom of Great Britain and form a new nation. -
Thomas Cole
Thomas Cole was an American painter known for his landscape and history paintings. One of the major 19th-century American painters, he is regarded as the founder of the Hudson River School, an American art movement that flourished in the mid-19th century. -
(3) Thomas Jefferson Elected
Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated third president of the United States on March 4, 1801, after being elected by the House of Representatives on February 17, 1801, on the thirty-sixth ballot in one of the nation's closest and most divisive presidential contests. -
(3) Congress Recalls Midnight Judges
The Midnight Judges Act, also known as the Judiciary Act of 1801and officially an act to provide for the more convenient organization of the Courts of the United States, represented an effort to solve an issue in the U.S. Supreme Court during the early 19th century. -
(3) Marbury v. Madison
Marbury v. Madison, 5 U.S. 137, was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States, meaning that American courts have the power to strike down laws and statutes that they find to violate the Constitution of the United States. -
(3) Purchase of Louisiana
In 1803, the purchase of Louisiana from France founded westward exploration by pioneers such as Lewis and Clark and Congressman Davy Crockett. The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
(3) Lewis and Clark Expedition
The Lewis and Clark Expedition from August 31, 1803, to September 25, 1806, also known as the Corps of Discovery Expedition, was the United States expedition to cross the newly acquired western portion of the country after the Louisiana Purchase. The Corps was a select group of U.S. Army and civilians under the command of Capt. Meriwether Lewis and his close friend Second Lt. William Clark. The expedition traveled westward and crossed the Continental Divide before reaching the Pacific Coast. -
World Population Reaches 1 Billion
In demographics, the world population is the total number of humans currently living and was estimated to have exceeded 7.9 billion people as of November 2021. It took over 2 million years of human prehistory and history for the world's population to reach 1 billion and only 200 years more to grow to 7 billion. -
Napoleon Crowed Emperor of France
On May 18, 1804, Napoleon proclaimed himself emperor and made Josephine Empress. His coronation ceremony took place on December 2, 1804, in the Cathedral of Notre-Dame in Paris, with incredible splendor and at considerable expense. At the ceremony, Napoleon surprised everyone by not allowing the Pope to crown him. Instead, he placed the crown on his own head. A few months later, on May 26, 1805, Napoleon crowned himself again, this time symbolizing his rule over all of Italy. -
(3) British Seize American Ships
Between the years 1803 and 1807, the British seized 500 American ships; while 300 ships were then seized by the French. The British actions outraged Americans and immediate demands for war ensued. -
(3) Fletcher v. Peck
Fletcher v. Peck, 10 U.S. 87, was a landmark United States Supreme Court decision in which the Supreme Court first ruled a state law unconstitutional. The decision also helped create a growing precedent for the sanctity of legal contracts and hinted that Native Americans did not hold complete title to their own lands. -
(3) Embargo Act
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a general trade embargo on all foreign nations that the United States Congress enacted. It was Thomas Jefferson’s nonviolent resistance to British and French badgering U.S. merchant ships carrying, or suspected of carrying war materials and other cargoes to European belligerents during Napoleon's Wars. -
(3) African Slave Trade Ends
On the first day of January 1808, a new Federal law made it illegal to import captive people from Africa into the United States. This date marks the end—the permanent, legal closure—of the trans-Atlantic slave trade into America -
(3) James Madison Elected
In line with the precedent established by Washington, Thomas Jefferson refused to stand for a third term, endorsing instead his friend Madison as his successor. Jefferson's wish was fulfilled by a Democratic-Republican caucus in Congress, although not without some opposition. -
(3) Congress Boycotts British and French Trade
In the last days of President Thomas Jefferson's presidency, Congress replaced the Embargo Act of 1807 with the almost unenforceable Non-Intercourse Act of March 1809. This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. -
(3) Battle of Lake Erie and Thames
During the War of 1812, the American victory at the Battle of Lake Erie cut off the British supply lines and forced them to abandon Detroit. It also paved the way for General Harrison's attack on the British and Native American forces at the Battle of the Thames. -
(3) British Burn Washington
On August 24, 1814, as the War of 1812 raged, British troops marched into Washington and set fire to the U.S. Capitol, the President's Mansion, and other local landmarks. -
(3) Battle of Lake Champlain
The Battle of Plattsburgh, also known as the Battle of Lake Champlain, ended the final British invasion of the northern states of the United States during the War of 1812. -
(3) Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was a series of meetings from December 15, 1814 to January 5, 1815, in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, in which the New England Federalist Party met to discuss their grievances concerning the ongoing War of 1812 and the political problems arising from the federal government's increasing power. -
(3) Treaty of Ghent
The Treaty of Ghent was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands -
(3) Battle of New Orleans
On January 8, 1815, a ragtag army under the command of Andrew Jackson defeated British forces in the Battle of New Orleans, even though the War of 1812 had actually already ended. News of the Treaty of Ghent had yet to reach the combatants. The American victory made a national figure of future president Jackson and contributed to a widespread perception that the U.S. had won the war, but in truth, the conflict was effectively a draw, and the issues that had brought it on were largely unresolved. -
(3) James Monroe Elected
The presidency of James Monroe began on March 4, 1817, when he was inaugurated as President of the United States, and ended on March 4, 1825. Monroe, the fifth United States president, took office after winning the 1816 presidential election by an overwhelming margin over Federalist Rufus King. -
(3) Adams-Onis Treaty
The Adams–Onís Treaty of 1819, also known as the Transcontinental Treaty, the Florida Purchase Treaty, or the Florida Treaty, was a treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
(3) McCulloch v. Maryland
McCulloch v. Maryland, 17 U.S. 316, was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision that defined the scope of the U.S. Congress's legislative power and how it relates to the powers of American state legislatures. -
Napoleon Bonaparte Dies
Napoleon Bonaparte was subsequently exiled to the island of Saint Helena off the coast of Africa. Six years later, he died, most likely of stomach cancer, and in 1840 his body was returned to Paris, where it was interred in the Hotel des Invalides. He died on May 5, 1821. To the British, Dutch, and Prussian coalition who had exiled him there in 1815, he was a despot, but to France, he was seen as a devotee of the Enlightenment. -
(3) Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine is the best known U.S. policy toward the Western Hemisphere. Buried in a routine annual message delivered to Congress by President James Monroe in December 1823, the doctrine warns European nations that the United States would not tolerate further colonization or puppet monarchs. -
(3) Theodore “Crazy” Judah
Theodore Dehone Judah was an American civil engineer who was a central figure in the original promotion, establishment, and design of the First transcontinental railroad. He found investors for what became the Central Pacific Railroad. -
(3) Tariff of Abominations
The Tariff of 1828 was a very high protective tariff that became law in the United States in May 1828. It was a bill designed to not pass Congress because it hurt both industry and farming, but surprisingly it passed. -
(3) William Lloyd Jones publishes the Liberator
On January 1, 1831 the first issue of The Liberator appeared with the motto: “Our country is the world—our countrymen are mankind.” Garrison was a journalistic crusader who advocated the immediate emancipation of all slaves and gained a national reputation for being one of the most radical of American abolitionists. -
(3) Oregon Trail
The Oregon Trail was a roughly 2,000-mile route from Independence, Missouri, to Oregon City, Oregon, which was used by hundreds of thousands of American pioneers in the mid-1800s to emigrate west. The trail was arduous and snaked through Missouri and present-day Kansas, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho and finally into Oregon. -
(3) Era of the Common Man
Andrew Jackson was said to have ushered in the Era of the Common Man. But while suffrage had been broadly expanded beyond men of property, it was not a result of Jackson’s efforts. Despite the careful propagation of his image as a champion of popular democracy and as a man of the people, he was much more likely to align himself with the influential not with the have-nots with the creditor not with the debtor. Jacksonian democracy talked a good game for people on the street but delivered little. -
(3) Worcester v. Georgia
Worcester v. Georgia, 31 U.S. 515, was a landmark case in which the United States Supreme Court vacated the conviction of Samuel Worcester and held that the Georgia criminal statute that prohibited non-Native Americans from being present on Native American lands without a license from the state was unconstitutional. -
(3) Battle of the Alamo
On March 6, 1836, after 13 days of fighting, the Battle of the Alamo comes to a gruesome end, capping off a pivotal moment in the Texas Revolution. Mexican forces were victorious in recapturing the fort, and nearly all of the roughly 200 Texan defenders, including frontiersman Davy Crockett, died. -
(3) Nullification Crisis
The nullification crisis was a United States sectional political crisis in 1832–33, during the presidency of Andrew Jackson, which involved a confrontation between the state of South Carolina and the federal government. -
Johannes Brahms
Johannes Brahms was a German composer, pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period. Born in Hamburg into a Lutheran family, he spent much of his professional life in Vienna. -
The Pickwick Papers
This was Dickens' first book and the one that made his name. It was initially serialized in monthly installments following the adventures, disasters, and exploits of a group of well-to-do London gentlemen. -
Winslow Homer
Winslow Homer was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. He is considered one of the foremost painters in 19th-century America and a preeminent figure in American art. Largely self-taught, Homer began his career working as a commercial illustrator. -
(3) Texas Annexation
The Texas annexation was the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States. Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. -
Oliver Twist Published
Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress, Charles Dickens's second novel, was published as a serial from 1837 to 1839, and as a three-volume book in 1838. Born in a workhouse, the orphan Oliver Twist is sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker. -
(3) Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 was a financial crisis in the United States that touched off a major depression, which lasted until the mid-1840s. Profits, prices, and wages went down, westward expansion was stalled, unemployment went up, and pessimism abounded. -
French Realism
The Realist movement in French art flourished from about 1840 until the late nineteenth century and sought to convey a truthful and objective vision of contemporary life. Realism emerged in the aftermath of the Revolution of 1848 that overturned the monarchy of Louis-Philippe and developed during the Second Empire under Napoleon III. As French society fought for democratic reform, the Realists democratized art by depicting modern subjects drawn from the everyday lives of the working class. -
Pyotr Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. -
Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. Monet depicted the landscape and leisure activities of Paris and its environs as well as the Normandy coast. He led the way to modernism by developing a unique style that strove to capture on canvas the very act of perceiving nature. -
(3) Amistad Decision
The Court ordered the immediate release of the Amistad Africans. Thirty five of the survivors were returned to their homeland (the others died at sea or in prison while awaiting trial). -
Antonín Dvořák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer, one of the first Czech composers to achieve worldwide recognition. Dvořák frequently employed rhythms and other aspects of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia, following the Romantic-era nationalist example of his predecessor Bedřich Smetana. -
(3) First Sewing Machine
During the early 1800s, much of the population did not have the income to purchase clothes. Therefore, everything was sewn by hand and families had to sew clothes using a thread and needle. Elias Howe changed all this when he invented the sewing machine as we know it, which he patented in 1846. -
(3) Texas Annexation
The Texas annexation was the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States. Texas was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. -
(3) Mexican American War
The Mexican–American War, also known in the United States as the Mexican War, was an armed conflict between the United States and Mexico from 1846 to 1848. It followed the 1845 American annexation of Texas, which Mexico still considered its territory. -
(3) Mormon Exodus to Utah
The Mormons, as they were commonly known, had moved west to escape religious discrimination. After the murder of founder and prophet Joseph Smith, they knew they had to leave their old settlement in Illinois. Many Mormons died in the cold, harsh winter months as they made their way over the Rocky Mountains to Utah. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Signed on February 2, 1848, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo brought to a close the Mexican-American War (1846–48) and seemingly fulfilled the Manifest Destiny of the United States championed by Pres. James K. Polk by adding 525,000 square miles (1,360,000 square km) of formerly Mexican land to the U.S. territory. -
(3) Gold Discovered in California
Many people in California figured gold was there, but it was James W. Marshall on January 24, 1848, who saw something shiny in Sutter Creek near Coloma, California. He had discovered gold unexpectedly while overseeing the construction of a sawmill on the American River. -
(3) California Admitted as a Free State
In 1849, Californians sought statehood and, after heated debate in the U.S. Congress arising out of the slavery issue, California entered the Union as a free, nonslavery state by the Compromise of 1850. California became the 31st state on September 9, 1850. -
(3) Fugitive Slave Law Passed
Passed on September 18, 1850 by Congress, The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 was part of the Compromise of 1850. The act required that slaves be returned to their owners, even if they were in a free state. The act also made the federal government responsible for finding, returning, and trying escaped slaves. -
(3) Plains Indian War
Plains Wars, series of conflicts from the early 1850s through the late 1870s between Native Americans and the United States, along with its Indian allies, over control of the Great Plains between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains. -
(3) Compromise of 1850
The acts called for the admission of California as a "free state," provided for a territorial government for Utah and New Mexico, established a boundary between Texas and the United States, called for the abolition of slave trade in Washington, DC, and amended the Fugitive Slave Act. -
(3) Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh was fought on April 6–7, 1862, in the American Civil War. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. The battlefield is located between a church named Shiloh and Pittsburg Landing, which is on the Tennessee River. -
(3) Kansas Nebraska Act
The Kansas–Nebraska Act of 1854 was a territorial organic act that created the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. It was drafted by Democratic Senator Stephen A. Douglas, passed by the 33rd United States Congress, and signed into law by President Franklin Pierce. -
Origin of Elevators
The origin of elevators dates back to 1852 when Elisha Otis developed the first elevator safety brakes. Before brakes were invented, elevator-type contraptions were used to transport goods from one floor to another but required a firm hand on the rope to prevent the elevator from dropping. Otis started his elevator company in 1853, which manufactured freight holstering elevators. His invention helped architects achieve the goal of designing taller buildings. -
(3) Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. -
(3) Panic of 1857
The Panic of 1857 was a financial panic in the United States caused by the declining international economy and over-expansion of the domestic economy. Because of the invention of the telegraph by Samuel F. Morse in 1844, the Panic of 1857 was the first financial crisis to spread rapidly throughout the United States. -
(3) Dred Scott Decision
Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393 (1857), was a landmark decision of the United States Supreme Court that held that the United States Constitution was not meant to include American citizenship for people of black African descent, regardless of whether they were enslaved or free, and so the rights and privileges that the Constitution confers upon American citizens could not apply to them. -
(3) Morrill Act
The Morrill Land-Grant Acts are United States statutes that allowed for the creation of land-grant colleges in U.S. states using the proceeds from sales of federally-owned land, often obtained from indigenous tribes through treaty, cession, or seizure. -
(3) Comstock Lode Discovered
In June of 1859, one of the most significant mining discoveries in American history was made in the Virginia Range of Nevada. The discovery of silver and gold in the area drew people in from across the country, and the town of Virginia City was created almost overnight. The Comstock Lode is a lode of silver ore located under the eastern slope of Mount Davidson, a peak in Virginia City, which was the first major discovery of it in the United States and named after American miner Henry Comstock. -
(3) John Brown's Raid at Harper's Ferry, Virginia
John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was an effort by abolitionist John Brown, from October 16 to 18, 1859, to initiate a slave revolt in Southern states by taking over the United States arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia. It has been called the dress rehearsal for, or Tragic Prelude to the Civil War. -
(3) SC secedes
South Carolina became the first state to secede from the federal Union on December 20, 1860. The victory of Abraham Lincoln in the 1860 presidential election triggered cries for disunion across the slaveholding South. -
(3) Pony Express
The Pony Express was an American Express mail service that used relays of horse-mounted riders. It operated from April 3, 1860, to October 26, 1861, between Missouri and California. It was operated by Central Overland California and Pikes Peak Express Company. -
(3) The Civil War
In 1861, the Civil War began when President Abraham Lincoln went to war with the southern states, which had succeeded from the Union. The war started because of uncompromising differences between the free and slave states over the power of the national government to prohibit slavery. -
(3) Transcontinental Railroad
North America's first transcontinental railroad was a 1,911-mile continuous railroad line constructed between 1863 and 1869 that connected the existing eastern U.S. rail network at Council Bluffs, Iowa with the Pacific coast at the Oakland Long Wharf on San Francisco Bay. -
(3) Fort Sumter Surrender
The first engagement of the Civil War took place at Fort Sumter on April 12 and 13, 1861. After 34 hours of fighting, the Union surrendered the fort to the Confederates. -
(3) Battle of Antietam
The Battle of Antietam was a battle of the American Civil War fought on September 17, 1862, between Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia and George B. McClellan's Army of the Potomac near Sharpsburg, Maryland, and Antietam Creek. It remains the bloodiest day in American history, with a combined tally of 22,717 dead, wounded, or missing. -
(3) Homestead Act
The Homestead Act, enacted during the Civil War in 1862, provided that any adult citizen, or intended citizen, who had never borne arms against the U.S. government could claim 160 acres of surveyed government land. Claimants were required to live on and improve their plots by cultivating the land. -
(3) Battle of Shiloh
The Battle of Shiloh, also known as the Battle of Pittsburg Landing, was a major battle in the American Civil War fought on April 6–7, 1862. The fighting took place in southwestern Tennessee, which was part of the war's Western Theater. -
(3) Battle of Vicksburg
The 47-day Siege of Vicksburg eventually gave control of the Mississippi River—a critical supply line—to the Union, and was part of the Union's successful Anaconda Plan to cut off all trade to the Confederacy. It gave control of the Mississippi River to the Union. Around the same time, the Confederate army under General Robert E. Lee was defeated at the Battle of Gettysburg. These two victories marked the major turning point of the Civil War in favor of the Union. -
(3) Battle of Fredericksburg
The Battle of Fredericksburg was a major defeat for the Union Army. Although the Union vastly outnumbered the Confederates (120,000 Union men to 85,000 Confederate men) they suffered over twice as many casualties (12,653 to 5,377). This battle signaled a low-point of the war for the Union. -
Claude Debussy
Claude Debussy was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. -
(3) Emancipation Proclamation
During the civil war, President Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation. The document declared "that all persons held as slaves" within the rebellious states "are, and henceforward shall be free." -
(3) Sherman's March to the Sea
Sherman's March to the Sea was an American Civil War campaign lasting from November 15 to December 21, 1864, in which Union Major General William Tecumseh Sherman led troops through the Confederate state of Georgia, pillaging the countryside and destroying both military outposts and civilian properties. -
(3) Gadsden Purchase
The Gadsden Purchase is a 29,670-square-mile region of present-day southern Arizona and southwestern New Mexico that the United States acquired from Mexico by the Treaty of Mesilla, which took effect on June 8, 1854. -
(3) Fall of Atlanta
On August 28, 1864, Union Army General William Tecumseh Sherman laid siege to Atlanta, Georgia, a critical Confederate hub, shelling civilians and cutting off supply lines. The Confederates retreated, destroying the city's munitions as they went. -
(3) Thirteenth Amendment
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution abolished slavery and involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for a crime. The amendment was passed by Congress on January 31, 1865, and ratified by the required 27 of the then 36 states on December 6, 1865."Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction." -
(3) President Lincoln assassinated
On the evening of April 14, 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor and Confederate sympathizer, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s Theater in Washington, D.C. The was only five days after Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomattox Court House, Virginia, effectively ending the American Civil War. -
(3) Ku Klux Klan
The Ku Klux Klan, commonly shortened to the KKK or the Klan in recent decades, is an American white supremacist, right-wing terrorist, and hate group whose primary targets are African Americans, Jews, Latinos, Asian Americans, Native Americans, and Catholics, as well as immigrants, leftists, homosexuals, Muslims, atheists, and abortion providers. -
(3) Fetterman Massacre
All 81 men under the command of Captain William J. Fetterman were killed by the Indians. It was, at the time, the worst military disaster ever suffered by the U.S. on the Great Plains. The battle led to an Indian victory and the withdrawal of the United States from the war. -
(3) First Typewriter
Typewriters are mechanical machines that produce characters by pressing ink upon paper. Johann Gutenberg invented the idea of a printer that applied the concept of the movable type, a revolutionary modification. Gutenberg helped convert the printing press into simple equipment for personal use. The description of this device dates back to 1714 when Henry Mill patented the idea. Christopher Sholes created the first reliable typewriter with the help of Samuel Soule and Carlos Glidden in 1867. -
(3) Military Reconstruction Act
In 1867, Congress passed the Military Reconstruction Acts of 1867, which divided the South into five military districts governed by previous Union generals. To be eligible for readmittance to the Union, each Confederate state was required to pass the 13th and 14th Amendments and hold new elections. -
(3) Purchase of Alaska
On March 30, 1867, the United States reached an agreement to purchase Alaska from Russia for a price of $7.2 million. The Treaty with Russia was negotiated and signed by Secretary of State William Seward and Russian Minister to the United States Edouard de Stoeckl. -
(3) Grange Movement
The Grange, officially named The National Grange of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, is a social organization in the United States that encourages families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture. -
(3) Promontory Point, Utah
Golden Spike National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park located at Promontory Summit, north of the Great Salt Lake in east-central Box Elder County, Utah, United States. The nearest city is Corinne, approximately 23 miles east-southeast of the site. It is notable as the location of Promontory Summit, where the First transcontinental railroad from Sacramento to Omaha in the United States was officially complete -
(3) Kights of Labor
Knights of Labor, originally Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor, was an American labor federation active in the late 19th century, especially the 1880s. It operated in the United States as well in Canada, and had chapters also in Great Britain and Australia. Its most important leader was Terence V. Powderly. -
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal is an artificial waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The canal is part of the Silk Road that connects Europe with Asia. In 1858, Ferdinand de Lesseps formed the Suez Canal Company. The canal opened in November 1869. It offers a direct route between the North Atlantic and northern Indian oceans by the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea, avoiding the South Atlantic and southern Indian oceans. -
(3) Fifteenth Amendment
The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits the federal government and each state from denying or abridging a citizen's right to vote "on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude." It was ratified on February 3, 1870, as the third and last of the Reconstruction Amendments. -
(3) Credit Mobilier Scandal
The Crédit Mobilier scandal was a two-part fraud conducted from 1864 to 1867 by the Union Pacific Railroad and the Crédit Mobilier of America construction company in the building of the eastern portion of the First transcontinental railroad. -
(3) Panic Of 1873
The Panic of 1873 was a financial crisis that triggered an economic depression in Europe and North America that lasted from 1873 to 1877 or 1879 in France and in Britain. In Britain, the Panic started two decades of stagnation known as the "Long Depression, " weakening the country's economic leadership. -
(3) Crime of 1873
The Crime of 1873 refers to dropping silver dollars from an official coinage by acts of Congress that year, setting the stage for adopting the gold standard in the U.S. -
(3) Custer Massacre
The Battle of the Little Bighorn, commonly referred to as Custer's Last Stand, was an armed engagement between combined forces of the Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho tribes and the 7th Cavalry Regiment of the United States Army. The battle, which resulted in the defeat of U.S. forces, was the most significant action of the Great Sioux War. It took place on June 25–26, in the Crow Indian Reservation in southeastern Montana Territory. -
(3) First Telephone
The invention of the practical telephone is credited to Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray who worked on their projects independently. Gray invented the first electromagnetic receiver in 1874 but did not perfect the design until Bell managed to create the first working telephone. The invention became a reality in 1876 when Bell transmitted the first sentence through his simple phone. -
(3) Compromise of 1877
The Compromise of 1877 was an informal, unwritten deal that settled the disputed 1876 U.S. Presidential election; and through it, Republican Rutherford B. Hayes was awarded the White House on the understanding that he would remove the federal troops from South Carolina, Florida, and Louisiana. -
(3) Great Railway Strike
The Great Railway Strike of 1877, sometimes referred to as the Great Upheaval, began on July 14 in Martinsburg, West Virginia, after the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad cut wages for the third time in a year. -
Boer Wars
The South African War was fought between Britain and the self-governing Afrikaner (Boer) colonies of the South African Republic (the Transvaal) and the Orange Free State. ... The war began on October 11 1899, following a Boer ultimatum that the British should cease building up their forces in the region. -
(3) Pendleton Civil Service Act
The Pendleton Act provided that federal government jobs be awarded on the basis of merit and that government employees be selected through competitive exams. The act also made it unlawful to fire or demote for political reasons employees who were covered by the law. -
(3) President Garfield assassinated
James A. Garfield, the 2nd U.S. president to be murdered in office, was fatally shot in a Washington railroad station as he traveled to make a speech. -
(3) Edmunds Act
The Edmunds Act, also known as the Edmunds Anti-Polygamy Act of 1882, is a United States federal statute, signed into law on March 23, 1882, by President Chester A. Arthur, declaring polygamy a felony in federal territories. The act is named for U.S. Senator George F. Edmunds of Vermont. -
(3) Chinese Exclusion Act
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law excluded merchants, teachers, students, travelers, and diplomats. It was the first law restricting immigration in the United States. -
Igor Stravinsky
Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ComSE was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor, later of French and American citizenship. He is widely considered one of the most important and influential composers of the 20th century and a pivotal figure in modernist music. -
Coca-Cola
The history of Coca-Cola dates back to 1886 when Dr. John Pemberton modified his tonic headache and stimulant formula, creating Pemberton’s French Wine Coca. Dr. Pemberton produced a Coca-Cola syrup and took it to Jacob’s pharmacy where they sold it at five cents per glass. With the help of Frank Robinson, Dr. Pemberton coined the trademark "Coca-Cola" which refers to the two main "medicinal" ingredients in the original recipe: coca leaves, which is what is used to make cocaine, and kola nuts. -
(3) Dawes Severalty Act
The Dawes Act of 1887 regulated land rights on tribal territories within the United States. Named after Senator Henry L. Dawes of Massachusetts, it authorized the President of the United States to subdivide Native American tribal communal landholdings into allotments for Native American heads of families and individuals. -
First Camera
Cameras have evolved over the years from the camera obscura to the numerous generations of photographic technologies including films, dry plates, calotypes, daguerreotypes and finally the present-day digital camera. George Eastman pioneered photographic film usage in 1885 when he started producing paper films. He patented his first film in 1884 and perfected the first camera using roll film in 1888. -
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician who was the dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then assuming the title of Führer und Reichskanzler in 1934. -
(3) First Automobile
The earliest automobile ever invented was the Fardier which was built by Nicholas Cugot. Fardier was a steam-powered machine that Nicholas developed for the French War minister in 1771. The Fardier was much slower than a horse-driven vehicle and therefore was never reproduced. Wilhelm Maybach and Gottlieb Daimler built the first automobile, powered by a 1.5hp 2-cylinder gasoline engine in 1889. Their car had a 4-speed transmission and attained a maximum speed of 10 mph. -
(3) Wounded Knee Massacre
The massacre at Wounded Knee, during which soldiers of the US Army 7th Cavalry Regiment indiscriminately slaughtered hundreds of Sioux men, women, and children, marked the definitive end of Indian resistance to the encroachments of white settlers. -
(3) Hawaii Annexation
The overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom was a coup d'état against Queen Liliʻuokalani, which took place on January 17, 1893, on the island of Oahu and led by the Committee of Safety, composed of seven foreign residents and six Hawaiian Kingdom subjects of American descent in Honolulu. -
(3) Hershey Company Created
The Hershey Company, commonly known as Hershey's, is an American multinational company and one of the largest chocolate manufacturers in the world. It also manufactures baked products, such as cookies and cakes, and sells beverages like milkshakes, and many more that are produced globally. Milton Hershey's love for confection started at a young age and flourished when he established the ompany in 1894. By 1900, they sold the very first candy bar. -
(3) Alaskan Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899. -
(3) Open Door Note
The Open Door Policy is the United States diplomatic policy established in the late 19th and early 20th century that called for a system of equal trade and investment and to guarantee the territorial integrity of Qing China. -
(3) Spanish American War
The Spanish–American War was an armed conflict between Spain and the United States. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to U.S. intervention in the Cuban War of Independence. -
Federation of Australia
The Federation of Australia was the process by which the six separate British self-governing colonies of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria, Tasmania, South Australia, and Western Australia agreed to unite and form the Commonwealth of Australia, establishing a system of federalism in Australia. The Constitution set out the basic rules for the Australian system of government. It provided the political and legal framework for the nation. -
(3) President McKinley assassinated
On September 6, 1901, William McKinley became the third U.S. president to be assassinated after he was fatally shot at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York. -
(3) Newlands Reclamation Act
The Reclamation Act of 1902 is a United States federal law that funded irrigation projects for the arid lands of 20 states in the American West. The act at first covered only 13 of the western states as Texas had no federal lands. Texas was added later by a special act passed in 1906. -
(3) First Rose Bowl Game
Originally titled the "Tournament East–West football game," what is now known as the Rose Bowl Game was first played on January 1, 1902, at Tournament Park in Pasadena, California, starting the tradition of New Year's Day bowl games. -
(3) Wright Brother's First Flight
The Wright brothers – Orville and Wilbur – were two American aviation pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flying the world's first successful motor-operated airplane. Wind, sand, and the dream of flight brought Wilbur and Orville to Kitty Hawk, North Carolina where, after four years of scientific experimentation, they achieved the first successful airplane flights on December 17, 1903 -
(3) Model T Created
The Model T was introduced to the world in 1908. Henry Ford wanted the Model T to be affordable, simple to operate, and durable. The vehicle was one of the first mass-production vehicles, allowing Ford to achieve his aim of manufacturing the universal car. -
(3) Ballinger-Pinchot Controversey
The Ballinger-Pinchot scandal erupts when Colliers magazine accuses Secretary of the Interior Richard Ballinger of shady dealings in Alaskan coal lands. It is, in essence, a conflict rooted in contrasting ideas about how to best use and conserve western natural resources. -
(3) Standard Oil Supreme Court Case
Standard Oil Co. of New Jersey v. United States (1911) is a U.S. Supreme Court case holding that Standard Oil Company, a major oil conglomerate in the early 20th century, violated the Sherman Antitrust Act through anticompetitive actions, i.e. forming a monopoly, and ordered that the company be geographically split. -
(3) Sixteenth Amendment
The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution allows Congress to levy an income tax without apportioning it among the states on the basis of population. It was passed by Congress in 1913 in response to the 1895 Supreme Court case of Pollock v. Farmers' Loan & Trust Co. -
(3) Seventeenth Amendment
The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each State, elected by the people thereof, for six years; and each Senator shall have one vote. The electors in each State shall have the qualifications requisite for electors of the most numerous branch of the State legislatures. When vacancies happen in the representation of any State in the Senate, the executive authority of such State shall issue writs of election to fill such vacancies. -
(3) Clayton Act
The Clayton Antitrust Act of 1914, is a part of United States antitrust law with the goal of adding further substance to the U.S. antitrust law regime; the Clayton Act seeks to prevent anticompetitive practices in their incipiency. -
(3) World War 1
World War I or the First World War, often abbreviated as WWI or WW1, was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Known as the Great War or "the war to end all wars", it led to the mobilization of more than 70 million military personnel, making it one of the largest wars in history, and also one of the deadliest conflicts in history, with an estimated 8.5 million combatant deaths and 13 million civilian deaths as a direct result of the war. -
(3) Sinking of the Lusitania
The RMS Lusitania was a UK-registered ocean liner that was torpedoed by an Imperial German Navy U-boat during the First World War on 7 May 1915, about 11 miles off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland. The death of so many innocent civilians at the hands of the Germans galvanized American support for entering the war, which eventually turned the tide in favor of the Allies. -
(3) Zimmerman Telegram
The Zimmermann Telegram was a secret diplomatic communication issued from the German Foreign Office in January 1917 that proposed a military alliance between Germany and Mexico if the United States entered World War I against Germany. With Germany's aid, Mexico would recover Texas, Arizona, and New Mexico. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles was the most important of the peace treaties that brought World War I to an end. The Treaty ended the state of war between Germany and the Allied Powers. It was signed on June 28th, 1919 in the Palace of Versailles, exactly five years after the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which led to the war. The other Central Powers on the German side signed separate treaties. -
(3) Depression of 1920-21
The Depression of 1920–1921 was a sharp deflationary recession in the United States, United Kingdom and other countries, beginning 14 months after the end of World War I. It lasted from January 1920 to July 1921. -
(3) 19th Amendment
Passed by Congress June 4, 1919, and ratified on August 18, 1920, the 19th amendment granted women the right to vote. The 19th amendment legally guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle—victory took decades of agitation and protest. -
(3) Eighteenth Amendment
The Eighteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States. The amendment was ratified on January 16, 1919. "After one year from the ratification of this article the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exportation thereof from the United States and all territory subject to the jurisdiction thereof for beverage purposes is hereby prohibited." -
(3) Washington Conference
The Washington Naval Conference was a disarmament conference called by the United States and held in Washington, D.C., from November 12, 1921, to February 6, 1922. It was conducted outside the auspices of the League of Nations. It was attended by nine nations regarding interests in the Pacific Ocean and East Asia. -
(3) Industrial Recovery Act
The National Industrial Recovery Act of 1933 was a US labor law and consumer law passed by the 73rd US Congress to authorize the president to regulate the industry for fair wages and prices that would stimulate economic recovery. It also established a national public works program known as the Public Works Administration. -
(3) Scopes Trial
The Scopes Trial was the 1925 prosecution of science teacher John Scopes for teaching evolution in a Tennessee public school. The trial featured two of the best-known orators of the era, William Jennings Bryan and Clarence Darrow, as opposing attorneys. The trial was viewed as an opportunity to challenge the constitutionality of the bill, to publicly advocate for the legitimacy of Darwin’s theory of evolution, and to enhance the profile of the American Civil Liberties Union. -
(3) Pact of Locarno
The Pact of Locarno, (Dec. 1, 1925) was a series of agreements whereby Germany, France, Belgium, Great Britain, and Italy mutually guaranteed peace in Western Europe. The treaties were initialed at Locarno, Switz., on October 16 and signed in London on December 1. -
(3) S&P 500 Established
The S&P 500 index, formerly called the Composite Index (and later Standard & Poor's Composite Index), had been launched on a small scale in 1923. It began tracking 90 stocks in 1926 and expanded to 500 in 1957. Unlike the Dow Jones average, the S&P 500 computes a weighted average of the stocks constituting the index. -
(3) Kelogg-Briand Treaty
The Kellogg–Briand Pact is a 1928 international agreement on peace in which signatory states promised not to use war to resolve "disputes or conflicts of whatever nature or of whatever origin they may be, which may arise among them". The pact was signed by Germany, France, and the United States on 27 August 1928, and by most other states soon after. The Pact is named after its authors, United States Secretary of State Frank B. Kellogg and French foreign minister Aristide Briand. -
Discovery of Penicillin
In 1928, at St. Mary's Hospital, London, Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin. This discovery led to the introduction of antibiotics that greatly reduced the number of deaths from infection. -
(3) The Great Depression
The Great Depression was the worst economic downturn in the history of the industrialized world, lasting from 1929 to 1939. It began after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. -
(3) Smoot Tariff
The Tariff Act of 1930, commonly known as the Hawley–Smoot Tariff or Smoot–Hawley Tariff, was a law that implemented protectionist trade policies in the United States. Sponsored by Senator Reed Smoot and Representative Willis C. Hawley, it was signed by President Herbert Hoover on June 17, 1930. -
(3) The Dust Bowl
The Dust Bowl was the name given to the drought-stricken Southern Plains region of the United States, which suffered severe dust storms during a dry period in the 1930s. High winds and choking dust swept the region from Texas to Nebraska, while people and livestock were killed and crops failed across the entire region. -
(3) The New Deal
The New Deal was a series of programs and projects instituted during the Great Depression by President Franklin D. Roosevelt that aimed to restore prosperity to Americans. When Roosevelt took office in 1933, he acted swiftly to stabilize the economy and provide jobs and relief to those who were suffering. -
(3) Amelia Earheart
Amelia Mary Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. Earhart was the first female aviator to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. She set many other records, wrote best-selling books about her flying experiences, and was instrumental in the formation of The Ninety-Nines, an organization for female pilots. On May 20, 1932, she began her journey across the Atlantic Ocean. -
(3) Gold Taken Off the Nation's Standard
The US gold standard operated in its purest form throughout the late-19th and early 20th centuries, until FDR confiscated all privately held gold in 1933. From 1933 to 1971, the U.S. remained on a quasi-gold standard, until President Nixon officially converted the U.S. dollar into a fiat currency. -
(3) Glass-Steagall Act
The Glass-Steagall Act effectively separated commercial banking from investment banking and created the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, among other things. It was one of the most widely debated legislative initiatives before being signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in June 1933. -
(3) Prohibition Repealed
Constitutional Amendments – Amendment 21 – “Repeal of Prohibition” Amendment Twenty-one to the Constitution was ratified on December 5, 1933. It repealed the previous Eighteenth Amendment which had established a nationwide ban on the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcohol. -
(3) Wagner Act
The National Labor Relations Act of 1935, also known as the Wagner Act, is a foundational statute of United States labor law that guarantees the right of private sector employees to organize into trade unions, engage in collective bargaining, and take collective action such as strikes. -
(3) Japan Attacked Pearl Harbor
On December 7th, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, causing the US to join the allies in WWII. Just before 8 a.m. on that Sunday morning, hundreds of Japanese fighter planes descended on the base, where they managed to destroy or damage nearly 20 American naval vessels, including eight battleships, and over 300 airplanes. More than 2,400 Americans died in the attack, including civilians, and another 1,000 people were wounded. -
(3) World War II
WW II was a global war that lasted from 1939 - 1945. It involved a vast majority of the world's countries, forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis powers. In a war involving 100 million personnel from more than 30 countries, the major participants threw their entire economic, industrial, and scientific capabilities behind the war effort. Aircraft played a major role in the conflict. WW II was the deadliest conflict in history; it resulted in 70 - 85 million fatalities. -
(3) Battle of the Bulge
The Battle of the Bulge, also known as the Ardennes Offensive, was the last major German offensive campaign on the Western Front during World War II. The battle lasted for five weeks from 16 December 1944 to 28 January 1945, towards the end of the war in Europe. -
(3) Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
On the 6th and 9th of August 1945, the United States detonated two atomic bombs over the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, respectively. The aerial bombings together killed between 129,000 and 226,000 people, most of whom were civilians, and remain the only use of nuclear weapons in an armed conflict. -
(3) Truman Doctrine
The Truman Doctrine is an American foreign policy that pledges American "support for democracies against authoritarian threats." The doctrine originated with the primary goal of containing Soviet geopolitical expansion during the Cold War. -
(3) Iron Curtain Speech
The Iron Curtain speech, a speech delivered by former British prime minister Winston Churchill in Fulton, Missouri, on March 5, 1946, stressed the necessity for the US and Britain to act as the guardians of peace and stability against the menace of Soviet communism. The term iron curtain had been employed as a metaphor since the 19th century, but Churchill used it to refer specifically to the political, military, and ideological barrier created by the U.S.S.R. following World War II. -
(3) Taft-Hartley Act
The Labor Management Relations Act of 1947, better known as the Taft–Hartley Act, is a United States federal law that restricts the activities and power of labor unions. It was enacted by the 80th United States Congress over the veto of President Harry S. Truman, becoming law on June 23, 1947. -
(3) Cold War Begins
The Cold War was a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. -
(3) Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was an American initiative enacted in 1948 to provide foreign aid to Western Europe. The United States transferred $13.3 billion in economic recovery programs to Western European economies after the end of World War II. -
(3) Nato Formed
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization was created in 1949 by the United States, Canada, and several Western European nations to provide collective security against the Soviet Union. NATO was the first peacetime military alliance the United States entered into outside of the Western Hemisphere. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 31 member states – 29 European and two North American. -
(3) Korean War
The Korean War was fought between North Korea and South Korea from 1950 to 1953. The war began on 25 June 1950 when North Korea invaded South Korea following clashes along the border and rebellions in South Korea. Concerned that the Soviet Union and Communist China might have encouraged this invasion, President Harry S. Truman committed United States air, ground, and naval forces to the combined United Nations forces assisting the Republic of Korea in its defense. -
(3) Bakken Formation
The Bakken Formation is a rock unit from the Late Devonian to Early Mississippian age occupying about 200,000 square miles of the subsurface of the Williston Basin, underlying parts of Montana, North Dakota, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. The formation was initially described by geologist J. W. Nordquist in 1953. It is entirely in the subsurface and has no surface outcrop. It is named after Henry O. Bakken, who owned the land where the formation was initially discovered while drilling for oil. -
(3) SEATO Formed
In September of 1954, the United States, France, Great Britain, New Zealand, Australia, the Philippines, Thailand, and Pakistan formed the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization or SEATO. The purpose of the organization was to prevent communism from gaining ground in the region. -
(3) Brown v. Board of Education
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483, was a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in which the Court ruled that U.S. state laws establishing racial segregation in public schools are unconstitutional, even if the segregated schools are otherwise equal in quality. -
(3) Sputnik Launch
Sputnik 1 was the first artificial Earth satellite. It was launched into an elliptical low Earth orbit by the Soviet Union on 4 October 1957 as part of the Soviet space program. It sent a radio signal back to Earth for three weeks before its three silver-zinc batteries ran out. -
(3) JFK Elected
John F. Kennedy, a wealthy Democratic senator from Massachusetts, was elected president in 1960, defeating Vice President Richard Nixon. Though he clearly won the electoral vote, Kennedy's received only 118,000 more votes than Nixon in this close election. -
Makoto Fujimura
Makoto Fujimura is an American artist. He is considered to be one of the leading figures of "slow art" movement. He has coined the terms "Culture Care" and "Theology of Making". -
(3) Mapp v. Ohio
Mapp v. Ohio, 367 U.S. 643, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the exclusionary rule, which prevents prosecutors from using evidence in court that was obtained by violating the Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, applies not only to the federal government but also to the U.S. state governments. The Supreme Court accomplished this by use of a principle known as selective incorporation. -
(3) Bay Pigs Invasion of Cuba
On April 17, 1961, 1,400 Cuban exiles launched what became a botched invasion at the Bay of Pigs on the south coast of Cuba. In 1959, Fidel Castro came to power in an armed revolt that overthrew Cuban dictator Fulgencio Batista. -
(3) Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis of October 1962 was a direct and dangerous confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War and was the moment when the two superpowers came closest to nuclear conflict. -
(3) JFK assassinated
President John F. Kennedy was the 4th U.S. president to be assassinated while in office. He was assassinated on Friday, November 22, 1963, Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza. -
(3) Civil Rights Act
In 1964, Congress passed Public Law 88-352 (78 Stat. 241). The Civil Rights Act of 1964 prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin. Provisions of this civil rights act forbade discrimination on the basis of sex, as well as, race in hiring, promoting, and firing. -
(3) Great Society Program
The Great Society program became Johnson's agenda for Congress in January 1965: aid to education, attack on disease, Medicare, urban renewal, beautification, conservation, development of depressed regions, a wide-scale fight against poverty, control, and prevention of crime and delinquency, removal of obstacles to the right to vote. -
Canadian Independence
In 1982, Canada adopted its own constitution and became a completely independent country. Although it's still part of the British Commonwealth—a constitutional monarchy that accepts the British monarch as its own. Elizabeth II is Queen of Canada. -
(3) Martin Luther King Jr. Assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American Baptist minister and activist who was one of the most prominent leaders in the civil rights movement from 1955 until his assassination in 1968. -
(3) U.S. Astronauts Land on the Moon
In 1969, U.S. astronauts Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin were the first ones to walk on the moon. The mission was Apollo 11. Apollo 11 blasted off on July 16, 1969. Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin, and Michael Collins were the astronauts on Apollo 11. Four days later, Armstrong and Aldrin landed on the moon. They landed on the moon in the Lunar Module. It was called the Eagle. Collins stayed in orbit around the moon. He did experiments and took pictures. -
(3) NASDAQ Established
Nasdaq was created by the National Association of Securities Dealers, which is now known as the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority. The marketplace was created so that investors could trade securities on a computerized, speedy, and transparent system, and it commenced operations on February 8, 1971. -
(3) Watergate
The Watergate scandal was a major political scandal in the United States involving the administration of President Richard Nixon from 1972 to 1974 that led to Nixon's resignation. -
(3) Oil Crisis of 1973
The 1973 oil crisis or first oil crisis began in October 1973 when the members of the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, led by King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, proclaimed an oil embargo. The embargo was targeted at nations that had supported Israel during the Yom Kippur War. -
Academy of Ancient Music Founded In London
The Academy of Ancient Music (AAM) is a British period-instrument orchestra based in Cambridge, England. Founded by harpsichordist Christopher Hogwood in 1973, it was named after an 18th-century organization of the same name (originally the Academy of Vocal Music). -
(3) Roe v Wade
Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113, was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States generally protects a pregnant individual's liberty to have an abortion. -
(3) War Powers Act
The War Powers Resolution is a federal law intended to check the U.S. president's power to commit the United States to an armed conflict without the consent of the U.S. Congress. The resolution was adopted in the form of a United States congressional joint resolution. -
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War, also known as the Second Indochina War, was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. -
(3) Reagan Elected
On November 4, 1980, Reagan won in a decisive victory in the Electoral College over Carter, carrying 44 states and receiving 489 electoral votes to Carter's 49 in six states and the District of Columbia. -
(3) Reagan Assassinated
On March 30, 1981, President of the United States Ronald Reagan was shot and wounded by John Hinckley Jr. in Washington, D.C., as he was returning to his limousine after a speaking engagement at the Washington Hilton. -
(3) Iran Contra Affair
The Iran–Contra affair, often referred to as the Iran–Contra scandal, the McFarlane affair, or simply Iran–Contra, was a political scandal in the United States that occurred during the second term of the Reagan administration. -
(3) Intermediate Nuclear Forces Treaty
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was an arms control treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union. US President Ronald Reagan and Soviet General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev signed the treaty on 8 December 1987. -
(3) Hurrican Hugo
Hurricane Hugo was a powerful Cape Verde tropical cyclone that inflicted widespread damage across the northeastern Caribbean and the Southeastern United States in September 1989. Across its track, Hugo affected approximately 2 million people. Its direct effects killed 67 people and inflicted $11 billion in damage. -
(3) Berlin Wall Falls
On 13 June 1990, the East German Border Troops officially began dismantling the Wall, beginning in Bernauer Straße and around the Mitte district. From there, demolition continued through Prenzlauer Berg/Gesundbrunnen, Heiligensee and throughout the city of Berlin until December 1990. -
Nelson Mandela Released
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela was a South African anti-apartheid revolutionary, politician, and philanthropist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state. Following his release from prison on 11 February 1990, Mandela led his party in the negotiations that led to multi-racial democracy in 1994. As president, he gave priority to reconciliation, while introducing policies aimed at combating poverty and inequality in South Africa. -
(3) Operation Desert Shield
On August 7, 1990, President George Herbert Walker Bush orders the organization of Operation Desert Shield in response to Iraq’s invasion of Kuwait on August 2. The order prepared American troops to become part of an international coalition in the war against Iraq that would be launched as Operation Desert Storm in January 1991. To support Operation Desert Shield, Bush authorized a dramatic increase in U.S. troops and resources in the Persian Gulf. -
(3) Rodney King Beating
Rodney Glen King was an African American man who was a victim of police brutality. On March 3, 1991, he was beaten by Los Angeles Police Department officers during his arrest after a pursuit for driving while intoxicated on the I-210. An uninvolved individual, George Holliday, filmed the incident from his nearby balcony and sent the footage to local news station KTLA. The footage showed an unarmed King on the ground being beaten after initially evading arrest. -
(3) Bill Clinton Elected
Clinton was elected president in the 1992 presidential election, defeating incumbent Republican president George H. W. Bush and independent businessman Ross Perot. -
(3) Hurricane Michael
Hurricane Michael was a very powerful and destructive tropical cyclone that became the first Category 5 hurricane to make landfall in the contiguous United States since Andrew in 1992. -
(3) Travelgate
The White House travel office controversy, sometimes referred to as Travelgate, was the first major ethics controversy of the Clinton administration. It began in May 1993, when seven employees of the White House Travel Office were fired. -
(3) Hurricane Fran
Hurricane Fran caused extensive damage in the United States in early September 1996. The sixth named storm, fifth hurricane, and third major hurricane of the 1996 Atlantic hurricane season, Fran developed from a tropical wave near Cape Verde on August 23. -
(3) Princess Diana Dies In A Car Crash
On 31 August 1997, Diana, Princess of Wales died as a result of injuries sustained in a car accident in the Pont de l'Alma tunnel in Paris, France. Her partner, Dodi Fayed, and the driver of the Mercedes-Benz, Henri Paul, were dead at the scene. Their bodyguard, Trevor Rees-Jones, was seriously injured but survived. In 1999, an investigation found that Paul, who lost control of the vehicle while intoxicated by alcohol and under the effects of prescription drugs, was responsible for the crash. -
(3) Clinton Impeached
Bill Clinton, the 42nd president of the United States, was impeached by the United States House of Representatives of the 105th United States Congress on December 19, 1998, for "high crimes and misdemeanors", due to his affair with Monica Lewinsky -
(3) Air War Against Serbia
The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) carried out an aerial bombing campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia during the Kosovo War. The air strikes lasted from 24 March 1999 to 10 June 1999. -
(3) Bush Elected
In the 2000 United States presidential election, he defeated Democratic incumbent vice president Al Gore, despite losing the popular vote after a narrow and contested win that involved a Supreme Court decision to stop a recount in Florida. -
(3) September 11, 2001 Attacks
On September 11, 2001, 19 militants associated with the Islamic extremist group al Qaeda hijacked four airplanes and carried out suicide attacks against the United States. Two of the planes were flown into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in NY, a third plane hit the Pentagon in Arlington, VA, and the fourth plane crashed in a field in Shanksville, PA. Almost 3,000 people were killed during the attacks, and this event defined the presidency of George W. Bush. -
(3) U.S. Invasion of Afghanistan
The U.S. and NATO invaded Afghanistan on October 7, 2001 and overthrew the Al-Qaeda-supportive Taliban government. American troops then began to institute democracy, fight off any insurgents, and the search for Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden.The invasion became the first phase of a 20-year long war in the country, and marked the beginning of the U.S. War on Terror. -
(3) Axis of Evil Speech
This speech was used in Bush's State of the Union address on January 29, 2002, less than five months after the 9/11 attacks, and often repeated throughout his presidency. He used it to describe foreign governments that, during his administration, allegedly sponsored terrorism and sought weapons of mass destruction. -
(3) D.C. Sniper Attacks
The D.C. sniper attacks, also known as the Beltway sniper attacks, were a series of coordinated shootings that occurred during three weeks in October 2002 throughout the Washington metropolitan area, consisting of the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Virginia. Ten people were killed, and three others were critically wounded. -
Mars Exploration Rovers Launched
In January 2004, two robotic geologists named Spirit and Opportunity landed on opposite sides Mars. With far greater mobility than the 1997 Mars Pathfinder rover, these robotic explorers have trekked for miles across the Martian surface, conducting field geology and making atmospheric observations. Carrying identical, sophisticated sets of science instruments, both rovers have found evidence of ancient Martian environments where intermittently wet and habitable conditions existed. -
(3) Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina was a large Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 deaths and $125 billion in damage in August 2005, particularly in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the costliest tropical cyclone on record and is now tied with 2017's Hurricane Harvey. The storm was the fifth hurricane and the third major hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season, as well as the fourth-most intense Atlantic hurricane on record to make landfall in the US. -
(3) Barack Obama's Election
On November 4, 2008, Barack Obama is elected the 44th president and becomes the first African-American chief executive of the United States. In his victory speech, President Obama remarks that "change has come to America." He made history as he became the first African-American to be elected president. -
(3) Seals Kill Bin Laden
On May 2, 2011, Osama bin Laden, the founder and first leader of the Islamist militant group al-Qaeda, was shot and killed at his compound in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad, by United States Navy SEALs of SEAL Team Six (also known as DEVGRU). -
(3) Trans Pacific Partnership
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement, was a highly contested proposed trade agreement between 12 Pacific Rim economies: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the United States. -
(3) Mandela Rules
On 17 December 2015, a revised version of the Standard Minimum Rules was adopted unanimously by the 70th session of the UN General Assembly. The Rules are based on an obligation to treat all prisoners with respect for their inherent dignity and value as human beings and to prohibit torture and other forms of ill-treatment. They offer detailed guidance on a wide variety of issues ranging from disciplinary measures to medical services. -
(3) Donald Trump's Election
From the 1980s Trump periodically mused in public about running for president, but those moments were widely dismissed in the press as publicity stunts. In June 2015 Trump announced that he would be a candidate in the U.S. presidential election of 2016. Pledging to “make America great again,” he promised to create millions of new jobs; punish American companies that exported jobs overseas; to repeal Obama’s signature legislative achievement, along with many other ideas. -
(3) Hurricane Irma
Hurricane Irma was an extremely powerful Cape Verde hurricane that caused widespread destruction across its path in September 2017. Irma was the first Category 5 hurricane to strike the Leeward Islands on record, followed by Maria two weeks later. -
(3) COVID-19
Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an infectious disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. The virus was first detected in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and has set off a global pandemic. Experts say that COVID-19 originated in bats. That’s also how the coronaviruses behind the Middle East respiratory syndrome and severe acute respiratory syndrome got started. -
(3) First Female VP
Kamala D. Harris is the Vice President of the United States of America. She was elected Vice President after a lifetime of public service, having been elected District Attorney of San Francisco, California Attorney General, and United States Senator. -
(3) Joe Biden's election
Joe Biden's tenure as the 46th president of the United States began with his inauguration on January 20, 2021. Biden, a Democrat from Delaware who previously served as vice president under Barack Obama, took office following his victory in the 2020 presidential election over Republican incumbent president Trump. He was inaugurated alongside Kamala Harris, the first woman, first African American, and first Asian American vice president. -
(3) My Graduation
DONE WITH HIGH SCHOOL!!!