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Jamestown, the first permanent English settlement in America, is established by the London Company in southeast Virginia. -
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Marks the final conflict in the ongoing struggle between the British and French for control of eastern North America. The British win a decisive victory over the French on the Plains of Abraham outside Quebec. -
The British formally gain control of Canada and all the French possessions east of the Mississippi. -
British troops fire into a mob, killing five men and leading to intense public protests. -
Group of colonial patriots disguised as Mohawk Indians board three ships in Boston harbor and dump more than 300 crates of tea overboard as a protest against the British tea tax. -
They meet in Philadelphia, with 56 delegates representing every colony except Georgia. Delegates include Patrick Henry, George Washington, and Samuel Adams. -
War of independence fought between Great Britain and the 13 British colonies on the eastern seaboard of North America. Battles of Lexington and Concord, Mass., between the British Army and colonial minutemen, mark the beginning of the war. -
Continental Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia. -
British General Charles Cornwallis surrenders to General George Washington at Yorktown, Virginia. -
Great Britain formally acknowledges American independence in the Treaty of Paris, which officially brings the war to a close. -
Shays's Rebellion erupts; farmers from New Hampshire to South Carolina take up arms to protest high state taxes and stiff penalties for failure to pay -
George Washington is unanimously elected president of the United States in a vote by state electors. -
First ten amendments to the Constitution, known as the Bill of Rights, are ratified. -
Eli Whitney's invention of the cotton gin greatly increases the demand for slave labor. -
John Adams is inaugurated as the second president in Philadelphia. -
The capital is relocated from Philadelphia to Washington DC. -
Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the 3rd President of the United States. -
United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, which extends west from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and comprises about 830,000 sq mi. As a result, the U.S. nearly doubles in size. -
James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president. -
U.S. declares war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion. -
British capture Washington, DC, and set fire to White House and Capitol. -
Treaty of Ghent is signed, ending the war. -
James Monroe is inaugurated. -
In an effort to maintain the balance between free and slave states, Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) is admitted as a free state so that Missouri can be admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 3630'. -
In his annual address to Congress, President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers. -
John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president. -
Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as the 7th president. -
This authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River. -
An enslaved African American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. He and his band of about 80 followers launch a bloody, day-long rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The militia quells the rebellion, and Turner is eventually hanged. As a consequence, Virginia institutes much stricter slave laws. -
Texas declares its independence from Mexico. -
U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest. War concludes in 1848 with signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated members of the Underground Railroad. -
The Civil War in the United States began in 1861, after decades of simmering tensions between northern and southern states over slavery, states’ rights and westward expansion. The Civil War was also known, ended in Confederate surrender in 1865. The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin.