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Christopher Columbus’ crew finds San Salvador (island in the Bahamas) and the natives there.
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The crews of the Susan Constant, the Godspeed, and the Discovery, sponsored by the Virginia Company, officially designate Jamestown, Virginia as the first English settlement in the Americas.
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The Battle of Jumonville Glen is fought, kicking off the French and Indian War.
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Boston locals dump millions of dollars’ worth of British tea into the Boston Harbor, impersonating indians, in protest of high taxes.
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British officials try to confiscate arms caches in Massachusetts towns Lexington and Concord. Along the way they are continually ambushed by local militias, using devastating guerilla tactics.
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Members of the First Continental Congress announces the formation of the United States of America, and declare independence from the British Empire.
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The Siege of Yorktown ends. American and French forces, led by George Washington and Marquis de Lafayette, lay siege to the last British-occupied port on U.S. territory. The siege ends in British general Charles Cornwallis’ honorable surrender, and marks the end of the American Revolution.
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The Second Continental Congress organizes, with the original intention to revise the failing Articles of Confederation. This congressional meeting leads to the birth of the U.S. Constitution.
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Eli Whitney’s cotton gin is patented. This invention exponentially decreased the time needed for separating cotton fibers from seeds, meaning that in order to keep up with the machine’s speed, many more workers were needed to provide cotton. This led to an increase in slavery in the U.S., and is also seen as kicking off that times Industrial Revolution.
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John Adams signs the Alien and Sedition Acts into law. The Alien acts allowed the gov’t to deport alien persons considered dangerous, in addition to making it harder for immigrants to get citizenship, and the (highly controversial) Sedition Act criminalized anti-establishment speech, particularly from independent news outlets, that were perceived as causing treasonous, anarchistic sentiments among the people.
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The U.S. officially buys the Louisiana Territory from the French, for $15M. Although the U.S., at the time, didn’t actually have that money.
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The War of 1812 happens. Basically, while Britain is preoccupied with the Napoleonic Wars, America tries to steal Canada from them. This doesn’t work, and backfires immensely. To date, this is the last time any hostile forces have set foot upon American Land.
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The U.S. agrees to permit Missouri as a slave state, under the agreement that no other states in the Louisiana Territory north of the 36th parallel would be considered slave states.
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Andrew Jackson is elected president, helping to create a widespread, cultural rift between the South and the North of the U.S.
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With the combined efforts of many different persons, including Samuel Morse, the telegraph is invented, allowing the first, instantaneous, long-range communication systems. This revolutionizes the entire human society, in the fields of warfare, governance, economics, academics, etc etc.
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The Trail of Tears is an event in which the U.S. government forcibly evicted the entire Cherokee tribe in the state of Georgia. The tribe was marched at gunpoint to a singular spot in Oklahoma, a designated Indian territory. This event took place as part of the Indian Removal acts, which ultimately were an attempt at land grabbing for American needs.
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The 1837 Panic was a series of bank rushes by investors across the nation. This happened as a result of too much international borrowing on the part of U.S. companies, primarily.
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The Mexican-American War. In 1845, Texas was annexed by the U.S., but Mexico still considered it their own territory. When both countries sent troops to protect what each of them considered their own, naturally it came to open conflict.
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5 laws are passed, each dealing with territorial expansion and the designation of what states would be slavery-friendly and which wouldn’t. This allows California to join the Union as a free state, amends the Fugitive Slave Act and the Washington D.C. slave trade, and creates territorial governments in Utah and New Mexico.
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Confederate general P.G.T. Beauregard lays siege to the Union-held Fort Sumter. This is the first battle of the U.S. Civil War, and ends in Confederate victory.
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Lincoln passes the Emancipation Proclamation. This proclaims all slaves free, in all states, including in the C.S.A.
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the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments are passed. The 13th amendment bans slavery, the 14th defines citizens as anyone born or naturalized in the U.S., and the 15th guarantees citizens’ right to vote, despite race or history of slavery.
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General Lee surrenders to General Grant at Appomattox Courthouse, ending the civil war.
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Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, a southern sympathizer.
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Andrew Johnson is impeached.
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The electric light, the telephone, and the aeroplane are all invented and become commonly used, forever impacting human civilizations, as some of the biggest technological advances of that industrial revolution.
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John Rockefeller and his associated/owned oil companies form the Standard Oil Trust, creating a monopoly over the system.
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The Pullman and Homestead strikes occur. Workers for these factories are unsatisfied with their wages or hours, and refuse to work. This creates legislative change and economic hardship.
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The Spanish-American War. America wanted Spain's assets in southern America, so they blamed the Maine on Spain and went to war.
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Teddy Roosevelt is elected president.