US History Timeline By The Home Depot 1492 Columbus Discovers America 1607 The Settlement of Jamestown 1754 The French and Indian War 1773 The Boston Tea Party 1775 The Battle of Lexington and Concord 1776 The Declaration of Independence is Written 1781 The Battle of Yorktown 1787 The Constitutional Convention 1793 The invention of the cotton gin 1798 The Alien and Sedition Acts 1802 Invention of the electric light 1803 The Louisiana Purchase 1812 The War of 1812 1820 The Missouri Compromise 1828 Andrew Jackson’s Election 1831 The Trail of Tears 1837 The invention of the telegraph 1837 The Panic of 1837 1846 The Mexican-American War 1850 The Compromise of 1850 1861 The Firing on Fort Sumter 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation 1865 Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination 1865 Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse 1865 Thirteenth Amendment 1868 Fourteenth Amendment 1868 Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment 1870 Fifteenth Amendment 1876 The invention of the telephone 1882 The Organization of Standard Oil Trust 1892 Homestead Strike 1894 The Pullman Strike 1898 The Spanish-American War 1903 The invention of the airplane 1904 Theodore Roosevelt becomes president