US History Timeline By Trenton T 1492 The Discovery of America by Columbus 1607 The Settlement of Jamestown Period: 1754 to 1763 The French and Indian War 1773 The Boston Tea Party 1775 The Battle of Lexington and Concord 1776 The Declaration of Independence 1781 The Battle of Yorktown 1787 The Constitutional Convention 1794 The invention of the cotton gin 1798 The Alien and Sedition Acts 1803 The Louisiana Purchase Period: 1812 to 1815 The War of 1812 1820 The Missouri Compromise 1828 Andrew Jackson’s Election Period: 1831 to 1850 The Trail of Tears 1837 The Panic of 1837 1841 The invention of the telegraph Period: 1846 to 1848 The Mexican-American War 1850 The Compromise of 1850 1861 The Firing on Fort Sumter 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation 1865 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments 1865 Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse 1865 Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination 1868 Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment Period: 1870 to 1911 The Organization of Standard Oil Trust Period: 1879 to 1903 The invention of the electric light, the telephone, and the airplane 1892 The Pullman and Homestead Strikes 1898 The Spanish-American War 1901 Theodore Roosevelt becomes president