US History Timeline By TenThousandLemons 1493 The Discovery of America by Columbus 1607 The Settlement of Jamestown Period: 1756 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 1793 The invention of the cotton gin 1798 The Alien and Sedition Acts 1803 The Louisiana Purchase Period: 1805 to 1903 The invention of the electric light, the telephone, and the airplane 1812 The War of 1812 1820 The Missouri Compromise 1828 Andrew Jackson’s Election Period: 1830 to 1850 The Trail of Tears 1837 The Panic of 1837 1838 The invention of the telegraph 1846 The Mexican-American War 1850 The Compromise of 1850 1861 The Firing on Fort Sumter 1863 The Emancipation Proclamation 1863 The Organization of Standard Oil Trust 1865 Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse 1865 Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination 1868 Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment 1870 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments 1894 The Pullman and Homestead Strikes 1898 The Spanish-American War 1901 Theodore Roosevelt becomes president