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In 1803 the United States under President Thomas Jefferson bought Louisiana from France for around 15 million dollars or around 375 dollars million in today's money. This purchase nearly doubled the size of the United States. -
The War of 1812 was a war between the United States and Great Britain. This war mainly started due to trading restrictions and the United States fearing that their independence was under attack. During this war, the Star-Spangled Banner was written by Francis Scott Key. In December of 1814, the Treaty of Ghent was signed effectively ending the war. -
The panic of 1837 was an economic crisis in the United States, one of the first in its history. Around half of all banks failed at this time, unemployment rates went up, and wages went down. The economy started to recover in the early 1840s but didn't fully recover until the gold rush of 1848. -
In 1848 gold was found in California. Word spread quickly and over the next couple of years, hundreds of thousands rushed to California in an attempt to find gold. This helped California become a part of the United States in 1850 and helped the economy return to a point before the Panic of 1837. -
The Civil War started in 1861 between the Confederacy and the Union. The war was fought over slavery with the Confederacy fighting to keep slavery and the Union fighting to abolish it. This event was one of the most deadly in the United States' history with around 620,000 to 750,000 soldiers dying. In 1865 the war ended after Confederate General Lee surrendered to Union General Grant at the Battle of Appomattox Court House. -
Alexander Bell was granted a patent for the first telephone in 1876. Just one year later the first telephone was installed in the White House. The telephone allowed for instant communication across long distances which had never been experienced before. -
The Wright brothers made the first self powered airplane which flew in 1903. This plane showed one of the greatest accomplishments of the industrial revolution in the United States and changed the way humans had been traveling for hundreds of years.