Important Events in American History

Edwin Aldrin on the moon, July 20, 1969
(NASA)

0. Pre-Columbian Cultures

ca. 10,000 B.C.	Asians begin several migrations over Bering Strait
4000 B.C.	Maize cultivation begins in southern Mexico
700 B.C.	Olmec people flourish along Gulf of Mexico
100 A.D.	Hopewell culture sets up massive trading network
300	Mayan city of Tikal features 20,000 residents and many temples
500	Teotihuacan's population reaches 100,000 at peak of culture
600	Hohokan civilization develops in present Arizona and New Mexico
900	Anasazi build cliff villages in American southwest
1125	City of Cahokia (near present St. Louis) has 15,000 residents and 100 temple mounds
1325	Aztecs build Tenochtitlan on site of current Mexico City
1438	Incas begin conquest of Andean region of South America
1492	Columbus lands at San Salvador in Bahamas
1494	Treaty of Tordesillas divides New World between Spain and Portugal

1. The Colonial Period (1500-1763)

1517	Martin Luther challenges Roman Catholic authority, beginning Protestant Reformation in Europe
1521	Cortez conquers Aztecs in Mexico Magellan circumnavigates the globe
1533	Pizarro captures Inca capital in Peru
1539	de Soto explores southeast U.S.
1540	Coronado explores southwest U.S.
1558	Elizabeth I takes throne in England
1585	Roanoke Island colony established off Virginia coast, then disappears
1607	Jamestown colony founded
1608	Champlain founds Quebec
1611	First Virginia tobacco crop harvested
1619	First Africans arrive in Virginia
1620	Plymouth Colony founded House of Burgesses established in Virginia
1622	Powhatan Confederacy attacks Virginia settlers
1630	Massachusetts Bay Colony founded
1635	Roger Williams establishes Rhode Island colony
1636	Harvard College is founded
1660	Anne Hutchinson expelled from Massachusetts Bay
1642-1648	English Civil War
1647	Massachusetts law requires a public school in every town
1649	King Charles I executed
1660	Charles II becomes king
1662	Halfway Covenant established in New England
1676	Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia
1680	Pope's Revolt in New Mexico
1681	Pennsylvania established by William Penn
1688	Glorious Revolution in England. William and Mary succeed James II
1692	Witchcraft trials begin in Salem
1714	George I takes throne, beginning Hanover dynasty
1734	Great Awakening begins
1739	Stono Rebellion in North Carolina George Whitefield begins preaching in America
1743	Benjamin Franklin sets up the American Philosophical Society
1754	French & Indian War begins Albany Plan of Union
1759	Britain captures Quebec
1763	Regulator movement in the Carolinas Pontiac's Revolt Treaty of Paris

2. America in Revolt (1763-1783)

1763	Proclamation Line of 1763
1764	Sugar Act Currency Act
1765	Stamp Act Sons of Liberty formed
1767	Townshend Duties Dickinson's "Letters of a Pennsylvania Farmer"
1770	Boston Massacre Lord North becomes British prime minister
1772	Ship Gaspee burned off coast of Rhode Island
1773	Tea Act Boston Tea Party
1774	Intolerable Acts First Continental Congress
1775	Lexington and Concord Battle of Bunker Hill
1776	Common Sense by Thomas Paine Declaration of Independence Battle of New York City Battle of Trenton
1777	British surrender 5800 men at Saratoga American army at Valley Forge
1778	French-American alliance established British begin Southern strategy and capture Savannah
1780	British capture Charleston French army lands in Connecticut
1781	Articles of Confederation approved Gen. Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
1783	Treaty of Paris ends war, grants American independence Newburgh Conspiracy of American army officers

3. Articles Period & The United States Constitution (1784-1789)

1785	Land Ordinance provides  for orderly development of territories Spain closes the Mississippi River to America
1786	Annapolis Convention Virginia adopts  Jefferson's "Statute of Religious Freedom" Shays' Rebellion
1787	Northwest Ordinance Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia
1788	Federalist Papers published New Hampshire is ninth state to ratify Constitution,
1789	Washington elected president French Revolution begins as Bastille is stormed French National Assembly issues "Declaration of Rights of Man"

4. The New Nation (1789-1824)

1789	Judiciary Act sets up federal court system
1791	Bill of Rights approved First Bank of United States chartered
1793	Washington issues Proclamation of Neutrality Louis XVI executed in France Cotton gin invented by Eli Whitney
1794	Whiskey Rebellion
1795	Jay Treaty Pinckney Treaty Treaty of Greenville
1796	Adams defeats Jefferson for presidency
1798	XYZ Affair Alien and Sedition Acts Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions
1800	Jefferson defeats Adams for presidency Prosser's Rebellion
1801	John Marshall becomes Chief Justice Midnight judges appointed by Adams
1803	Marbury v. Madison decision Louisiana Purchase
1804	Lewis & Clark Expedition
1807	Chesapeake-Leopard incident Embargo Act Robert Fulton builds Clermont, first steamboat
1811	Battle of Tippecanoe
1812	Congress declares war on Britain
1814	British burn Washington, D.C. Treaty of Ghent ends War of 1812 Hartford Convention
1815	Jackson defeats British at New Orleans
1819	First section of Erie Canal is opened Panic of 1819 McCullough v. Maryland decision
1820	Missouri Compromise
1823	Monroe Doctrine
1824	Congress sets protective tariffs Gibbons v. Ogden decision promotes interstate trade

5. Jacksonian Democracy and Westward Expansion (1824-1850)

1825	John Quincy Adams wins Corrupt Bargain presidential election
1828	Tariff of Abominations Jackson wins presidency
1830	Jackson vetoes Maysville Road extension Baltimore & Ohio becomes first railroad company Joseph Smith publishes Book of Mormon
1831	Cherokee Nation v. Georgia denies Indian claim of nationhood Nat Turner's Rebellion
1832	Jackson vetoes U.S. Bank re-charter Nullification crisis in South Carolina
1834	Women workers at Lowell, Massachusetts stage first strike
1836	Texas independence fight Gag rule prevents discussion of slavery in Congress
1837	Panic of 1837
1838	Trail of Tears
1842	Commonwealth v. Hunt legalizes unions
1845	Annexation of Texas
1846	U.S. declares war on Mexico Oregon Treaty
1847	Winfield Scott captures Mexico City
1848	Gold discovered in northern California Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo Seneca Falls statement of women's rights
1849	California gold rush

6. Sectional Conflict and the Causes of the Civil War (1850-1860)

1850	Compromise of 1850 Fugitive Slave Law passed
1852	Uncle Tom's Cabin published
1854	Ostend Manifesto Kansas-Nebraska Act Republican Party formed
1856	ÒBleeding KansasÓ
1857	Dred Scott decision Lecompton Constitution in Kansas
1858	Lincoln-Douglas debates
1859	John Brown's raid
1860	Lincoln elected president

7. The Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1877)

1860	Crittenden Compromise proposed South Carolina secedes
1861	Confederacy formed Firing on Ft. Sumter First Battle of Bull Run
1862	Shiloh Antietam Homestead Act Emancipation Proclamation announced
1863	Vicksburg Gettysburg New York City draft riots
1864	Grant takes command of all Union armies Sherman captures Atlanta
1865	Lee surrenders at Appomattox Lincoln assassinated 13^th Amendment ends slavery Freedmen's Bureau established
1867	Alaska purchased from Russia Grange founded
1868	President Johnson impeached 14^th Amendment passed Grant elected president
1869	Transcontinental railroad completed Knights of Labor formed
1873	Slaughterhouse case Panic of 1873
1875	Dwight L. Moody begins urban revivalism movement
1876	Custer defeated by Sioux at Little Big Horn
1877	Compromise of 1877 Reconstruction ends

8. Industrialism, War, and the Progressive Era (1877-1912)

1877	San Francisco anti-Chinese riots
1878	Bland-Allison Act
1879	Edison invents the light bulb
1881	Pres. Garfield assassinated Helen Hunt Jackson writes A Century of Dishonor
1882	Standard Oil Trust formed Chinese Exclusion Act
1883	Pendleton Civil Service Act
1885	First skyscraper built in Chicago
1886	Haymarket Square bombing in Chicago American Federation of Labor formed
1887	Dawes Act
1889	Jane Addams founds Hull House in Chicago
1890	Sioux massacred at Wounded Knee Sherman Antitrust Act Sherman Silver Purchase Act U.S. Census declares frontier's end Alfred Mahan writes The Influence of Sea Power Upon History
1891	Populist Party formed
1892	Homestead Steel Strike
1893	Panic of 1893 Great Northern Railroad completed
1894	Pullman strike Coxey's Army
1895	Booker T. Washington's Atlanta Compromise speech
1896	Plessy v. Ferguson upholds separate but equal McKinley defeat Bryan for president
1898	U.S.S. Maine sinks in Havana Harbor Spanish-American War Dewey captures Philippine Islands Hawaii annexed by U.S.
1899	Aguinaldo leads Filipinos against Americans Treaty of Paris ends Spanish-American War Open Door Policy in China
1900	Boxer Rebellion in China
1901	Theodore Roosevelt becomes president
1902	Platt Amendment Pres. Roosevelt settles coal strike
1903	U.S. recognizes Panama's independence
1904	Northern Securities Trust dissolved Roosevelt Corollary declared
1906	Upton Sinclair writes The Jungle Pure Food and Drug Act Hepburn Act passed Pres. Roosevelt wins Nobel Peace Prize
1908	Muller v. Oregon limits women's working hours Taft elected president
1909	NAACP formed
1911	Triangle Shirtwaist Fire Mexican Revolution erupts
1912	Roosevelt forms Progressive Party to challenge Taft Wilson elected president

9. Wilson and World War I (1912-1920)

1912
1913	Underwood Tariff Federal Reserve Act 16^th Amendment (direct senator election) ratified 17^th Amendment (income tax) ratified
1914	Clayton Antitrust Act Panama Canal opens World War I begins
1915	Germans sink Lusitania
1916	Margaret Sangers organizes New York Birth Control League Gen. Pershing pursues Pancho Villa in Mexico
1917	Germany resumes unrestricted submarine warfare U.S. declares war on Germany War Industries Board established Espionage Act passed Russian Revolution Com mittee on Public Information established
1918	Wilson proposes Fourteen Points Armistice ends war U.S. troops intervene in Russia
1919	Treaty of Versailles Red Scare and Palmer raids Senate rejects U.S. role in League of Nations 18^th Amendment (Prohibition) ratified Over 20% of U.S. labor force goes on strike Schenck v. United States Race riots and lynchings throughout U.S.
1920	19^th Amendment (women's suffrage) ratified

10. The Roaring Twenties and Economic Collapse (1920-1929)

1920	Sacco and Vanzetti arrested Harding elected president First commercial radio broadcast
1921	Washington Naval Conference Emergency Quota Act restricts immigration
1923	Teapot Dome scandal Marcus Garvey claims six million followers Ku Klux Klan claims five million members
1924	National Origins Act sets 2% quotas for immigration
1925	Scopes Tennessee evolution trial Model T Ford drops to cost of $290, three months wages
1927	Lindberg's solo flight across the Atlantic Sacco and Vanzetti executed Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs for the Yankees Al Jolson stars in The Jazz Singer, the first talking film
1928	Hoover elected president 52 nations sign Kellogg-Briand Pact renouncing war
1929	Stock Market crashes in October

11. The Great Depression and the New Deal (1929-1941)

1929	Agricultural Marketing Act attempts to support farm prices
1930	Hawley-Smoot Tariff raises duties on farm products and manufacterd goods
1931	Japan invades Manchuria
1932	Reconstruction Finance Corporation attempts to support industry Bonus Expeditionary Force marches on Washington, D.C. Franklin Roosevelt wins presidency
1933	Prohibition repealed Hundred Days of legislation follows FDR's inauguration Banks closed after over 6000 fail FDIC established by Glass-Steagall Act Agricultural Adjustment Act passed National Industrial Recovery Act passed Tennessee Valley Authority established Civilian Conservation Corps enrolls 250,000 young men Hitler becomes chancellor of Germany
1934	Security and Exchange Commission established Huey Long begins Share Our Wealth clubs Dr. Francis Townsend promots Old Age Revolving Pension Plan Nye Committee probes World War Iprofiteering by American industrialists
1935	Schecter v. United States rules NIRA unconstitutional Works Progress Administration established National Labor Relations (Wagner) Act protects workers' rights Social Security Act passed Congress passes first of annual Neutrality Acts
1936	FDR defeats Republican Landon and third-party Union Party for president General Motors sitdown strike Germany occupies the Rhineland Spanish Civil War begins Ethiopia falls to Italy
1937	FDR proposes court-packing plan which fails Japan invades China U.S. gunship Panay sunk by Japanese in Yangtze River
1938	Appeasement at Munich by England's Chamberlin as Germany takes Sudetenland
1939	Czechoslovakia falls to Germany Austria votes to be annexed by Germany Germany invades Poland Neutrality Act allows cash-and-carry for military purchases Germany and Soviet Union sign non-aggression pact
1940	Germany conquers Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France Congress approves first peace-time draft U.S. and Great Britain sign destroyers for bases deal America First Committee established, urging U.S. neutrality Italy, Germany, and Japan form the Rome-Berlin-Tokyo Axis FDR wins unprecedented third term for president
1941	Lend-Lease Act allows U.S. to financially assist Allied nations FDR and Churchill sign Atlantic Charter, pledging self-determination for all nations Germany invades Soviet Union Japan attacks Pearl Harbor, Hawaii on December 7, killing 2,323 U.S. servicemen U.S. declares war on Japan on December 8

12. World War II and the Post-War Era (1941-1960)

1941	Axis Powers declare war on the U.S. three days after Pearl Harbor
1942	Japan captures Philippine Islands as Bataan and Corregidor fall War Production Board established U.S. begins interning Japanese-American citizens Germany sinks 400 American ships Battle of Coral Sea Battle of Midway U.S. attacks Vichy forces and Germans in North Africa Manhattan Project begins
1943	Casablanca Conference Americans seize Guadalcanal Island Soveits defeat Germans at Stalingrad Allies invade Italy Teheran Conference
1944	Allies invade France at Normandy (D-Day) June 6 Battle of Leyte Gulf Roosevelt elected president for fourth term Island-hopping campaign retakes Guam Island Battle of the Bulge
1945	Yalta Conference U.S. bombing raids destroy 250,000 buildings in Tokyo 50 nations approve United Nations Charter inSan Francisco Conference Hitler commits suicide in Berlin bunker V-E Day Americans recapture the Philippine Islands Potsdam Conference Bomb dropped on Hiroshima Soviets declare war on Japan Bomb dropped on Nagasaki V-J Day
1946	Churchill gives Iron Curtain speech George Kennan proposes containment policy
1947	Truman Doctrine aids nations resisting communism Marshall Plan provides economic aid to Europe House Un-american Activities Committee investigates Hollywood Jackie Robinson breaks color line in baseball Taft-Hartley Act slows growth of labor unions
1948	Soviets block access to West Berlin in Berlin Airlift Alger Hiss case begins Truman signs armed forces desegregation order Israel becomes a nation Truman defeats Dewey in presidential election
1949	NATO formed Soviet Union explodes atomic bomb Mao leads communist takeover in China
1950	Korean War begins U.S. troops invade North Korea Chinese troops enter war Rosenberg spy trial begins McCarthy begins anti-communist campaign U.S. begins hydrogen bomb program
1951	Gen. MacArthur relieved of command in Korea Peace negotiations begin in Panmunjon, Korea
1952	U.S. ends Japan occupation Eisenhower elected president
1953	Korean War ends with truce and demilitarized zone Stalin dies
1954	Brown v. Topeka Board of Education Army-McCarthy hearings French surrender at Dienbienphu in Vietnam Sen. McCarthy censured by Senate
1955	Martin Luther King, Jr. begins Montgomery Bus Boycott
1956	Suez crisis Soviets crush Hungarian revolt
1957	Soviets launch Sputnik Eisenhower Doctrine commits economic aid to Middle East Little Rock school desegregation crisis
1959	Castro takes over in Cuba Soviet Premier Khrushchev visits U.S.

13. The New Frontier, Vietnam, and Social Upheaval (1960-1972)

1960	Kennedy and Nixon participate in first televised presidential debates Greensboro sit-in protests Kennedy defeats Nixon
1961	Bay of Pigs invasion fails Freedom rides Berlin Wall built Peace Corps established Alliance for Progress established
1962	Cuban Missile Crisis Students for a Democratic Society formed
1963	Rev. King begins Birmingham desegregation efforts University of Alabama admits first black student Civil Rights March on Washington Premier Diem of South Vietnam toppled by U.S.-approved coup Pres. Kennedy assassinated
1964	President Johnson announces war on poverty Freedom summer vote registration campaign in Mississippi Civil Rights Act passed VISTA established Berkeley Free Speech Movement Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passed U.S. begins bombing of North Vietnam Johnson elected president
1965	Medicare funding begins Race riots in Watts Malcolm X assassinated American combat troops sent to Vietnam
1966	National Organization for Women (NOW) formed Stokely Carmichael leads black power movement
1967	Race riots in Detroit and Newark Massive antiwar protest in Washington, D.C. Israel, Arab neighbors fight six-day war
1968	Viet Cong launch Tet Offensive Johnson withdraws from presidential race Martin Luther King, Jr. assassinated Robert Kennedy assassinated Protests at Chicago Democratic Convention Nixon elected president
1969	Woodstock festival Apollo 11 crew lands on moon Stonewall riot launches gay liberation movement
1970	U.S. invades Cambodia Kent State Massacre
1972	Nixon visits People's Republic of China DŽtente begins with Soviet Union SALT I Treaty signed with Soviet Union

14. Watergate, Carter, and the New Conservatism (1972-2001)

1972	Watergate break-in occurs at Democratic Headquarters Nixon defeats McGovern for presidency Haiphong Harbor in North Vietnam mined by U.S.
1973	U.S., North Vietnam sign Paris Peace Accords Roe v. Wade expands abortion rights Yom Kippur War in Israel Vice-president Agnew resigns in disgrace
1974	Impeachment proceedings begin against Pres. Nixon U.S. v. Richard Nixon rules that tapes must be turned over Nixon resigns and Ford succeeds him Ford pardons Nixon
1975	U.S. abandons South Vietnam as it falls to North Vietnam
1978	Bakke vs. University of California Regents affirmative action case Camp David Accords between Israel and Egypt
1979	U.S. and China establish diplomatic relations Iran deposes shah Iran militants capture U.S. embassy and take hostages Soviet Union invades Afghanistan Three-Mile Island nuclear accident Sandinistas overthrow Somoza in Nicaragua
1980	U.S. boycotts Moscow Olympics Reagan elected president
1981	Iran releases hostages Reagan breaks air traffic controller strike Sandra Day O'Connor named first woman Supreme Court justice AIDS epidemic reaches U.S.
1982	241 Marines killed in Lebanon U.S. invades Grenada
1985	Gorbachev takes power in Soviet Union
1986	Iran-Contra affair Challenger space shuttle explodes after takeoff
1989	Exxon Valdez runs aground in Alaska Students begin pro-democracy demonstrations in China Berlin Wall falls
1990	Saddam Hussein of Iraq invades Kuwait
1991	Operation Desert Storm ends Iraq's occupation of Kuwait Soviet Union breaks up as Cold War ends
1992	Los Angeles riots follow Rodney King verdict Clinton elected president
1993	North American Free Trade Agreement approved
1995	U.S., NATO forces enforce peace in Bosnia
1999	Clinton acquitted following House impeachment
2000	George W. Bush, Jr. defeats Gore in disputed election
2001	Hijackers crash planes into World Trade Center towers and Pentagon U.S. invades Afghanistan to overthrow Taliban government Patriot Act gives U.S. broad powers to investigate terrorism