Timeline of United States history
This is a timeline of key events in United States History.
1100s
1400s
- 14??-Navajo settled in the Southwest, moving from western Canada
1500s
- 1570s-Iroquois League founded
1600s
- Some time between 1600-1650-Mahican Confederacy founded
- 1607-Settlement of Jamestown, Virginia
- 1608-French establish colony at Quebec
- 1609-Henry Hudson, hired by the Dutch, explores the present-day Hudson River
- 1609-The United Provinces (the Netherlands) lays claim to the Hudson Valley area
1610s
- 1612-Tobacco cultivation introduced to Jamestown by John Rolfe
- 1619-first African slaves arrive at Jamestown
1620s
- 1620-Pilgrims arrive from Plymouth, England on the Mayflower. They found Plymouth Colony in present-day Massachusetts
- 1624-New Netherlands founded by the Dutch West India Company in present-day New York state
- 1626-New Amsterdam founded by the Dutch in present-day New York City
- 1629-Massachusetts Bay Colony founded, led by John Winthrop
1630s
- 1634-Maryland founded
- 1634-Roger Williams banished from Massachusetts Bay Colony
- 1635-Connecticut founded
- 1636-Rhode Island is founded by Roger Williams
- 1636-Harvard College is founded
- 1638–Delaware founded
1640s
1660s
1670s
- 1670-Charles Town (Charleston) founded in present-day South Carolina
- 1672-Blue Laws enacted in Connecticut
- 1676-Bacon's Rebellion in Virginia
1680s
- 1682-Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
- King James II reduces colonial autonomy
- 1688-Glorious Revolution deposes James II and replaces him with William and Mary
- 1689-King William's War (1689-1697), part of the wider War of the Grand Alliance, begins
1690s
- 1692-Salem witchcraft trials in Salem, Massachusetts
- 1697-The War of the Grand Alliance ends with the Treaty of Ryswick
1700s
- 1702-Queen Anne's War (War of the Spanish Succession) begins
1710s
- 1713-Queen Anne's War ends with the Treaty of Utrecht
1720s
1730s
- 1733-Georgia Colony founded.
- 1733-Molasses Act.
- 1734-The Great Awakening (1730s to 1760s) begins with the preaching of Jonathan Edwards
- 1735-Zenger trial.
- 1739-George Whitefield tours the colonies (1739-1741) to preach the Great Awakening
1740s
- 1740-King George's War (War of the Austrian Succession) begins
- 1748-King George's War ends with the Treaty of Aix-La-Chapelle
1750s
- 1752-Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment
- 1759-Battle of the Plains of Abraham, part of the Battle of Quebec (1759)
1760s
- 1760-King George III crowned
- 1763-Treaty of Paris (1763) ends French and Indian War
- 1765-Stamp Act passed
- 1765-Stamp Act Congress convenes
- 1766-Quartering Act
- 1767-Townshend Acts
1770s
- 1770-Boston Massacre
- 1772-Sam Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence
- 1773-Boston Tea Party
- 1774-First Continental Congress
- 1775-Battle of Lexington and Concord
- 1775-Second Continental Congress
- 1776-Declaration of Independence
- 1776-Tom Paine publishes Common Sense
- 1777-Battle of Saratoga
- 1777-Vermont ends slavery
- 1777-Articles of Confederation adopted by the Second Continental Congress
- 1778-Treaty of Alliance
1780s
- 1781-Articles of Confederation ratified
- 1781-British surrender at Yorktown
- 1781-Bank of North America chartered
- 1783-Treaty of Paris (1783) ends United States Revolutionary War
- 1785-Land Ordinance of 1785
- 1785-Treaty of Hopewell
- 1786-Shay's Rebellion
- 1786-Annapolis Convention fails
- 1787-Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey become states
- 1788-Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York become states
- 1787-Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia
- 1789-Constitution ratified
- 1789-George Washington becomes President
- 1789-Judiciary Act
- 1789-Hamilton tariff
- 1789-Jay Gardoqui Treaty
- 1789-North Carolina becomes a state
1790s
- 1790-Rhode Island becomes a state
- 1791-Bill of Rights ratified
- 1791-First Bank of the United States chartered
- 1791-Vermont becomes a state
- 1792-Kentucky becomes a state
- 1793-Eli Whitney invents cotton gin
- 1793-Fugitive Slave Act passed
- 1793-Chisholm v. Georgia 2 US 419 1793 paves way for passage of Eleventh Amendment
- 1794-Whiskey Rebellion
- 1794-Battle of Fallen Timbers
- 1795-Jay Treaty
- 1796-Tennessee becomes a state
- 1797-John Adams becomes President
- 1797-XYZ Affair
- 1798-Alien and Sedition Acts
- 1798-Eleventh Amendment passed
- 1799-George Washington dies
1800s
- 1800-Library of Congress founded
- 1801-Thomas Jefferson becomes President
- 1803-Marbury v. Madison 5 US 137 1803 allows U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate law passed by Congress for first time, the Judiciary Act of 1789
- 1803-Louisiana Purchase Treaty
- 1803-Ohio becomes a state
- 1804-Aaron Burr/Alexander Hamilton duel
- 1804-Lewis and Clark set out
- 1806-Noah Webster's first dictionary
- 1806-Cumberland Road passed
- 1807-Embargo Act
- 1807-Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves
- 1809-James Madison becomes President
- 1809-Non-Intercourse Act
1810s
- 1810-Macon's Bill Number 2
- 1810-Fletcher v. Peck 10 US 87 1810 marks first time U.S. Supreme Court invalidates state legislative act
- 1811-Battle of Tippecanoe
- 1811-First Bank of the United States expires
- 1812-War of 1812 begins
- 1812-Daniel Webster elected to Congress
- 1812-Louisiana becomes a state
- 1814-Treaty of Ghent settles War of 1812
- 1816-Second Bank of the United States chartered
- 1816-Martin v. Hunter's Lessee 14 US 304 1816 establishes U.S. Supreme Court's power to review state court decisions
- 1816-Indiana becomes a state
- 1817-James Monroe becomes President
- 1817-Rush-Bagot Treaty
- 1817-Harvard Law School founded
- 1817-Bonus Bill
- 1817-Mississippi becomes a state
- 1818-Cumberland Road opened
- 1818-Illinois becomes a state
- 1819-Adams Onis Treaty
- 1819-McCulloch v. Maryland 17 US 316 1819 prohibits state laws from infringing upon Federal constitutional authority
- 1819-Dartmouth College v. Woodward 17 US 518 1819 protects principle of honoring contracts and charters
- 1819-Alabama becomes a state
1820s
- 1820-Missouri Compromise
- 1820-Maine becomes a state
- 1821-Missouri becomes a state
- 1822-Denmark Vesey executed
- 1823-Monroe Doctrine announced
- 1824-First presidential nomination political convention
- 1824-Gibbons v. Ogden cements Congressional control over interstate commerce
- 1825-John Quincy Adams becomes President
- 1825-Erie Canal opened
- 1826-John Adams and Thomas Jefferson die on July 4
- 1828-Tariff of Abominations passed
- 1829-Andrew Jackson becomes President
1830s
- 1831-Nat Turner's revolt
- 1832-Black Hawk War
- 1833-Oberlin College founded
- 1833-Force Bill passed
- 1836-Battle of the Alamo, Battle of San Jacinto
- 1836-Samuel Colt invents revolver
- 1836-Gag Rule imposed
- 1836-Specie Circular issued
- 1836-Arkansas becomes a state
- 1837-Martin Van Buren becomes President
- 1837-Caroline Affair
- 1837-Michigan becomes a state
- 1838-Aroostook War
- 1839-Amistad case
1840s
- 1841-William Henry Harrison becomes President and dies
- 1841-John Tyler becomes President
- 1842-Webster-Ashburton Treaty
- 1844-Samuel Morse sends first telegraph message
- 1845-James Knox Polk becomes President
- 1845-US Naval Academy opens
- 1845-Florida and Texas become states
- 1846-First baseball game played
- 1846-Wilmot Proviso suggested
- 1846-Walker tariff
- 1846-Iowa becomes a state
- 1848-Seneca Falls convention
- 1848-Treaty of Guadeloupe Hidalgo
- 1848-Wisconsin becomes a state
- 1849-Elizabeth Blackwell becomes doctor
- 1849-Zachary Taylor becomes President
1850s
- 1850-Millard Fillmore becomes President
- 1850-Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
- 1850-Compromise of 1850 passed
- 1850-California becomes a state
- 1851-New York Times founded
- 1851-Moby Dick published
- 1853-Franklin Pierce becomes President
- 1853-Commodore Matthew Perry opens Japan
- 1853-Gadsden Purchase
- 1854-Kansas Nebraska Act
- 1854-Ostend Manifesto
- 1854-Kanagawa Treaty
- 1856-Preston Brooks canes Charles Sumner
- 1857-James Buchanan becomes President
- 1857-Dred Scott v. Sanford 60 US 393 1857 declares that blacks are not citizens of the United States and cannot sue
- 1858-Transatlantic cable laid
- 1858-Minnesota becomes a state
- 1859-Harper's Ferry Raid
- 1859-Comstock Lode discovered
- 1859-Oil well in Titusville, Pennsylvania
- 1859-Oregon becomes a state
1860s
- 1860-Pony Express begins
- 1861-Abraham Lincoln becomes President
- 1861-United States Civil War begins
- 1861-Morrill tariff
- 1861-Kansas becomes a state
- 1862-Homestead Act
- 1862-Pacific Railway Act
- 1862-Morrill Land Grant Colleges Act
- 1863-National Banking Act
- 1863-West Virginia becomes a state
- 1864-Wade Davis Bill
- 1864-Sand Creek Massacre
- 1864-Maximilian Affair
- 1864-Nevada becomes a state
- 1865-Abraham Lincoln assassinated
- 1865-Andrew Johnson becomes President
- 1865-United States Civil War ends
- 1865-Ku Klux Klan founded
- 1865-Freedman's Bureau
- 1866-Civil Rights Act
- 1866-Ex Parte Milligan 71 US 2 1866 rules that civilians cannot be tried in military tribunals when civilian courts are available
- 1867-Tenure of Office Act
- 1867-Congressional Reconstruction Act
- 1867-US purchases Alaska
- 1867-Nebraska becomes a state
- 1868-Burlingame Treaty
- 1868-University of California chartered
- 1868-Typewriter invented
- 1869-Ulysses S. Grant becomes President
- 1869-Wyoming grants women's suffrage
- 1869-Golden spike nailed in
- 1869-James Fisk and Jay Gould's "Black Friday"
1870s
- 1870- First graduate programs (Yale, Harvard)
- 1871- Great Chicago fire
- 1872-Yellowstone National Park created
- 1872-Amnesty Act
- 1872-Alabama Claims
- 1875-Aristides wins first Kentucky Derby
- 1875-Resumption Act
- 1876-Central Park completed
- 1876-National League [[[Baseball]]] founded
- 1876-Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia
- 1876-Munn v. Illinois 94 US 113 1876 deals with corporate entities and grain elevator rates
- 1876-Colorado becomes a state
- 1877-Rutherford B. Hayes becomes President
- 1877-Reconstruction ends
- 1878-Bland-Allison Act
- 1878-Morgan silver dollars first minted
- 1879-Edison invents light bulb
1880s
- 1880- US population exceeds 50 million
- 1881-James Garfield becomes President
- 1881-James Garfield assassinated
- 1881-Chester A. Arthur becomes President
- 1881-Clara Barton creates Red Cross
- 1881-Tuskegee Institute founded
- 1882-John D. Rockefeller founds Standard Oil
- 1882-Chinese Exclusion Act
- 1883-Civil Rights Cases 109 US 3 1883 legalizes doctrine of segregation
- 1883-Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act
- 1883-Brooklyn Bridge opens
- 1885-Grover Cleveland becomes President for the first time
- 1885-Washington monument completed
- 1885-Stanford University founded
- 1886-Haymarket Riot
- 1886-American Federation of Labor founded in Columbus, Ohio
- 1887-Congress creates Interstate Commerce Commission
- 1887-Dawes Act
- 1887-Hatch Act
- 1888-Looking Backward published
- 1888-National Geographic Society founded
- 1889-Benjamin Harrison becomes President
- 1889-North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington become states
- 1889-Johnstown flood
- 1889-Jane Addams founds Hull House
1890s
- 1890-Sherman Antitrust Act
- 1890-Sherman Silver Purchase Act
- 1890-McKinley tariff
- 1890-Yosemite National Park created
- 1890-Idaho and Wyoming become states
- 1890-[Wounded Knee Massacre]]
- 1891-Basketball invented
- 1891-Baltimore Crisis
- 1892-Homestead Strike
- 1893-Grover Cleveland becomes President for the second time
- 1893 - Panic of 1893
- 1894-Coxey's Army
- 1894-Pullman strike
- 1894-Wilson-Gorman tariff, including Income Tax
- 1895-Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company strikes down part of Wilson-Gorman Tariff
- 1896-Plessy v. Ferguson 163 US 537 1896 legalizes segregation in railway cars
- 1896-William Jennings Bryant Cross of Gold speech
- 1896-Gold discovered in Klondike
- 1896-Utah becomes a state
- 1897-William McKinley becomes President
- 1897-Boston subway completed
- 1897-Dingley tariff
- 1898-DeLome Letter
- 1898-Treaty of Paris (1898) ends Spanish-American War
1900s
- 1900-US population exceeds 75 million
- 1900-Foraker Act
- 1900-Gold Standard Act
- 1901-William McKinley assassinated
- 1901-Theodore Roosevelt becomes President
- 1901-John Pierpont Morgan creates US Steel
- 1901-Platt Amendment
- 1901-Hay-Pauncefote Treaty
- 1902-Drago Doctrine
- 1902-First Rose Bowl game played
- 1902-Newlands Reclamation Act
- 1903-Great Train Robbery opens
- 1903-Ford Motor Company formed
- 1903-First World Series
- 1903-Elkins Act
- 1903-Big Stick Diplomacy
- 1903-Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty
- 1903-Hay-Herran Treaty
- 1904-Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
- 1905-Niagara Falls conference
- 1906-Algeciras Conference
- 1906-Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act
- 1906-Hepburn Act
- 1907-Gentlemens Agreement
- 1907-Oklahoma becomes a state
- 1908-Ford Model T appears on market
- 1908-Root-Takahira agreement
- 1908-Federal Bureau of Investigation established
- 1908-Aldrich Vreeland Act
- 1909-William Howard Taft becomes President
- 1909-Peary reaches North Pole
- 1909-W. E. B. DuBois founds NAACP
- 1909-Payne-ldrich tariff
1910s
- 1910-Boy Scouts of America chartered
- 1910-Mann Elkins Act
- 1910-Mann Act
- 1911-Supreme Court breaks up Standard Oil
- 1912-Titanic sinks
- 1912-New Mexico and Arizona become states
- 1913-Woodrow Wilson becomes President
- 1913-Federal Reserve created
- 1913-Underwood tariff
- 1914-Mother's Day created
- 1914-Federal Trade Commission created
- 1914-ABC Powers
- 1915-The Birth of a Nation opens
- 1915-Lusitania sunk
- 1916-US acquires Virgin Islands
- 1916-Jeanette Rankin elected
- 1916-Louis Brandeis appointed to Supreme Court
- 1916-Adamson Railway Labor Act
- 1916-Federal Farm Loan Act
- 1917-Zimmerman telegram
- 1917-Espionage and Sedition Acts
- 1917-Lansing-Ishii Agreement
- 1918-Fourteen Points
- 1919-League of Nations
1920s
- 1920-US Population tops 100 million
- 1920-Sacco and Vanzetti arrested
- 1920- First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- 1920-Volstead Act
- 1920-Esch Cummins Act
- 1921-Warren G. Harding becomes President
- 1921-Emergency Quota Act
- 1922-Fordney McCumber tariff
- 1923-Warren G. Harding dies
- 1923-Calvin Coolidge becomes President
- 1923-Yankee Stadium opens
- 1924-Immigration Act Basic Law
- 1924-Indian Reorganization Act
- 1925-Scopes trial
- 1925-Nellie Tayloe Ross elected
- 1927-Sacco and Vanzetti executed
- 1927-Jazz Singer opens
- 1928-Steamboat Willie opens
- 1928-Kellogg-Briand Pact
- 1929-Herbert Hoover becomes President
- 1929-Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
- 1929-Immigration Act
- 1929-Depression begins
1930s
- 1930-Hawley-Smoot tariff
- 1930-Pluto discovered
- 1931-Empire State Building opens
- 1932-Stimson Doctrine
- 1932-Norris-Laguardia Act
- 1932-Bonus Army marches on DC
- 1932-Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean
- 1932-Norris LaGuardia Anti Injunction Bill
- 1932-Reconstruction Finance Corporation
- 1933-Franklin Delano Roosevelt becomes President
- 1933-Agricultural Adjustment Act
- 1933-Civil Works Administration
- 1933-Civilian Conservation Corps
- 1933-Farm Credit Administration
- 1933-Home Owners Loan Corporation
- 1933-Tennessee Valley Authority
- 1933-Public Works Administration
- 1933-National (Industrial) Recovery Act
- 1933-Zangara kills Anton Cermak
- 1933-Frances Perkins appointed Secretary of Labor
- 1933-Montevideo Conference
- 1934-Glass Steagal Act
- 1934-Securities and Exchange Commission
- 1934-Federal Housing Administration
- 1934-Johnson Act
- 1934-Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
- 1934-Tydings-McDuffie Act
- 1934-John Dillinger killed
- 1935-Works Progress Administration
- 1935-Neutrality Act
- 1935-Motor Carrier Act
- 1935-Social Security Act
- 1935-National Labor Relations Act
- 1935-Huey Long assassinated
- 1935-Congress of Industrial Organizations formed
- 1935-Alcoholics Anonymous founded
- 1936-Robinson Patman Act
- 1936-Life Magazine begins
- 1937-Neutrality Acts
- 1937-Hindenburg explodes
- 1937-Japanese planes sink Panay in China
- 1937-Golden Gate bridge completed
- 1938-Wheeler Lea Act
- 1938-Fair Labor Standards Act
- 1939-Hatch Act
- 1938-War of the Worlds broadcast
- 1939-Cash and Carry
1940s
- 1940-Selective Service Act
- 1940-Alien Registration (Smith) Act
- 1941-Lend Lease Act
- 1941-Pearl Harbor attacked
- 1941-Atlantic Charter
- 1942-Office of Price Administration
- 1942-Cocoanut Grove fire
- 1943-Cairo Conference
- 1943-Casablanca Conference
- 1944-Bretton Woods Conference
- 1944-Dumbarton Oaks Conference
- 1944-GI Bill of Rights
- 1945-Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies
- 1945-Harry S Truman becomes President
- 1946-Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech
- 1946-Benjamin Spock's Child Care book published
- 1947-Presidential Succession Act
- 1947-Taft Hartley Act
- 1947-National Security Act
- 1941-Atlantic Charter
- 1947-General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade
- 1948-Berlin Blockade
1950s
- 1950-McCarron Internal Security Act
- 1951-Mutual Security Act
- 1952-ANZUS Treaty
- 1952-Immigration and Naturalization Act
- 1953-Dwight D. Eisenhower becomes President
- 1954-Saint Lawrence Seaway Act
- 1954-Baghdad Pact
- 1956-Interstate Highway Act
- 1957-Eisenhower Doctrine
- 1957-Civil Rights Act
- 1958-National Defense Education Act
- 1959-Landrum-Griffin Act
- 1959-Alaska and Hawaii become states
1960s
- 1961-John F. Kennedy becomes President
- 1961-Peace Corps
- 1961-Alliance for Progress
- 1961-Bay of Pigs
- 1961-Berlin Crisis
- 1962-Trade Expansion Act
- 1962-Cuban Missile Crisis
- 1963-John F. Kennedy assassinated
- 1963-Lyndon Johnson becomes President
- 1963-Atomic Test Ban Treaty
- 1964-Great Society proposed
- 1964-Civil Rights Act
- 1964-Full Employment Act
- 1965-Immigration Act
- 1965-Voting Rights Act
- 1965-Medicaid and Medicare enacted
- 1969-Richard Nixon becomes President
1970s
- 1970-Environmental Protection Agency enacted
- 1974-Richard Nixon resigns Presidency
- 1974-Gerald R. Ford becomes President
- 1977-Jimmy Carter becomes President
- 1978-Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act
- 1979-Iran-Hostage crisis begins
- 1978-Camp David Accords (1978)
1980s
- 1980-Refugee Act
- 1981-Ronald Reagan becomes President
- 1981-Kemp Roth Tax Cuts
- 1986-Tax Reform Act of 1986
- 1986-Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act
- 1989-George Bush becomes President
1990s
- 1993-Bill Clinton becomes President
2000s
- 2001-George W. Bush becomes President
- 2001-World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks
- 2002-Homeland Security Act
See also
Needs to be cleaned up, extended ... add entries