Timeline of United States history

This is a timeline of key events in United States History.

1600s

• 1607-Settlement of Jamestown, Virginia

1610s

• 1619-first African slaves arrive at Jamestown, Virginia

1620s

• 1620 The ship Mayflower transporting the Pilgrim Fathers from Plymouth, England arrives in today's North Virginia
• 1620-Settlement of Plymouth, Massachusetts

1680s

King James II reduces colonial autonomy

• 1688-Glorious Revolution deposes James II and replaces him with William and Mary

1690s

• 1697-Treaty of Ryswick

1710s

• 1713-Treaty of Utrecht

1740s

• 1748-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

1770s

• 1773-Boston Tea Party
• 1774-First Continental Congress
• 1776-Declaration of Independence
• 1778-Treaty of Alliance

1780s

• 1781-Articles of Confederation adopted
• 1781-Bank of North America chartered
• 1783-Treaty of Paris (1783) ends United States Revolutionary War
• 1786-Shay's Rebellion
• 1787-Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey become states
• 1788-Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia and New York become states
• 1789-Constitution adopted
• 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-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-Depression begins
• 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

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

• Timeline of United States diplomatic history

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Needs to be cleaned up, extended ... add entries