1800-1876

  • DC

    The capital is moved from Philadelphia to DC
  • First Congressional meeting in DC

    Congress meets for the first time in DC since the move.
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    Thomas Jefferson's Presidency

    Thomas Jefferson was the third person to be elected President.
  • Marbury vs Madison

    The United States Supreme Court overturns its first U.S. law in the case of Marbury versus Madison. This case established the Supreme Court's position as an equal member of the three branches of United States government.
  • Marbury vs Madison

    The United States Supreme Court overturns its first U.S. law in the case of Marbury versus Madison. This case established the Supreme Court's position as an equal member of the three branches of the United States government.
  • The Louisiana Purchase

    US purchases Louisiana for 15 million from France
  • 12th Amendment

    The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution provides the procedure for electing the president and vice president.
  • Lewis and Clark Expedition

    Lewis and Clark begin their expedition from St. Louis and Camp Dubois.
  • The National Road

    The first federally funded highway is approved by President Thomas Jefferson with the signing of legislation and appropriation of $30,000
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    James Madison's Presidency

    James Madison was the fourth person to be elected President.
  • War of 1812

    US declares war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion.
  • Star Spangled Banner Written

    Francis Scott Key writes the words to the Star-Spangled Banner during the twenty-five-hour bombardment of Fort McHenry at the head of the river leading to the Baltimore harbor.
  • Treaty of Ghent is signed

    A peace treaty is signed between the British and American governments at Ghent, bringing to an end the War of 1812.
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    James Monroe's Presidency

    James Monroe was the fifth person to be elected President.
  • Adams-Onis Treaty

    Spain agrees to cede Florida to the US
  • The Missouri Compromise

    The Missouri Compromise bill, sponsored by Henry Clay, passes in the United States Congress. This legislation allows slavery in the Missouri territory, but not in any other location west of the Mississippi River.
  • McCulloch v Maryland

    Case that established necessary and Proper clause.
  • Monroe Doctrine

    In a speech before Congress, James Monroe announces the Monroe Doctrine, stating the policy that European intervention anyplace in the Americas is opposed and that he would establish American neutrality in future European wars.
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    John Quincy Adams' Presidency

    John Quincy Adams was the sixth person to be elected President.
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    Andrew Jackson's Presidency

    Andrew Jackson was the seventh person to be elected for President.
  • Mormon Church

    Joseph Smith organizes the Mormon Church, known as the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, in Fayette, New York.
  • Texas Declares its independence from Mexico

    Texas independence was declared at a convention of delegates from fifty-seven Texas communities at Washington-on-the-Brazos, making them an independent nation free from Mexican rule.
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    Martin Van Buren's Presidency

    Martin Van Buren was the eighth person to be elected President.
  • Indian Removal Act

    The relocation of Indian tribes from east of the Mississippi River.
  • William Henry Harrison's Presidency

    Harrison was the ninth person to be elected President.
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    John Tyler

    Tyler was the tenth person to be elected President.
  • The treaty of Wanghia

    The United States signs the treaty of Wanghia with China. It is the first treaty signed between the two nations
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    James L. Polk

    Polk was the 11th person to be elected for President.
  • Mexican War

    The US declares war on Mexico in an effort to gain California and other territories in Southwest
  • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo

    Concluded the Mexican War.
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    Zachary Taylor's Presidency

    Taylor was the 12th person to be elected for President.
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    Millard Fillmore's Presidency

    Fillmore was the 13thperson to be elected for President.
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    Franklin Pierce's Presidency

    Pierce was the 14th person to be elected President.
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    James Buchanan's Presidency

    Buchanan was the 15th person to be elected President.
  • "Bleeding Kansas"

    Two companies of the 1st Cavalry under Captain Samuel Sturgis arrive at Fort Scott, Kansas to attempt to bring the disorder of "Bleeding Kansas," the slavery versus anti-slavery battle, in check.
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    Abraham Lincoln's Presidency

    Lincoln was the 16th person to be elected President.
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    The Civil War

    The American Civil War was a civil war in the United States fought between the Union and the Confederacy. The central cause of the war was the status of slavery, especially the expansion of slavery into territories acquired as a result of the Louisiana Purchase and the Mexican–American War.
  • The Homestead Act

    The Homestead Acts were several laws in the United States by which an applicant could acquire ownership of government land or the public domain, typically called a homestead.
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    The battle of Gettysburg

    The Battle of Gettysburg was fought July 1–3, 1863, in and around the town of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, by Union and Confederate forces during the American Civil War.
  • The Gettysburg Address

    The Gettysburg Address is a speech that U.S. President Abraham Lincoln delivered during the American Civil War at the dedication of the Soldiers' National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
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    Andrew Johnson's Presidency

    Johnson was the 17th person to be elected President.
  • The Thirteenth Amendment

    "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction."
  • 14th Amendment

    It granted citizenship and equal civil and legal rights to African Americans and enslaved people who had been emancipated after the American Civil War.
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    Ulysses S. Grant's Presidency

    Grant was the 18th person to be elected for president
  • Womans Sufferage

    Women's suffrage is the right of women to vote in elections. Beginning in the mid-19th century, aside from the work being done by women for broad-based economic and political equality and for social reforms, women sought to change voting laws to allow them to vote.
  • The Fifteenth Amendment

    The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude.
  • The Great Fire of Chicago

    The fire killed approximately 300 people, destroyed roughly 3.3 square miles of the city including over 17,000 structures, and left more than 100,000 residents homeless.
  • National Parks

    The United States Congress established Yellowstone National Park just six months after the Hayden Expedition. On March 1, 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Yellowstone National Park Protection Act into law. The world's first national park was born.
  • The Great Depression

    The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression that took place mostly during the 1930s, beginning in the United States. The timing of the Great Depression varied across the world; in most countries, it started in 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s.
  • The US Greenback Party

    The Greenback Party was an American political party with an anti-monopoly ideology which was active between 1874 and 1889. The party ran candidates in three presidential elections, in 1876, 1880, and 1884, before it faded away.
  • The Civil Rights Act

    The Civil Rights Act of 1875, sometimes called the Enforcement Act or the Force Act, was a United States federal law enacted during the Reconstruction era in response to civil rights violations against African Americans.