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Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president in Washington, DC.
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United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory. This purchase nearly doubles the size of the U.S.
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Lewis and Clark set out from St, Louis Missouri, to explore the West and find route to the Pacific Ocean.
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James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president.
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U.S. declares war on Britain over British interference with American maritime shipping and westward expansion.
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The Treaty of Ghent is signed, officially ending the war.
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James Monroe is inaugurated as the fifth president.
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Landmark Supreme Court decision upholds the right of Congress to establish a national bank, a power implied but not specifically enumerated by the Constitution.
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In order to maintain balance between slave and free states, Maine is made a free state, so Missouri can be made a slave state. Slavery is prohibited in the northern part of the Louisiana Purchase’s land, except for Missouri.
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In Monroe’s annual address to Congress, he declares that American continents are off-limits for European colonization.
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John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president.
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Construction began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public railroad in the U.S.
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Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as seventh president.
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President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act. This authorized the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country. By the late 1830s, nearly 50,000 Native Americans were relocated.
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Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth president.
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William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth president. He dies one month later and is replaced by his vice president, John Tyler.
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James Polk is inaugurated as ninth president.
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U.S. declares war on Mexico to gain California and other territories. War concludes with the signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo.
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Gold is discovered at the Sutter’s Mill in California. In the next year, the Gold Rush reaches its high.
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Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the 12th president.
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President Taylor dies and Millard Fillmore is now president.
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Franklin is inaugurated as 14th president.
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James Buchanan is inaugurated as the 15th president.
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Abraham Lincoln is inaugurated as the 16th president.
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Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington DC. Andrew Johnson takes his place as president.
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Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated as the 18th president.
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