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Louisiana Purchase
Encompassed 530,000,000 acres of territory in North America. -
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. -
First Public Railroad System
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad became the first U.S. railway chartered for commercial transport of passengers and freight. -
Mexican War
The Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848 marked the first U.S. armed conflict chiefly fought on foreign soil. It pitted a politically divided and militarily unprepared Mexico against the expansionist-minded administration of U.S. President James K. -
California Gold Rush
The Gold Rush brought a flood of workers to California and played an important role in integrating California's economy into that of the eastern United States. -
Gadsden Purchase
In 1853 President Pierce sent Gadsden to Mexico to negotiate a redefinition of the border. The Mexican regime was urgently in need of money and for $10 million sold the required strip of territory south of the Gila River, in what is now southern New Mexico and Arizona. -
Abraham Lincoln is Elected
On November 6, 1860, voters in the United States went to the polls in an election that ended with Abraham Lincoln as President, in an act that led to the Civil War. But Lincoln’s victory didn’t happen on that day, and his victory wasn’t assured for months. -
Confederate States are Formed
The Confederacy was formed on February 8, 1861, by seven slave states: South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida, Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas. -
Civil War
Confederate troops fired on Fort Sumter in South Carolina's Charleston Harbor. Less than 34 hours later, Union forces surrendered. Traditionally, this event has been used to mark the beginning of the Civil War. -
Spanish-American War
The Spanish–American War was a period of armed conflict between Spain and the United States. Hostilities began in the aftermath of the internal explosion of USS Maine in Havana Harbor in Cuba, leading to United States intervention in the Cuban War of Independence.