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Eli Whitney Patented the Cotton Gin
Whitney patented the cotton gin, a machine that revolutionized the production of cotton by greatly speeding up the process of removing seeds from cotton fiber. -
Gabriel Prosser Slave Revolt
Gabriel Prosser, an enslaved blacksmith from a Virginia tobacco plantation, organized a group of about 25 slaves to violently rise up against their masters–and then build an army -
Thomas Jefferson Elected President
The election constitutes the first peaceful transfer of power from one political party to another in the United States. -
Louisiana Purchase
The acquisition of the Louisiana territory by the United States from France in 1803. -
Marbury v. Madison
A U.S. Supreme Court case that established the principle of judicial review in the United States. -
Beginning of Lewis and Clark Expedition
The first American expedition to cross the western portion of the United States. -
Embargo Act
A general embargo enacted by the United States Congress against Great Britain and France during the Napoleonic Wars. -
Chesapeake-Leopard Affair
A naval engagement that occurred off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia between the British warship HMS Leopard and the American frigate USS Chesapeake. -
James Madison Elected President.
The Democratic-Republican candidate James Madison defeated Federalist candidate Charles Cotesworth Pinckney decisively. -
Non-Intercourse Act
This Act lifted all embargoes on American shipping except for those bound for British or French ports. -
The British Burn Washington DC
A British invasion of Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States, during the War of 1812. -
Death of Tecumseh
At the Battle of the Thames the British and Native Americans were defeated by an American force, Tecumseh was killed, and the surviving Native Americans withdrew from the alliance. -
Treaty of Ghent Ratified
Peace negotiations began in Ghent, Belgium, starting in August of 1814. After four months of talks, the treaty was signed. The Senate unanimously ratified the Treaty of Ghent on 1815 -
Hartford Convention
The Hartford Convention was a series of meetings in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, in which the New England Federalist Party met to discuss the ongoing War of 1812 + Political problems. -
End of the War of 1812
A conflict fought between the United States, the United Kingdom, and their respective allies from June 1812 to February 1815. -
Battle of New Orleans
A battle between the British Army under Major General Sir Edward Pakenham, and the United States Army under Brevet Major General Andrew Jackson. -
Era of Good Feelings Began
This was the national mood of the United States from 1815 to 1825, as first described by the Boston Columbian Centinel. -
James Monroe Elected President
James Monroe was an American statesman and Founding Father who served as the fifth President of the United States from 1817 to 1825. -
Rush-Bagot Treaty
A treaty between the United States and the United Kingdom limiting naval armaments on the Great Lakes and Lake Champlain. -
Anglo-American Convention
The Convention respecting fisheries, boundary and the restoration of slaves between the United States of America and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland -
Adams-Onis Treaty
A treaty between the United States and Spain in 1819 that ceded Florida to the U.S. and defined the boundary between the U.S. and New Spain. -
McCulloch v. Maryland
The state of Maryland had attempted to impede operation of a branch of the Second Bank of the United States by imposing a tax on all notes of banks not chartered in Maryland. -
Missouri Compromise
An effort by Congress to defuse the sectional and political rivalries triggered by the request of Missouri late in 1819 for admission as a state in which slavery would be permitted. -
Panic of 1819
The impressive post-war of 1812 economic expansion ended. Banks throughout the country failed; mortgages were foreclosed, forcing people out of their homes and off their farms. -
Dartmouth College V. Woodward
A landmark decision in United States corporate law from the United States Supreme Court dealing with the application of the Contracts Clause of the United States Constitution to private corporations. -
Denmark Vesey Slave Revolt
A major potential slave revolt planned for a city in North Carolina. Denmark Vesey was suspected as the ring leader and he was executed. -
Monroe Doctrine
A United States policy of opposing European colonialism in the Americas beginning in 1823. -
John Quincy Adams Elected President (Corrupt Bargain)
No presidential candidate had received a majority of the total electoral votes in the election. Congress decided to turn over the presidential election to the House of Representatives. -
Gibbons v. Ogden
A landmark decision in which the Supreme Court of the United States held that the power to regulate interstate commerce encompassed the power to regulate navigation. -
Erie Canal Completed
Originally, it ran 363 miles from where Albany meets the Hudson River to where Buffalo meets Lake Erie. -
Tariff of Abominations
A protective tariff passed by the Congress of the United States in 1828 designed to protect industry in the northern United States. -
Andrew Jackson Elected President
An American soldier and statesman who served as the seventh President of the United States from 1829 to 1837. -
Battle of the Alamo
The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution. Following a 13-day siege, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched an assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar, killing the Texian defenders. -
Andrew Jackson Issued Specie Circular
The Specie Circular is a United States presidential executive order issued by President Andrew Jackson in 1836 pursuant to the Coinage Act and carried out by his successor, President Martin Van Buren. It required payment for government land to be in gold and silver. -
Texas Declared Independence from Mexico
The Texas Declaration of Independence was the formal declaration of independence of the Republic of Texas from Mexico in the Texas Revolution. It was adopted at the Convention of 1836 at Washington-on-the-Brazos on March 2, 1836, and formally signed the next day after mistakes were noted in the text. -
Martin Van Buren Elected President
Martin Van Buren was the eighth president of the United States from 1837 to 1841. He won the 1836 presidential election with the endorsement of popular outgoing President Andrew Jackson and the organizational strength of the Democratic Party. -
James Polk elected president
he United States presidential election of 1844 was the 15th quadrennial presidential election, held from November 1, to December 4, 1844. Democrat James K. Polk defeated Whig Henry Clay in a close contest that turned on the controversial issues of slavery and the annexation of the Republic of Texas. -
U.S. Annexation of Texas
The Texas Annexation was the 1845 annexation of the Republic of Texas into the United States of America, which was admitted to the Union as the 28th state on December 29, 1845. The Republic of Texas declared independence from the Republic of Mexico on March 2, 1836. -
Beginning of Manifest Destiny
Manifest Destiny was a belief that was widely held that the destiny of American settlers was to expand and move across the continent to spread their traditions and their institutions, while at the same time enlightening more primitive nations. -
Bear Flag Revolt
During the Bear Flag Revolt, from June to July 1846, a small group of American settlers in California rebelled against the Mexican government and proclaimed California an independent republic. -
Gold Rush Began in California
The California Gold Rush began on January 24, 1848, when gold was found by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Mill in Coloma, California. The news of gold brought approximately 300,000 people to California from the rest of the United States and abroad. -
Gadsden Purchase
Transaction that followed the conquest of much of northern Mexico by the United States in 1848. It assigned to the United States nearly 30,000 additional square miles of northern Mexican territory, now southern Arizona and southern New Mexico, in exchange for $10 million. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
The treaty added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory, including the land that makes up all or parts of present-day Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah and Wyoming. -
Commodore Matthew Perry Entered Tokyo Harbor Opening Japan to the U.S.
The United States and the Opening to Japan, American Commodore Matthew Perry led his four ships into the harbor at Tokyo Bay, seeking to re-establish for the first time in over 200 years regular trade and discourse between Japan and the western world. -
Kanagawa Treaty
In Tokyo, Commodore Matthew Calbraith Perry, representing the U.S. government, signs the Treaty of Kanagawa with the Japanese government, opening the ports of Shimoda and Hakodate to American trade and permitting the establishment of a U.S. consulate in Japan. -
Francis Cabot Lowell Smuggled Memorized Textile Mill Plans From Manchester, England
Hampered by inferior looming machinery, mills in the United States struggled to compete until a Boston merchant with a penchant for industrial espionage named Francis Cabot Lowell came along.
