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Jan 17, 1502
Columbus Discovers New Land
It was 1502 before Columbus finally gathered together four ships for a fourth expedition. If he could sail past the islands and far enough west, he hoped he might still find lands answering to the description of Asia or Japan. He struck the coast of Honduras in Central America Attempting to return to Hispaniola, he was marooned on Jamaica. -
Jamestown, Virginia, Was Founded
It was founded in 1607 as a Southern colony by the London Company to find gold. -
Virginia House of Burgesses Formed
The first legislature anywhere in the English colonies in America was in Virginia. This was the House of Burgesses, and it first met on July 30, 1619, at a church in Jamestown to discuss a set price on tobacco. -
Pilgrims Found Plymouth, Massachusetts
This colony was founded as a New England colony in 1620 by Seperatist Pilgrims for religious freedom. -
Puritan Migration To Massachusetts
Puritans began to migrate to this New England Colony for religious freedom. -
The Settlement of Connecticut
Connecticut was a New England Colony founded in 1635 by Thomas Hooker and his followers for political and religious freedom after a disagreement with Massachusetts Bay. -
Pequot Indian War
Early settlers from English and Dutch colonies began to spread into the Connecticut Valley region in order to make room for the mass number of new European emigrants. The constant settlement led to conflict with the Paquot indians who already occupied this area. The increased Dutch and English migration into the Connecticut Valley quickly erupted in disputes between European settlers and native inhabitants, eventually leading to a war. -
Rhode Island Was Established
Rhode Island was a New England Colony founded in 1636 by Roger Williams and his supporters for religious freedom and seperation of church from state after a disagreement with Massachusetts Bay. -
First navigation Act
The Navigation Acts were designed to tighten the government's control over trade between England, its colonies, and the rest of the world. These acts made it to where Imported goods from non-English America had to arrive in England and her colonies in English ships. -
New York
New York was a Middle Colony that was founded by the Dutch for trade and furs and became an English Colony in 1664. -
King Phillip's War
King Philip’s War was the last major effort by the Native Americans to drive out the English settlers. Tension began to rise when their trade partnership collapsed and the colonist began to expand their territories. King Philip led a bloody uprising of many different tribes. The fighting lasted 14 months and destroyed 12 frontier towns, ending shortly after Metacom was captured and beheaded. Some of his supporters escaped to Canada, while others who surrendered were sold into slavery. -
Bacon's Rebellion
This rebellion was led by Nathaniel Bacon and was the result of Governor William Berkeley's refusal to retaliate against the Native Americans in response to attacks against English colonists. This was the first rebellion in the american colonies. -
King Phillips War
Metacomet led an Indian alliance raiding Puritan villages successfully until the Puritans defeated his warriors. It was the last major uprising of Indians in the Massachusetts area. -
Pennsylvania Settled
It was founded as a middle colony by William Penn and some other Quakers for religious freedom. -
Bill of Rights was established
The Bill of Rights was passed by parliament, and it ensured the superiority of parliament over the monarchy. -
Salem Witch Hunts
The Salem witch trials occurred in colonial Massachusetts. This is when witchcraft was believed to be happening and more than 200 people were accused of practicing witchcraft and 20 were executed. -
New Hampshire is established
New Hampshire was a New England Colony that was founded in 1692 by John Mason for farming. -
Queen Anne's War
Queen Anne's War was the second in a series of French and Indian Wars fought between France and England, in North America for control of the continent. -
1st Great Awakening
The First Great Awakening was a religious revival mainly in the 1730's and 1740's. the First Great Awakening led to a different style of church, sermons were anti-lectural, and a different style of preacher came about. The 1st Great Awakening was influenced by liberal ideas from the whigs. -
Zenger case
Newspaper editor Zenger published a story ctiticizing New York Governor Cosby and his corrupt activities. Cosby shut down the paper and put Zenger in jail. Andrew Hamilton defended Zenger and said that true statements are not a defamation of character. He won the case. This case greatly helped to establish the principle of freedom of speech and press. -
The War Of Jenkins Ear
The Spanish allied with the Indians and the French to attack the British colonies. -
Formation of The Albany Congress
The colonies met in Albany, New York in 1754 forming the Albany Congress deciding to unite and fought against the French and the Indians. -
The French and Indian War
The British governor Robert Dinwiddle of Virginia sent expedition led by colonel george Washington to evict France from the Ohio valley and fort Duquesne in western Pennsylvania. Washington defeated small force of french Canadians near fort Duquesne and then constructed fort necessity. Washington given amnesty by france and freed if promise to not fight again. This war ended with the Paris Peace Treaty. -
The Proclimation Line Of 1763
This was a policy that prevented new settlers and new traders from going beyond the line to keep Colonial Indian conflicts from erupting. -
Sugar Act and Stamp Act
The Stamp Act set a duty, or tax, in the form of a stamp required on all newspapers, legal and commercial documents. The sugar Act set a tax on sugar and molasses imported into the colonies which impacted the manufacture of rum in New England. The Sugar Act also taxed additional foreign goods like coffee and wine. -
The Revolutionary War begins
The American Revolution was a political battle that took place between 1765 and 1783 during which colonists in the Thirteen American Colonies rejected the British monarchy and aristocracy, overthrew the authority of Great Britain, and founded the United States of America. -
Townshend Act
The Townshend Acts were a series of laws passed by the British government on the American colonies in 1767. They placed new taxes and took away some freedoms from the colonists including the following: New taxes on imports of paper, paint, lead, glass, and tea. -
Boston Massacre
The Boston Massacre occurred on March 5, 1770 when British soldiers in Boston opened fire on a group of American colonists killing five men. Prior to the Boston Massacre the British had instituted a number of new taxes on the American colonies including taxes on tea, glass, paper, paint, and lead. -
Committees of Correspondence formed
A Committee of Correspondence consisted of a group of leading patriots providing leadership and communication networks amongst the colonists at town and colony level. Their objectives were to warn each other about British actions -
Boston Tea Party
On December 16, 1773, the Sons of Liberty, led by Samuel Adams, planned to show Parliament how they felt about the Tea Act. They boarded the British ship Dartmouth docked in Boston Harbor, dressed up as Indians,and dumped the entire load of tea into the water. -
First Continental Congress
The Continental Congress was a convention of delegates called together from the Thirteen Colonies which became the governing body of the United States during the American Revolution. -
The Battle of Lexington
The Battle of Lexington was a small fight. You could hardly call it a battle, but it's important because it's where the Revolutionary War started. When the British arrived, there were only around 80 American militiamen in the town. Neither side expected to actually fight, but in the midst of the confusion a gunshot went off forcing the British to attack. The gunshot was the first shot of the American Revolution and the start of the war. It was called the "shot heard around the world. -
Battle of Concord
After the battle of Lexington the British marched to Concord where they found little resistance. The Americans had retreated to the outskirts of Concord and observed the British from other side of the North Bridge.The Americans decided to cross the North Bridge back into Concord. were defeated the British troops at the North Bridge, giving the Americans renewed confidence. -
The Battle At Bunker Hill
The American forces learned that the British were planning on taking over the hills around Boston in order to gain a tactical advantage. As a result of this information, the Americans secretly moved their troops onto Bunker and Breeds Hill, two unoccupied hills just outside of Boston in Charlestown, Massachusetts. They built up fortifications during the night and prepared for battle. The Americans had to retreat. -
Second Continental Congress Ends Slave Trade
The Second Continental Congress resolves that no slaves be imported into any of the thirteen United Colonies. -
The establishment of the decleration of independence
The Declaration of Independence was adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. It announced that the thirteen American colonies, then at war with Great Britain, regarded themselves as thirteen newly independent sovereign states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. -
Thomas Paine's "Common Sense" published
Common Sense is a pamphlet written by Thomas Paine advocating independence from Great Britain to people in the Thirteen Colonies. -
Declaration of Independence
The thirteen colonies in the America's had been at war with Britain for around a year when the Second Continental Congress decided it was time for the colonies to officially declare their independence. This meant that they were breaking away from British rule, thus the Declaration of Independence was written. -
Battle of Saratoga
The battle at Saratoga proved to be the turning point of the Revolutionary war and convinced the French of American strength which persuaded the French to support the Americans with military aid. The combined French and American forces achieved their first victory at the Battle of Monmouth. -
Battle of Yorktown
George Washington commanded a force of 17,000 French and Continental troops beginning a siege known as the Battle of Yorktown against British General Lord Charles Cornwalli .this ended in Patriot victory which ended fighting in the American colonies. Peace negotiations began in 1782, and on September 3, 1783, the Treaty of Paris was signed, formally recognizing the United States as a free and independent nation after eight years of war. -
The Articles Of Confederation were Ratified
The Continental Congress wrote the Articles of Confederation during the Revolutionary War. The articles were written to give the colonies some sense of a unified government. The Articles of Confederation became effective on March 1, 1781, after all thirteen states had ratified them The resulting government was weak. -
The Treaty Of Paris
The Treaty of Paris negotiated between the United States and Great Britain it ended the revolutionary war and recognized American independence. -
The Northwest ordinance of 1787
The Northwest Ordinance was a Land agreement of 1787 that created the Northwest Territory, enabling the United States to expand into the Great Lakes area. -
Shay's Rebellion
The economic crisis caused by the war debts from the Revolutionary War led to the introduction of a high poll tax, regardless of income. inflation began to occur and Farmers in Massachusetts were hit hard. They were unable to sell their harvest or pay their taxes, their lands were sold at auctions at low prices and many were thrown in debtors prison. There were protests and riots which escalated into a rebellion led by Daniel Shays. -
The Constitutional Convention
The delegates of the Constitutional Convention framed the Constitution of the United States as a basis of government to address the weaknesses of the Articles of Confederation. The delegates agreed the new system of government would consist of Legislative, Executive, and Judiciary branches regulated by controls referred to as Checks and Balances. The constitution was later ratified in 1788. -
Northwest Ordinance
The Continental Congress enacts the Northwest Ordinance, prohibiting slavery in the territories north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. -
Three-Fifths Compromise
The Constitutional Convention settles on the three-fifths compromise; it will count three-fifths of a state's slave population in apportioning Congressional representation. -
George Washington
George Washington was born on february 22, 1732 and died december 14,1799. he was not apart of a party. washington was The first President, and is accredited with unifying the new nation and shaping the chief executive's duties -
Fugitive Slave Law
Congress passes the Fugitive Slave Law which enforces a measure in the Constitution that denies a jury trial to an alleged fugitive slave and authorizes any federal or state judge to decide that individual's fate. -
Eli Whitney Invents Cotton Gin
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, which revolutionizes the cotton industry, dramatically increasing its profitability and the land areas that can be utilized for growing the crop. -
Whiskey Rebellion
The Whiskey Rebellion started due to a tax placed on whiskey by Alexander Hamilton. The new law particularly effected the farmers of western Carolina and western Pennsylvania who refused to pay the tax. -
Jay's Treaty
John Jay arranged the Treaty with the British. Jay's Treaty eased antagonisms between the countries by settling outstanding border disputes and enabling peaceful trade during the French Revolution which had began in 1792. -
Pinckney Treaty
Thomas Pinckney arranged the 1795 Treaty with Spain. Pinckney's Treaty established intentions of friendship between the United States of America and Spain. -
John Adams Elected
John Adams a federalist. He was the first President to live in the White House. Adams had a tough job filling Washington's shoes. His advocacy of the Alien and Sedition Acts allowed him to silence critics, but made him unpopular. He lost reelection to Thomas Jefferson. -
Alien and Sedition acts
The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 were a collection of four laws that were passed by Congress in the aftermath of the French Revolution and during the Quasi War with France. These laws included new powers to deport foreigners as well as making it harder for new immigrants to vote. -
Quasi War
The Quasi war was the result of The XYZ Affairs. This was a limited, undeclared war. The Quasi War was fought entirely at sea between the United States and the French from July 7, 1798, until the signing of the Treaty of Mortefontaine on September 30, 1800. -
Kentucky and Virginia Resolution
The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions were authored in response to the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison. The Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions argued that the federal government had no authority to exercise power not specifically delegated to it in the Constitution - the Principle of Nullification. -
Thomas Jefferson Elected
Jefferson was a democratic-republican and was considered the most brilliant President, he wrote the Declaration of Independence, founded the University of Virginia, and was an architect, a farmer, and a scientist. Jefferson approved the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, which nearly doubled the size of the U.S. -
Louisiana Purchase
The 1803 Louisiana Purchase was a massive western region of North America, consisting of 828,000 square miles, that was sold by France to the US for 15 million dollars. This territory extended from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains between the Gulf of Mexico and the Canadian border. -
The Embargo Acts
The Embargo Act of 1807 was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson on December 22, 1807. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. -
Non-intercourse Act
The purpose of the 1809 Non-Intercourse Act was to permit U.S. trade with nations other than France and Great Britain. -
James Madison Elected
James Madison was a Democratic-Republican. Madison was considered the father of the Bill of Rights. He presided over the War of 1812 with Britain, during which the White House was burned. -
The war of 812
The War of 1812 was an armed conflict between the United States of America and Great Britain. It started in 1812 and ended in 1814. War was declared by President James Madison on June 18, 1812 and lasted for 2 years and 8 months and resulted in a Military stalemate. The war of 1812 began due to British attempts to restrict U.S.trade. -
Treaty of Ghent
The peace Treaty of Ghent was signed on December 24, 1814 between Great Britain and the United States of America and concluded the 32 month War of 1812 which ended in a stalemate. -
James Monroe
Monroe was a Democratic-Republican. His term ws called the "Era of Good Feeling" because there was little partisan fighting. He formulated the Monroe Doctrine, which declared the Americas off-limits to European meddling. -
Missouri Compromise
The Missouri Compromise of 1820 was a settlement reached between the pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions in Congress and their opposing views on the extension of slavery into new territories. The legislation, which became known as the Missouri Compromise, admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a non-slave state at the same time, retaining the balance between slave and free states. -
Monroe Doctrine
The Monroe Doctrine was delivered to Congress by President James Monroe on December 2, 1823. The doctrine was an american foreign policy that opposed interference in the Western Hemisphere from outside powers. -
John Quincy Adams
John Quincy Adams was a Democratic-Republican. He was Accused of winning the White House through corruption, he was plagued by accusations of misdeeds throughout his presidency. After his presidency, Adams served nine terms in the House of Representatives, until his death in 1848. -
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson was a Democrat. He was the first President to ride on a train. Though he was a rich planter, Jackson was considered the common people's friend. Dubbed "Old Hickory" because he was so tough, Jackson greatly expanded the powers of the Presidency. -
Indian Removal Act
The Indian Removal act was signed by Andrew Jackson. It was an agreement to exchange the lands west of the Mississippi River for Indian territory in border states. This led to the Trail of Tears when Jackson sent all the removed Indians to their new territories west of the Mississippi River. -
Nat Turner's rebellion
Nat Turner's Rebellion was a slave revolt led by their religious leader, Nat Turner. Nat Turner had been joined by about 60 slaves who killed up to 65 white people. The state executed 55 slaves, including Nat Turner who was captured on October 30, 1831. Nat Turner's rebellion raised southern fears of a general slave uprising and had a profound effect on the attitude of Southerners towards slavery. -
Garrison Publishes Liberator
Abolitionist William Lloyd Garrison begins to publish his newspaper, The Liberator. -
Whig party formed
The Whig Party was formed in 1832 by opponents of the high-handed, autocratic attitude of "King Andrew" Jackson and the policies of the Democratic Party -
Martin Van Buren gets elected
Van Buren was a Democrat. He was the first President to be born an American citizen, rather than a British subject. Van Buren's Presidency was marred by an economic depression that led to bank failures and food riots. He was easily defeated for reelection. -
Trail of Tears
The first party of Cherokees that had resisted removal begins the forced march westward to their new lands in present-day Oklahoma, along a path later named the Trail of Tears. -
William Henry Harrison Gets Elected
Harrison was a whig. He delivered a marathon inaugural speech during which he caught a cold. He died a month later. Harrison was the first President to die in office and he served the briefest term lasting less than a year. -
John Tyler gets elected
Tyler was a whig and was expected to be a passive "acting President" while he finished Harrison's term. But he refused to be passive. He made enemies in Congress and was the first President to be threatened with impeachment. The effort failed. -
James K. Polk Gets Elected
Polk was a democrat. He was the first "dark horse" or little-known nominee to become President. He presided over the Mexican War, which added Texas, California, and other territory to the United States. -
Texas Joins U.S
After spending a few years as an independent nation Texas is annexed into the U.S. as the twenty eighth state. Texas was admitted into the Union as a slave state which the South greatly approved, and the North did not. Texas being admitted into the Union was a conflict to Britain because now the U.S. had major power in North America that Britain wanted. -
The Mexican American War
The Mexican American War grew out of unresolved border disputes between the Republic of Texas and Mexico after the Texas Annexation by the United States. The Mexican American War was fought in Texas, New Mexico, California and Central, Northern and Eastern Mexico including Mexico City. It ended in 1848 with the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo in which Mexico was forced to sell Alta California and New Mexico to the United States for $15 million. -
Popular Sovereignty Suggested
Senator Lewis Cass suggests to Congress that residents in territories be allowed to decide whether the region will allow slavery or prohibit the institution. -
Mexican-American War Ends
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War. California, Nevada, Utah, most of New Mexico and Arizona, and the disputed regions of Texas are all obtained by the United States. -
Wilmot Proviso
The Wilmot Proviso was a bill designed to keep slavery out of the new land gained from the Mexican-American war. The bill was not passed but it did bring up the underlying issue of slavery in the U.S. and led to the formation of the Republican Party. The Wilmot Proviso is important in helping some of the people in the country at the time that slavery was becoming a rising issue, and after not too long the issue could boil over. -
Free Soil Party
Antislavery members of the Whig and Liberty parties join to form the Free Soil Party, which opposes the expansion of slavery into the newly acquired western territories. The party platform also calls for the federal government to provide free land to settlers in the West. -
Gold Rush
The California Gold Rush attracted 300,000 prospectors when gold was discovered by James W. Marshall at Sutter's Lumber Mill in Coloma, California. The prospectors and gold seekers were called "forty-niners" or the "49ers" due to the time period. -
Zachary Taylor Gets Elected
Taylor was a whig and won fame as a general in the Mexican War. His soldiers called him "Old Rough and Ready." Taylor threatened to use force to keep the South from leaving the Union. After his death, a compromise allowed slavery to continue in the South. -
Harriet Tubman and the Underground Railroad
Harriet Tubman, an escaped slave who has settled in the North, begins helping other slaves flee captivity. -
Compromise of 1850
The Compromise of 1850 was an attempt to smooth out the confrontation between the slave states of the South and the free states of the North regarding the status of territories acquired during the Mexican-American War. The Compromise of 1850 allowed California to be admitted as a free state and the admission of New Mexico Territory and Utah Territory with slavery was left to to the decision of the people in relation to Popular Sovereignty on Slavery. -
Millard Fillmore Gets Elected
Fillmore was a whig and approved the Compromise of 1850, allowing slavery in the South. But neither the North nor the South was happy with it, and Fillmore was blamed for the law's failure. In 1856, Fillmore ran for President on the anti-immigrant Know-Nothing Party ticket. -
Fugitive Slave Act
This Act strengthens the enforcement of the fugitive slave clause in the Constitution.. This Act makes the federal government responsible for the apprehension and return of all escaped slaves, -
Franklin Pierce Gets Elected
Pierce was a democrat, he supported the Kansas-Nebraska Act, which gutted the Compromise of 1850. -
Republican Party formed
The Republican Party is one of the two major political parties in the United States of America.The republican party was formed in 1854 to oppose the extension of slavery. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
The Kansas-Nebraska Act was a law written by Stephen A. Douglas and passed by Congress on May 30, 1854 that divided the territory west of the states of Missouri and Iowa and the territory of Minnesota into two new territories that were named Kansas and Nebraska. The Kansas-Nebraska Act was another compromise, based on the doctrine of Popular Sovereignty, that contravened the 1820 Missouri compromise and allowed settlers to decide whether or not to have slavery. -
Dred Scott v. Sandford
The U.S. Supreme Court rules in Dred Scott v. Sandford that slavery is protected by the Constitution, and that a ban on slavery in the territories is unconstitutional. -
James Buchanan Gets Elected
Buchanan was a Democrat. He tried in vain to find a compromise to keep the South from seceding from the Union, but failed. -
John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry
John's Brown raid took place in the town of Harpers Ferry in Virginia. The anti-slavery activist led a group of 21 armed men to seize weapons and ammunition from a federal armory at Harpers Ferry, and then lead a slave rebellion in the South. In the battle for the arsenal John Brown was captured by U.S. marines led by Colonel Robert E. Lee and and Lieutenant J.E.B. Stuart. He was tried and found guilty of murder, treason, and inciting a slave insurrection then hung. -
The South Secedes
The beginning of the Secession of the South began on November 6th, 1860 when Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States, representing the Republican Party. Eleven Southern states rebelled against the government and withdrew from the United States to form an alliance that was called the Confederate States of America. The First State to Secede was South Carolina on the December 20th, 1860, the last of the 11 states to secede was Tennessee on June 8, 1861. -
Crittenden Compromise
The purpose of the Crittenden Compromise was therefore to appease the Southern states on the issue of slavery and avoid the secession of states in the south that would inevitably lead to Civil War. It was an attempt to guarantee the continued existence of slavery in the existing slave states. -
Jefferson Davis Elected
Jefferson Davis is inaugurated as the first and last president of the Confederacy. -
Confederates Attack
Confederate forces attack Union troops stationed at Fort Sumter off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. the Civil War begins. -
Battle at Fort Sumter
Fort Sumter is a fort in South Carolina, that was built to guard Charleston Harbor. Its bombardment and capture by forces of the Confederacy was the first action of the American Civil War on April 12, 1861. The Union commander at Fort Sumter was Major Robert Anderson and the Confederacy attack was led by Brigadier General. P. G. T. Beauregard. -
Abraham Lincoln Gets Elected
Lincoln was a Republican. He led the Union into the Civil War to preserve the nation and end slavery. He was assassinated just five days after the Confederate armies surrendered. -
Battle of Bull Run
The Battle of Bull run consisted of two battles, both fought near Manassas Creek and both won by the South. The first was the first engagement of the war, on July 21, 1861, and sent the Union army packing. The second, following hard on the heels of the unsuccessful Peninsular Campaign, was a year later, on Aug. 29-30, 1862, and gave the South almost all of Virginia back. -
Battle of Antietam
The infamous Battle of Antietam took place Wednesday, September 17, 1862 and was located at Antietam Creek in Sharpsburg, Washington County. The result of the conflict was inconclusive but the number of casualties was horrendous. The combined forces at Antietam totaled just over 114,000 of which 22,717 men died, were wounded or lost during the military conflict which still remains as the bloodiest single day battle in the history of America. -
Homestead Act
The Homestead Act of 1862 was passed following the secession of the Southern states. The Homestead Act was "An Act to secure Homesteads to actual Settlers on the Public Domain". The Homestead Act was very important enabling 270 millions acres, or 10% of the area of the United States, to be claimed and settled by private citizens. -
Pacific Railway Act
President Abraham Lincoln signs the Pacific Railway Act authorizing the construction of a transcontinental railroad and providing federal subsidies to help finance the project. -
The Transcontinental Railroad
The world's First Transcontinental Railroad was built between 1863 and 1869 to join the east of the United States on the Atlantic coast with the west of the United States to the Pacific coast. -
Emancipation Proclamation
The Emancipation Proclamation was formally issued by President Abraham Lincoln. It was introduced as a war measure during the Civil War freeing the slaves in those territories still in rebellion against the Union. -
Lincoln's 10 Percent Plan
The Ten Percent Plan was conceived by President Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in order to reunify the North and South after the war’s end. On December 8, 1863 he issued a Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction offering pardon to Confederates who would swear to support the Constitution and the Union. The Ten percent Plan required 10% of seceded state voters take oath of loyalty to Union. -
Freedmen Bureau Established
The Freedmen's Bureau, was a U.S. federal government agency established in 1865 to aid freedmen (freed slaves) in the South during the Reconstruction era of the United States. -
Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery
The 13th Amendment to the Constitution declared that "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." -
Lee surrenders at Appomattox Court House
General Grant and the Union Army had the Confederates surrounded. The Confederates were low on supplies, many soldiers were deserting, and they were greatly outnumbered. Upon looking at the conditions and the odds, General Lee felt he had no choice but to surrender.The two Generals, Lee and Grant, met on April 9, 1865 to discuss the surrender of Lee's army. General Grant came and met Lee at the McLean house in Appomattox and surrendered ending the civil war -
Lincoln assassinated
Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth on Good Friday, April 14, 1865, while attending the play Our American Cousin at Ford's Theatre in Washington. -
Andrew Johnson Becomes President
Johnson found himself in bitter battles with Congress over Reconstruction. He was impeached and tried by the Senate, but was acquitted by one vote. Johnson was the only southern senator to stay loyal to the Union. -
KKK formed
Six Confederate veterans from Pulaski, Tennessee created the original Ku Klux Klan on December 24, 1865, during the Reconstruction of the South after the Civil War. -
Black Codes
Southern legislatures begin drafting "Black Codes" to re-establish white supremacy. These laws had the intent and the effect of restricting African Americans' freedom, and of compelling them to work in a labor economy based on low wages or debt. -
First Reconstruction Act
The Reconstruction Act of 1867 divided the South into five military districts ran by the army. President Andrew Johnson granted pardons to many Confederate leaders. He also vetoed a number of Reconstruction laws passed by Congress -
Second Reconstruction Act
Congress passes the Second Reconstruction Act which says that military commanders in each southern district are to register all qualified adult males to vote. -
Alaska purchased
The United States Secretary of State, William Henry Seward, purchased Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million dollars. -
Third Reconstruction Act
The third Reconstruction Acts gave supreme power to the five Union generals overseeing Reconstruction in the five districts of the South. -
Tenure of Office Act
The Tenure of Office Act restricted the power of the President of the United States to remove certain office-holders without the approval of the Senate. -
Fourteenth Amendment guarantees Civil Rights
The fourteenth amendment addresses citizenship rights and equal protection of the laws, and was proposed in response to issues related to former slaves following the American Civil War. -
Ulysses S. Grant
Grant was a Republican. Grant was the top Union military hero of the Civil War. His two terms were marred by scandals. -
Hiram Revels First African-American Senator
The first African-American senator, Hiram R. Revels takes office. -
Fifteenth Amendment forbids denial of vote on racial grounds
The 15th Amendment to the Constitution granted African American men the right to vote -
Susan B. Anthony Arrested for Voting
To test the argument advanced by many feminists that the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments guarantee women the right to vote, Susan B. Anthony attempts to vote in the 1872 presidential election. She is arrested and found guilty of casting an illegal ballot. -
Panic of 1873
The collapse of Jay Cooke and Company, a Philadelphia investment bank, triggers a nationwide financial panic that leads to a depression, which lasts until 1879. -
Battle Of Little Big Horn
The Battle of Little Bighorn was fought by the 7th Cavalry led by General George Custer and a combined force of Sioux, Cheyenne & Arapaho Native Indians led by Chief Sitting Bull. The Battle of Little Bighorn was a major conflict in the Great Sioux War, the date of the battle was June 25 1876. It was a famous victory for the Native American Indians and crushing defeat that led to the deaths of General George Custer and his US Army battalion. -
Munn vs. Illinois
Munn, a partner in a Chicago warehouse firm, had been found guilty by an Illinois court of violating the state laws providing for the fixing of maximum charges for storage of grain. He appealed, contending that the fixing of maximum rates constituted a taking of property without due process of law. The Supreme Court upheld the Granger laws, establishing as constitutional the principle of public regulation of private businesses involved in serving the public interest. -
Rutherford B. Hayes
Hayes was a Republican.Hayes is one of only three Presidents to lose the popular vote but win the office. He won the election by one electoral vote. -
James A. Garfield
Garfield was a Republican who set out to reform the "spoils system" by which politicians gave their friends low-level political offices. He was assassinated by a disappointed office seeker. -
Chester A. Arthur
Arthur was a Republican. He was unknown before being elected, but surprised people by being honest and responsible. He helped create the Civil Service. As a lawyer, Arthur defended a black woman who had been abused on a streetcar. He won the case, which led the streetcar companies to integrate. -
The Pendleton Civil Service Act
The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States. The purpose of the Pendleton Act was to break the Spoils System which had become the 'custom and practice' of presidential administrations. -
Grover Cleveland
Cleveland was a Democrat. He was the only President to be elected to two non-consecutive terms. Cleveland expanded the Civil Service and ended wasteful government programs. But an economic depression wrecked his second term. -
Haymarket Riots
The Haymarket Riot, also known as the Haymarket Square Riot, occured on May 4,1886 and was a bloody confrontation between Chicago police and protesting workers. -
Dawes Severalty Act
Congress enacts the Dawes Severalty Act, authorizing the president of the United States to carve existing Indians lands into 160-acre sections to be distributed to individual Native American heads of households. -
The Interstate Commerce Act
The Interstate Commerce Act was passed by Congress on February 4, 1887 to address the cost of freight-shipping on the railroads. The Interstate Commerce Act created an Interstate Commerce Commission to oversee the conduct of the railroad industry. The law was in response to public demand that the monopolies of the railroad companies and their operations be regulated. -
Benjamin Harrison
Harrison was a Republican. He was caught between reformers who were fighting the spoils system and those who wanted to continue it, and was defeated after one term. -
Sherman Anti-Trust Act
The Sherman Anti-Trust Act was a federal law passed in 1890 that committed the American government to opposing monopolies. The law prohibits contracts, combinations, or conspiracies “in the restraint of trade or commerce.” -
Massacre at Wounded Knee
The massacre at Wounded Knee took place on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation at Wounded Knee Creek, South Dakota. The incident was sparked by the Ghost Dance movement and the death of Chief Sitting Bull. It involved the 7th US Cavalry under Colonel James W. Forsyth who clashed with the Lakota Sioux. The Lakota Sioux were led by Big Foot. The conflict resulted in the massacre of nearly 400 Lakota Sioux the majority of which were women and children. -
Sherman Silver Purchase Act
The Sherman Silver Purchase Act not only required the U.S. government to purchase nearly twice as much silver as before, but also added substantially to the amount of money already in circulation. -
Sierra Club Founded
The Sierra Club is an environmental organization in the United States. It was founded by John Muir, who became its first president. -
William McKinley
McKinley was a Republican. He led the United States during the Spanish-American War. The United States won several important overseas colonies. -
War with Spain
The Spanish American War was fought between the United States and Spain in 1898. The war was fought largely over the independence of Cuba. Major battles took place in the Spanish colonies of Cuba and the Philippines. The war began on April 25, 1898 when the United States declared war on Spain. The fighting ended with a U.S. victory three and a half months later on August 12, 1898. -
Hawaii annexed
In 1893 the last monarch of Hawaii, Queen Lili'uokalani, was overthrown by party of businessmen, who then imposed a provisional government. Soon after, President Benjamin Harrison submitted a treaty to annex the Hawaiian islands to the U.S. Senate for ratification. -
Gold Standard
The Gold Standard Act of the United States was passed in 1900 and established gold as the only standard for redeeming paper money, stopping bimetallism. -
Theodore Roosevelt
Theodore Roosevelt was a Republican. He was one of the most activist Presidents. His many accomplishments included the building of the Panama Canal, cracking down on business monopolies, and creating many national parks. -
Roosevelt Corollary
Following the Venezuela Crisis of 1902 President Roosevelt issued the “Roosevelt Corollary” to the Monroe Doctrine in his address to Congress on 12 June,1904. The Roosevelt Corollary asserted the right of the United States to intervene to "stabilize" the economic affairs of small states in Central America and the Caribbean if they were unable to pay their international debts. -
Panama Canal built
The first attempt to build the Canal was made by the French, but the attempt ended in failure in 1889. The US bought out the French for $40 million and built the Panama Canal in ten years starting in 1904 and completed in 1914.The Panama Canal provides a crucial waterway for international marine transportation and trade. -
Hepburn Act
The Hepburn Act is a United States federal law that gave the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) the power to set maximum railroad rates and extend its jurisdiction. -
Pure Food and Drug Act
The Pure Food and drug Act was an Act for preventing the manufacture, sale, or transportation of misbranded or poisonous foods, drugs, medicines, and liquors. -
The Invention Of Automobiles
Henry Ford made the first inexpensive automobile by producing his Model T car on an assembly line. This changed American culture being that it allowed them to travel more easily and more often. -
William Howard Taft
Taft was a Republican. He continued many of Roosevelt's policies. A conservative, he alienated the progressive wing of his party and lost reelection. Taft is the only President who became a Supreme Court Justice. -
Woodrow Wilson
Wilson was a Democrat. After initially opposing World War I, Wilson led the United States into the war and drafted the peace plan that ended it. Wilson then fought to create the League of Nations, the forerunner of the United Nations. -
Sixteen Amendment authorizing income tax ratified
The Sixteenth amendment says that Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes. -
Seventeenth Amendment providing for direct elections of Senators ratified
The Seventeenth Amendment allows for direct Election of U.S. Senators. -
Federal Reserve Act
The Federal Reserve Act was an Act of Congress that created and established the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States, and which created the authority to issue Federal Reserve Notes -
World War 1 begins
The immediate cause of World War I was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria-Hungary by a terrorist group known as the black hand. -
Lusitania sunk
The Sinking of the Lusitania luxury passenger liner, occured on the afternoon of Friday 7 May, 1915 during WW1. The ship was torpedoed and sunk by the submerged German U-boat. This was a direct cause for U.S. intervention into World War 1. -
The U.S. enters World War 1
USA declares war on Germany in response to the sinking, by German U boats, of US ships. -
Treaty of Versailles
The Treaty of Versailles ended world war. There were a total of 440 clauses in the final treaty. The first 26 clauses dealt with the establishment of the League of Nations. The remaining 414 clauses spelled out Germany's punishment. -
Eighteenth Amendment prohibits alcoholic beverages
The 18th Amendment called for the banning of the manufacture, sale, or transportation of alcoholic beverages. -
Red Scare
Shortly after the end of World War I and the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, the Red Scare took hold in the United States. A nationwide fear of communists, socialists, anarchists, and other dissidents suddenly grabbed the American psyche in 1919 following a series of anarchist bombings. -
The Seattle Strike
In Seattle, union members organized a general strike, halting economic activity in the city for five days. The strike ultimately fails when workers, threatened with state violence and undermined by their own cautious labor leaders, return to their jobs. -
Palmer Raids
A 1920 operation coordinated by Attorney General Mitchel Palmer in which federal marshals raided the homes of suspected radicals and the headquarters of radical organization in 32 cities -
Nineteenth Amendment gives women the right to vote
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States provides men and women with equal voting rights. -
First radio station KDKA in Pittsburgh
On November 2, 1920, station KDKA made the nation's first commercial broadcast. -
The Roaring Twenties
The Roaring Twenties. The Roaring Twenties is a nickname for the 1920s in the United States. It was a time of hope, prosperity, and cultural change. With the economy and the stock market booming, people were spending money on entertainment and consumer goods. -
Garvey Conference
Marcus Garvey, a Jamaican immigrant, convenes the first International Convention of the Negro Peoples of the World in New York's Madison Square Garden. -
Immigration Quota
Congress passes immigration restrictions, for the first time creating a quota for European immigration to the United States. Targeted at "undesirable" immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe, the act sharply curtails the quota for those areas while retaining a generous allowance for migrants from Northern and Western Europe. -
Washington Disarmament Conference
The 1921 Washington Conference were international talks President Warren Harding called an international disarmament meeting inviting representatives from 8 major countries of Great Britain, Italy, France, the Netherlands, Portugal, Belgium, China and Japan to join the United States to discuss Naval disarmament and slow down the arms race. The meeting was hailed as a great success and led to three major treaties - Four-Power Treaty, Five-Power Treaty and the Nine-Power Treaty. -
Warren G. Harding
Harding was a republican. He was president during the roaring twenties. Harding's campaign for the presidency promised a "return to normalcy." -
Sacco-Vanzetti Trial
The Sacco-Vanzetti trial was when immigrant Italian radicals Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti were convicted of murder and executed even though evidence showed they were innocent. -
Tariffs Increased
Congress passes the Fordney-McCumber Tariff, sharply raising tariff duties to protect the American market for American manufactures. The tariff boosts the domestic economy of the Roaring Twenties. -
Calvin Coolidge
Coolidge was a republican. Calvin Coolidge is known for cleaning up the mess left behind by his predecessor President Harding. He is also famous for being a man of few words earning him the nickname Silent Cal. -
Revenue Act
The Revenue Act of 1924 cut federal tax rates and established the U.S. Board of Tax Appeals. -
Scope's Trial
Tennessee schoolteacher John Scopes is arrested for teaching evolution, in violation of new state law banning the teaching of Darwin. The ensuing "Scopes Monkey Trial," pitting defense attorney Clarence Darrow against three-time presidential candidate William Jennings Bryan in a proxy debate of modernity versus fundamentalism, captivates the nation. Scopes is eventually found guilty. -
Kellogg-Briand pact
Fifteen nations, including the United States, sign the Kellogg-Briand pact "outlawing" war. -
Stock market crashes
On Black Tuesday Billions of dollars were lost, wiping out thousands of investors. In the aftermath of Black Tuesday, America and the rest of the industrialized world spiraled downward into the Great Depression, the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world up to that time. -
Herbert Hoover
Herbert Hoover was a Republican. He is known for being the president during the stock market crash of 1929 which triggered the start of the Great Depression. Also his Hawley-Smoot Tariiff contributed to the Great depression. -
The Great Depression Begins
The Great Depression started in 1929 sparked by the Wall Street Crash. The economic crisis led to bank closures, mass unemployment, homelessness, hunger and the despair of American people. The terrible drought in 1932 led to dust storms that ravaged the land in the prairies states of America and brought unbelievable hardship to even more people. Bread Lines and Soup Kitchens fed the hungry. The Depression improved under JFK however the economy did not recover until the start of WW2. -
Saint Valentine's Day Massacre
In the "Saint Valentine's Day Massacre," the single bloodiest incident in a decade-long turf war between rival Chicago mobsters fighting to control the lucrative bootlegging trade, members of Al Capone's gang murder six followers of rival Bugs Moran. -
"Hundred Days"
The hundred days was the first hundred days of Franklin D Roosevelts new deal program that he set in place to help lift America out of th Great Depression. -
Twenty-first Amendment repeals prohibition
The 21st amendment ended prohibition. -
Franklin D. Roosevelt
FDR was a Democrat and is known for his New Deal policies that brought about the beginnings of a national recovery. He was president during World War II which lasted from 1939-1945. -
Bank holiday
The banking system was on the verge of collapse so president Franklin Roosevelt set out to rebuild confidence in the nation's banking system. On March 6 he declared a four-day banking holiday that kept all banks shut until Congress could figure out the reason behind their failure. -
Social Security Act
The social security act was an act that provided for the general welfare by establishing a system of Federal old-age benefits -
Fair labor Standards Act
This was a United States law which sets out various labor regulations regarding interstate commerce employment, including minimum wages, requirements for overtime pay and limitations on child labor. -
World War 2 Begins
World War 2 started because Germany invaded Poland while under the control of Hitler. -
Roosevelt makes destroyers-for-bases deal with the British
Through the destroyer deal, the United States transferred destroyers to the British Navy in exchange for leases for British naval and air bases. -
First peacetime draft
The United States instituted the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, which required all men between the ages of 21 and 45 to register for the draft. This was the first peacetime draft in United States' history. -
America Becomes involved In World War 2
Although the war began with Nazi Germany's attack on Poland in September 1939, the United States did not enter the war until after the Japanese bombed the American fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, on December 7, 1941. -
The Lend Lease Policy
This as a policy in which Congress authorized the sale, lease, transfer, or exchange of arms and supplies to 'any country whose defense the president deems vital to the defense of the United States.' -
Hitler attacks USSR
Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941, in the largest German military operation of World War II. Adolf Hitler disregarded the German-Soviet nonaggression pact. Germany failed and this became a major turning point in the war. -
Atlantic Charter
The Atlantic Charter was a joint declaration released by U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The Atlantic Charter provided a broad statement of U.S. and British war aims. -
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
On December 7, 1941, Japanese planes and submarines launched a surprise attack on the United States Pacific fleet at the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii. The bombing of Pearl Harbor is one of the most important events in US history and led directly to the US entry into World War 2. -
Battle of Coral Sea
The Battle of the Coral Sea was a naval battle fought between the United States and Australia against the Imperial Japanese Navy. The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first aircraft carrier battle ever fought. This battle was very important because it was the first time the allies beat the Japanese. -
The Battle at Midway
The Japanese formulated a plan to sneak up on the U.S. forces. They hoped to trap a number of the U.S. aircraft carriers in a bad situation where they could destroy them. However, American code breakers had intercepted a number of Japanese transmissions. The Americans knew the Japanese plans and prepared their own trap for the Japanese. This was a major turning point in the war and the first major victory for the allies. -
The Battle At Stalingrad
The battle began with the German air force, bombing the Volga River and the then the city of Stalingrad. They reduced much of the city to rubble. Soon the German army moved in and was able to take a large portion of the city. However, the Soviet troops were not ready to give up. Fighting in the city of Stalingrad was fierce. Soviets hid all over the city, in buildings and even the sewers, attacking the German soldiers. This brutal battle began to take its toll on the Germans. -
Bombing of Japan begins
Instead of invading, President Harry S. Truman decided to use a new weapon called the atomic bomb. The first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan on August 6, 1945. It completely destroyed the city and killed thousands and thousands of people. Japan did not surrender. Another atomic bomb was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. This time the Japanese decided to surrender. -
Germany surrenders
By the spring of 1945, the Soviets were approaching the German capital of Berlin from the east and the Western Allies were approaching it from the west. Knowing that defeat was imminent, Hitler committed suicide, leaving Karl Dönitz to carry out the surrender of the Nazis -
Yalta Conference
The purpose of the Yalta Conference was to discuss the unconditional surrender and occupation of Nazi Germany, the defeat of Japan and peace plans for the post war world. Several agreements reached during the Yalta Conference were broken and led to tensions between the United States and Russia and the start of the Cold War. -
Harry S Truman
Harry Truman was a Democrat and he was instrumental in the decision to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki which saw the end of World War II. The creation of the United Nations followed as did the Nuremburg Trials which prosecuted prominent leaders of the defeated Nazi Germany. The later part of his presidency saw the beginning of the Cold War in 1946 which was a state of political hostility that developed primarily between the USA and the USSR and lasted until 1991. -
Surrender of Japan
Japan and nine other states signed the Japanese Instrument of Surrender in Tokyo Bay, calling for the return of all Allied prisoners of war and subordinating the authority of the emperor and the Japanese government to the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers. -
"Iron Curtain" speech
The term 'Iron Curtain' is related to the Cold War and the guarded border between the countries of the Soviet bloc, the sphere of influence of the Soviet Union, and the rest of Europe. The idea of the 'Iron Curtain' was made famous in a speech by the former British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, on March 5, 1946 at Westminster College in Fulton, Missouri. -
Jackie Robinson Plays for The Dodgers
Jackie Robinson was the first African American to play professionally in Major League Baseball. He started to play for the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 and had a stellar hall of fame career. Branch Rickey, the owner of the Dodgers, was widely criticized for signing Jackie to play for the Dodgers. -
Cold War begins
The Cold War was so called because of the icy relationship between the USSR and USA starting at the end of WW2. Because two great powers never directly fought each other it was called a "cold war", meaning there was no physical fighting and described as "non-hostile belligerency". It was a "War of Words". -
Marshall Plan
The Marshall Plan was a US-financed relief package, providing funds to European nations to assist their reconstruction after the devastation of WW2. -
Taft-Hartley Act
The Taft-Hartley Act establish control of labor disputes and provide remedies for unfair labor practices by unions that impaired the free flow of commerce growing out of labor disputes. -
Berlin Airlift
The Berlin Airlift was a military operation by the United States, Great Britain and other western European nations to take food, fuel and other vital provisions into West Berlin. -
Desegregation of The Military
President Truman report titled "To Secure These Rights" in 1948 called for the desegregation of the military. His report created a great deal of backlash and criticism of Truman. -
The Formation Of NATO
NATO was established during the Cold War to create a mutual defense pact aimed at containing possible Soviet aggression and blocking Soviet expansion into Europe. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, originally comprised of 12 member nations consisting of Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. -
Communists Take Control Of China
The Communist Party gained control after winning the Chinese Civil War. The communists took over mainland China in 1950. Mao Zedong was the leader of communist China for many years. -
Korean War
The Korean War began when North Korea invaded South Korea. The conflict was fought between the Soviet-backed communist North Korea and China against the United States and the UN-backed South Korea. Reinforcements from the communist People's Republic of China joined the North Koreans and the conflict ended in a stalemate and a truce was signed on July 27, 1953 formally ending the war in Korea. -
Twenty-second Amendment limits the President to two terms
The Twenty-Second Amendment limits an elected president to two terms in office, a total of eight years. -
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Dwight D Eisenhower was instrumental in the closing stages of the Korean War which ended in 1953. In 1957 Eisenhower ordered Federal troops to Little Rock to enforce integration. As the Cold War continued a speech referred to as the Eisenhower Doctrine was made in 1957 to limit communist expansion. -
Ceasefire Ends Korean War
A ceasefire is agreed to in Korea, ending the war that had started in 1950 and leaving the country divided between the Communist North and non-Communist South. -
DIEN BIEN PHU Battle
The Battle of Dien Bien Phu occurred in 1954 between Viet Minh forces under Vo Nguyen Giap and French forces. The battle was fought at the village of Dien Bien Phu in northern Vietnam in Indochina and became the last battle in the Indochina War which had begun in 1947. France lost Indochina as a result. -
1st Geneva conference
The first Geneva Conference in 954 created countries within Indochina called Laos, Cambodia, and North and South Vietnam. Vietnam would be divided between North and South at the 17th Parallel. According to the Geneva Conference free election would take place in Vietnam to determine who led a unified Vietnam. -
Brown v. Board of Education Case
The 1954 Brown vs Board of Education was a ground breaking legal case in which the Supreme Court ruled that segregation in public schools was prohibited by the Constitution dismissing the "separate but equal" arguments of the lawyers for the Board of Education. NAACP lawyer Thurgood Marshall successfully won the school de-segregation case. -
Vietnam divided
Vietnam was split into two in 1954, as part of the Geneva accords. It had a communist government in the north and a democratic south. -
Warsaw Pact
The Warsaw Pact was a political and military alliance established on May 14, 1955 between the Soviet Union and several Eastern European countries. -
Rosa Parks stands up for discrimination on Buses
Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama on Thursday December 1, 1955. She was jailed for her actions. This led to the Montgomery Bus Boycott. -
Montgomery Bus Boycott
The Montgomery Bus Boycott was sparked when Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat to a white passenger on a segregated bus in Montgomery, Alabama. The Montgomery Bus Boycott began as a protest against segregation on public transport. It was led by Martin Luther King, Jr. The Montgomery bus boycott lasted for 381 days whilst Martin Luther King, Jr. negotiated with city leaders for an end of segregation on public transport. -
Interstate Highway System
Eisenhower signs the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, which will create the Interstate Highway system, one of the biggest public works projects in US history. -
Eisenhower Doctrine
The Eisenhower Doctrine outlined the foreign policy position of the US government regarding the Middle East. It said that a Middle Eastern country could request U.S. military aid or economic assistance if it was under threat by armed aggression from another state controlled by international communism. -
The Space Race Begins
The Cold War Space Race (1957 - 1975) was a competition in the exploration of space between the United States and the Soviet Union. -
The Formation Of The Southern Christian Leadership Conference
The SCLC was led by Martin Luther King Jr. He and others advocated non-violent peaceful protest to end segregation -
The Civil Rights Act OF 1957
The Civil Rights Act of 1957 was the U.S. first civil rights legislation that established the Civil Rights Commission to protect individual’s rights to equal protection and permitted courts to grant injunctions in support of the CRC. -
Little rock Crisis
The Little Rock Nine crisis erupted when the Governor of Arkansas refused the admission of nine African American students to the racially segregated Little Rock Central High school. On September 23, 1957, President Dwight Eisenhower sent in U.S. troops to enforce integration at Little Rock's Central High School. -
Sputnik
Sputnik was the name of the first artificial satellite to orbit Earth and was launched by the USSR on October 4, 1957. Sputnik was the first man made object to reach space and was a major advancement in the space race. -
First U. S. satellite
The first successful U.S. satellite, Explorer I, was launched into Earth orbit by the Army at Cape Canaveral, Florida, four months after Russia orbited Sputnik. -
Establishment of NASA
NASA stands for National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA is a United States government agency that is responsible for science and technology related to air and space. The Space Age started in 1957 with the launch of the Soviet satellite Sputnik. NASA was created in 1958. -
Lebanon Crisis
The 1958 Lebanon Crisis was a political crisis which was brought about by political and religious unrest in the country, leading to a US military intervention. This is important because it was the first American invasion in the Middle East. -
Transatlantic Air Travel Begins
The British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) begins the first regular jet airline service across the Atlantic Ocean. -
Lunch Counter Sit-Ins
Sit-in demonstrations begin in Charlotte, North Carolina as black students protest segregation at a Woolworth's lunch counter. The movement spreads across the South in the weeks that follow. -
Sino-Soviet split
The Sino-Soviet split was the deterioration of political and ideological relations between the neighboring states of the People's Republic of China and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics during the Cold War. -
The Civil Rights Act Of 1960
This act was a United States federal law that established federal inspection of local voter registration polls and introduced penalties for anyone who obstructed someone's attempt to register to vote. -
Birth Control Pill Invented
The Federal Drug Administration approves sales of the first contraceptive pill, called Enovid. This led to women becoming more independent from men. Also divorce rates sky rocketed and marriages plummeted. -
Peace Corps Established
The Peace Corps is a volunteer program run by the United States government. The stated mission of the Peace Corps includes providing technical assistance, helping people outside the United States to understand American culture, and helping Americans to understand the cultures of other countries. -
Break With Cuba
The United States breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba over Prime Minister Fidel Castro's alliance with the Soviets. -
Alliance For Progress Act
The Alliance For Progress Act gave $20 million dollars in aid to Latin America countries to help them rise out of their 3rd world status by reforming land policies and by fostering economic development. This act was also created to prevent the spread of communism. -
The Bay Of Pigs
In 1961 the United States sent trained Cuban exiles to Cuba to try and overthrow Fidel Castro's government. They failed miserably. The invasion is considered part of the Cold War because the United States was trying to prevent communism from taking hold in the Americas. -
Flexible Response Policy
This Policy was America's way of dealing with communism. Whatever USSR or any communist did the USA would respond apropriately. Military options would be matched by the gravity of the crisis. -
John F. Kennedy
John F. Kennedy could perhaps be one of the most famous presidents the United States has had. On November 22 1963 he was assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald. -
Freedom rides
Freedom Riders were civil rights activists who rode interstate buses into the segregated southern United States in 1961. They did this in order to challenge the non-enforcement of the de-segregation of public buses. -
The Berlin Wall
In an effort to stem the tide of refugees attempting to leave East Berlin, the communist government of East Germany begins building the Berlin Wall to divide East and West Berlin. -
Trade Expansion Act
The Trade Expansion Act authorized cuts of up to 50% on tariffs The purpose was to promote trade with European common market and was an extension of the Marshall Plan which was working in Western Europe. -
University of Mississippi integrated
In late September 1962, after a legal battle, an African-American man named James Meredith attempted to enroll at the University of Mississippi. Chaos briefly broke out on the Ole Miss campus, with riots ending in two dead, hundreds wounded and many others arrested, after the Kennedy administration called out some 31,000 National Guardsmen and other federal forces to enforce order. -
Cuban Missle Crisis
The Cuban Missile Crisis occured when the Soviets installed nuclear missiles in Cuba and American spy planes captured the missiles on camera. This led to a serious stand-off between the USA and the USSR which brought the world to the brink of a nuclear war. -
Lyndon B. Johnson
Lyndon Johnson or LBJ was the 36th president of the United States of America and started his term after JFK was assassinated in 1963. He helped with Medicare and Medicaid. -
Civil Rights march on Washington DC
More than 200,000 Americans gathered in Washington, D.C., for a political rally known as the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. The event was designed to shed light on the political and social challenges African Americans continued to face across the country. This is when Martin Luther King Jr gave his, “I Have a Dream” speech, a spirited call for racial justice and equality. -
War On Poverty
The War on Poverty is the unofficial name for legislation first introduced by United States President Lyndon B. Johnson during his State of the Union address on January 8, 1964. -
Twenty Fourth Amendment
The 24th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America abolished the poll tax for all federal elections. -
North Vietnam invades South Vietnam
When North Vietnam invaded South Vietnam, it triggered the begging of the Vietnam war. -
An Attack On US Warships In The Gulf Of Tonkin
This attack sealed US involvement in the Vietnam War. LBJ without clear proof announced on television he had ordered an air strike in response to the North Vietnam attacks on America -
Gulf Of Tonkin Resolution
LBJ sent the Gulf of Tonkin resolution to congress which they passed.. The Resolution allowed the president to take all measures to repel and prevent any armed attack against forces of America. congress did not declare war but gave powers to the president to take military action when he deemed it necessary which is equivalent to declaring war. -
Opertion Rolling Thunder
This was not a knockout strategy but a gradualist strategy. He denied the US military from hitting oil-storage facilities of the Vietcong and North Vietnam. McNamara and LBJ picked the fair game targets for the military themselves. It was to show that America was a credible threat and it was like a giant demonstration that served only to strengthen the resolve of the communists in North Vietnam and the Vietcong. -
Immigration and Nationality Act
This act abolished the quota system of the 1920's and doubled the amount of immigrants allowed to enter the US annually. -
The Civil Rights Act of 1965
This act outlawed the discriminatory voting practices adopted in many southern states after the Civil War, including literacy tests as a prerequisite to voting. -
Creation of Medicare and Medicaid
President Lyndon Johnson signs the bill creating Medicare, a national health insurance program for the elderly. Companion legislation creates Medicaid, providing health care for people on welfare. Later, Medicaid will be broadened into a more comprehensive program financing health care for low-income persons. -
Higher Education Act
President Lyndon Johnson signs the Higher Education Act creating the first federally funded college scholarships. -
France withdraws from NATO
France made the somewhat shocking move to withdraw its troops from the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). This decision led by French president Charles de Gaulle complicated relations between the U.S. and Europe amidst clashing American and Communist spheres of influence. -
Tet Offensive
The Tet Offensive was a coordinated series of fierce attacks on more than 100 cities and towns in South Vietnam. -
My Lai massacre
In one of the most horrific incidents of violence against civilians during the Vietnam War, a company of American soldiers brutally killed the majority of the population of the South Vietnamese of My Lai in March 1968. -
Martin Luther King Jr Assassinated
Martin Luther King Jr. was an American clergyman and civil rights leader who was fatally shot at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 4, 1968. King was rushed to St. Joseph's Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 7:05 p.m. that evening. -
The Civil Rights Act Of 1968
The Civil Rights Act of 1968 defines housing discrimination as the “refusal to sell or rent a dwelling to any person because of his race, color, religion, or national origin. -
Vietnamization
Vietnamization of the war was a policy of the Richard Nixon administration to end U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War through a program to "expand, equip, and train South Vietnam's forces to fight in place of U.S. troops. -
Richard Nixon
Richard Nixon was the 37th president of the United States of America. Though he passed many important and necessary changes he is most known for the Watergate Scandal. -
First man on the moon
Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two humans on the Moon. Mission commander Neil Armstrong and pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the lunar module Eagle on July 20, 1969. -
The Kent State Massacre
The Kent State shootings were the shootings of unarmed college students protesting the Vietnam War at Kent State University in Kent, Ohio, by members of the Ohio National Guard. -
EPA established
The United States Environmental Protection Agency was established by president Nixon. This is an agency of the Federal government of the United States which was created for the purpose of protecting human health and the environment -
Pentagon Papers published
The Pentagon Papers was the name given to a secret Department of Defense study of U.S. political and military involvement in Vietnam. These papers reveled what the U.S. was actually doing in Vietnam and exposed this in the New York Times. -
Watergate Scandal
The Watergate scandal happened when United States President Richard Nixon, a Republican, was tied to a crime in which former FBI and CIA agents broke into the offices of the Democratic Party and George McGovern. Nixon's helpers listened to phone lines and secret papers were stolen. -
Strategic Arms Limitation Talks (SALT 1)
Nixon and Soviet General Secretary Leonid Brezhnev signed the ABM Treaty and interim SALT agreement on May 26, 1972, in Moscow. For the first time during the Cold War, the United States and Soviet Union had agreed to limit the number of nuclear missiles in their arsenals. -
Gerald Ford
Gerald Ford became president amidst the scandals of his predecessor Richard Nixon. He is the only man to become president without having been elected to the office of president or vice president. -
Vietnam falls to communism
The outskirts of Saigon were reached by the North Vietnamese Army. On April 29th, the remaining Americans were evacuated by helicopter or fixed-wing aircraft from Vietnam. After this the surrender of Saigon was announced by the South Vietnamese president, General Duong Van Minh and Vietnam fell to communism. -
James Carter
Jimmy Carter is known for being president during a time of high inflation and rising energy costs. He is also known for being the first president from the Deep South in over 100 years. -
Panama Canal treaties ratified
These treaties gave the nation of Panama eventual control of the Panama Canal. -
Camp David Accords
Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and US President Jimmy Carter signed the Camp David Accords on September 17, 1978 in Washington, DC. The Details of the Camp David Accords: Called for a formal peace treaty to be signed between Israel and Egypt, within three months. -
SALT 2 completed
Carter and Brezhnev met in Vienna and signed the SALT-II agreement. The treaty basically established numerical equality between the two nations in terms of nuclear weapons delivery systems. It also limited the number of MIRV missiles. -
IRAN HOSTAGE CRISIS
A group of Iranian students stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran, taking more than 60 American hostages. The students set their hostages free on January 21, 1981, 444 days after the crisis began and just hours after President Ronald Reagan delivered his inaugural address. -
U. S. boycotts Olympics
As a result of USSR's actions the US boycotted the 1980 Olympic's that took place in Moscow. -
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Reagan was a fairly well-known actor before he ran and was elected for the President of the United States of America two terms in a row. -
Reagan proposes Strategic Defense Initiative (Star Wars)
The intent of this program was to develop a sophisticated anti-ballistic missile system in order to prevent missile attacks from other countries, specifically the Soviet Union. -
Reagan signs INF Treaty in Moscow
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty between the United States of America and the USSR Eliminated their Intermediate-Range and Shorter-Range Missiles -
George H.W. Bush
George H. W. Bush was the 41st president of the Unite States and a Republican. During his presidency the Soviet Union dissolved, Suddam Hussein invaded Kuwait and Noriega lost dictatorship of Panama. -
Berlin Wall is opened
The Berlin Wall was torn down as a symbol of the fall of the repressive East German communist government. When East Germans were finally allowed to freely enter West Germany, thousands of Germans responded emotionally by demolishing the wall with sledgehammers and pickaxes. -
Iraq invades Kuwait
Iraqi forces invade Kuwait, Iraq’s tiny, oil-rich neighbor. Kuwait’s defense forces were rapidly overwhelmed, and those that were not destroyed retreated to Saudi Arabia. -
Operation Desert Storm
Operation Desert Storm, was the combat phase of the 1991 Gulf War fought against Iraq, led by Saddam Hussein. Operation Desert Storm was the codename for the US-led United Nation operation to liberate oil rich Kuwait from the invasion forces of Iraq. -
U.S. and U.S.S.R. sign treaty reducing strategic nuclear arms by 25%
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William J. Clinton
Bill Clinton was a republican. He was the 42nd president of the United States of America and then served two terms. His wife, Hilary Clinton also serves as very important political figure. -
NAFTA Treaty
The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is an agreement among the United States, Canada and Mexico designed to remove tariff barriers between the three countries. -
World Trade Center bombed
The 1993 World Trade Center bombing was a terrorist attack on the World Trade Center, carried out on February 26, 1993, when a truck bomb detonated below the North Tower of the World Trade Center in New York City. -
Monica Lewinsky Scandal breaks
The Lewinsky scandal was an American political sex scandal that involved 49-year-old President Bill Clinton and a 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky. The sexual relationship took place between 1995 and 1996 and came to light in 1998. -
Operation Desert Thunder
Operation Desert Thunder was a response to threats by Iraq's president Saddam Hussein to shoot down U-2 spy planes, and violate the no-fly zone set up over his country. -
War against Terrorism begins
The War on Terror is a metaphor of war referring to the international military campaign that started after the September 11th attacks on the United States. -
World Trade Center, and Pentagon attacked by Terrorists
The September 11 attacks were a series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. -
Barack Obama
Barack Obama was the first African American president and he is best known for Obamacare and his involvement in the Middle East. He was a Democrat. -
Affordable Care Act
ObamaCare is a US healthcare reform law that expands and improves access to care and curbs spending through regulations and taxes. -
The Assassination Of Osama Bin Laden
Osama Bin Laden was found hiding in Pakistan and shot down on May 1, 2011, by U.S. Navy SEALs.