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President Thomas Jefferson
American Founding Father, the principal author of the Declaration of Independence (1776), and the third President of the United States. -
The Louisiana Purchase
The Louisiana Purchase was a land deal between the United States and France, in which the U.S. acquired approximately 827,000 square miles of land west of the Mississippi River for $15 million. -
Steamboat
Robert Fulton established the first commercial steamboat service up and down the Hudson River in New York in 1807. -
The Embargo Act
The Embargo Act was a law passed by the United State Congress and signed by President Thomas Jefferson. It prohibited American ships from trading in all foreign ports. -
End of Global Slave Trade
The United States ended its legal participation in the global slave trade in 1808, slave traders moved one million slaves from the tobacco-producing Upper South to cotton fields in the Lower South between 1790 and 1860. -
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President James Madison
America’s fourth President, made a major contribution to the ratification of the Constitution by writing The Federalist Papers, along with Alexander Hamilton and John Jay. In later years, he was referred to as the “Father of the Constitution.” -
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War of 1812
War of 1812 conflict fought between the United States and Great Britain over British violations of U.S. maritime rights. It ended with the exchange of ratifications of the Treaty of Ghent. Both sides signed the Treaty of Ghent in December 1814 -
Treaty of Ghent
Treaty of Ghent agreement in Belgium between Great Britain and the United States to end the War of 1812 on the general basis of the status quo antebellum. -
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President James Monroe
The fifth President of the United States and the last President from the Founding Fathers. -
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U.S. Immigrants
More than five million immigrants arrived in the United States between 1820 and 1860. -
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President John Q Adams
Served as the sixth President of the United States. A member of multiple political parties over the years, he also served as a diplomat, a Senator, and a member of the House of Representatives. -
First long-distance rail line
The United States’ first long-distance rail line launched from Maryland. -
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President Andrew Jackson
The seventh President of the United States, seeking to act as the direct representative of the common man. A major general in the War of 1812, Jackson became a national hero when he defeated the British at New Orleans. -
Southampton Insurrection 1831
Nat Turner began what would turn out to be the deadliest slave rebellion in American history. Over the course of 48 hours, Turner and a group of rebel slaves killed more than 50 whites in South Hampton, Virginia. -
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The Texas Revolution
Also called War of Texas Independence, between Mexico and Texas colonists that resulted in Texas’s independence from Mexico and the founding of the Republic of Texas -
The Panic of 1837
The Panic of 1837 led to a general economic depression.It was a crisis in financial and economic conditions in the nation following changes in the banking system initiated by President Andrew Jackson and his Specie Circular that effectively dried up credit. -
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President Martin Van Buren
The eighth President of the United States, serving as the eighth Vice President and the tenth Secretary of State, both under President Andrew Jackson. -
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President William Henry Harrison
William Henry Harrison, an American military officer and politician, was the ninth President of the United States (1841), the oldest President to be elected at the time. On his 32nd day, he became the first to die in office, serving the shortest tenure in U.S. Presidential history. -
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President John Tyler
The tenth President of the United States ) when President William Henry Harrison died in April 1841. He was the first Vice President to succeed to the Presidency after the death of his predecessor, dubbed “His Accidency” by his detractors -
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President James K. Polk
Often referred to as the first “dark horse,” the 11th President of the United States. -
U.S. Army invades Mexico
The Mexican-American War (1846-1848) 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. Polk, who believed the United States had a “manifest destiny” to spread across the continent to the Pacific Ocean. -
Know-Nothing Party
Its members strongly opposed immigrants and followers of the Catholic Church. Many of these people feared Catholics because members of this faith followed the teachings of the Pope. The Know-Nothings feared that the Catholics were more loyal to the Pope than to the United States. -
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman was an escaped slave who became a “conductor” on the Underground Railroad, leading slaves to freedom before the Civil War, all while carrying a bounty on her head. But she was also a nurse, a Union spy and a women’s suffrage supporter. Tubman is one of the most recognized icons in American history and her legacy has inspired countless people from every race and background. -
The Civil War
The War Between the States, as the Civil War was also known, ended in Confederate surrender in 1865. The conflict was the costliest and deadliest war ever fought on American soil, with some 620,000 of 2.4 million soldiers killed, millions more injured and much of the South left in ruin.
