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Thomas Jefferson is Elected President
Thomas Jefferson was the author of the declaration of independence and the third U.S. president. Jefferson ran against John Adams in 1796 and came in second place, making him vice president by law. Then he ran again in 1800, with the election ending in a tie between Jefferson and Aaron Burr. The vote then went to the House of Representatives where Jefferson was then declared the victor and, furthermore, the third president of the U.S. -
Congress Declares War on England
The beginning of the War of 1812 was caused due to the British Royal Navy restricting trade routes to the U.S., impressing U.S. sailors, and the U.S.'s desire to expand its borders. -
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War of 1812
The War of 1812 was considered the second war of independence for the U.S. It was a hard-fought war that resulted in the destruction of much of the northeastern U.S. The war ended with the Treaty of Peace on February 18, 1815. -
English Forces Burn the White House
British forces storm into the Chesapeake Bay and burn multiple government buildings including the Capitol building, the White House. The British forces pulled their forces only because they had achieved their war goals and were moving down to New Orleans to capture it as well. -
Florida is Purchase from Spain
Spanish minister Do Luis de Onis and U.S. Secretary of State John Quincy Adams came together to sign the document that would transfer control of Florida to the U.S. The Florida Peace Treaty was created to hand over the last Spanish American colony to the U.S. because of numerous boundary disputes. The U.S. gave Spain $5 million to cede Florida into the newly formed nation. -
Monroe Doctorine
President James Monroe gave his annual presidential speech warning European powers not to interfere in the western hemisphere or else the U.S. would step in and stop them. This speech stood against what George Washington wanted for the country. He wanted the country to stay out of foreign affairs and keep to themselves, however, the Monroe doctrine declared the U.S. as the policing force of the western hemisphere. -
U.S.-Mexican War
The U.S.-Mexican War lasted from 1846-1848 and was the first U.S. conflict fought on foreign soil. It was a war that was disputing the independence of Texas and the border of the Rio Grande. At the end of the war, Mexico lost about a third of its territory to the expansion-minded U.S., who claimed nearly all of present-day California, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and New Mexico. -
Abraham Lincoln is Elected President
Abraham Lincoln is elected as the 16th president of the U.S. When entering office Abraham Lincoln was tasked with dealing with an incredibly divided nation dealing with the issue of states' rights about slavery. Lincoln received only 40 percent of the popular vote, however, he still handily defeated the three other candidates. Lincoln was formally a Whig representative to Congress and gained his popularity after his series of public speeches that address many political issues of the time. -
Civil War Begins
The tension between the Northern and Southern states over states' rights and slavery finally got to the point where war broke out. The election of Abraham Lincoln caused 7 southern states to leave the Union and create the Confederate States of America. 4 more states soon joined these rebel states. -
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American Civil War
The American Civil War was a bloody and brutal war that lasted 4 years. The War was fought over the idea of states' rights about slavery. The South believed that the government was overstretching its reach into the rights of the state by limiting slavery and therefore seceded to created its own nation free from the limiting government of the Union. In the war, roughly 620,000 American soldiers died with millions more injured, and much of the Southern states left in ruin. -
Gettysburg Address
Lincoln's Speech at Gettysburg was done in order to address the war that was occurring. He wanted to dedicate the field to the fallen soldiers on both sides, and he wanted the soldiers to know what they were fighting for. He claimed that they were fighting to see if the new nation, and nations that had declared their freedoms from the European countries, could in fact survive without the aid of their previous owners. -
First Transcontinental Railroad is Completed
On the day of completion, the presidents of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah. The last spike of the railroad was ceremoniously placed to connect the two railroad lines together. This railroad made it possible to travel from the eastern side of the continent to the western side by utilizing nearly 2000 miles of railroad track. The work began in 1866 after many plans had been made and the Pacific Railroad Act(1862) was passed.
