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The Mississippian culture develops along the Mississippi River and the Ohio River. These people are known for building large mounds which can still be seen today.
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The United States is inhabited by various historic tribes across the land such as the Apache, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Navajo, and Sioux.
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Christopher Columbus discovers the Americas.
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Juan Ponce de Leon visits Florida.
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Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto explores the Southeast.
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St. Augustine is established as the first permanent settlement in the United States.
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The Jamestown settlement is founded by John Smith.
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The Mayflower lands with the pilgrims at Plymouth.
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The Massachusetts Bay Colony is founded.
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The Salem witch trials take place in Massachusetts.
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The French and Indian war begins between Great Britain and France. Both ally with different Native American tribes.
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The British win the French and Indian War gaining most of France's territory in North American.
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The British government imposes the Stamp Act on the colonies. The colonies protest with the Stamp Act Congress.
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The Boston Massacre occurs.
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Bostonians protest the Tea Act with the Boston Tea Party dumping tea into the Boston Harbor.
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The First Continental Congress is held. The British government imposes the Intolerable Acts on the colonies.
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The Revolutionary War begins with the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The Second Continental Congress is held. The Battle of Bunker Hill occurs.
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The American colonies declare their independence as the United States of America.
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The Continental Army stays at Valley Forge for the winter.
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The British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia. The Articles of the Confederation were ratified by the colonies.
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The Revolutionary War officially ends with the Treaty of Paris.
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The Constitution is adopted by the Constitutional Convention.
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George Washington becomes the first President of the United States.
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The Bill of Rights is added to the Constitution as the first ten amendments.
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The cotton gin is invented by Eli Whitney.
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The size of the United States is nearly doubled with the Louisiana Purchase from France.
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Explorers Lewis and Clark set out on their journey to the Pacific Ocean.
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The War of 1812 begins against Great Britain.
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U.S. troops led by Andrew Jackson defeat the British at the Battle of New Orleans.
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The Monroe Doctrine is declared by President James Monroe.
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The Battle of the Alamo takes place in Texas.
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The Cherokee Nation is forced to march from the Southeast to Oklahoma in what is known as the Trail of Tears.
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The Mexican-American War begins.
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Prospectors travel to California in the California Gold Rush.
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Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on Harper's Ferry.
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Abraham Lincoln is elected president.
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The American Civil War begins.
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The Union Army wins the Battle of Gettysburg. Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation freeing the slaves in the South.
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Union General Sherman makes his famous "march to the sea."
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The American Civil War comes to an end with General Robert E. Lee surrendering at the Appomattox Court House. President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.
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Slavery is outlawed by the Thirteenth Amendment.
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Alaska is purchased from Russia.
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The First Transcontinental Railroad is completed.
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The telephone is invented by Alexander Graham Bell.
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The American Red Cross is founded by Clara Barton.
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Basketball is invented by James Naismith.
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The airplane is invented by the Wright Brothers. They make their first flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
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The Boy Scouts of America is founded.
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The United States joins World War I on the side of the Allies declaring war on Germany.
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President Woodrow Wilson issues his Fourteen Points on World War I.
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Women gain the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment.
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The first trans-Atlantic flight is made by Charles Lindbergh.
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Wall Street crashes and the Great Depression begins.
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Severe drought in the Midwest causes the Dust Bowl.
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The Social Security Act is signed into law.
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Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is released as the first full length animated movie.
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World War II begins. The U.S. is initially neutral.
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The Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. The U.S. joins World War II on the side of the Allies.
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The U.S. takes part in the Invasion of Normandy.
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Germany surrenders and the U.S. drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Japan. World War II comes to an end.
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The Korean War begins.
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Rosa Parks is arrested in Montgomery, Alabama for not giving up her seat on the bus.
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The Bay of Pigs Invasion takes place in Cuba.
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The Cuban Missile Crisis occurs. The Soviet Union ends up removing its missiles from Cuba.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. gives his "I have a dream" speech at the March on Washington.
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The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is passed.
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The first Super Bowl is held.
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Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated.
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Neil Armstrong becomes the first man to walk on the Moon.
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President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
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President Richard Nixon resigns over the Watergate Scandal.
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The Space Shuttle Challenger explodes shortly after takeoff.
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The Gulf War begins as Iraq invades Kuwait.
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The 9-11 terrorist attacks occur when hijacked passenger planes crash into the World Trade Center towers and The Pentagon.
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The Iraq War begins as the U.S. and other countries invade Iraq.
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Barack Obama becomes the first African-American President of the United States.
