United States History Timeline 1800-1876

By DCFIII
  • 1841 BCE

    President William Henry Harrison sworn in

  • Slavery ended in the Northwest Territory

  • Library of Congress founded

  • John Adams first president to live in Executive Mansion

  • John Marshall appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court

  • Thomas Jefferson elected third president

  • Thomas Jefferson inaugurated

  • Tripoli declares war against the U.S.

  • First Lady Martha Washington died

  • Thomas Jefferson gives Second State of the Nation address

  • Ohio becomes 17th state

  • Louisiana Purchase

  • New Jersey abolishes slavery

  • Lewis and Clark commissioned to explore

    From St. Louis and Camp Dubois.

  • Thomas Jefferson reelected

  • Michigan Territory is established

  • Noah Webster publishes first dictionary

  • First federal highway commissioned

  • Lewis and Clarks expedition ends

    Essential to success was Sacagawea, their female Indian guide

  • Robert E. Lee is born

  • Vice president Aaron Burr is arrested for treason.

  • Aaron Burr is acquitted of treason

  • Importation of slaves is outlawed

  • American Fur Company incoporated

    John Jacob Astor

  • James Madison elected fourth president

  • Andrew Johnson born

  • Illinois Territory created

  • Abraham Lincoln born

    16th president

  • Supreme court ruling

    Federal Governments power is greater than the power of any individual state.

  • James Madison inaugurated

  • First steam-powered ferry service between New York City and Hoboken, New Jersey is started

  • President Madison signs declaration of war against Great Britain

  • President Madison elected to a second term

  • The Battle of York

    American troops raid and destroy but do not occupy the city

  • American navy wins battle of Lake Erie

  • Star Spangled Banner written

    Francis Scott Key during 25 hour battle of For McHenry

  • Executive Mansion burned by British forces

  • End of the War of 1812

  • First railroad

  • Indian is 19th state

  • James Monroe inaugurated as president

  • Mississippi admitted as 20th state

  • United States flag official adopted

  • Illinois admitted as 21st state

  • Territory of Florida is given to the United States

  • The Missouri Compromise passes

    Allowing slavery in Missouri, but no other area west of the Mississippi River

  • James Monroe elected to second term

  • Missouri admitted as state

  • Free slave settlement at Providence Island

  • Ulysses S. Grant born

    Civil War general and 18th president

  • Bureau of Indian Affairs established

  • John Quincy Adams elected president

  • Samuel Morey granted patent for Internal combustion engine

  • Thomas Jefferson and John Adams both die

  • First Texas settlers to secede from Mexico

  • Slavery legally abolished in New York State

  • Treaty of Limits with Mexico goes into effect

  • First passenger railroad begins

  • Andrew Jackson inaugurated as president

  • Smithsonian Institute founded

  • William Austin Burt patents typewriter

    He called in the typographer.

  • William L. Sublette takes the first wagons along the Oregon Trail

  • Congress approves the Indian Removal Act

    Caused the relocation of Indian tribes from east of the Mississippi River.

  • First bank robbery in the U.S.

    $245,000 stolen from the Wall Street Bank in New York

  • Robert E Lee marries the great-granddaughter of Martha Washington.

  • Southampton County, VA slave rebellion

    Nat Turner led slaves and they killed 57 white citizens. Turner was later capture on Oct. 30 and hanged on Nov. 11.

  • The Black Hawk War

    Spanning Illinois to Wisconsin through September.

  • Trail of Tears begins

    Start of the removal of Indians from their homes on the east coast.

  • President Jackson reelected

  • Stephen F Austin imprisoned by Mexican government

  • President Jackson censured by Senate

    De-funding the Second Bank of the United States

  • Samuel Morse fears a Catholic Conspiracy

  • First attempt to assassinate a U.S. President

    President Jackson fought off his assassin with his cane after two misfires.

  • P.T. Barnum's first circus tour

  • The Revolution of Texas

    Begins with the Battle of Gonzales

  • New York fire

    Destroying 530 buildings including the New York Stock Exchange

  • Cherokee tribe forced to move

  • Period: to

    The Battle of the Alamo

    Waged in San Antonio, Texas when 3,000 Mexican troops attacked 189 Texan defenders

  • Samuel Colt awarded patent for first revolver

  • Texas declares independence from Mexico

  • Battle of San Jacinto

    Sam Houston leads the Texas army to victory

  • Patent for first electronic printing press

    Thomas Davenport

  • Martin Van Buren inaugurated as president

  • Telegraph and Morse code invented

    Samuel Morse

  • First law allowing women to own property

    Jackson, Mississippi

  • President Harrison dies of pneumonia

  • John Tyler sworn in

  • Webster-Ashburton Treaty, 1842

    Resolved frictions with Anglo-American relations.Settled the border between U.S. and Canada.

  • John O'Sullivan declares America's Manifest Destiny

  • Texas Congress votes for annexation to the U.S.

    Texas becomes the 28th state

  • Republic of California declares independence from Mexico

  • Battle of Mexico

  • Gold discovered in California

  • Zachary Taylor elected president

  • Elizabeth Blackwell first woman doctor

  • Compromise of 1850

    Admits California as a free state and southerners could recover slaves

  • Millard Fillamore is sworn in as president

  • Harriet Beecher Stowe's "Uncle Tom's Cabin" published

  • Kansas-Nebraska Act becomes law

    Allows the issue of slavery to be decided by a vote of settlers

  • Booker T. Washington born

    Born into slavery, becomes one of the foremost black leaders and educators in the 20th century

  • Dred Scott decision

    Ruling states that a slave does not become free when transported to a free state. Also ruled that blacks were not eligible to be citizens.

  • Troops sent to Kansas because of slavery issue

    "Bleeding Kansas" causes troops to be sent.

  • John Brown executed

    Hung for his role in the Harper's ferry armory raid and trying to lead a slave revolt.

  • Chinese Merchant Complains of Racist Abuse

  • Pony Express begins

  • Abraham Lincoln elected President

  • South Carolina secedes from the Union

  • President Lincoln calls for 75,000 volunteers

    To fight for seceding states over slavery.

  • President Lincoln sworn in

  • Convention to form Confederated States to America opens

    Jefferson Davis - president

  • First Battle of Bull Run at Manassas, VA

  • Battle of Shiloh

  • Homestead Act Approved

    Grants families 160 acres

  • President Lincoln issues the preliminary Emancipation Proclamation

  • Antietam victory for Union

  • Battle of Fredericksburg

  • Battle of Gettysburg

  • President Lincoln's speech

    "Four score and seven years ago..."

  • General Robert E. Lee surrenders

  • President Lincoln assassinated

    Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Boothe

  • 13th Amendment to abolish slavery

  • Civil Rights Act

    First federal law that protects the rights of African Americans

  • U.S. bought Alaska for $7.2 million

  • Thomas Edison applies for first patent

    Electric voice recorder

  • Ulysses S. Grant elected president

  • Final spike made of gold driven into railroad

    Marks the junction of the Central Pacific and Union Pacific Railroads

  • Black American men given the right to vote

  • Georgia readmitted to the Union

    Last former state of the Confederacy

  • National Weather service makes its first broadcast

  • Great Fire of Chicago started

  • Yellowstone is the first National Park established

  • Susan B, Anthony illegal casts a ballot

  • First successful train robbery

    Jesse James and the James Younger Gang

  • Fairmount Park, Philadelphia opens first zoo