US History Timeline

By Tanya-1
  • Oct 12, 1492

    Christopher Columbus Lands in the Bahamas

  • Jamestown is Settled

    104 colonists settle Jamestown, Virginia. They name the town after their king.
  • Period: to

    French and Indian War

  • Boston Tea Party

    Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty board English boats and throw overtaxed tea overboard. This brought Americans and Britons closer to war.

  • Battle of Lexington and Concord

    An untrained militia from Concord battles against British soldiers who were sent to confiscate an arms cache. The militia prevails and defeats the 700 Britons.

  • The Declaration of Independence

    When the United States of America officially announced independence from Britain.

  • Battle of Yorktown

  • Period: to

    Constitutional Convention

  • Invention of the Cotton Gin

    Eli Whitney invents a device for processing cotton that revolutionizes cotton production.

  • The Alien and Sedition Acts

    Passed by John Adams regarding the treatment of aliens.

  • Louisiana Purchase

    Thomas Jefferson buys 828,000 square miles of land from the French.
  • Period: to

    War of 1812

  • Missouri Compromise

    Tensions were rising between pro-slavery and anti-slavery factions. The Missouri compromise allowed Missouri to officially become a slave state, but it also admitted Maine as a free state, which kept the balance even.

  • Andrew Jackson’s Election

    Andrew Jackson is elected President of the United States.
  • Period: to

    Invention of the Telegraph

    The telegraph is invented and Samuel Morse invents Morse Code This is the beginning of a telecommunication revolution.

  • Trail of Tears

    Native Americans are forcefully and illegally removed from their homelands through President Andrew Jackson's actions.

  • Panic of 1837

  • Period: to

    Mexican-American War

    War that led to the United States owning the western part of north America.

  • Compromise of 1850

    a compromise concerning various matters related to the slave trade.

  • Firing on Fort Sumter

    These were the first shots of the civil war.

  • Emancipation Proclamation

    Abraham Lincoln states that slaves in the southern states “shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free.” In the Emancipation Proclamation.
  • Period: to

    13th, 14th, 15th Amendments

    Also called the Civil War amendments, these amendments protected the rights of recently-freed slaves against forced labor.

  • Surrender at Appomattox Courthouse

    General Lee surrenders troops to General Grant. This marks the end of the Civil War.

  • Abraham Lincoln’s Assassination

    John Wilkes Booth assassinates Abraham Lincoln at a play, 5 days after the Appomattox Court House Surrender.

  • Andrew Johnson’s Impeachment

    Andrew Johnson becomes the first president to be impeached, after attempting to replace the secretary of war against the Tenure of Office Act.

  • The Organization of Standard Oil Trust

    When many oil companies organized together into the Standard Oil Trust, which controlled about 90% of all oil refineries and pipelines.
  • Period: to

    The invention of the electric light, telephone, and airplane

    The telephone is invented by Alexander Graham Bell in 1876, the electric light is invented by Thomas Edison in 1879, and the Wright brothers invent the airplane in 1903.

  • The Pullman and Homestead Strikes

    Union workers in Homestead fight against low wages and long hours.

  • Spanish-American War

    America intervenes with Cuba and Spain's conflict

  • Theodore Roosevelt Becomes President