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US Political Timeline
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Revolutionary War Ends
On this day, the Treaty of Paris was ratified by Congress, officially ending the Revolutionary War. -
The First President
George Washington was elected president of the United States unanimously. -
First Ten Commandments
The first ten commandments, or the Bill of Rights, was ratified on December 15th, 1791. -
Washington's Second Inauguration
President Washington's second oath of office was taken in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia. -
Thomas Jefferson's Inauguration
Thomas Jefferson was the first president to be inaugurated in the capital city of Washington, D.C, in the Senate wing of the Capitol building. -
The Louisiana Purchase
The US agreed to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana territory, which comprises about 830,000 square mileage, nearly doubling the size of the US. -
Lewis and Clark Set Out
Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis, in search of the legendary "Northwest Passage" to the sea. -
Jefferson's Second Inauguration
The second inauguration of Jefferson as president took place in the Senate Chamber of the US Capitol. -
Lewis and Clark Find the Pacific Ocean
One year, six months, and one day after leaving, Lewis and Clark finally reach the Pacific Ocean. -
James Madison's Inauguration
James Madison was inaugurated as the fourth president in the chamber of the House of Representatives at the US Capitol in Washington D.C. -
War of 1812
US declares war on Britain because of Britain's attempts to restrict US trade. -
Madison's Second Inauguration
Madison's second inauguration was held at the US Capitol in Washington D.C. -
Fire to the White House
British troops set fire to the White House during the battle of 1812, in retaliation for the United States attack on York in Ontario, Canada in June of 1812. -
Creation of the Star-Spangled Banner
Francis Scott Key writes a poem which later becomes our national anthem, originally called "The Defence of Fort McHenry", after he witnesses the Maryland fort being bombarded by the British during the War of 1812. -
The Treaty of Ghent
Peace negotiations began in Ghent, Belgium, and after four months of talks, the treaty was finally signed to end the War of 1812. -
James Monroe's Inauguration
James Monroe is inaugurated in front of the Old Brick Capitol, where the supreme court building now stands. -
Missouri Compromise
In an effort to preserve the balance of power in Congress between slave and free states, Congress admitted Missouri as a slave state and Maine as a free state. -
Monroe's Second Inauguration
James Monroe's second inauguration was held in House Chamber of the US Capitol. -
John Adams Inauguration
The inauguration of John Adams was held in the House of Representatives Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. -
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
The first steam-operated railway in the United States to be chartered as a common carrier of freight and passengers. -
Andrew Jackson's Inauguration
One of the foulest presidential campaigns in history was John Adams VS Andrew Jackson. -
Indian Removal Act
Andrew Jackson authorizes the forced removal Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River. They relocated at least 50,000 Native Americans by the late 1830s. -
Jackson's Second Inauguration
Andrew Jackson's second inauguration took place in the House chamber of the U.S. Capitol. -
Texas' Independence from Mexico
The Texas Declaration of Independence was signed at Washington-on-the-Brazos, now commonly referred to as the “birthplace of Texas.” It formally declared Texas independent from Mexico. -
Martin Van Buren's Inauguration
After being vice president to Andrew Jackson, Buren was elected as the eighth president. He was also the first president to be born in the US. -
William Henry Harrison's Inauguration
William Henry Harrison was inaugurated as the ninth president in the East Portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. -
William Harrison Dies
One month after being inaugurated, President William Henry Harrison dies of pneumonia. -
John Tyler's Inauguration
Following the death of Harrison only two days earlier, John Tyler, his vice president, was inaugurated. -
James Polk's Inauguration
James K. Polk was inaugurated on March 4th, 1845. -
Mexican War
U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest. -
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
Officially ended the Mexican War, and added an additional 525,000 square miles to United States territory. -
Zachary Taylor's Inauguration
Zachary Taylor was inaugurated in the eastern portico of the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. -
Zachary Taylor Dies
President Zachary Taylor apparently died from being exposed to the July sun for too long and then eating cucumbers, cherries and/or iced milk. -
Millard Fillmore's Inauguration
Millard Fillmore, Zachary Taylor's Vice President, was inaugurated after the death of Taylor. -
Franklin Pierce's Inauguration
Franklin Pierce's inauguration was held in the East Portico at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C. -
Kansas-Nebraska Act
This act allowed people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide for themselves whether or not to allow slavery within their borders. -
James Buchanan's Inauguration
James Buchanan was inaugurated at the east front of the U. S. Capitol. -
The Confederate States of America
11 Southern states that seceded from the Union in order to preserve, states' rights, and political liberty for the whites. -
Davis is elected president of the Confederacy
Jefferson Davis took little part in the secession movement until Mississippi seceded, whereupon he withdrew from the Senate. He was immediately appointed major general of the Mississippi militia, and shortly afterward he was chosen president of the Confederate provisional government established by the convention at Montgomery, Ala. -
Abraham Lincoln's Inauguration
Abraham Lincoln was inaugurated for his first, but not last, term, and Hannibal Hamlin's only term. -
Star of the Civil War
The Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states. Confederates attack Ft. Sumter in Charleston, S.C., marking the start of the war. -
Homestead Act
Signed into law by President Abraham Lincoln, it allowed settlers to claim land (160 acres) after they have lived on it for five years. -
Emancipation Proclamation
An executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln that freed slaves in the Confederate states. -
The Gettysburg Address
Lincoln reiterated the principles of human equality said in the Declaration of Independence and proclaimed the Civil War as a struggle for the preservation of the Union sundered by the secession crisis, with "a new birth of freedom" that would bring true equality to all of its citizens. -
Lincolns Second Inauguration
For Lincolns second inauguration address, at a time when victory over the secessionists in the American Civil War was within days and slavery was near an end, Lincoln did not speak of happiness, but of sadness. -
Andrew Johnson's Inauguration
Andrew Johnson was inaugurated as the 17th president, following the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. -
Lincolns Assassination
Abraham Lincoln was shot by John Wilkes Booth, an actor and Confederate sympathizer in the Presidential box at Ford's Theater in Washington D.C. After the shooting, Lincoln was taken to a home across the street, where he died the next day. -
The Thirteenth Ammendment
The 13th amendment abolished slavery in the United States. -
US Acquires Alaska
The US bought Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. -
The Fourteenth Ammendment
This amendment grants citizenship to "all persons born or naturalized in the United States" which included former slaves who had just been freed after the Civil War. -
Ulysses S. Grant's Inauguration
President Grant, who was inaugurated as the 18th president, was the first of many Civil War officers to become President of the United States -
First Transcontinental Railroads
Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads are joined at Promontory, Utah, creating first transcontinental railroad. -
The Fifteenth Ammendment
This amendment granted African American men the right to vote. -
Grant's Second Inauguration
This was one of the coldest inaugurations in US history, and the inaugural ball ended early when the food froze -
Statue of Liberty is dedicated
The statue was designed by Fredéric Auguste Bartholdi of Alsace as a gift to the United States from the people of France to memorialize the alliance of the two countries. The French people contributed the $250,000 cost. -
American Federation of Labor is organized
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO), a federation of autonomous labor unions in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, and U.S. dependencies, formed in 1955 by the merger of the American Federation of Labor (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) -
Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated
Benjamin Harrison was an American politician and lawyer who served as the 23rd President of the United States from 1889 to 1893. -
Ellis Island becomes chief immigration station of the U.S.
In Upper New York Bay, SW of Manhattan island. Government-controlled since 1808, it was long the site of an arsenal and a fort, but most famously served (1892–1954) as the chief immigration station of the United States. -
Grover Cleveland is inaugurated a second time
He is the only president to serve two nonconsecutive terms. -
Plessy v. Ferguson
Landmark Supreme Court decision holds that racial segregation is constitutional, paving the way for the repressive Jim Crow laws in the South. -
William McKinley is inaugurated
The inauguration marked the commencement of the first four-year term of William McKinley as President and the only term of Garret Hobart as Vice President. Chief Justice Melville W. Fuller administered the presidential oath of office. -
U.S. annexes Hawaii by an act of Congress
After a century of American rule, many native Hawaiians remain bitter about how the United States acquired the islands, located 2,500 miles from the West Coast. -
Treaty with Great Britain and Germany
U.S. acquires American Samoa by treaty with Great Britain and Germany -
Galveston hurricane leaves an estimated 6,000 to 8,000 dead
According to the census, the nation's population numbers nearly 76 million. -
McKinley's second inauguration
The inauguration marked the commencement of the second term of William McKinley as President and the only term of Theodore Roosevelt as Vice President. -
U.S. acquires Panama Canal Zone
The Panama Canal Zone was an unincorporated territory of the United States from 1903 to 1979, centered on the Panama Canal and surrounded by the Republic of Panama. -
Wright brothers make the first controlled plane
Sustained flight in heavier-than-air aircraft at Kitty Hawk, N.C. -
Theodore Roosevelt's second inauguration
The inauguration marked the beginning of his second term as President and the only term of Charles W. Fairbanks as Vice President. -
San Francisco earthquake kills 500 people
The California earthquake of April 18, 1906 ranks as one of the most significant earthquakes of all time. -
William Howard Taft is inaugurated
Mrs. Taft has 80 Japanese cherry trees planted along the banks of the Potomac River. -
Woodrow Wilson's Inauguration
Woodrow Wilson is inaugurated as the 28th president on March 4, 1913. -
The Seventeenth Amendment
The 17th amendment provided for the direct election of US senators by popular votes rather than by the state legislatures. -
Jeannette Rankin
Jeanette Rankin is the first women elected to the US House of Representatives. -
Wilson's Second Inauguration
Woodrow Wilson was re-elected as president and had his second inauguration service on March 5th, 1917. -
World War 1
The US enters World War 1, declaring war on Germany. -
Ending of WW1
4 years after the conflict began, the Armistice was signed, ending WW1. -
Eighteenth Amendment
The eighteenth amendment is ratified, prohibiting the manufacture sale, and transportation of liquor. -
The Nineteenth Amendment
The nineteenth amendment is ratified, giving women the right to vote. -
Warren G. Harding's Inauguration
Warren G. Harding is elected as the 29th president and is inaugurated on March 4th, 1921. -
Calvin Coolidge's Inauguration
Following the sudden death of President Harding, his vice president succeeds him and is inaugurated as the 30th president on August 3rd, 1923. -
Herbert Hoover's Inauguration
Herbert Hoover is inaugurated as the 31st president of the United States on March 4th, 1929. -
Twenty Second Amendment
The twenty second amendment limits presidents to only ever hold two terms of office. -
Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA was proposed by Richard Nixon and was ratified by the House of Senate. -
Twenty Sixth Amendment
The 26th amendment is ratified, allowing 18 year olds to vote. -
Nixon Steps Dowm
The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach Nixon because of the Watergate Scandal but instead, he resigns from presidency, and becomes the first, and so far, only president to resign. -
Jimmy Carter's Inauguration
Jimmy Carter was inaugurated as the 39th president of the United States. -
Three Mile Island
A partial nuclear meltdown in reactor number 2 of Three Mile Island Nuclear Generating Station and the most significant accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant history. -
Ronald Reagan's Inauguration
Ronald Reagan was inaugurated as the oldest person to ever be president. -
Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew was, at its time, the most destructive hurricane in American history, at a category 5. Causing $26 billion in damages. -
Bill Clinton's Inauguration
Bill Clinton was inaugurated as the 42nd president on January 20th of 1993. -
George Bush's Inauguration
George Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd president of the United States. -
9/11
A series of four coordinated terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group Al-Qaeda on the United States. -
Facebook
An American for-profit corporation and online social media and social networking service based in Menlo Park, California created by Mark Zuckerberg as a college sophomore. -
Bush's Second Inauguration
George Bush was inaugurated for his second term on January 20th, 2005. -
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina devastates the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coastlines, costing $81 billion in damages. -
Barack Obama's Inauguration
Barack Obama is inaugurated as the 44th president of the US, and the first African American president. -
Obama's Second Inauguration
Barack Obama is re-elected over Mitt Romney and has his second inauguration. -
Same Sex Marriage Is Legalized
The White House is lit up in rainbow colors in commemoration of the Supreme Court's ruling to legalize same-sex marriage on Friday, June 26. The court ruled that states cannot ban same-sex marriage, handing gay rights advocates their biggest victory yet. -
Donald Trumps Inauguration
Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential race and was inaugurated as president on January 20th, 2017. -
"Don't Ask, Don't Tell"
President Clinton signs "Don't ask, don't tell" into law, prohibiting any openly lgbtq+ from serving in the military.
