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The U.S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washington, DC. -
Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president in Washington, DC. -
Louisiana Purchase: United States agrees to pay France $15 million for the Louisiana Territory, which extends west from the Mississippi River to the Rocky Mountains and comprises about 830,000 sq mi. As a result, the U.S. nearly doubles in -
Lewis and Clark set out from St. Louis, Mo., on expedition to explore the West and find a route to the Pacific Ocean.
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Second inauguration of Thomas Jefferson -
James Madison 4th President -
Conflict fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against Great Britain and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida.
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Francis Scott Key writes Star-Spangled Banner as he watches British attack on Fort McHenry at Baltimore. -
The Treaty of Ghent was the peace treaty that ended the War of 1812 between the United States and the United Kingdom. It took effect in February 1815. Both sides signed it on December 24, 1814, in the city of Ghent, United Netherlands. -
James Monroe - 5th president -
Spain agrees to cede Florida to the United States. -
Missouri Compromise: In an effort to maintain the balance between free and slave states, Maine (formerly part of Massachusetts) is admitted as a free state so that Missouri can be admitted as a slave state; except for Missouri, slavery is prohibited in the Louisiana Purchase lands north of latitude 3630'. -
Monroe Doctrine: In his annual address to Congress, President Monroe declares that the American continents are henceforth off-limits for further colonization by European powers. -
John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president. -
Erie Canal, linking the Hudson River to Lake Erie, is opened for traffic. -
Construction is begun on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, the first public railroad in the U.S. -
Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as seventh president. -
President Jackson signs the Indian Removal Act, which authorizes the forced removal of Native Americans living in the eastern part of the country to lands west of the Mississippi River. Relocated nearly 50,000 Native Americans. -
Nat Turner, an enslaved African American preacher, leads the most significant slave uprising in American history. He and his band of about 80 followers launch a bloody, day-long rebellion in Southampton County, Virginia. The militia quells the rebellion, and Turner is eventually hanged. As a consequence, Virginia institutes much stricter slave laws. -
More than 15,000 Cherokee Indians are forced to march from Georgia to Indian Territory in present-day Oklahoma. Approximately 4,000 die from starvation and disease along the Trail of Tears. part of the Indian Removal Act -
Texas declares its independence from Mexico. Texan defenders of the Alamo are all killed during siege by the Mexican Army. Texans defeat Mexicans at San Jacinto -
Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth president. -
William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth president. -
Harrison dies one month after taking office and is succeeded in office by his vice president, John Tyler. -
James Polk is inaugurated as the 11th president -
Oregon Treaty fixes U.S.-Canadian border at 49th parallel; U.S. acquires Oregon territory. -
Mexican War: U.S. declares war on Mexico in effort to gain California and other territory in Southwest.
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Mexican War concludes with signing of Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. -
Gold is discovered at Sutter's Mill in California. The gold rush reaches its height the following year. -
Seneca Falls, New York, that launched the woman suffrage movement in the United States. The convention passed 12 resolutions—11 unanimously—designed to gain certain rights and privileges that women of the era were denied. -
Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the 12th president -
Harriet Tubman escapes from slavery and becomes one of the most effective and celebrated members of the Underground Railroad. -
The continuing debate whether territory gained in the Mexican War should be open to slavery is decided in the Compromise of 1850: California is admitted as a free state, Utah and New Mexico territories are left to be decided by popular sovereignty, and the slave trade in Washington, DC, is prohibited. It also establishes a much stricter fugitive slave law, than the original, passed in 1793. -
Harriet Beecher Stowe's novel, Uncle Tom's Cabin is published. It becomes one of the most influential works to stir anti-slavery sentiments. -
Franklin Pierce is inaugurated as the 14th president. -
Congress passes the Kansas-Nebraska Act, establishing the territories of Kansas and Nebraska. -
James Buchanan is inaugurated as the 15th president. -
16th President - Abraham Lincoln -
Confederate States of America is established. -
Civil War: Conflict between the North (the Union) and the South (the Confederacy) over the expansion of slavery into western states.
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The Battle of Gettysburg was the turning point in the Civil War, costing the Union 23,000 killed, wounded, or missing in action. The Confederates suffered some 25,000 casualties. . -
Emancipation Proclamation, edict issued by U.S. Pres. Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that freed the slaves of the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union. -
President Lincoln delivered the 272 word Gettysburg Address on November 19, 1863 on the battlefield near Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. "Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth, on this continent, a new nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal. -
Homestead Act becomes law, allowing settlers to claim land (160 acres) after they have lived on it for five years. -
Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC, and is succeeded by his vice president, Andrew Johnson. -
Thirteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, prohibiting slavery. -
U.S. acquires Alaska from Russia for the sum of $7.2 million. -
Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, defining citizenship. -
Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated as the 18th president. -
Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads are joined at Promontory, Utah, creating first transcontinental railroad. -
Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution is ratified, giving blacks the right to vote. -
Chicago fire kills 300 and leaves 90,000 people homeless. -
Lt. Col. George A. Custer's regiment is wiped out by Sioux Indians under Sitting Bull at the Little Big Horn River, Mont.