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Christopher Columbus lands in the Bahamas, marking the beginning of European colonization of the Americas.
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The first permanent English settlement is established in Virginia, and is named Jamestown.
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Britain and France fight over North American territories, resulting in British dominance but increased the tension between colonies.
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Colonists protest over British tea taxes by dumping tea into Boston Harbor and escalate tensions between England and the colonists.
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The first military engagement of the American Revolutionary War.
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The Continental Congress adopts the "Declaration of Independence" which proclaims colonial independence from British rule.
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American and French forces defeat the British at Yorktown, securing victory in the war.
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Delegates from the colonies meet in Philadelphia and draft the U.S. Constitution. This establishes the framework for a new government.
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Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin, revolutionizing the cotton industry, which boosts the Southern economy and leads to an increased reliance on slavery.
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Laws passed by Congress restricting free speech and immigration and igniting political debate.
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The U.S. purchases a large territory from France doubling the nation’s size and sparking expansion west of the Mississippi River.
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Sparked by conflict between the U.S. and Britain over trade and territorial issues. Important because it fostered a national identity and pride in the U.S.
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Legislation balances slave and free states, temporarily resolving disputes over slavery in new territories.
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Jackson’s victory as a populist president marks the rise of the Democratic Party and "common man" politics.
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Samuel Morse develops the telegraph which revolutionizes communication with rapid, long-distance messaging.
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Widespread economic depression triggered by bank failures leads to 'the Great Depression".
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Forced relocation of Cherokee and other Native American tribes rom their ancestral lands, resulting in thousands of deaths.
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Territorial disputes that resulted in the U.S. gaining large amounts of land from Mexico, including California, Nevada and Utah.
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The compromise aimed to resolve issues of slavery issues in the lands gained from the Mexican-American War. The goal was to create an equal number of states that supported slavery and those who didn't.
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Southern Confederates attack a Union fort in South Carolina and mark the start of the American Civil War.
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President Lincoln declares slaves in Confederate states free, essentially changing the purpose of the war from being about preserving the Union to a war for human rights.
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Constitutional amendments that abolish slavery (13th), grant citizenship and equal protection for anyone born or naturalized in the U.S. (14th), and secured voting rights for Black men (15th).
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Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to Union General Ulysses S. Grant, effectively ending the Civil War.
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President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth, who believed Lincoln was trying to destroy the South.
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President Johnson became President when Lincoln was assassinated. He was impeached by the House for violating the Tenure of Office Act because he fired the Secretary of War without Senate approval, but also because he was lenient with former Confederate states.
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John D. Rockefeller forms the Standard Oil Trust, creating a monopoly over the oil industry.
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Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone, transforming global communication.
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Thomas Edison develops the light bulb, allowing people to have a stable source of light at night or in the dark, revolutionizing lighting.
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Major labor strikes by laborers against company owners (industrialists) and management. ending with violence, government interventions and defeat of the workers.
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President McKinley is assassinated and Teddy Roosevelt becomes President. He creates the National Park system, and instills anti-trust regulations (going after monopolies).
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The Wright brothers achieve the first airplane flight, launching modern aviation.
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U.S. victory over Spain results in the acquisition of territories like Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines and ending Spain's role as a colonial power in the New World.