US History Major Events

By catecataldo
  • 1565

    First European settlement in North America

    St Augustine - founded by the Spanish
  • Period: to

    Slavery

    Thousands brought over from Africa are sold into slavery,

  • Jamestown, Virginia

    Founded by English settlers

  • Plymouth Colony is founded

    founded by the Pilgrim Fathers

  • Colonists form First Continental Congress

  • American Revolution

    George Washington leads Continental Army

  • Declaration of Independence

    Declaration is endorsed by Congress; Colonies declare independence

  • Washington elected first president of USA

  • Period: to

    Manifest Destiny

    Rise in immigration from Europe, settlers moving westward. number of US states grow from 17 to 45

  • France sells Louisiana territories to USA

  • Atlantic slave trade abolished

  • Period: to

    US acquires California and New Mexico

    Acquired in the wake of Mexican War

  • Republican Party established

    Opponents of slavery establish the Republican Party

  • Confederate States of America formed

    eleven pro-slavery southern states secede from the Union, and trigger civil war with abolitionist northern states

  • Emancipation Proclamation issued

    Issued by President Lincoln, declaring slaves in confederate states to be free

  • Confederates defeated; Lincoln assassinated

    slavery abolished under Thirteenth Amendment.

  • US annexes Hawaii

    Also gaining Puerto Rico, Guam, Philippines, and Cuba following Spanish-American war

  • Women given the right to vote

  • Period: to

    Great Depression

    13 million left unemployed after the Wall Street stock market crash 1929

  • Japanese warplanes attack Pearl Harbour

    leading to US entry into World War 2

  • US drops two atomic bombs

    Hiroshima and Nagasaki hit; Japan surrenders

  • civil rights movement starts

    racial segregation in schools becomes unconstitutional; campaigns to secure civil rights for African Americans begins

  • President John F Kennedy assassinated

  • Civil Rights Act signed into law

    aimed to halt discrimination on grounds of race, color, religion, and nationality.
  • Period: to

    Vietnam War

    US troops deployed to Vietnam; 1969 US military presence exceeds 500,000

  • Martin Luther King assassinated

  • 9/11 attacks

    Twin Towers and Pentagon hit by airplanes ; Begins Americas "war on terror"

  • Barack Obama becomes first black president of US