American History Timeline
 

American History Timeline

American History Timeline
The major events, famous people and key dates of events in America
The names and dates of the first explorers
The conflicts, battles and wars
The American War of Independence and the Civil War
WW1 & WW2 & the Cuban Missile Crisis

For comprehensive facts and information about major events American History refer to Colonial America leading up to the American War of Independence, the History of Native American Indians and the major events that occurred in every presidency via American Historama.

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American History Timeline

  1001Leif Ericson explores North America 
     
  1492Christopher Columbus discovers America  
     
  1497John Cabot claims North America for England 
     
  1501:Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America 
     
  1519Ferdinand Magellan is the first to go around the world
Alonzo de Pineda explores gulf Coast of America
 
     
  1524Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay 
     
  1528Panfilo de Narvaez conquers Cuba and explores Florida
Alvar Cabeza de Vaca explores Texas, Arizona and New Mexico
 
     
  1534:Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River  
     
  1539Hernando de Soto explores south-eastern North America 
     
  1540Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores south-western North America
Discovery of the Grand Canyon by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas
 
     
  1541Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explores Kansas 
     
  1542Cabrillo explores and discovers the Californian coast
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, California
 
     
  1559Tristan de Luna explores North America 
     
  1563Francisco de Ibarra explores New Mexico  
     
  1576Sir Martin Frobisher explores Baffin Bay and the Hudson Strait 
     
  1577Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the world - December 13 1577 to September 26 1580 
     
  1584Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe (both in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh) explore the coast of North Carolina 
     
  1585March 25: Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America
June: Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island
June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Walter Raleigh
 
     
  1598Juan de Archuleta explores Colorado 
     
  1607Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown 
     
  1609Henry Hudson explores North eastern North America including the Hudson River 
     
  1688The Glorious Revolution in England leads to a constitutional monarchy and passing of the Bill of Rights 
     
  1763February 10: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada east of the Mississippi River added to the British empire.
Pontiac's Rebellion against the British
October 7: The Proclamation of 1763 issued  by King George III after the end of the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War to organize the new North American empire and stabilize relations with Native Americans. No British settlements allowed west of the Appalachian mountains. Settlers already in these areas required to return east
 
     
  1764February: James Otis urges a united response to the recent acts imposed by England. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to James Otis
July: James Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved."
August:  Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods
 
     
  1765March 22: The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. March 24: The Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.
July: The Sons of Liberty is formed - a secret organization opposed to the Stamp Act
December: Over 200 Boston merchants refuse to pay the Stamp Tax
 
     
  17661766 March 18. Stamp Act repealed
January: New York assembly refuses to fully enforce the Quartering Act.
August: Violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and members of the Sons of Liberty.
 
     
  1768July: Merchants in Boston and New York boycott British goods
September: English warships sail into Boston Harbor leaving two regiments of English troops to keep order.
 
     
  1770March: "The Boston Massacre" - Four workers shot by British troops in Boston 
     
  1773December 16: The Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor. 
     
  1774March:  The Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans) 
     
  1775February 9: English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion
April 19 Shots fired at Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed. "Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
June 15: George Washington appointed general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.
June 17:  Battle of Bunker Hill
July 6: Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms stating that Americans are "resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves."
The American Revolution, the American War of Independence, led by George Washington was fought between Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.
 
     
  1776May 2: The American revolution gains support  from King Louis XVI of France
1776 July 4. Thomas Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of Independence
 
     
  1777November 15: Articles of Confederation - Congress is made sole authority of the new national government. 
     
  1778February 6:  France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution soon becomes a world war.
September 14: Benjamin Franklin appointed American representative in France.
 
     
  1779September 27: John Adams is appointed to negotiate peace with England. 
     
  1780September 23:  Plans discovered indicating Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Benedict Arnold joins the British 
     
  1781October 17: American victory at Yorktown terms discussed for the British surrender.
October 19:  The British army surrenders at Yorktown - a devastating effect on the British
 
     
  1782February 27: English Parliament votes against further war in America.
November 10: The final battle of the Revolutionary War when Americans retaliate by attacking a Shawnee village in Ohio
November 30: Preliminary peace treaty signed in Paris recognising American independence and the British withdrawal from America.
 
     
  1783February 4: England officially declares an end to hostilities in America
September 3: The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain
 
     
  1784January 14: The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress and the American Revolutionary War officially ends 
     
  1789First President of the US is George Washington 1789-1797
The first thirteen states were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island
Judiciary Act of 1789
 
     
  1791Bill of Rights ratified 
     
  1793Fugitive Slave Act passed 
     
  1795Vermont and Kentucky were admitted to the US 
     
  1794Whiskey Rebellion 
     
  1797Second President of the US is John Adams 1797-1801 
     
  1799Logan Act 
     
  1800Library of Congress founded  
     
  1801Third President of the US is Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809 
     
  1803Louisiana Purchase Treaty  
     
  1804Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory 
     
  1805Barbary Wars 
     
  1807Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves 
     
  1808U.S. slave trade with Africa ends 
     
  1809Fourth President of the US is James Madison 1809-1817 
     
  1811Battle of Tippecanoe 
     
  1812War of 1812 begins 
     
  1814Treaty of Fort Jackson ends Creek War 
     
  1817Fifth President of the US is James Monroe 1817-1825
Harvard Law School founded
 
     
  1818Jackson Purchase in Kentucky
1818 Five more states were admitted to the US - Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi
 
     
  1819Adams-Onis Treaty, including acquisition of Florida
Illinois admission to the US
 
     
  1820Alabama and Maine admission to the US 
     
  1822Missouri admission to the US 
     
  1825Sixth President of the US is John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 
     
  1829Seventh President of the US is Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 
     
  1830Indian Removal Act
Oregon Trail opens
 
     
  1831Nat Turner's revolt 
     
  1832Black Hawk War
Seminole War begins
Department of Indian Affairs established
 
     
  1835Texas War for Independence begins 
     
  1836Arkansas admission to the US 
     
  1837Battle of the Alamo
Panic of 1837
Michigan admission to the US 
 
     
  18381838-1839: The Trail of Tears 
     
  1841Ninth President of the US is William Henry Harrison 1841 
     
  1841Tenth President of the US is John Tyler 1841-1845 
     
  1845Eleventh President of the US is James Knox Polk 1845-1849
Texas admission to the US
Florida admission to the US
 
     
  1846Mexican-American War begins and ends in 1848
Texas admission to the US
Oregon Treaty signed
 
     
  1847Treaty of Cahuenga ends Mexican-American War
Iowa admission to the US
 
     
  1848Gold discovered in California
Wisconsin admission to the US
Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War
 
     
  1849Twelfth President of the US is Zachary Taylor 1849-1850 
     
  1850Thirteenth President of the US is Millard Fillmore 1850-1853  
     
  1851California admission to the US 
     
  1853Fourteenth President of the US is Franklin Pierce 1853-1857
Gadsden Purchase
 
     
  1856Sack of Lawrence, Kansas
Pottawatomie Massacre
 
     
  1857Fifteenth President of the US is James Buchanan 1857-1861 
     
  1858Minnesota admission to the US 
     
  1859Oregon admission to the US
Harper's Ferry Raid
 
     
  1860Pony Express begins 
     
  1861Sixteenth President of the US is Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865
Kansas admission to the US
Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) established under President Jefferson Davis
American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter.
 
     
  1863Battle of Gettysburg
West Virginia admission to the US
 
     
  1864Sand Creek Massacre 
     
  1865Abraham Lincoln assassinated
Seventeenth President of the US is Andrew Johnson 1865-1869
Nevada admission to the US
United States Civil War ends
 
     
  1866Civil Rights Act of 1866
Ku Klux Klan founded
 
     
  1867Nebraska admission to the US
Alaska Purchase from Russia
 
     
  1869Eighteenth President of the US is Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877 
     
  1871Great Chicago Fire
Treaty of Washington with Great Britain regarding the Dominion of Canada
 
     
  1872Yellowstone National Park established 
     
  1874Red River Wars  
     
  1875Civil Rights Act of 1875  
     
  1876Battle of the Little Bighorn 
     
  1877Nineteenth Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881
Colorado admission to the US
Nez Perce War
 
     
  1881Twentieth President of the US is James Abram Garfield 1881 
     
  1881Twenty - First President of the US is Chester Alan Arthur 1881-1885 
     
  1882Chinese Exclusion Act and European Restriction Act 
     
  1885Twenty-Second President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1885-1889
Washington monument completed
 
     
  1889Twenty - Third President of the US is Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893 
     
  1890North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho admission to the US
Yosemite National Park created
Wounded Knee Massacre
 
     
  1891Wyoming admission to the US 
     
  1893Twenty - Fourth President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1893-1897 
     
  1896Utah admission to the US
Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike
 
     
  1897Twenty - Fifth President of the US is William McKinley 1897-1901 
     
  1898Spanish-American War 
     
  1900Boxer Rebellion in China 
     
  1901Twenty - Sixth President of the US is Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909  
     
  1903Ford Motor Company formed
1903 - First World Series
 
     
  1904Panama Canal Zone acquired  
     
  1908Oklahoma admission to the US
Ford Model T marketed
Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI)  established
 
     
  1909Twenty - Seventh President of the US is William Howard Taft 1909-1913 
     
  1912Arizona, Alaska and New Mexico admission to the US
Titanic sinks
 
     
  1913Twenty - Eighth President of the US is Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921 
     
  1914WW1 started 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 
     
  1915The Birth of a Nation movie directed by D.W. Griffith opens 
     
  1917US enters World War I
U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark
 
     
  1919Treaty of Versailles 
     
  1920First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania  
     
  1921Twenty- Ninth President of the US is Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921-1923 
     
  1923Thirtieth President of the US is Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929 
     
  1924Indian Reorganization Act  
     
  1927Indian Reorganization Act
Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight
The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson is the first "talkie" to be released
 
     
  1929Thirty- First President of the US is Herbert Clark Hoover 1929-1933
St. Valentine's Day massacre
Immigration Act
Great Depression begins
 
     
  1931Empire State Building opens 
     
  1932Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean 
     
  1933Thirty - Second President of the US is Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945
Japan and Germany withdraw from League of Nations
 
     
  1934Dust Bowl begins
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
John Dillinger killed
Indian Reorganization Act
 
     
  1935Social Security Act 
     
  1936London Conference on disarmament  
     
  1937Hindenburg disaster  
     
  1939Germany invades Poland; World War II begins  
     
  1941Attack on Pearl Harbor
U.S. enters World War II
 
     
  1944D-Day
Battle of the Bulge
 
     
  1945Thirty - Third President of the US is Harry S. Truman 1945-1953
U.S. takes Okinawa
U.S. joins the United Nations
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Germany and Japan surrender, ending World War II
 
     
  1946The Cold War began between the United States and the Soviet Union 
     
  1946Atomic Energy Act 
     
  1948Nuremberg trials
Berlin Blockade
 
     
  1949NATO formed
Germany divided into East and West
 
     
  1950Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power and start Communist witch hunts (1950-1954)
Korean War begins
 
     
  1953Thirty - Fourth President of the US is Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
Armistice in Korea
 
     
  1954SEATO alliance  
     
  1955Warsaw Pact 
     
  1956US installs Diem as leader of South Vietnam 
     
  1957Civil Rights Act of 1957
Russians launch Sputnik
 
     
  1958NASA formed  
     
  1959Cuban Revolution  
     
  1960Greensboro sit-in
Civil Rights Act of 1960
Hawaii, the last state was admitted giving the American flag 50 stars
 
     
  1961Thirty - Fifth President of the US is John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
Peace Corps
Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon
OPEC formed
 
     
  1962Cuban Missile Crisis 
     
  1963President J Kennedy assassinated
Thirty - Sixth President of the US is Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969
March on Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech
 
     
  1964Civil Rights Act of 1964  
     
  1965Detroit race riot 
     
  1968Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
Civil Rights Act of 1968
 
     
  1969Thirty - Seventh President of the US is Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974
Vietnam
Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
 
     
  1970Kent State shootings 
     
  1972Watergate burglary
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with USSR
 
     
  1973Vietnam War ends with US pulling out in 1973
Watergate Scandal breaks in 1973
Skylab first space station launched
 
     
  1974Richard Nixon resigns Presidency over Watergate
Thirty - Eighth President of the US is Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977
 
     
  1977Thirty - Ninth President of the US is Jimmy Carter 1977-1981 
     
  1979Three Mile Island nuclear accident
1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins
 
     
  1981Fortieth President of the US is Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley
 
     
  1986Iran-Contra scandal breaks
Space Shuttle Challenger accident
 
     
  1990Forty - First President of the US is George Herbert Walker Bush 1989-1993
Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit
Iraq invades Kuwait leading to 1991 Gulf War
 
     
  1991Gulf War  
     
  1992Los Angeles riots
Hurricane Andrew causes devastation in Florida and Louisiana
 
     
  1993Forty - Second President of the US is William Jefferson Clinton 1993-2001
World Trade Center bombing
Waco siege
 
     
  1995Oklahoma City bombing 
     
  1999President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate 
     
  2001Forty - Third President of the US is George Walker Bush
September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and The Pentagon
Invasion of Afghanistan Operation "Enduring Freedom"
 
     
  2004Occupation of Iraq, 2003-2004 
     
  2005Hurricane Katrina 
     
  2009Forty - Fourth President of the US is Barack Obama 
     
American History Timeline

American History Timeline
History Timelines of the United States of America provide fast facts and information about famous events in history, such as those detailed in the American History Timeline, precipitated a significant change in American history. These major historical events of America are arranged in the American History timeline by chronological, or date order, providing an actual sequence of this past event which was of significance to American history. This historical timeline is suitable for students of all ages, children and kids. Many American historical events, such as detailed in the American History timeline, occurred during times of crisis, evolution or change in the USA. Many of the famous American events as detailed in the American History timeline describe famous, critical and major incidents in the history of the United States of America. The specific period in history detailed in the American History timeline led to great changes in the development of America. The American History timeline provides fast information via the timeline which highlights the key dates and major historical significance in a fast information format. Specific information can be seen at a glance with concise and accurate details of this historical event of American significance. The chronologies of famous people, places and events in the United States of America are detailed in the American History timeline.

American History Timeline

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American History Timeline for Students, Children & Kids

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