American History Timeline 

Animated Atlas    

1400-1499

1440 Gutenberg printing press
1477  Marco Polo's Travels published
1488  Bartholomeu Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope
1492  Christopher Columbus "discovered" America
1492 - 1504 Columbus's four voyages to the New World
1494  Columbus began slave trade of Native Americans
1494  Treaty of Tordesillas
1497  John Cabot sails to America
1498  Vasco De Gama reaches India
1499  (1497?)Amerigo Vespucci makes his first voyage to the New World


1500-1599

1512  Law of Burgos gave Spanish "right" to enslave Indians
1513  Balboa sighted Pacific
1513  Ponce de Leon reached Florida
1519  Ferdinand Magellan began his circumnavigation of the globe
1519  Hernando Cortez (Cortes) began the three-year conquest of Mexico
1524  Verrazano explored Atlantic coast
1529  King Henry VIII of England married Ann Boleyn, severed ties with the Roman Church, and appointed himself Head of the English Church.
1531  Francisco Pizarro began the four-year long conquest of Peru  
1534  Cartier explored St. Lawrence River
1540 - 1542  Coronado explored Southwest searching for seven Cities of Cibola
1558 - 1603  Reign of Elizabeth I
1560 - 1570 Iroquois League of Five Nations formed
1565  St. Augustine founded
1576  Frobisher searched for Northwest Passage
1577  Sir Francis Drake began his circumnavigation of the globe
1585  Sir Walter Raleigh sailed to America to found the Roanoke Island colony
1586  Roanoke Island colonists abandoned the colony and returned to England with Sir Francis Drake
1587  Sir Walter Raleigh sent John White and more colonists to resettle Roanoke Island, John White returned to England
1588  Defeat of the Spanish Armada
1590  John White returned to Roanoke Island only to find the colonists had vanished


1600-1699

1603 - 1625  Reign of James I
1604  The war between England and Spain ended by King James I
1606  Virginia Company founded
1607  Jamestown colony founded by the Virginia Company
1608  Samuel de Champlain founded Quebec
1609  Henry Hudson explored New York coast
1612  John Rolfe planted the first commercially viable tobacco crop in Virginia
1615  Squanto, a Wampanoag, kidnapped by English
1616 - 1620  Smallpox epidemic among New England Indians
1619  Virginians set up their first representative assembly and began enacting laws
1619  First Africans brought to English colonies
1620  Plymouth colony founded by Pilgrim colonists aboard the Mayflower
1621  England orders all tobacco grown in the colonies to be brought to England, and order that wasn't enforced
1621  William Bradford elected governor of the Plymouth colony.
1622  Powhatan Confederacy attacked and killed 347 settlers in Virginia
1624  King James I dissolved the Virginia company and took control of their colony
1625 - 1649  Reign of Charles I  
1630  Puritans, as the Massachusetts Bay Company, began establishing colonies in the Massachusetts Bay area.
1633  Charles I of England appoints Archbishop William Laud to govern the colonies
1636   Thomas Hooker established a Puritan colony in the Connecticut Valley
1636  Roger Williams banished from the original Puritan colonies and establishes a colony of "separatists" in Rhode Island
1636  Harvard University founded by Puritans
1636 -1637 Pequot War - slaughter of Pequots
1637  Puritan John Mason destroyed the Pequot tribe
1638  Anne Hutchinson banished from Massachusetts
1640  Charles I of England calls Parliament into session, dismisses it, recalls it
1642 - 1649 English Civil War -  Parliament makes war on Charles I of England
1649  Maryland Toleration Act enacted
1649  Charles I of England beheaded by Parliament after defeat by Oliver Cromwell
1649  Oliver Cromwell replaces Charles I until 1658 - Commonwealth and Protectorate
1655  Oliver Cromwell of England takes Jamaica from the Dutch
1660  Charles II ascends to the throne of England, declares the acts of Parliament over the past 11 years to be null and void
1660  First set of the English Navigation Acts passed
1662  Charles II of England issues royal charter to Connecticut
1663   Second set of English Navigation Acts passed
1663  Carolina granted by English royal charter
1663  Charles II of England issues royal charter to establish Rhode Island,
1664   North Carolina portion of the Carolina grant given a governor
1664  New Netherland became New York
1665  North Carolina colony's first representative assembly meets
1672   Hudson's Bay Company established in England
1673   Dutch reconquered New York from England
1674   Dutch return New York to England
1675   Charles II of England appoints Lords of Trade
1675  King Philip's War
1676  Bacon's Rebellion
1679  Charles II of England separated New Hampshire from Massachusetts in order to appoint a royal government
1680  Pueblo Revolt
1681 William Penn granted charter to Pennsylvania
1684  Massachusetts charter revoked
1685  James II ascended to the throne of England
1685  Duke of York became King James II of England  1685 - 1688
1686  Sir Edmund Andros of England arrived in Massachusetts, establishing the Dominion of New England, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, and New Jersey
1688  James II of England forced to flee from England  -  Glorious Revolution
1688  English Parliament replaces James II with William and Mary
1688  Colonists of the Dominion of New England revolt and begin to restore their former governments
1689  Maryland converted to royal government by England
1689  Beginning of the War of the League of Augsburg between England and France - 1689 - 1697 (King William's War)
1691  William of England granted new charter to Massachusetts, includes Plymouth and Maine
1692  Pennsylvania colony taken from William Penn and comes under English control
1692  Salem Witch Trials - Twenty people hanged in Massachusetts as witches
1693  William and Mary College founded
1694  Pennsylvania colony returned to William Penn by England
1696  English Parliament passes legislation requiring enforcement of Navigation Acts in the colonies
1696  English Lords of Trade replaced by Lords Commissioners of Trade and Plantations
1697  End of the War of the League of Augsburg
1697  Peace of Ryswick
1699  England passes the Wool Act

1700-1799
1701  Pennsylvania colonists enact Charter of Privileges
1701  Yale University founded
1702  France established a settlement in Mobile
1702  Beginning of the War of the Spanish Succession between France and England - 1702 - 1713 (Queen Anne's War)
1704  Rice added to English Navigation Acts
1705  Naval stores added to English Navigation Acts
1711 - 1713 Tuscarora War - Tuscarora forced to move north
1713  End of the War of the Spanish Succession
1713  Treaty of Utrecht
1714  House of Hanover established in England
1715  Yamasee War
1715  Maryland royal government replaced by proprietary government
1718  William Penn dies in English debtor's prison
1719  Rebellion in Charles Town, South Carolina colony, overthrows governor
1721  Copper and furs added to English Navigation Acts
1729  Proprietors of the Carolina grant gave up their charter/royal governments appointed for North and South Carolina
1732  England passed the Hat Act
1732  General James Oglethorpe and associates granted royal charter as trustees for Georgia for 21 years
1733  England passed the Molasses Act
1734  Great Awakening began in the colonies
1739  Beginning of the War of Jenkin's Ear between England and Spain
1740  Beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession - 1740 - 1748 (King George's War 1744 - 1748)
1742  End of the War of Jenkin's Ear
1746  Princeton University founded
1748  Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ended the War of the Austrian Succession
1750  England passed the Iron Act
1751  Slavery and rum allowed in Georgia
1752  Georgia returned to royal control
1754  Columbia University founded
1754  Colonel George Washington forced to surrender Fort Necessity to the French
1755  Pennsylvania University founded
1756  Beginning of the Seven Years' War - (French and Indian War - 1754 - 1763)
1759  England victorious over France on the Plains of Abraham and capture Quebec
1760  France surrenders Montreal to England
1760  George III ascends to the throne of England
1760 - 1761 Cherokee War
1763  Treaty of Paris ends the Seven Years' War
1763  Proclamation of 1763
1763 - 1764  Pontiac's Rebellion
1763  Paxton Riots - massacre of Conestogas
1764  Brown University founded
1764  England passed the Currency Act
1764  England passed the Sugar Act
1765  England passed the Stamp Act
1765  England passed the Quartering Act
1765  Stamp Act Congress meets in New York
1766  Rutgers University founded
1766  Stamp Act repealed
1766  Declaratory Act
1767  England passed the Townshend Acts
1769  Dartmouth University founded
1770  The Boston "massacre"
1770  England repealed all duties except for the duty on tea
1772  The Gaspee affair
1772  England passed the Tea Act
1774  England passed the Massachusetts Government Act (one of the Intolerable Acts)
1774  England passed the Administration of Justice Act (one of the Intolerable Acts)
1774  England passed a new Quartering Act (one of the Intolerable Acts)
1774  England passed the Quebec Act
1774  First Continental Congress
1775  Battles of Lexington and Concord, April
1775  Battle of Bunker Hill at Breed's Hill, June 16
1775  Second Continental Congress, May
1775  George Washington took command of colonial militia besieging Boston, July 3
1775  Congress appointed secret committee to ask for aid from France and Spain, November 29
1775  Benjamin Franklin appointed first Postmaster-General
1776  Adam Smith coins the word mercantilism
1776  Thomas Paine's  Common Sense
1776  Declaration of Independence, July 4
1776  British evacuated Boston, March 17
1776  General Howe arrived in New York, August 12
1776  General Washington retreated from New York to New Jersey, November
1776  General Washington crossed Delaware River into Pennsylvania, December 7
1776  British occupied Newport, Rhode Island, December 8
1776  General Washington attacked and captured Trenton, New Jersey, December 25
1777  General Howe took Philadelphia, September 26
1777  General Burgoyne surrendered at Saratoga, October 17
1777  Congress agreed on a national constitution, the Articles of Confederation, for presentation to the states for approval
1778  Alliance with France, February 6
1778  Battle of Monmouth Courthouse, June 28
1779  Spain entered the American Revolution, June 21
1780 General Clinton captured Charles Town, South Carolina, May 12
1780  General Cornwallis defeated General Gates near Camden, New Jersey, August 16
1780  Massachusetts first state to ratify a state constitution by popular vote
1781  General Cornwallis withdrew from South Carolina and heads for Yorktown, April
1781  Combined American and French land and sea forces defeated Cornwallis at Yorktown, October 19
1781  Articles of Confederation unanimously approved by the states
1783  Treaty ending the American Revolution, September 3
1783  Last British troops left New York, November 25
1783  Continental Army officers established the Society of the Cincinnati
1784  Spain closed the Mississippi River to American navigation
1786  Shay's Rebellion
1787  Northwest Ordinance enacted
1787  Revised Constitution sent to Congress
1788  Hamilton, Madison, and Jay published The Federalist  
1789  U.S. Constitution ratified
1789  Washington elected
1789   Bill of Rights submitted to the states
1789  Judiciary Act enacted
1790 - 1794  Little Turtle's War
1790  National Debt payment plan approved
1790  Samuel Slater's cotton mill built in Rhode Island
1790  First U. S. census
1791  First ten Constitutional amendments (Bill of Rights) ratified
1791  National Bank chartered
1793  Louis XVI of France executed
1793  President Washington issued proclamation of neutrality in the war between England and France, April 22
1793  British began seizing American ships, December
1793  Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin
1793  Fugitive Slave Act
1794  Whiskey Rebellion
1795  Treaty enacted with England over American shipping rights
1795  Treaty of Greenville
1795  Eleventh constitutional amendment ratified
1795  Eleventh Amendment ratified, January 23
1796  British evacuate the American Northwest
1796  Pinckney's Treaty approved
1796  John Adams elected president
1797  XYZ Affair
1798  Department of the Navy established
1798  Alien and Sedition Acts passed

1800-1899
1800  Jefferson elected president
1801  Judiciary Act expands the Judiciary Act of 1789
1801  Sedition Act expired
1801  Beginning of Tripolitan War
1801  John Marshall appointed Chief Justice of the Supreme Court
1802 - 1805 Tlingit Resistance against Russians
1802  U. S. Military Academy established at West Point
1803  Louisiana Purchase  -  1803 - 1806 Lewis and Clark expedition
1803  Supreme Court Marbury v. Madison decision
1804  Louisiana Territory Act - U.S. plan to force Indians west of the Mississippi
1804  Associate Supreme Court Justice Samuel Chase impeached, not convicted
1804  Aaron Burr killed Alexander Hamilton in a duel
1804  Twelfth Amendment ratified, June 15
1805  End of Tripoli tan War
1806  Congress authorizes construction of the National Road
1807  Embargo Act passed, stopping all shipments of American goods to foreign ports
1808  Slave trade made illegal in the U. S.
          American fur Company chartered
1809 - 1811  Tecumseh's Rebellion
          Embargo Act of 1807 repealed
1809  Nonintercourse Act passed
1810  Bacon's Bill Number 2 effectively ended Nonintercourse
1811  Construction of the National Road began
          Nonintercourse reestablished with Great Britain
          Battle of Tippecanoe
          Bank of the United States abolished
1812  U. S. declared war on Great Britain
1813  Captain Oliver Hazard Perry victorious at Put-in-Bay - "We have met the enemy and they are ours"
          Tecumseh killed, Indian confederacy collapsed
1813 - 1814  Creek War - 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson - Creek land stolen by U.S.
1814  Battle of Horseshoe Bend March 27 - Creeks forced to give up 2/3 of their lands
          British captured Washington DC, burned the Capitol, the White House, and other public buildings, August 24
          Treaty of Ghent ended the War of 1812, 24 December, 1814
1815  American victory at the Battle of New Orleans, last battle of the War of 1812, two weeks after the peace treaty
1816  Tariff of 1816 enacted
          Second Bank of the United States established
1817 - 1818 First Seminole War
           Construction of the Erie Canal began - 1817 - 1825
          American Colonization Society founded
1818  National Road completed
          Andrew Jackson invades the Floridas
1819  Adams-Onis treaty transferred the Floridas from Spain to the United States
          University of Virginia founded
          McCulloch v. Maryland
1820  U. S. enacts law to define participation in slave trade as piracy
          Missouri Compromise
1821  Andrew Jackson first American governor of the Floridas
          Mexico won independence from Spain
          Santa Fe Trail opened
1822  Cotton mills opened in Lowell, Massachusetts
1822  First permanent settlement of free black Americans from the U. S. established in the African territory of Liberia
1823  Monroe Doctrine
1824  Supreme Court Gibbons v. Ogden decision
1825  Erie Canal completed
1827  Massachusetts enacts law requiring every town of 500 or more families to establish a public school
1828  Jackson elected president
          Doctrine of Nullification first proposed by John C. Calhoun
          American Peace Society founded
          Construction began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
1830  Mexican government halted immigration into Texas, including slaves, establishes duties in American goods, and sent troops to enforce the new laws
          Baltimore and Ohio Railroad open for business
          Indian Removal Act - Indians to be forced west of the Mississippi
1830 - 1847  Mormon trek west
1831  Nat Turner's Rebellion
          Cherokee Nation v. Georgia - Supreme Court decided in favor of the Cherokee
          Cyrus Hall McCormick invented the reaper
          William Lloyd garrison began The Liberator
1832  Black Hawk War
          South Carolina Ordinance of Nullification
          New England Anti-Slavery Society founded
1833  Slaves in the British West Indies emancipated
1834  National Trades' Union formed
1835 - 1842  Second Seminole War under Osceola
1836  Bank of the United States charter expires, receives charter in Pennsylvania
          President Jackson's "Specie Circular"
          House of Representatives passed gag rule that prevented any petitions involving slavery from being printed, referred to committee, and debated
          Siege of the Alamo
          Texas won independence after Battle of San Jacinto and forced General Santa Anna to sign peace treaty, April 21
1837  Oberlin College - first coeducational college
          Mount Holyoke College opens, first women's college
1838  Potawatomi Trail of Death
1840  Congress passed the Independent Treasury Act
          Liberty Party formed
1841  Bank of the United States closed
1842  Webster-Ashburton Treaty
          Supreme Court finds Fugitive Slave Act constitutional in Prigg v. Pennsylvania decision but allowed states to enforce it or not
1844 - 1846  Dispute with Britain over Oregon territory
1844  Samuel F. B. Morse invented the telegraph
          Charles Goodyear patented vulcanization of rubber
1845  Concept of Manifest Destiny first appears
1845  Independent Republic of Texas admitted to the union, only state to have ever been an independent country
1846  U. S. declared war on Mexico -  1846 - 1848
1846  Elias Howe patented the sewing machine
1847  Brigham Young led Mormon settlers to the Great Salt Lake basin
          U.S. troops captured Mexico City, effectively ending the war with Mexico
1848  First Women's Rights Convention met in Seneca Falls, NY
          Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo cedes Mexican regions of New Mexico, California, and the Rio Grande
          Free-Soil Party formed
          Gold discovered in California
1850  Compromise of 1850
          Clayton-Bulwer Treaty
1851  Maine first state to pass law prohibiting the sale or manufacture of intoxicating beverages
          Treaty of Fort Laramie
          Federal government adopts policy of concentration to control plains Indians
1853  Gadsden Purchase
1854  Ostend Manifesto
          Kansas-Nebraska bill enacted into law - reduces Indian Territory
1855 - 1858  Third Seminole War
1856  U. S. took control of Nicaragua
          Walker Tariff Act passed
          Nativists form the American Party
1857  Dred Scott decision of the Supreme Court
1858  Pike's Peak Gold Rush started
          Coeur d'Alene War in Washington
          Lincoln - Douglas debates
1859  Comstock Lode discovered
          Abolitionist John Brown attacks Harper's Ferry and is captured by Colonel Robert E. Lee, executed on December 2
1860  Pony Express established
          Lincoln elected
          South Carolina first state to secede from the Union
1861  Confederate States of America established, February 7
1861  Jefferson Davis elected president of Confederate States of America, February 18
1861 - 1863 Apache uprisings under Cochise and Mangas Coloradas
1861  Fort Sumter falls to Confederate troops, April 13
1861  Battle of Bull Run, Virginia, July 21
1861  Battle of Wilson's Bridge, Missouri, August 10
1861  Vassar College founded
1861  First Confiscation Act, August
1862  First person to be convicted of violating anti-slave trade laws
1862  Confederacy passes the first conscription act in American history
1862  Battle of Shiloh, April 6-7
1862  Battle between Monitor and Merrimac, March 9
1862  Seven Days' Battles, June 25 - July 1
1862  Morrill Tariff Act, July
1862  Homestead Act, May - opens Indian land in Kansas and Nebraska to settlers
1862  Second Confiscation Act, July
1862  Battle of Antietam, September 17
1862  President Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation, announced September 22, signed into law January 1, 1863
1862  Battle of Fredericksburg, November
1862  Militia Act established separate black military units, July 17
1862 Santee Dakota Uprising of Little Crow
1863  Union passes a conscription act
1863  National Banking Act
1863 - 1866  Navajo War
1863  Battle of Chancellorsville, May 1
1863  Battle of Gettysburg, July 1
1863  Siege of Vicksburg begins, April 16
1863  Vicksburg falls to Union troops, July 4
1863  Draft riots in the northern states, July
1863  Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, November
1863  Battle of Chattanooga, November 23
1863  President Lincoln announces Proclamation of Amnesty and Reconstruction, December
1864  Working Women's Protective Union founded
1864  Battle of Fort Pillow, April 12
1864 - 1865  Cheyenne Arapaho War in Colorado and Kansas
1864  Battle of the Wilderness, May
1864  Battle of Spotsylvania Court House, May 8
1864  Battle at Bloody Angle, May 12
1864 Atlanta fell to Union troops, September 1
1864  Battle of Cedar Creek, summer
1864  Massacre at Sand Creek, November 29
1864  General Sherman burned Atlanta and began his March to the Sea, November
1864  Colonel Chivington defeated Cheyenne Chief Black Kettle, November 29
1864  Battle of Nashville, December 15
1864 - 1872 Lumbee Resistance in North Carolina
1865  Charleston fell to Union troops, February 18
1865  General Sherman burned Columbia, February 17
1865  Battle of Five Forks, April 1
1865  Petersburg fell, Confederate government fled Richmond, April 2
1865  General Lee surrendered the Confederate armies to General Grant at the Appomattox Court House, April 9
1865  President Lincoln assassinated, April 14
1865  General Johnston surrendered to General Sherman, April 17
1865  President Davis taken into federal custody, May 10
1865  Last Confederate army surrendered, May 26
1865  Congress established the Freedman's Savings Bank, March 3
1865  President Johnson grants amnesty to former Confederates who take oath of loyalty to the Constitution, May 29
1865  President Johnson announces his plans for reconstruction, May 29
1865 Congressional Joint Committee on Reconstruction formed, December
1865  Thirteenth Amendment ratified, December 6
1865  Sioux Wars began
1866  Freedman's Bureau renewed and expanded, overriding President Johnson's veto
1866  Civil Rights Bill passed into law, overriding President Johnson's veto, April
1866  Beginning of major Texan cattle drives to the Northern markets
1866  Congress passed the Reconstruction Act, the Tenure of Office Act, and the Army Appropriations Act, March 2
1866  Ku Klux Klan founded
1866 - 1868  War for Bozeman Trail in Wyoming and Montana - Second Treaty of Fort Laramie 1868
1866  Sioux ambushed and defeated Captain Fetterman, December
1866  National Labor Union formed
1867  Peace Commission starts Indian policy of small reservations to replace policy of concentration
1867  The Grange founded
1867  U. S. purchases Alaska from Russia
1868  President Johnson impeached, February 24, acquitted by the Senate by a one-vote margin
1868 General Sherman begins war of extermination against Indians who refused to settle onto reservations
1868  Cornell University founded
1868  Fourteenth Amendment ratified, July 9
1868  U. S. signs treaty of friendship and commerce with China
1868 - 1869  Southern Plains War
1869  Federal law limits federal employees to eight-hour days
1869  First transcontinental railroad completed at Promontory Point, Utah, May 10
1869  Black Friday, September 24
1869  Union Pacific-Central Pacific Railroad completed
1869  Holy Order of the Knights of Labor formed
1870  New York Metropolitan Museum of Art opens
1870  Boston Museum of Fine Arts opens
1870  Fifteenth Amendment ratified, March 30
1871  Ku Klux Klan Act
1871  Smith College founded
1871  Treaty of Washington
1872  Credit Mobilier scandal
1872 - 1872  Modoc War under Kintpuash (Captain Jack) in California and Oregon
1873  Congress demonetizes silver. Gold standard implemented Financial panic.
          Jay Cooke & Company fails, starting a general economic collapse, September 18

1874  Joseph F. Glidden patents the most successful style of barbed wire, November
1874 - 1875  Red River War
1875  Black Hills Gold Rush - treaties protecting Indian land ignored
1875  Specie Resumption Act
1875  Treaty with Hawaii opens sugar plantations to free trade with the U. S.
1876 - 1877  Sioux War for the Black Hills under Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse
1876  General Custer defeated by Sioux at Little Bighorn, June 25
1876  Alexander Graham Bell sends first intelligible voice message by telephone, March 10
1876 Thomas Alva Edison establishes his invention factory
1876  Philadelphia Museum of Art opens
1876  American Library Association founded
1876  Johns Hopkins University opens
1876  Hopkins University founded
1877  Nez Perce attempt to flee to Canada
1877  Desert Land Act
1877  Bell Telephone Company formed
          Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president
           Great railroad strike.
          President Hayes uses federal troops to stop strike of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
          National Farmers Alliance and Industrial Union (Southern Alliance) founded
          Sept. 5  Crazy Horse murdered
1877 - 1880 Apache Resistance under Victorio
1878  Bland-Allison silver bill passed.
          Bannock War under Buffalo Horn
          Greenback Labor Party formed
          Treaty with Samoa establishes naval base in Pago Pago
1878 - 1879  Northern Cheyenne under Dull Knife flee Indian Territory
1879  Dumbbell tenement houses invented in New York City
          Ute War under Satanta and Lone Wolf
1880  Electric light bulb patented by Thomas Alva Edison
           Population 50,155,783.
1881  Chief Sitting Bull sues for peace - surrenders in North Dakota
          American Federation of Labor formed
          National Civil Service Reform League founded
          James A. Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th president
          President Garfield shot, July 2  by Charles Guiteau in Washington, DC,
          President Garfield dies of gunshot wound, September 19
1881 -1886 Apache resistance under Geronimo
1882  Chinese Exclusion Act - Widespread resentment against immigrant Chinese laborers results in the Chinese Exclusion Act, suspending Chinese immigration for ten years.
1882  Standard Oil Trust formed, January 2
1882  Association of Collegial Alumnae founded
1883  Supreme Court, in Civil Rights Cases, declared the Civil Rights Act of 1875 void
1883  Brooklyn Bridge completed
1883  Civil Service Reform Act
1884  Nikola Tesla invents the alternating-current motor
1885  Winter decimates the plains cattle herds
          Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd president
          American Telephone and Telegraph Company formed
          Bryn Mawr College founded
1886  Summer drought continues destruction of plains cattle herds
1886  Winter decimates plains cattle herds for the second winter in a row
1886  Supreme Court decision Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Co. v. Illinois decides that only Congress can regulate interstate commerce
1886  Haymarket bombing, May 4
1886  Congress authorizes construction of battleships Maine and Texas
1886  Succession Act
1887  Dawes Severalty Act
          President Cleveland opens railroad right-of-ways to homesteaders
          Interstate Commerce Act, February 4
1888  Construction of the Tacoma Building begins the age of the skyscraper
1889  Hull House established
          Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated as the 23rd president
          First international conference of American republics which would later become the Pan-American Union
1890  Wounded Knee Massacre, last “battle” of the Indian wars
          Oklahoma Territory established, May 2
          Sherman Antitrust Act, July 2 signed into law, prohibiting commercial monopolies
          General Federation of Women's Clubs founded
          National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA) is founded, with Elizabeth Cady Stanton as president.
1890  McKinley Tariff Act
          Jacob Riis publishes, How the Other Half Lives, exposing the wretched living conditions of people in the slums of New York City.
          Population 62,622,250.
1892  Labor-management warfare at Coeur d'Alene, Idaho ended by federal troops
          Carnegie Steel Works at Homestead, Pennsylvania lock outs employees in a labor contract dispute, and several strikers and plant guards are killed.
1892  People's party founded
1893  Cherokee Outlet opened
          Grover Cleveland is inaugurated a second time, as the 24th
          Panic
          Marines from USS Boston landed in Hawaii, forcing Queen Liliuokalani to step down in favor of a provisional government
1894  American Railway Union members support Pullman Palace Car Company workers in the most notable strike in American history, tying up most of the railroads in the midwestern United States.
          Federal troops break railroad strike in Chicago, July 4
          Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act
1895  New York Public Library opens
1896  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
          Spain employs policy of reconcentration in Cuba
1897  Library of Congress opens
          Dingley Tariff Act
          William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th president
1898  Hawaii annexed, July
          Battleship Maine explodes in Havana Harbor, February
          Congressional resolution recognizes Cuban revolutionary government and Cuban independence, April 19
          Spain declares war on U. S., U. S. declares war on Spain, April 24-25
          Admiral Dewey sinks all Spanish ships in Manila Bay, May 1
          U. S. troops invade Cuba, June 20
          U. S. naval forces victorious in Santiago Harbor, July 3
          Spain surrenders in the war over Cuba, July 16
          General Miles begins the invasion of Puerto Rico, July 21
          Armistice surrenders Puerto Rico to U. S. troops, August 12
          Spain surrenders Manila to U. S. troops, August 14
          Peace treaty with Spain surrenders Puerto Rico, Philippines, Guam, and Cuba to the United States, December 10
1899  Philippine insurgents revolt against U. S., February 5
1900  
1901  Carrie Nation begins a crusade against alcohol, using an ax to demolish the interiors of saloons.
1903  Wright Brothers fly the first airplane at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.
          Henry Ford founds the Ford Motor Company and begins building Ford automobiles.
          Department of Commerce and Labor created
          Elkins Act passed, prohibiting the railroads from granting secret rebates and from establishing discriminatory rates
          Panama Canal Treaty with Colombia ratified by the United States Senate. Rejected August 17 by Colombian Senate.
           The United States recognizes the new Republic of Panama.
1904  National Child Labor Committee organized to encourage laws banning the employment of young children.
           Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine
1905  The first nickelodeon, a theater where people could see a short "moving picture" for a nickel, opened in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1906  Pure Food and Drug Act made it illegal to make or sell food, drugs and alcohol containing improper ingredients, or to give false information on product labels.
          Meat Inspection Act passed
          Hepburn Act passed, extending the jurisdiction of the federal government over interstate commerce to include express companies, companies operating pipelines transporting petroleum products, and companies operating sleeping cars on the railroads
          The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair, published
1909 W.E.B. DuBois helped found the National Association for Colored People (NAACP) to fight racial segregation.
1911  Marcus Garvey establishes the Universal Negro Improvement Association
1912  April 14-15: The Titanic, strikes an iceberg in the North Atlantic on its maiden voyage and sinks within hours; 1,517 of 2,100 passengers drown
1913  Panama Canal opens
          Sixteen Amendment authorizing income tax ratified
          Seventeenth Amendment providing for direct elections of Senators ratified
          Federal Reserve Act passed -- Federal Reserve System begun
          Newlands Act passed,  creates the U.S. Board of Mediation and Conciliation to adjust disputes between railroads and their operating employees.  
          Underwood Tariff Act passed, the first reduction in duties since the Civil War, also established a modest income tax

1914  U. S. troops occupied Vera Cruz
           June 28, Archduke Franz Ferdinand and wife murdered by a Serb terrorist in Sarajevo, Bosnia
           August, World War I began
1916  Germany issued Sussex pledge
          Child Labor Act passed, setting a national minimum age of 14 in industries producing nonagricultural goods for interstate commerce or for export
          Keating-Owen Act passed, forbiding the transportation among states of products of factories, shops or canneries employing children under 14 years of age, of mines employing children under 16 years of age, and the products of any of these employing children under 16 who worked at night or more than eight hours a day.
1917  Russian Revolution
          April 6: President Woodrow Wilson signs a declaration of war against Germany, bringing the U.S. into World War I
1918  Nov. 11: World War I ends with a declared armistice at 11:00 am
           Wilson's Fourteen Points; January 8
1920  Jan. 10: Treaty of Versailles takes effect, redrawing map of Europe and imposing punitive reparations on Germany
          Transportation Act passed --  ICC empowered to prescribe intrastate rates when necessary to eliminate discrimination against carriers in interstate commerce
          Railroad Labor Board created
          19th Amendment ratified (women's vote) 
1922  Joseph Stalin elected General Secretary of the Central Committee of the Russian Communist Party
1924  Calvin Coolidge elected president  
1925  July 10-25, Scopes Monkey Trial
1927  Charles Lindbergh arrived in Paris after a 33 hour non-stop flight from New York City
1928  Kellogg-Briand Pact  
1929  October 24th, "Black Thursday," recorded sales of shares hits 12,895,000 -- Oct. 29: "Black Tuesday," the American stock market crashes plunging the country into the Great Depression -- recorded sales of shares hits 16,410,000. New York Times index of industrial stocks drops nearly forty points, the worst drop in Wall Street history to that point.
1930  Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act passed
           By year's end, 1350 banks have suspended operations during 1930
1931  September, Japan invaded Manchuria
          By year's end, 2,293 banks have suspended operations during 1931
1932  Reconstruction Finance Corporation created 
          Revenue Act of 1932 passed, the largest peacetime tax increase in the nation's history
          July 28th, Bonus Army Riot begins in Washington, D.C.
          Franklin Roosevelt elected
1933  Bank holiday, "Hundred Days"
          NRA, AAA, FDIC, TVA, FERA, CCC
         Twenty-first Amendment repealed prohibition
          April 19th, America goes off the gold standard 
          May 12th, Agricultural Adjustment Act passed, authorizing paying farmers not to grow crops
          May 12th, Federal Emergency Relief Adminstration created
          May 12th, Farm Relief Act passed, creating the Farm Credit Administration and the Agricultural Adjustment Adminstiration
          May 18th, Tennessee Valley Authority created 
          May 27th, Federal Securities Act passed
          June 6th, National Cooperative Employment Service Act passed
          June 13th, Home Owners' Loan Act passed
          June 16th, Farm Credit Act passed 
          June 16th, Glass-Steagall Act passed 
          Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation established
          Federal Reserve empowered to set maximum allowable interest rates on savings and time deposits accounts
          Payment of interest on demand deposits (checking accounts) outlawed
          Commercial banks were no longer allowed to engage in investment banking (underwriting securities)
          June 16th, National Industrial Recovery Act passed 
          June 16th, Emergency Railroad Transportation Act passed
          October 17th, Albert Einstein arrived in the United States as a refugee from Nazi Germany. 
          November 8th, Civil Works Administration (CWA ) created by executive order
          December 5th, 21st Amendment ratified (repeals 18th amendment, ending alcohol prohibition) 
          By year's end, approximately 4,000 banks have suspended operations in 1933

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