Other Timelines

1776

The American Revolution begins.

1789

The U.S. Constitution is ratified.

1789

George Washington becomes the first president of the U.S.

1791

The Bill of Rights is ratified.

1803

U.S. acquires the Louisiana Territory from France.

1812

U.S. fights Great Britain in War of 1812.

1820

Missouri Compromise is created to maintain balance between free and slave states in U.S.

1837

A financial panic occurs in the U.S. (Panic of 1837).

1838

Native Americans are forced to move west -- Trail of Tears.

1846

U.S. wars with Mexico.

1848

The first Woman’s Rights Convention is held in Seneca Falls & Rochester, New York. The Declaration of Sentiments based on the Declaration of Independence is adopted.

1849

The California Gold Rush begins.

1850

The Fugitive Slave Law is passed providing for the return of escaped slaves between states.

1853

Florence Nightingale organizes wartime nursing during the Crimean War in Europe.

1859

Abolitionist, John Brown’s raid on the federal arsenal in Harper’s Ferry, West Virginia, his subsequent trial and hanging occurs.

1861

The Civil War begins.

1861

Abraham Lincoln is president.

1865

President Abraham Lincoln is assassinated in Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. by John Wilkes Booth.

1865

The Civil War ends.

1865

The Thirteenth Amendment abolishes slavery.

1868

The Fourteenth Amendment gives citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the U.S., including former slaves.

1869

The Transcontinental Railroad crossing the U.S. is completed.

1870

The Fifteenth Amendment gives former male slaves the right to vote.

1873

U.S. economy has a serious business depression.

1876

Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone.

1877

Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.

1883

Thomas Edison invents the light bulb.

1898

The Spanish-American War begins.

1903

The airplane of the Wright Brothers, The Wright Flyer, is the first ever power-driven, heavier-than-air machine that has a controlled and sustained flight at Kitty Hawk, North Carolina.

1904

One million immigrants per year arrive in the U.S.

1906

The San Francisco Earthquake occurs.

1908

Henry Ford produces the first Model-T car.

1910

The first wireless telegraph message is transmitted between land and air.

1914

World War I begins.

1914

The Panama Canal opens.

1915

Coast-to-coast telephone service is introduced in the U.S.

1915

The ship, Lusitania, is sunk by a German U-Boat.

1917

Bolshevik Revolution begins in Russia.

1917

U.S. enters World War I.

1918

World War I ends.

1919

The Eighteenth Amendment – Prohibition -- is passed.

1920

The League of Nations is formed.

1920

The Nineteenth Amendment -- The Susan B. Anthony Amendment -- giving women the right to vote is passed.