Events - Browse By Place - United States

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Ponce de Leon founds Spanish settlement in Florida
1513
Discovery, United States
Spaniards led by de Soto in search for gold and silver--discover Mississippi River
1541
Discovery, United States
British colonists sail to Jamestown, Virginia and form first permanent settlement
1607
Geography, United States
Pocahontas marries John Rolfe in Jamestown's chapel
1614
Culture, United States
African slaves sold in Jamestown
1619
Trade, United States
Mayflower brings 102 Puritans to settle in New England
1620
Geography, United States
First Thanksgiving celebrated by Pilgrims in Plymouth Colony
1621
Culture, United States
Minuit buys Manhattan from Native Americans--becomes Dutch New Amsterdam
1626
Geography, United States
Boston is founded by John Winthrop and the Massachusetts Bay Company
1630
Geography, United States
New Amsterdam surrenders after 4 English ships with 300 troops enter harbor
1664
War, United States
La Salle claims Louisiana for France
1682
Geography, United States
Pennsylvania's constitution establishes freedom to practice any Christian religion
1682
Religion, United States
Six witches executed in Salem
1692
Religion, United States
Benjamin Franklin experiments with electricity in a thunderstorm using a kite
1752
Science, United States
Benjamin Franklin proposes a confederation of Britain's American colonies
1754
Government, United States
Quakers in Pennsylvania & New Jersey publish tracts condemning slavery
1754
Human Rights, United States
Fort Duquesne built by French at location that is currently Pittsburgh
1754
War, United States
Abigail Adams supports the equality of men and women
1764
Human Rights, United States
American colonists react to Stamp Act: "No taxation without representation"
1765
Government, United States
John Witherspoon becomes President of the College of New Jersey (Princeton)
1768
Education, United States
American colonists respond to increase in taxes with Boston Tea Party
1773
Government, United States
George Washington becomes commander of Continental Army
1775
War, United States
Washington crosses the Delaware and defeats German mercenaries at Trenton
1776
War, United States
American Declaration of Independence signed in Philadelphia
1776
Government, United States
Georgia & South Carolina are the only states legally importing slaves from Africa
1776
Human Rights, United States
Americans seize momentum as Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga
1777
War, United States
Battle of Monmouth
1778
War, United States
Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown
1781
War, United States
Newburgh Conspiracy: Washington leads fellow officers in Newburgh Address
1783
War, United States
The Constitution of the United States is signed in Philadelphia
1787
Government, United States
Alexander Hamilton becomes first U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
1789
Government, United States
George Washington becomes first president of the United States
1789
Government, United States
Fugitive Slave Act makes criminal assisting runaway slaves
1793
Human Rights, United States
Thomas Jefferson resigns as Secretary of State
1793
Government, United States
George Washington gives his Farewell Address
1796
Government, United States
John Adams becomes second president of the United States
1797
Government, United States
American government moves capital to Washington, D.C.
1800
Geography, United States
Thomas Jefferson becomes the third president of the United States
1801
Government, United States
President Jefferson makes United States double in size after Louisiana Purchase
1803
Geography, United States
Lewis and Clark expedition opens way to conquest of the West
1805
Discovery, United States
James Madison becomes the fourth president of the United States
1809
Government, United States
First steamboat in the western U.S. launches from Pittsburgh
1811
Transportation, United States
Harrison and Indiana militia defeat Indians at Battle of Prophetstown (Tippecanoe)
1811
War, United States
Andrew Jackson has gunfight with Jesse and Thomas Hart Benton
1813
Culture, United States
End of serious military power of Americans Indians in pre-Civil War United States
1814
War, United States
Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in duel
1814
Culture, United States
In August, British attack Washington and Baltimore in War of 1812
1814
War, United States
James Monroe becomes the fifth president of the United States
1817
Government, United States
Andrew Jackson proclaims provisional government to citizens of Pensacola
1818
War, United States
State of Connecticut disestablishes religion
1818
Religion, United States
John Quincy Adams supports Andrew Jackson in his invasion of Spanish Florida
1818
Government, United States
"The Panic of 1819" hits the U.S. as the first boom-and-bust of capitalism
1819
Trade, United States
William Ellery Channing gives sermon about compatibility of science & the Bible
1819
Religion, United States
Treaty of Doak's Stand
1820
Geography, United States
Missouri Compromise delays civil war as Missouri joins U.S. as slave state
1820
Government, United States
Monroe Doctrine warns European nations not to extend powers into Americas
1823
Government, United States
Erie Canal is completed in northern New York
1825
Transportation, United States
John Quincy Adams becomes the sixth president of the United States
1825
Government, United States
Samuel Morey invents internal combustion engine
1826
Invention, United States
Cherokee Nation adopts written constitution but no help against Indian Removal
1827
Government, United States
Sunday schools and primary schools prepares citizens for Second Coming
1827
Education, United States
Andrew Jackson begins "Bank War"
1829
Trade, United States
Andrew Jackson, "Old Hickory," becomes the seventh president of the United States
1829
Government, United States
Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints established by Joseph Smith
1830
Religion, United States
William Lloyd Garrison publishes first issue of the Liberator
1831
Human Rights, United States
Whig Party forms in opposition to policies of Andrew Jackson
1834
Government, United States
Cherokees sign Treaty of New Echota
1835
Human Rights, United States
Finney goes to Ohio to teach theology at the newly founded Oberlin College
1835
Religion, United States
Battle of San Jacinto: Sam Houston & Texans defeat Mexican army on April 21, 1836
1836
War, United States
Emerson formulates the philosophy of transcendentalism in his essay "Nature"
1836
Philosophy, United States
Martin Van Buren becomes the eighth president of the United States
1837
Government, United States
Samuel Morse demonstrates Morse Code
1838
Invention, United States
Cotton constitutes 59 percent of U.S. exports
1840
Trade, United States
Ether is used as a general anesthetic for the first time
1842
Invention, United States
Sojourner Truth warns of the Second Coming of Christ
1843
Religion, United States
William Miller and his followers expect the return of Christ
1844
Religion, United States
Charles Goodyear patents a process for vulcanizing rubber
1844
Invention, United States
Morse sends first telegraph message, "What hath God wrought!" on May 24, 1844
1844
Telecom, United States
"Manifest Destiny" first used in one of America's most popular magazines
1845
Geography, United States
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, An American Slave, Written by Himself
1845
Human Rights, United States
Texas becomes the twenty-eighth state
1846
Government, United States
Brigham Young and the Mormons found Salt Lake City
1847
Religion, United States
California gold rush begins & population grows from 14,000 to 380,000 in 10 years
1848
Geography, United States
Singer produces the first commercially-successful sewing machine
1850
Invention, United States
Aided by circuit riders & camp meetings, Methodists increase to 2.7 million
1850
Religion, United States
Fugitive Slave Act requires all escaped slaves to be returned to the slaver
1850
Human Rights, United States
Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes "House of Seven Gables"
1851
Arts, United States
Herman Melville's Moby-Dick is published
1851
Arts, United States
Republican Party forms in opposition to slavery
1854
Human Rights, United States
"Niagara" by Frederic Edwin Church
1857
Arts, United States
Prior to the Civil War, religious colleges taught intelligent design and evolution
1859
Education, United States
John Brown raids Harpers Ferry to obtain weapons for slave rebellion
1859
Human Rights, United States
Antebellum colleges teach moral philosophy to rebute David Hume's skepticism
1859
Education, United States
Civil War begins when Confederates attack Fort Sumter
1861
War, United States
Homestead Act opens millions of acres in the Midwest of the United States
1862
Geography, United States
Battle of Antietam after Lee crosses the Potomac River to invade Pennsylvania
1862
War, United States
President Lincoln issues emancipation proclamation to start 1/1/1863
1862
Human Rights, United States
First manually powered machine gun built by Richard Gatlin
1862
Invention, United States
In July, Union stops Confederates at Battle of Gettysburg--a turning point
1863
War, United States
In November, President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address
1863
Human Rights, United States
Sherman captures Atlanta and then leads destructive March to the Sea
1864
War, United States
On April 9, Civil War ends as Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox
1865
War, United States
On April 14, President Lincoln assassinated
1865
Government, United States
In December, U.S. Constitution is amended to abolish slavery
1865
Human Rights, United States
In May, transcontinental railroad is joined by golden spike in Utah
1869
Transportation, United States
Chicago fire burns an area 4 miles long and 3/4 miles wide
1871
Disaster, United States
Ulysses S. Grant wins reelection and links the Industrial Revolution to peace
1873
Government, United States
John D. Rockefeller produces 11 million barrels of crude oil in a year
1874
Trade, United States
Mark Twain publishes "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer"
1876
Arts, United States
Alexander Graham Bell patents telephone
1876
Invention, United States
General Custer killed at Little Big Horn
1876
War, United States
Thomas Edison invents phonograph
1877
Invention, United States
President Garfield, waiting for a train, is assassinated by a fanatic
1881
Government, United States
Riots in Haymarket Square after strike against McCormick Harvesting Machine Co.
1886
Trade, United States
Statue of Liberty, a gift from the French, is dedicated
1886
Culture, United States
Wounded Knee massacre marks end of wars against Native Americans
1890
War, United States
"Fox Hunt" by Winslow Homer
1893
Arts, United States
President William McKinley initiates the Open Door Policy in China
1898
Government, United States
Theodore Roosevelt is a very active president in peace and war
1901
Government, United States
President McKinley assassinated by an anarchist
1901
Government, United States
Caruso, Metropolitan Opera House principal tenor, records voice (gramophone disc)
1902
Invention, United States
Wright Brothers fly airplane for 59 seconds beginning a new age of transportation
1903
Transportation, United States
San Francisco earthquake leaves more than 200,000 homeless
1906
Disaster, United States
United States Immigration Act limits Mexicans, Chinese, and Japanese
1907
Human Rights, United States
First Ford Model-T rolls off assembly line in Detroit, Michigan.
1908
Transportation, United States
President Woodrow Wilson asks, "Is it in the interest of mankind?"
1915
Government, United States
Women gain vote in United States
1920
Human Rights, United States
18th Amendment to American Constitution--Prohibition era begins and lasts 13 years
1920
Government, United States
Edwin Hubble publishes his discoveries of other galaxies
1925
Science, United States
Trial held to test right of John Scopes to teach evolution in Tennessee schools
1925
Education, United States
Robert Goddard launches first liquid-fuel rocket
1926
Transportation, United States
Wall Street stock market crash and beginning of Great Depression
1929
Trade, United States
Empire State Building opens in New York as the world's tallest building
1931
Architecture, United States
President Roosevelt launches New Deal
1933
Government, United States
Roosevelt's inaugural address: "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself."
1933
Government, United States
Wallace Carothers invents nylon
1935
Invention, United States
Gone with the Wind, a Hollywood blockbuster movie, is released
1939
Movies, United States
Einstein warns President Roosevelt that nuclear weapons are threat to humanity
1939
War, United States
In December, Japanese attack Pearl Harbor destroying part of the U.S. fleet
1941
War, United States
Enrico Fermi builds first nuclear reactor
1942
Invention, United States
Igor Sikorsky develops the first mass-produced helicopter
1944
Transportation, United States
In July in the desert of New Mexico, a nuclear bomb was tested for the first time
1945
Invention, United States
On April 12, Franklin Delano Roosevelt dies
1945
Government, United States
Churchill gives his famous "Iron Curtain Speech" in Fulton, Missouri
1946
War, United States
Melvin Calvin discovers photosynthesis
1946
Science, United States
Three scientists at Bell Telephone Laboratories develop the first transistor
1947
Telecom, United States
Senator McCarthy launches crusade to rid United States of communists
1950
Government, United States
First hydrogen bomb explodes when tested at Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean
1952
Invention, United States
First nuclear-powered submarines launched
1954
Invention, United States
McCarthy is condemned by U.S. Senate as vicious bully and liar
1954
Government, United States
James Dean, star in East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause & Giant, dies in car crash
1955
Movies, United States
The first Disneyland opens in Anaheim, California
1955
Culture, United States
Rosa Parks sits in the front of the bus--the end of bus segregation in the U.S.
1955
Human Rights, United States
Mickey Mouse Club airs on TV from 1955 through 1996
1955
Culture, United States
American Bandstand on TV hosted by Dick Clark from 1956-1989
1956
Culture, United States
Kenneth Masterman-Smith invents communications satellite
1958
Invention, United States
Alaska and Hawaii become 49th and 50th U.S. states
1959
Geography, United States
Laser invented
1960
Invention, United States
Willard F. Libby wins Nobel Prize in chemistry for developing Carbon-14 dating
1960
Invention, United States
Bob Dylan's debut in New York City leads to contract with Columbia Records
1961
Music, United States
Silent Spring published
1962
Earth, United States
On November 22, John F. Kennedy assassinated
1963
Government, United States
Ruby shoots Oswald in Dallas in front of a television audience of millions
1963
Government, United States
Martin Luther King Jr. gives "I Have a Dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial
1963
Human Rights, United States
President Johnson sets course toward Great Society in State of the Union address
1965
Government, United States
Malcolm X is assassinated after embracing Sunni Islam and renouncing racism
1965
Religion, United States
The movie "The Graduate" released
1967
Movies, United States
In June, Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated by a Palestinian-born immigrant
1968
Government, United States
In April, Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated
1968
Human Rights, United States
On July 21, American astronauts walk on the moon
1969
Invention, United States
Woodstock rock festival is attended by 450,000 youth celebrating peace & love
1969
Music, United States
The movie "Easy Rider" released
1969
Movies, United States
Intel invents microprocessor
1969
Invention, United States
The movie "Little Big Man" released
1970
Movies, United States
Sesame Street first airs on Public Television Station (PBS)
1970
Education, United States
Ray Tomlinson invents email
1971
Invention, United States
Arrests follow Watergate break-in--Liddy, Hunt and others are involved in spying
1972
Government, United States
George Wallace continues his political career after bullet left him paralyzed
1972
Government, United States
Xerox PARC invents personal computer
1973
Invention, United States
Martin Cooper (Motorola) invents mobile phone
1973
Invention, United States
Supreme Court legalizes abortion in Roe versus Wade
1973
Human Rights, United States
Nixon forced to resign over Watergate and Gerald Ford succeeds him
1974
Government, United States
Allen & Gates start Microsoft to build software for IBM personal computers
1975
Telecom, United States
Steve Wozniak & Steve Jobs create Apple Inc. to build personal computers
1976
Telecom, United States
"Roots" shown on TV as a miniseries
1977
Movies, United States
Breakdown at Three Mile Island raises doubts about nuclear power plants
1979
Earth, United States
"Star Wars" initiative--Reagan proposes to launch missiles from outer space
1983
War, United States
Challenger Space shuttle explodes after takeoff killing 7 astronauts
1986
Transportation, United States
New York Stock Market crash
1987
Trade, United States
Exxon Valdez spills 11 million gallons of oil after ship hits reef off Alaska
1989
Earth, United States
Second Baha'i World Congress held in New York City
1992
Religion, United States
"Gettysburg" released
1993
Movies, United States
"Philadelphia" released
1993
Movies, United States
US Department of Defense invents global positioning system
1995
Invention, United States
Right-wing extremists bomb governmental offices in Oklahoma City
1995
War, United States
1999 Seattle WTO protests
1999
Trade, United States
Apple invents portable media player
2001
Invention, United States
Columbia space shuttle with 7 crew members is lost on reentry
2003
Transportation, United States
Hurricane Katrina hits New Orleans with flooding from broken levees
2005
Disaster, United States
"Into the West" released as miniseries
2005
Movies, United States
Deepwater Horizon oil platform explodes leaving massive oil leak on ocean floor
2010
Earth, United States
Hurricane Sandy-major storm surge damage in U.S. cities on east coast
2012
Disaster, United States
Detroit files for bankruptcy
2013
Trade, United States
The U.S. government shut down
2013
Government, United States
U.S. Supreme Court strikes down law defining marriage as between a man & woman
2013
Culture, United States
Obamacare gets off to poor start--a bungled rollout
2013
Health, United States
Boston marathon bombing
2013
War, United States
Snowden leaks--most important leak of classified intelligence ever
2013
Government, United States
Since 1980, Rocky Mountains have lost 20% of snow cover
2013
Disaster, United States