| Year |
Date |
Event |
| 1702 |
|
William III dies, is succeeded by Queen Anne |
|
Queen Anne's War (War of the Spanish Succession) begins |
|
East Jersey and West Jersey become crown colonies |
| 1715 |
|
Yamasee War in South Carolina colony |
| 1727 |
|
George I dies, is succeeded by George II |
| 1729 |
|
Province of Carolina proprietors sell out to Crown |
| 1732 |
|
First Great Awakening |
| 1749 |
|
Province of Georgia overturns its ban on slavery |
| 1752 |
|
Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment |
| 1754 |
|
French and Indian War begins, part of the Seven Years' War |
|
Albany Congress, in which a "Union of Colonies" is proposed |
| 1758 |
|
Treaty of Easton |
| 1760 |
|
Pierre de Rigaud, Governor of New France, capitulates (September 8) to Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst. This ends most fighting in North America between France and Great Britain in the French and Indian War. Amherst becomes the First British Governor-General of territories that would later become Canada plus lands (Ohio Country and Illinois Country) west of the American Colonies. |
|
King George II of Great Britain dies (October 25) and is succeeded by his grandson George III. |
| 1763 |
|
The Treaty of Paris (February 10) formally ends the French and Indian War. France cedes most of its territories in North America to Great Britain, but Louisiana west of the Mississippi River is ceded to Spain. |
|
Previously allied with France, Native American tribes in the Great Lakes region resist the policies of the British under Amherst. Pontiac's Rebellion begins, lasting until 1766. |
|
King George's Royal Proclamation of 1763 (October 7) establishes administration in territories newly ceded by France. To prevent further violence between settlers and Native Americans, the Proclamation sets a western boundary on the American colonies. |
| 1764 |
|
The Sugar Act (April 5), intended to raise revenues, and the Currency Act (September 1), prohibiting the colonies from issuing paper money, are passed by Parliament. These Acts, coming during the economic slump that followed the French and Indian War, are resented by the colonists and lead to protests. |
| 1765 |
|
To help defray the cost of keeping troops in America, Parliament enacts (March 22) the Stamp Act, imposing a tax on many types of printed materials used in the colonies. Seen as a violation of rights, the Act sparks violent demonstrations in several Colonies. Virginia's House of Burgesses adopts (May 29) the Virginia Resolves claiming that, under British law, Virginians could be taxed only by an assembly to which they had elected representatives. Delegates from nine colonies attend the Stamp Act Congress which adopts (October 19) a Declaration of Rights and Grievances and petitions Parliament and the king to repeal the Act. |
|
Parliament enacts (March 24) the Quartering Act, requiring the Colonies to provide housing, food, and other provisions to British troops. The act is resisted or circumvented in most of the colonies. In 1767 and again in 1769, Parliament suspended the governor and legislature of New York for failure to comply. |
| 1766 |
|
The British Parliament repeals (March 18) the unpopular Stamp Act of the previous year, but, in the simultaneous Declaratory Act, asserts its "full power and authority to make laws and statutes ... to bind the colonies and people of America ... in all cases whatsoever". |
|
Liberty Pole erected in New York City commons in celebration of the Stamp Act repeal (May 21). An intermittent skirmish with the British garrison over the removal of this and other poles, and their replacement by the Sons of Liberty, rages until the Province of New York is under the control of the revolutionary New York Provincial Congress in 1775 |
| 1767 |
|
The Townshend Acts, named for Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, are passed by Parliament (June 29), placing duties on many items imported into America. |
| 1769 |
|
To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York broadside published by the local Sons of Liberty (c. December) |
| 1770 |
|
Golden Hill incident in which British troops wound civilians, including one death (January 19) |
|
Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain (January 28) |
|
Boston Massacre (March 5) |
| 1771 |
|
Battle of Alamance in North Carolina (May 16) |
| 1772 |
|
Samuel Adams organizes the Committees of Correspondence |
|
Gaspée Affair (June 9) |
|
The Watauga Association in what would become Tennessee declares itself independent. |
| 1773 |
|
The Parliament passes the Tea Act (May 10) |
|
Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York published by local Sons of Liberty (December 15) |
|
Boston Tea Party (December 16) |
| 1774 |
|
Benjamin Franklin, Massachusetts' agent in London, is questioned before Parliament |
|
Dunmore's War |
|
British pass Intolerable Acts, including:
|
|
The Powder Alarm, General Gage's secret raid on the Cambridge powder magazine (September 1) |
|
The First Continental Congress meets; twelve colonies send delegates |
|
Burning of the HMS Peggy Stewart (October 19) |
|
Greenwich Tea Party (December 22) |
| 1775 |
|
Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 19) |
|
Skenesboro, NY (now Whitehall, NY) captured by LT Samuel Herrick. (May 9) |
|
Fort Ticonderoga captured by Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys. (May 10) |
|
Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17) |
|
The Second Continental Congress meets |
|
Olive Branch Petition sent to King George III |
|
Henry Knox transported fifty-nine captured cannon (taken from Fort Ticonderoga and Fort Crown Point) from upstate New York to Boston, MA. Trip took 56 days to complete. (Dec. 05, 1775 to Jan. 24,1776) |
| 1776 |
|
New Hampshire ratifies the first state constitution |
|
Thomas Paine publishes Common Sense (January 10) |
|
Battle of Nassau (March 3–4) |
|
The Second Continental Congress enacts (July 2) a resolution declaring independence from the British Empire, and then approves (July 4) the written Declaration of Independence. |
|
Battle of Long Island, a.k.a. Battle of Brooklyn (August 27) |
|
British prison ships begin in Wallabout Bay, New York |
|
Staten Island Peace Conference (September 11) |
|
Landing at Kip's Bay (September 15) |
|
Battle of Harlem Heights (September 16) |
|
Great Fire of New York (September 21–22) |
|
Nathan Hale captured and executed for espionage (September 22) |
|
Battle of Valcour Island (October 11) |
|
Battle of White Plains (October 29) |
|
Battle of Fort Washington (November 16) |
|
Battle of Fort Lee (November 19) |
|
Battle of Iron Works Hill (December 23 – December 26) |
|
Battle of Trenton (December 26) |
| 1777 |
|
Second Battle of Trenton (January 2) |
|
Battle of Princeton (January 3) |
|
Forage War |
|
Battle of Bound Brook (April 13) |
|
Middlebrook encampment (May 28 – July 2) |
|
Fort Ticonderoga abandoned by the Americans due to advancing British troops placing cannon on Mount Defiance. (July 5) |
|
British retake Fort Ticonderoga. (July 6) |
|
Battle of Hubbardton (July 7, 1777) |
|
Delegates in Vermont, which was not one of the Thirteen Colonies, establish a republic and adopt (July 8) a constitution—the first in what is now the territory of the United States to prohibit slavery. (Vermont would become the fourteenth state in 1791.) |
|
Battle of Short Hills (July 26) |
|
Battle of Oriskany (August 6) |
|
Battle of Bennington (August 16) |
|
Battle of Brandywine (September 11) |
|
Battle of Paoli (Paoli Massacre) (September 20) |
|
British occupation of Philadelphia (September 26) |
|
Battle of Germantown (October 4) |
|
Two Battles of Saratoga (September 19 and October 7) conclude with the surrender of the British army under General Burgoyne. |
|
Battle of Red Bank (October 22) |
|
Articles of Confederation adopted by the Second Continental Congress (November 15) |
|
Battle of White Marsh (December 5 – December 8) |
|
Battle of Matson's Ford (December 11) |
|
Continental Army in winter quarters at Valley Forge (December 19 – June 19) (to 1778) |
| 1778 |
|
Treaty of Alliance with France (February 6) |
|
Battle of Barren Hill (May 20) |
|
British occupation of Philadelphia ends (June) |
|
Battle of Monmouth (June 28) |
|
Continental Army in winter quarters at Middlebrook encampment (November 30 – June 3) (to 1779) |
| 1779 |
|
Battle of Stony Point (July 16) |
|
Battle of Paulus Hook (August 19) |
|
Continental Army in winter quarters at Morristown (December–May) (to 1780) |
| 1780 |
28 January |
A stockade known as Fort Nashborough is founded on the banks of the Cumberland River.Two years later the site is renamed Nashville. |
| 1 February |
Some 8,000 British forces under General Henry Clinton arrive in Charleston, South Carolina, from New York. |
| New York cedes to Congress its western claims, including territory west of Lake Ontario. In 1792 New York will sell the Erie Triangle to Pennsylvania |
| 14 March |
Bombardment of Fort Charlotte: After a two-week siege, Spanish general, colonial governor of Louisiana, and Viceroy of New Spain Bernardo de Gálvez captures Fort Charlotte, taking the port of Mobile (in present-day Alabama) from the British. Fort Charlotte was the last remaining British frontier post capable of threatening New Orleans in Spanish Louisiana. Its fall drove the British from the western reaches of West Florida and reduced the British military presence in West Florida to its capital, Pensacola. |
| 8 April |
Siege of Charleston: British Army troops under General Henry Clinton and naval forces under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot besiege Charleston, South Carolina. British ships sail past Fort Moultrie on Sullivan's Island to occupy Charleston Harbor. Washington will order reinforcements to Charleston, but the city falls on May 12 in what is arguably the worst American defeat of the war. |
| 6 May |
Siege of Charleston: Fort Moultrie falls to the British. |
| 12 May |
Siege of Charleston: American General Benjamin Lincoln surrenders Charleston to the British. The British lose 255 men while capturing a large American garrison. |
| 29 May |
Battle of Waxhaws: A clash between Continental Army forces under Abraham Buford and a mainly Loyalist force led by Banastre Tarleton occurs near Lancaster, South Carolina in the Waxhaws area (close to present-day Buford). The British destroyed the American forces. |
| 6 June |
Battle of Connecticut Farms |
| 23 June |
Battle of Springfield (June 23). With the attempted British invasion of New Jersey was stopped at Connecticut Farms and Springfield, major fighting in the North ends. |
| 23 September |
John André captured and the treason of Benedict Arnold is exposed |
| 7 October |
Battle of Kings Mountain |
| 1781 |
1 March |
Articles of Confederation ratified |
| 15 March |
Battle of Cowpens (January 17) and Battle of Guilford Court House |
| 19 October |
The British surrender at Yorktown |
| 31 December |
Bank of North America chartered |
| 1782 |
|
The British government officially, yet informally, recognizes American independence. |
| 1783 |
|
The Treaty of Paris (1783) ends the American Revolutionary War (September 3) |
|
The British withdraw from ports in New York and the Carolinas |
| 1784 |
|
"The state of Frankland," later known as Franklin, secedes from North Carolina |
| 1785 |
|
Treaty of Hopewell (November 28) |
|
Congress refuses admission of Franklin to the Union |
| 1786 |
|
Shays' Rebellion |
|
Annapolis Convention fails |
| 1787 |
|
Northwest Ordinance of 1787 |
|
Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia |
|
Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey ratify the constitution |
| 1788 |
|
North Carolina reconquers Franklin, which ceases to exist. |
|
[[Georgia (U.S. state)| |
| 1789 |
|
United States presidential election, 1789 |
|
Constitution goes into effect |
|
George Washington is inaugurated as President in New York |
|
The First United States Congress passes the Judiciary Act of 1789 and Hamilton tariff |
|
Jay-Gardoqui Treaty |
| 21 November |
North Carolina becomes the 12th state to ratify the Constitution, with a vote of 194–77 |
| 1790 |
|
Rhode Island and Providence Plantations becomes the 13th state to ratify the Constitution, with a vote of 34–32 (May 29) |
|
Rhode Island ratifies the Constitution and becomes 13th state |
| 1791 |
|
Bill of Rights ratified (see ratification timeline) |
|
First Bank of the United States chartered |
|
Vermont, formerly the independent Vermont Republic, becomes the 14th state |
| 1792 |
|
Kentucky, formerly Kentucky County, Virginia, becomes the 15th state |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1792: George Washington reelected president, John Adams vice president |
| 1793 |
|
Eli Whitney invents cotton gin |
|
Yellow fever outbreak in Philadelphia |
|
Fugitive Slave Act passed |
|
Chisholm v. Georgia (2 US 419 1793) paves way for passage of 11th Amendment |
| 1794 |
|
Whiskey Rebellion |
|
Battle of Fallen Timbers |
| 1795 |
|
Treaty of Greenville |
|
Jay Treaty |
|
11th Amendment ratified |
| 1796 |
|
Tennessee, formerly part of North Carolina, becomes the 16th state |
|
Pinckney's Treaty |
|
Treaty of Tripoli |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1796: John Adams is elected president, Thomas Jefferson vice president |
| 1797 |
|
John Adams inaugurated |
|
XYZ Affair |
| 1798 |
|
Alien and Sedition Acts |
|
Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions |
| 1799 |
|
Charles Brockden Brown's novel Edgar Huntly published |
|
Fries's Rebellion |
|
Logan Act |
|
George Washington dies |
| 1800 |
|
Library of Congress founded |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1800: Thomas Jefferson and Aaron Burr tie in the Electoral College. |
| Year |
Date |
Event |
| 1801 |
|
Thomas Jefferson elected president by the House of Representatives and inaugurated; Burr becomes vice president |
|
President Adams appoints John Marshall Chief Justice |
| 1803 |
|
Marbury v. Madison (5 US 137 1803) allows Supreme Court to invalidate law passed by the United States Congress for first time: the Judiciary Act of 1789 |
|
Louisiana Purchase |
|
Ohio, formerly part of Connecticut, becomes the 17th state |
| 1804 |
|
12th Amendment ratified |
|
New Jersey abolishes slavery |
|
Burr–Hamilton duel (Alexander Hamilton dies) |
|
Lewis and Clark set out |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1804: Thomas Jefferson reelected president; George Clinton elected vice president |
| 1807 |
|
Embargo Act of 1807 |
|
Robert Fulton invents steamboat |
| 1808 |
|
U.S. slave trade with Africa ends |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1808: James Madison elected president, George Clinton continues as vice president |
| 1809 |
|
James Madison inaugurated |
|
Non-Intercourse Act (March 1) |
| 1810 |
|
Fletcher v. Peck (10 US 87 1810) marks first time U.S. Supreme Court invalidates a state legislative act |
| 1811 |
|
First Bank of the United States charter expires |
| 1812 |
|
War of 1812, an offshoot of the Napoleonic Wars, begins |
|
Daniel Webster elected to the United States Congress |
|
Louisiana becomes the 18th state |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1812: James Madison reelected president; Elbridge Gerry elected vice president |
| 1814 |
|
British troops burn Washington, D.C. but are forced back at Baltimore |
|
Treaty of Ghent settles War of 1812 |
| 1815 |
|
Battle of New Orleans |
| 1816 |
|
Indiana becomes the 19th state |
|
Second Bank of the United States chartered |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1816: James Monroe elected president, Daniel D. Tompkins vice president |
| 1817 |
|
James Monroe inaugurated |
|
Rush–Bagot Treaty |
|
Harvard Law School founded |
|
Mississippi becomes the 20th state |
| 1818 |
|
Cumberland Road opened |
|
Illinois becomes the 21st state |
|
Jackson Purchase in Kentucky |
| 1819 |
|
Panic of 1819 |
|
Adams-Onís Treaty, including acquisition of Florida |
|
McCulloch v. Maryland (17 US 316 1819) prohibits state laws from infringing upon federal constitutional authority |
|
Dartmouth College v. Woodward (17 US 518 1819) protects principle of honoring contracts and charters |
|
Alabama becomes the 22nd state |
| 1820 |
|
Missouri Compromise |
|
Maine becomes a state |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1820: James Monroe reelected president, Daniel D. Tompkins vice president |
| 1821 |
|
Missouri becomes a state |
| 1823 |
|
Monroe Doctrine proclaimed |
| 1824 |
|
Gibbons v. Ogden (22 US 1 1824) affirms federal over state authority in interstate commerce |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1824: results inconclusive. |
| 1825 |
|
John Quincy Adams elected president by the House of Representatives; John C. Calhoun becomes vice president. |
|
Erie Canal completed |
| 1826 |
|
Former presidents Thomas Jefferson and John Adams die within hours of each other on Independence Day |
| 1828 |
|
South Carolina Exposition and Protest published during the Nullification Crisis |
|
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad construction begun |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1828: Andrew Jackson elected president, John C. Calhoun continues as vice president |
| 1829 |
|
Andrew Jackson inaugurated |
| 1830 |
|
Second Great Awakening religious revival movement |
|
Oregon Trail comes into use by settlers migrating to the Pacific Northwest |
|
Indian Removal Act |
| 1831 |
|
Nat Turner's revolt |
|
The Liberator begins publication |
|
Cyrus McCormick invents the reaper |
|
Petticoat affair (also known as the Eaton affair) |
| 1832 |
|
Worcester v. State of Georgia the Supreme Court rules in favor of Cherokees; President Jackson ignores the ruling |
|
Black Hawk War |
|
Tariff of 1832 |
|
Ordinance of Nullification passed by South Carolina |
|
Department of Indian Affairs established |
|
United States presidential election, 1832: Andrew Jackson reelected president; Martin Van Buren elected vice president |
|
Jackson vetos the charter renewal of the Second Bank of the United States, bringing to a head the Bank War and ultimately leading to the Panic of 1837 |
|
John C. Calhoun resigns as vice president |
| 1833 |
|
The Force Bill expands presidential powers |
|
Andrew Jackson's second inauguration |
| 1834 |
|
Slavery debates at Lane Theological Seminary are one of the first major public discussions of the topic |
| 1835 |
|
Texas War for Independence begins |
|
Alexis De Tocqueville's Democracy in America published |
|
Second Seminole War begins in Florida as members of the Seminole tribe resist relocation |
| 1836 |
|
Battle of the Alamo; Battle of San Jacinto |
|
Creek War of 1836 |
|
Samuel Colt invents the revolver |
|
Original "Gag Rule" imposed when U.S. House of Representatives bars discussion of antislavery petitions |
|
Specie Circular issued |
|
Arkansas becomes a state |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1836: Martin Van Buren elected president, Richard Mentor Johnson vice president |
| 1837 |
|
Martin Van Buren inaugurated |
|
U.S. recognizes the Republic of Texas |
|
Caroline Affair |
|
Michigan becomes a state |
|
Oberlin College begins enrolling female students, becoming first coeducational college in the U.S. |
|
Panic of 1837 |
|
Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge reverses Dartmouth College v. Woodward: property rights can be overridden by public need |
| 1838 |
|
Forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from the southeastern U.S. leads to over 4,000 deaths in the Trail of Tears |
|
Aroostook War |
| 1839 |
|
Amistad case |
| 1840 |
|
United States presidential election, 1840 |
| 1841 |
|
William Henry Harrison becomes President |
|
John Quincy Adams argues the Amistad Case before the Supreme Court |
|
President Harrison dies after only a month in office |
|
John Tyler becomes President |
| 1842 |
|
Webster-Ashburton Treaty |
|
The Dorr Rebellion: A civil war in Rhode Island |
| 1843 |
|
Attempt to impeach President Tyler fails |
| 1844 |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1844 |
|
Oregon message |
|
Helen Kendrick Johnson is born(antisufferagest) |
| 1845 |
|
Texas Annexation |
|
James K. Polk becomes President |
|
Florida and Texas become states |
| 1846 |
|
The U.S.-Mexican War begins |
|
Iowa becomes a state |
|
Wilmot Proviso |
| 1848 |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1848 |
|
Wisconsin becomes a state |
|
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War |
| 1849 |
|
Zachary Taylor becomes President |
|
California Gold Rush begins |
| 1850 |
|
President Taylor threatens to veto Compromise of 1850 even if it means Civil War. |
|
Zachary Taylor dies, Millard Fillmore becomes President |
|
Clayton-Bulwer Treaty |
|
Compromise of 1850 passed |
|
California becomes a state |
| 1852 |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1852 |
| 1853 |
|
Franklin Pierce becomes President |
|
Commodore Matthew Perry opens Japan |
|
Gadsden Purchase |
| 1854 |
|
Kansas-Nebraska Act; nullified Missouri Compromise |
|
Ostend Manifesto |
|
Convention of Kanagawa |
|
Walker Expedition |
| 1855 |
|
The Farmers' High School, which becomes Penn State University is founded. |
| 1856 |
|
Sack of Lawrence, Kansas |
|
Pottawatomie Massacre |
|
Preston Brooks beats Charles Sumner with his walking stick on the steps of the U.S. Capitol building |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1856 |
| 1857 |
|
James Buchanan becomes President |
|
Dred Scott v. Sandford 60 US 393 1857 declares that blacks are not citizens of the United States and cannot sue |
|
Utah War |
|
LeCompton Constitution rejected in Kansas Territory |
|
Panic of 1857 |
| 1858 |
|
Transatlantic cable laid |
|
Minnesota becomes a state |
|
Lincoln-Douglas Debates |
|
U.S. is party to Treaty of Tientsin |
| 1859 |
|
Harper's Ferry Raid (John Brown's Raid) |
|
Comstock Lode discovered |
| 1860 |
|
Pony Express begins. |
|
Crittenden Compromise |
|
Abraham Lincoln elected President of the United States |
|
South Carolina secedes from the Union |
| 1861 |
|
Ten more states secede from the Union and establish the Confederate States of America |
|
Jefferson Davis elected President of the Confederacy |
|
American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter |
|
First Battle of Bull Run (First Battle of Manassas) |
| 1862 |
|
Battle of Hampton Roads (Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack; first ever naval battle between iron-sided ships) |
|
Homestead Act |
|
Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act |
|
Gen. Robert E. Lee placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia |
|
Second Battle of Bull Run (Second Battle of Manassas) |
|
Battle of Antietam (Battle of Sharpsburg) |
|
Dakota War of 1862 begins |
|
Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation (to 1863) |
| 1863 |
|
Battle of Gettysburg |
|
The Siege of Vicksburg ends |
|
New York Draft Riots |
|
Pro-Union Virginia counties become separate state of West Virginia |
| 1864 |
|
Gen. Ulysses S. Grant put in command of all Union forces |
|
Wade–Davis Bill |
|
Sand Creek Massacre |
|
Nevada becomes a state |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1864 |
|
Sherman's March to the Sea |
| 1865 |
|
Robert E. Lee made commander-in-chief of all Confederate forces |
|
Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, captured by a corps of black Union troops |
|
Lee surrenders to Grant at Appomattox Court House |
|
Abraham Lincoln assassinated; Andrew Johnson becomes President |
|
American Civil War ends as the last elements of the Confederacy surrender |
|
13th Amendment passes, permanently outlawing slavery |
|
Freedman's Bureau |
| 1866 |
|
Civil Rights Act of 1866 |
|
Ku Klux Klan founded |
| 1867 |
|
Tenure of Office Act enacted |
| 1868 |
|
Impeachment of Andrew Johnson, acquitted by the Senate |
|
Fourteenth Amendment is ratified; second of Reconstruction Amendments |
|
Ulysses S. Grant is elected president |
| 1869 |
|
The First Transcontinental Railroad is completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory |
| 1870 |
|
15th Amendment |
|
First graduate programs (at Yale and Harvard) |
|
Force Acts |
| 1871 |
|
Great Chicago Fire |
|
Treaty of Washington with the British Empire regarding the Dominion of Canada |
| 1872 |
|
Yellowstone National Park created |
|
Crédit Mobilier scandal |
|
Amnesty Act |
|
Alabama Claims |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1872 |
| 1873 |
|
Panic of 1873 |
|
Virginius Affair |
| 1874 |
|
Red River Indian War |
| 1875 |
|
Aristides (horse) wins first Kentucky Derby |
|
Resumption Act |
|
Civil Rights Act of 1875 |
|
The Art Students League of New York is founded |
| 1876 |
|
National League of baseball founded |
|
Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia |
|
Munn v. Illinois establishes public regulation of utilities |
|
Colorado becomes a state |
|
Battle of Little Bighorn |
|
Wild Bill Hickok is killed by a shot to the back of his head by Jack McCall while playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota. He held aces and eights, now known as the Dead man's hand. |
|
Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1876 produces an unclear result with 20 Electoral College votes disputed |
| 1877 |
|
The Electoral Commission awards Rutherford B. Hayes the presidency |
|
Reconstruction ends |
|
Nez Perce War |
| 1878 |
|
Bland-Allison Act |
|
Morgan silver dollars first minted |
| 1879 |
|
Thomas Edison invents light bulb |
|
Knights of Labor go public |
| 1880 |
|
University of Southern California founded |
|
U.S. population exceeds 50 million |
| 1881 |
|
The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, Arizona Territory |
|
James Garfield inaugurated as President |
|
James Garfield assassinated |
|
Chester A. Arthur inaugurated as President |
|
Clara Barton creates Red Cross |
|
Tuskegee Institute founded |
|
Billy the Kid is shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett |
|
A Century of Dishonor written by Helen Hunt Jackson |
| 1882 |
|
Chinese Exclusion Act |
|
Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert and Charlie Ford |
| 1883 |
|
Buffalo Bill Cody debuts his Wild West Show. Variations run into the 20th century with more than 1200 participants. Famed early participants include: Sitting Bull, Geronimo, Calamity Jane, and Annie Oakley. |
|
Civil Rights Cases 109 US 3 1883 legalizes doctrine of segregation |
|
Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act |
|
Brooklyn Bridge opens |
| 1885 |
|
Grover Cleveland inaugurated as President |
|
Washington monument completed |
| 1886 |
|
Haymarket Riot |
|
American Federation of Labor founded in Columbus, Ohio |
| 1887 |
|
The United States Congress creates Interstate Commerce Commission |
|
Dawes Act |
|
Hatch Act |
| 1888 |
|
Publication of Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy |
|
National Geographic Society founded |
| 1889 |
|
Oklahoma Land Rush (April 22, 1889) |
|
Benjamin Harrison becomes President |
|
North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington become states |
|
Johnstown flood in Pennsylvania |
|
Jane Addams founds Hull House |
| 1890 |
|
Sherman Antitrust Act |
|
Jacob Riis published "How the Other Half Lives" |
|
Sherman Silver Purchase Act |
|
McKinley tariff |
|
Yosemite National Park created |
|
Idaho and Wyoming become states |
|
Wounded Knee Massacre |
|
National American Woman Suffrage Association founded |
| 1891 |
|
Baltimore Crisis |
|
James Naismith invents basketball |
| 1892 |
|
Homestead Strike |
|
General Electric Company founded |
|
Sierra Club founded |
| 1893 |
|
Grover Cleveland inaugurated President for second term |
|
Panic of 1893 |
|
Sherman Silver Purchase Act repealed |
| 1894 |
|
Coxey's Army |
|
Pullman strike |
|
Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, including Income Tax |
| 1895 |
|
Stagger Lee shoots Billy, spawning countless ballads. |
|
Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company strikes down part of Wilson-Gorman Tariff |
| 1896 |
|
Plessy v. Ferguson 163 US 537 1896 affirms the idea of "separate but equal" |
|
William Jennings Bryan delivers his Cross of Gold speech |
|
Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike |
|
Utah becomes a state |
| 1897 |
|
William McKinley becomes President |
|
Boston subway completed |
|
Dingley tariff |
| 1898 |
|
USS Maine explodes in Havana, Cuba harbor, precipitating the Spanish-American War |
|
De Lôme Letter |
|
Treaty of Paris (1898) ends Spanish-American War, Philippine-American War begins |
|
Hawaii annexed |
|
Newlands Resolution |
|
American Anti-Imperialist League organized |
| 1899 |
|
Teller Amendment |
|
American Samoa occupied |
|
Open Door Notes |
| 1900 |
|
U.S. population exceeds 75 million |
|
Foraker Act |
|
Gold Standard Act |
|
U.S. helps put down Boxer Rebellion |
|
1900 Galveston hurricane |
| Year |
Date |
Event |
| 1901 |
|
William McKinley assassinated |
|
Theodore Roosevelt becomes President |
|
U.S. Steel founded by John Pierpont Morgan |
|
Hay-Pauncefote Treaty |
| 1902 |
|
Drago Doctrine |
|
First Rose Bowl game played |
|
Newlands Reclamation Act |
| 1903 |
|
Great Train Robbery movie opens |
|
Ford Motor Company formed |
|
First World Series |
|
Elkins Act |
|
Big Stick Diplomacy |
|
Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty |
|
Hay-Herran Treaty |
|
Department of Commerce and Labor created |
|
The Wright brothers make their first powered flight in the Wright Flyer |
| 1904 |
|
Roosevelt Corollary to Monroe Doctrine |
|
Panama Canal Zone acquired |
| 1905 |
|
Niagara Falls conference |
|
Industrial Workers of the World |
| 1906 |
|
Susan B. Anthony dies |
|
Algeciras Conference |
|
Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act |
|
Hepburn Act |
|
Theodore Roosevelt negotiates Treaty of Portsmouth, receives Nobel Peace Prize |
|
San Francisco earthquake |
| 1907 |
|
Oklahoma becomes a state |
|
Gentlemen's Agreement |
|
Coal mine explodes in Monongah, West Virginia, killing at least 361. Worst industrial accident in American history. |
| 1908 |
|
Ford Model T appears on market |
|
Root-Takahira agreement |
|
Federal Bureau of Investigation established |
|
Aldrich Vreeland Act |
| 1909 |
|
The U.S. penny is changed to the Abraham Lincoln design |
|
William Howard Taft becomes President |
|
Robert Peary claims to have reached the North Pole |
|
NAACP founded by W. E. B. Du Bois |
|
Payne-Aldrich tariff |
|
Taft implements Dollar Diplomacy |
|
Pinchot-Ballinger controversy |
| 1910 |
|
Boy Scouts of America chartered |
|
Mann-Elkins Act |
|
Mann Act |
| 1911 |
|
Supreme Court breaks up Standard Oil |
|
First ever Indianapolis 500 is staged; Ray Harroun is the first winner |
| 1912 |
|
RMS Titanic sinks |
|
New Mexico and Arizona become states |
|
Girl Scouts of the USA was started by Juliette Gordon Low |
|
Theodore Roosevelt shot, but not killed, while campaigning for the Bull Moose Party |
| 1913 |
|
Woodrow Wilson becomes President |
|
Federal Reserve Act |
|
16th Amendment, establishing an income tax |
|
End of the Philippine-American War |
|
The Armory Show opens in New York City introducing Modern art both American and European to the American public. |
|
17th Amendment, establishing direct election of U.S. Senators. |
|
Underwood tariff |
|
Henry Ford develops the modern assembly line |
| 1914 |
|
World War I begins in Europe |
|
Mother's Day established as a national holiday |
|
Federal Trade Commission created |
|
Clayton Antitrust Act |
|
ABC Powers |
| 1915 |
|
The Birth of a Nation opens |
|
RMS Lusitania sunk |
| 1916 |
|
U.S. acquires Virgin Islands |
|
Jeannette Rankin first woman elected to U.S. congress |
|
Louis Brandeis appointed to Supreme Court |
|
Adamson Railway Labor Act |
|
Federal Farm Loan Act |
|
Jone Act |
| 1917 |
|
Zimmermann telegram |
|
U.S. enters World War I |
|
Espionage and Sedition Acts |
|
Lansing-Ishii Agreement |
|
U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark |
|
First Red Scare, marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism (to 1920) |
| 1918 |
|
President Wilson's Fourteen Points, which assures citizens that the Great War was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe |
| 1919 |
|
Treaty of Versailles ends World War I |
|
United States Senate rejects Treaty of Versailles and League of Nations |
|
18th Amendment, establishing Prohibition |
|
Black Sox Scandal during the that year's World Series, wherein the fallout lasts for decades |
| 1920 |
|
19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote |
|
Sacco and Vanzetti arrested |
|
First radio broadcasts in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Detroit, Michigan |
|
Volstead Act |
|
Esch-Cummins Act |
| 1921 |
|
Warren G. Harding becomes President |
|
Washington Disarmament Conference of 1921 |
|
Emergency Quota Act |
| 1922 |
|
Fordney-McCumber tariff |
| 1923 |
|
President Warren G. Harding dies; Calvin Coolidge succeeds him |
|
Teapot Dome Scandal |
| 1924 |
|
Immigration Act Basic Law |
|
J. Edgar Hoover is appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation — predecessor to the FBI. |
| 1925 |
|
Scopes trial, whose outcome found that the teaching of evolution in the classroom "does not violate church and state or state religion laws but instead, merely prohibits the teaching of evolution on the grounds of intellectual disagreement" |
|
Nellie Tayloe Ross elected governor of Wyoming |
|
WSM broadcasts the Grand Ole Opry for the first time. |
| 1926 |
|
NBC founded as the U.S.'s first major broadcast network |
| 1927 |
|
Sacco and Vanzetti executed, seven years after they were convicted of murdering two men during an armed robbery in Massachusetts |
|
Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight |
|
The Jazz Singer, the first "talkie" (motion picture with sound) is released |
|
U.S. citizenship granted to inhabitants of U.S. Virgin Islands |
|
Columbia Broadcasting System (later called CBS) becomes second national radio network in the U.S. |
| 1928 |
|
Disney's Steamboat Willie opens, the first animated picture to feature Mickey Mouse |
|
Kellogg-Briand Pact |
|
Amelia Earhart becomes the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean. |
| 1929 |
|
Herbert Hoover becomes President |
|
St. Valentine's Day massacre |
|
Immigration Act |
|
The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummets a record 68 points over a two-day period, setting off the Wall Street Crash of 1929 and triggering the Great Depression |
|
The Museum of Modern Art opens to the public in New York City |
|
American Samoa officially becomes a U.S. territory |
| 1930 |
|
The Motion Picture Production Code becomes set of industry censorship guidelines governing production of the vast majority of United States motion pictures released by major studios; is effective for 38 years |
|
Frozen vegetables, packaged by Clarence Birdseye, become the first frozen food to go on sale |
| 1931 |
|
Empire State Building opens in New York City. |
|
Japanese invasion of Manchuria |
|
The Whitney Museum of American Art opens to the public in New York City. |
| 1932 |
|
Stimson Doctrine |
|
Norris-La Guardia Act |
|
Hans Hofmann - influential artist and teacher emigrated to the United States from Germany. |
|
Bonus Army marches on DC |
|
Reconstruction Finance Corporation |
|
Ford introduces the Model B, the first low-priced car to have a V-8 engine |
| 1933 |
|
20th Amendment, establishing the beginning and ending of the terms of the elected federal offices on January 20. |
|
Franklin Delano Roosevelt sworn in as President; he is the last president to be inaugurated on March 4. |
|
President Roosevelt establishes the New Deal, a response to the Great Depression, and focusing on what historians call the "3 Rs": relief, recovery and reform |
|
Sweeping new programs proposed under President Roosevelt take effect: the Agricultural Adjustment Act, Civil Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Farm Credit Administration the Home Owners Loan Corporation, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the Public Works Administration, the National Industrial Recovery Act |
|
Giuseppe Zangara assassinates Chicago mayor Anton Cermak; the intended target was President-elect Roosevelt, who was not wounded. |
|
Frances Perkins appointed United States Secretary of Labor |
|
21st Amendment, ending Prohibition |
| 1934 |
|
Glass–Steagall Act |
|
U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission established |
|
Dust Bowl begins, causing major ecological and agricultural damage to the Great Plains states; severe drought, heat waves and other factors were contributors. |
|
Federal Housing Administration |
|
Johnson Act |
|
Philippine Commonwealth established |
|
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act |
|
Tydings-McDuffie Act |
|
John Dillinger killed |
|
Indian Reorganization Act |
|
Share the Wealth society founded by Huey Long |
| 1935 |
|
Works Progress Administration |
|
The F.B.I. is established with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director. |
|
Neutrality Act |
|
Motor Carrier Act |
|
Social Security Act |
|
Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States |
|
National Labor Relations Act |
|
Huey Long assassinated |
|
Congress of Industrial Organizations formed |
|
Alcoholics Anonymous founded |
|
Revenue Act of 1935 |
| 1936 |
|
Robinson-Patman Act |
|
Life magazine publishes first issue |
|
United States v. Butler, which ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional |
|
Second London Naval Treaty |
| 1937 |
|
Neutrality Acts |
|
Hindenburg disaster, killing 35 people and marking an end to airship travel |
|
Panay incident, a Japanese attack on the United States Navy gunboat USS Panay while anchored in the Yangtze River outside of Nanjing |
|
Golden Gate Bridge completed in San Francisco |
| 1938 |
|
Wheeler-Lea Act |
|
Fair Labor Standards Act |
|
Orson Welles' The War of the Worlds broadcast |
| 1939 |
|
Hatch Act, aimed at corrupt political practices and prevented federal civil servants from campaigning |
|
Nazi Germany invades Poland; World War II begins |
|
Cash and carry proposed to replace the Neutrality Acts |
|
President Roosevelt, appearing at the opening of the 1939 New York World's Fair, becomes the first President to give a speech that is broadcast on television. Semi-regular broadcasts air during the next two years |
| 1940 |
|
Selective Service Act, establishing the first peacetime draft in U.S. history |
|
Alien Registration (Smith) Act |
|
Oldsmobile becomes the first car maker to offer a fully automatic transmission |
|
Bugs Bunny, Tom and Jerry make their cartoon debuts |
|
Billboard magazine publishes its first music popularity chart, the predecessor to today's Hot 100 |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1940: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection to a record third term |
| 1941 |
|
Regular commercial television broadcasting begins; NBC television launched. |
|
Lend-Lease, which supplies the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material during World War II |
|
Attack on Pearl Harbor; U.S. enters World War II by declaring war on Japan the next day on December 8; and three days later against Germany and Italy. |
|
Atlantic Charter, drafted by the UK and U.S., to serve as the blueprint for the postwar world after World War II |
| 1942 |
|
Japanese American internment begins, per executive order by President Roosevelt; the order also authorizes the seizure of their property. |
|
Automobile production in the United States for private consumers halted. (to 1945) |
|
Casablanca released |
|
Office of Price Administration |
|
Cocoanut Grove fire kills 492 people, leads to vast reforms in fire codes and safety standards |
|
Congress of Racial Equality |
|
Revenue Act of 1942 |
|
U.S.-controlled Commonwealth of the Philippines conquered by Japanese forces |
| 1943 |
|
Office of Price Administration established |
|
Detroit, Michigan race riots |
|
Cairo Conference |
|
Casablanca Conference |
|
Tehran Conference |
| 1944 |
|
Dumbarton Oaks Conference |
|
G.I. Bill |
|
D-Day |
|
Bretton Woods Conference |
|
Battle of the Bulge |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1944: Franklin D. Roosevelt wins reelection, becomes the only U.S. president elected to a fourth term |
| 1945 |
|
Yalta Conference |
|
Battle of Okinawa |
|
United Nations Conference on International Organization; United Nations established |
|
Nationwide labor strikes due to inflation; OPA disbanded |
|
Franklin D. Roosevelt dies; Harry S. Truman becomes President |
|
Germany surrenders, end of World War II in Europe |
|
Potsdam Conference |
|
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Days later, Japan surrenders, ending World War II |
|
UN founded after World War II replacing the League of Nations |
|
Nuremberg Trials and Subsequent Nuremberg Trials (to 1949) |
| 1946 |
|
Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech |
|
Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care published |
|
Employment Act |
|
United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 |
|
President's Committee on Civil Rights |
|
Philippines regain independence from the U.S. |
| 1947 |
|
Presidential Succession Act |
|
Taft Hartley Act |
|
U.F.O. crash at Roswell, New Mexico |
|
National Security Act of 1947 |
|
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade |
|
The Marshall Plan |
|
Polaroid camera invented |
|
Truman Doctrine establishes "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures" |
|
Federal Employee Loyalty Program |
|
Jackie Robinson breaks color barrier in baseball |
|
Studebaker becomes the first automobile manufacturer to introduce a "post-war" model; most automakers wait until 1948 or 1949 |
|
Jackson Pollock begins painting his most famous series' of paintings called the drip paintings in Easthampton, New York |
| 1948 |
|
The Texaco Star Theater, starring Milton Berle, becomes the first major successful U.S. television program; The Toast of the Town also debuts |
|
Berlin Blockade |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1948: President Truman re-elected |
|
Truman desegregates armed forces |
|
Selective Service Act of 1948: Passed after first such act expired |
|
Organization of American States: Alliance of North America and South America |
|
Alger Hiss Case |
| 1949 |
|
North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) formed |
|
In China, Communists under Mao Zedong force Chiang Kai-shek's KMT government to retreat to Taiwan |
|
Soviet Union tests its first atomic bomb |
|
Department of War becomes Department of Defense |
|
Germany divided into East and West |
|
Truman attempts to continue FDR's legacy with his Fair Deal, but most acts don't pass |
| 1950 |
|
Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power, and McCarthyism (1950–1954) begins |
|
McCarran Internal Security Act |
|
Korean War begins |
|
The comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, is first published |
|
NBC airs Broadway Open House a late-night comedy, variety, talk show through 1951. Hosted by Morey Amsterdam and Jerry Lester and Dagmar, it serves as the prototype for the Tonight Show |
|
Failed assassination attempt by two Puerto Rican nationals on President Harry S. Truman while the President was living at Blair House. |
| 1951 |
|
22nd Amendment, establishing term limits for President. |
|
Mutual Security Act |
|
General Douglas MacArthur fired by President Truman for comments about using nuclear weapons on China |
|
The first live transcontinental television broadcast takes place in San Francisco, California from the Japanese Peace Treaty Conference. One month later, the situation comedy I Love Lucy premieres on CBS, sparking the rise of television in the American home and the Golden Age of Television. |
|
See It Now, an American newsmagazine and documentary series broadcast by CBS from 1951 to 1958. It was created by Edward R. Murrow and Fred W. Friendly, Murrow being the host of the show. |
| 1952 |
|
The debut of the Today show on NBC, originally hosted by Dave Garroway is the fourth longest running talk show on television. |
|
ANZUS Treaty enters into force |
|
Immigration and Nationality Act |
|
United States presidential election, 1952 (Dwight D. Eisenhower elected) |
| 1953 |
|
Dwight D. Eisenhower inaugurated as President |
|
Rosenbergs executed |
|
Armistice in Korea |
|
Shah of Iran returns to power in CIA-orchestrated coup known as Operation Ajax |
| 1954 |
|
The Tournament of Roses Parade becomes the first event televised nationally in color |
|
Joseph McCarthy discredited in Army-McCarthy hearings |
|
The CIA organizes the overthrow of Guatemala's democratically elected president Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán (Operation PBSUCCESS) |
|
Saint Lawrence Seaway Act, permitting the construction of the system of locks, canals and channels that permits ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the North American Great Lakes, is approved |
|
Brown v. Board of Education, a landmark decision of the Supreme Court, declares state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students and denying black children equal educational opportunities unconstitutional |
|
The U.S. becomes a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (or SEATO) alliance |
|
Geneva Conference, with the U.S. attempting to find a way to unify Korea, and to discuss the possibility of restoring peace in Indochina |
|
The People's Republic of China lays siege on Quemoy and Matsu Islands; Eisenhower sends in Navy |
|
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes at an all-time high of 382.74, the first time the Dow has surpassed its peak level reached just before the Wall Street Crash of 1929 |
|
NBC airs the The Tonight Show the first late-night talk show is originally hosted by Steve Allen |
| 1955 |
|
Ray Kroc opens a McDonald's fast food restaurant and, after purchasing the franchise from its original owners, oversees its national (and later, worldwide) expansion |
|
Rosa Parks incites the Montgomery Bus Boycott |
|
AFL and CIO merge in America's largest labor union |
|
Warsaw Pact, which establishes a mutual defense treaty subscribed to by eight communist states in Eastern Europe (including the USSR) |
|
Disneyland opens at Anaheim, California |
|
Jonas Salk develops polio vaccine |
|
Rock and roll music enters the mainstream, with "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets becoming the first record to top the Billboard magazine pop charts. Elvis Presley also begins his rise to fame around this same time. |
|
Actor James Dean is killed in a highway collision on his way to a racetrack in Salinas, California, while driving his racing Porsche 550 Spyder. |
| 1956 |
|
Interstate Highway Act, which would provide the construction of 41,000 miles (66,000 km) of the Interstate Highway System over a 20-year period |
|
The U.S. refuses to support the Hungarian Revolution |
|
Elvis Presley appears on The Ed Sullivan Show for the first time. |
|
Marilyn Monroe marries playwright Arthur Miller. |
|
Jackson Pollock dies in a car crash in Springs, New York |
|
United States presidential election, 1956 (Eisenhower re-elected) |
| 1957 |
|
Eisenhower Doctrine, wherein a country could request American economic assistance and/or aid from military forces if it was being threatened by armed aggression from another state |
|
Civil Rights Act of 1957, primarily a voting rights bill, becomes the first civil rights legislation enacted by Congress since Reconstruction |
|
Soviets launch Sputnik; "space race" begins |
|
Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the first commercial nuclear power plant in the U.S., goes into service |
|
Little Rock, Arkansas school desegregation |
| 1958 |
|
National Defense Education Act |
|
NASA formed as the U.S. begins ramping up efforts to explore space |
|
Jack Kilby invents the integrated circuit |
| 1959 |
|
The NBC western Bonanza becomes the first drama to be broadcast in color |
|
Cuban Revolution |
|
Landrum-Griffin Act, a labor law that regulates labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers, becomes law |
|
Alaska and Hawaii become the 49th and 50th U.S. states; to date, they are the final two states admitted to the union. |
| 1960 |
|
U-2 incident, wherein a CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet Union airspace |
|
Greensboro sit-ins, sparked by four African American college students refusing to move from a segregated lunch counter, spurs similar actions and increases sentiment in the Civil Rights Movement. |
|
Civil Rights Act of 1960, establishing federal inspection of local voter registration polls and penalties for those attempting to obstruct someone's attempt to register to vote or actually vote |
|
National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam formed |
|
United States presidential election, 1960 (John F. Kennedy elected president) |
| 1961 |
|
US breaks diplomatic relations with Cuba |
|
Eisenhower gives celebrated "military–industrial complex" farewell address |
|
John F. Kennedy becomes President |
|
23rd Amendment, which grants electors to the District of Columbia |
|
Peace Corps established. |
|
Alliance for Progress |
|
Bay of Pigs Invasion |
|
Alan Shepard pilots the Freedom 7 capsule to become the first American in space |
|
Trade embargo on Cuba |
|
Berlin Crisis of 1961 |
|
Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon |
|
OPEC formed |
| 1962 |
|
Trade Expansion Act |
|
John Glenn orbits the Earth, becoming the first American to do so |
|
Cuban Missile Crisis, which becomes the closest nuclear confrontation (as of 2010) involving the U.S. and USSR |
|
Baker v. Carr, enabling federal courts to intervene in and to decide reapportionment cases |
|
Engel v. Vitale, which determines that it is unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools |
|
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) |
|
Marilyn Monroe dies of an apparent overdose from acute barbiturate poisoning at 36. |
| 1963 |
|
Bob Dylan and Columbia Records release The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan (his second studio album), which becomes a classic |
|
Atomic Test Ban Treaty |
|
March on Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech |
|
"The Feminine Mystique" by Betty Friedan published, sparking the women's liberation movement |
|
President Kennedy assassinated in Dallas; Lyndon Johnson becomes President. The man accused of assassinating President Kennedy, Lee Harvey Oswald, is shot and killed as he is led to jail by Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby. The assassination marks the first 24-hour coverage of a major news event by the major networks. |
| 1964 |
|
The Beatles arrive in the U.S., and subsequent appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, mark the start of the British Invasion (or, an increased number of rock and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular around the world, including the U.S.) |
|
Tonkin Gulf incident; Gulf of Tonkin Resolution |
|
24th Amendment, prohibiting both Congress and the states from conditioning the right to vote in federal elections on payment of a poll tax or other types of tax |
|
President Johnson proposes the Great Society, whose social reforms were aimed at the elimination of poverty and racial injustice. New major spending programs that addressed education, medical care, urban problems, and transportation were launched later in the 1960s. |
|
Economic Opportunity Act |
|
Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing major forms of discrimination against blacks and women, and ended racial segregation in the United States |
|
Panama Canal Zone riots |
|
United States presidential election, 1964 |
| 1965 |
|
President Lyndon B. Johnson escalates the United States military involvement in the Vietnam War |
|
Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), a civil rights activist group, led the first of several anti-war marches in Washington, D.C., with about 25,000 protesters |
|
Immigration Act of 1965 |
|
Voting Rights Act |
|
Medicaid and Medicare enacted |
|
Higher Education Act of 1965 |
|
Malcolm X an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist is assassinated in Harlem, New York |
|
Watts Riot in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, lasts six days and is the first of several major urban riots due to racial issues. |
| 1966 |
|
Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) established |
|
Department of Transportation created |
|
National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act |
|
Miranda v. Arizona establishes "Miranda rights" for suspects |
|
Feminist group National Organization for Women (NOW) formed |
|
The three major American television networks—NBC, CBS and ABC—have full color lineups in their prime-time schedules. |
|
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali (formerly known as Cassius Clay) declared himself a conscientious objector and refused to go to war. According to a writer for Sports Illustrated, the governor of Illinois called Ali "disgusting" and the governor of Maine said that Ali "should be held in utter contempt by every patriotic American."[1] In 1967 Ali was sentenced to 5 years in prison for draft evasion, but his conviction was later overturned on appeal. In addition, he was stripped of his title and banned from professional boxing for more than three years. |
| 1967 |
|
Jack Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism, secondary to bronchogenic carcinoma (lung cancer), on January 3, 1967 at Parkland Hospital, where Oswald had died and where President Kennedy had been pronounced dead after his assassination. |
|
The first Super Bowl is played, with the Green Bay Packers defeating the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10. |
|
Detroit race riot precipitates the "long hot summer", when race riots erupt in 159 cities nationwide. |
|
The "Summer of Love" embodies the growing counterculture, with the Monterey Pop Festival and Scott McKenzie's "San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair)" among the highlights. |
|
25th Amendment establishes succession to the Presidency and procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President |
|
American Samoa becomes self-governing under a new constitution |
| 1968 |
|
Martin Luther King Jr. and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated two months apart |
|
The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam launches the Tet Offensive |
|
Civil Rights Act of 1968, commonly known as the Fair Housing Act |
|
Shirley Chisholm becomes first black woman elected to U.S. Congress |
|
Police clashes with anti-war protesters in Chicago, outside the 1968 Democratic National Convention |
|
U.S. signs Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty |
|
United States presidential election, 1968 (Richard Nixon elected president) |
| 1969 |
|
Richard Nixon is inaugurated as President |
|
"Vietnamization" begins |
|
Stonewall riots in New York City marks the start of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S. |
|
Chappaquiddick incident, where Sen. Edward M. Kennedy drives off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, Massachusetts, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne |
|
Neil Armstrong walks on the Moon |
|
The Woodstock Festival in White Lake, New York becomes an enormously successful musical and cultural gathering; a milestone for the baby-boom generation |
|
Warren E. Burger appointed Chief Justice of the United States to replace Earl Warren |
|
U.S. bombs North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia and Laos |
|
Sesame Street premieres on National Educational Television. |
| 1970 |
|
Kent State and Jackson State shootings occur during student protests which grow violent |
|
The first Earth Day is observed. |
|
Environmental Protection Agency created |
|
American Top 40, hosted by radio personality Casey Kasem, becomes the first successful nationally syndicated radio program featuring a weekly countdown. |
|
The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) begins operations, succeeding National Educational Television (NET). |
|
The Occupational Safety and Health Act, or OSHA, is signed into law. |
| 1971 |
|
President Richard Nixon ends the United States Gold standard monetary policy known as the Nixon Shock |
|
A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements goes into effect in the United States |
|
The landmark situation comedy, All in the Family, premieres on CBS. |
|
26th Amendment ratified, allowing 18-year-olds to vote. |
|
In New York Times Co. v. United States, The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint. |
| 1972 |
|
President Richard Nixon visits China, an important step in formally normalizing relations between the United States and China. |
|
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty signed with USSR |
|
Watergate scandal: Five men arrested for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate office complex in Washington, D.C. |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1972 (President Nixon re-elected) |
|
Apollo 17 flies to the Moon, and becomes the last manned mission there (as of 2011) |
| 1973 |
|
Paris Peace Accords ends direct U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War |
|
Roe v. Wade Supreme Court ruling overturns state laws against abortion |
|
The Senate Watergate hearings begin, highlighted by Fred Thompson's discovery of Nixon's secret tapes |
|
Skylab launched as the USA's first space station |
|
Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigns in disgrace as part of a plea bargain. Congressman Gerald R. Ford of Michigan becomes the first person to be appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution |
|
Watergate scandal: President Nixon fires three Attorneys General over disposition of the secret tapes and the actions of the Special Prosecutor. |
|
The United States is affected by the Arab Oil Embargo; gasoline prices skyrocket as supplies of gasoline and heating oil are in short supply. In response, Daylight Savings Time is started in January (nearly four months earlier than usual), and the national speed limit is lowered to 55 mph. (to 1974) |
| 1974 |
|
The Super Outbreak, the largest series of tornadoes in history (at 149), hits 13 U.S. states and one Canadian province; 315 people are killed and more than 5,000 are injured. |
|
Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves breaks Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting his 715th career home run. |
|
Watergate scandal: The House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach the President |
|
President Nixon resigns, becoming the first (and as of 2011, the only) President to step down. Vice president Ford becomes President, the first to do so by succession rather than election. Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York becomes the second person to be appointed Vice President under the 25th Amendment to the Constitution |
|
Watergate scandal: Ford pardons Nixon for any crimes he may have committed against the United States while President, believing it to be in the "best interests of the country" |
|
Restrictions removed on holding private gold within the United States |
| 1975 |
|
Construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System begins. |
|
Fall of Saigon |
|
Bill Gates founds Microsoft, which in time will dominate the home computer operating system market. |
|
The Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, where an American Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft dock in orbit, marking the first such link-up between spacecraft from the two nations. |
|
President Ford survives two assassination attempts in a 17-day time span. |
|
The television series Wheel of Fortune and Saturday Night Live premiere on NBC. |
|
Sony's Betamax becomes the first commercially successful home video recording unit |
| 1976 |
|
The Copyright Act of 1976 makes sweeping changes to United States copyright law |
|
Americans celebrate the Bicentennial |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1976 (Jimmy Carter of Georgia defeats President Ford) |
| 1977 |
|
Jimmy Carter is inaugurated as President |
|
The first home personal computer, Commodore PET, released for retail sale |
|
The television miniseries Roots is aired on ABC, to critical acclaim and gaining record audiences |
|
The New York City blackout of 1977 lasts for 25 hours, resulting in looting and other disorder |
|
Elvis Presley, the king of rock and roll dies in his home in Graceland at age 42. 75,000 fans lined the streets of Memphis for this funeral |
|
Atari 2600 becomes the first successful home video game system, popularizes the use of microprocessor based hardware and cartridges containing game code |
| 1978 |
|
Volkswagen becomes the second (after Rolls-Royce) non-American automobile manufacturer to open a plant in the United States, commencing production of the Rabbit |
|
Camp David Accords, where Menachem Begin (Israel) and Anwar Sadat (Egypt) begin the peace process at Camp David, Maryland. |
|
Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act signed into law, adjusting the government's economic goals to include full employment, growth in production, price stability, and balance of trade and budget |
|
The Senate votes to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999 |
|
Harvey Milk is assassinated by Dan White in San Francisco on November 27. |
| 1979 |
|
Three Mile Island nuclear accident, which is America's most serious nuclear power plant accident in its history. |
|
Iran hostage crisis begins. In the aftermath, a second energy crisis develops, tripling the price of oil and sending gasoline prices over $1 per gallon for the first time. |
|
American Airlines Flight 191 crashes after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport killing all 271 aboard and 2 on the ground, making it the deadliest aviation incident on U.S. soil |
|
Facing bankruptcy, Chrysler receives government loan guarantees upon the request of CEO Lee Iacocca to help revive the company |
| 1980 |
|
Refugee Act, which reformed United States immigration law and admitted refugees on systematic basis for humanitarian reasons |
|
Mount St. Helens eruption in Washington kills 57 |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1980 |
|
John Lennon assassinated |
| 1981 |
|
Ronald Reagan becomes President, inaugurated on the same day Iran releases hostages |
|
Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley |
|
Kemp-Roth Tax Cut |
|
MTV signs on, becoming the first 24-hour cable network dedicated to airing music videos. |
|
A hotel walkway collapses in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 and injuring over 200; it is the deadliest structural collapse to occur in the United States |
|
The Space Shuttle Columbia is launched, marking America's first return to space since 1975 |
|
Sandra Day O'Connor becomes first woman on the U.S. Supreme Court |
|
The killing of 7-year-old Adam Walsh (1981), and the disappearance of Johnny Gosch, a 12-year-old newspaper carrier from Des Moines, Iowa (1982), raise awareness of missing children cases in the United States. (to 1982) |
| 1983 |
|
241 U.S. Marines killed by suicide bomb in Lebanon |
|
United States invades Grenada |
|
Chrysler unveils its minivans - the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager (as 1984 models) - to the public |
| 1984 |
|
Most of Eastern Bloc boycotts Summer Olympics in Los Angeles |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1984 (Ronald Reagan is re-elected) |
|
The drug problem intensifies as crack (a smokeable form of cocaine) is first introduced into the Los Angeles area |
|
Awareness of child sexual abuse by pedophiles raised through high-profile media coverage on programs such as 60 Minutes and 20/20. |
| 1985 |
|
Bernhard Goetz is indicted in New York on charges of attempted murder after shooting four young men whom he claimed were intent on mugging him |
|
Professional wrestling hits the mainstream with the World Wrestling Federation's first WrestleMania and the debut of Saturday Night's Main Event, and the WWF's flagship star, Hulk Hogan, becoming a cultural icon. |
|
World awareness of famine in Third World countries spark "We Are the World" and Live Aid. Also, awareness of AIDS (acquired immune deficiency syndrome) is raised with the death of actor Rock Hudson. |
|
Country music singer Willie Nelson organizes the first Farm Aid, to raise money for family farmers facing financial crisis |
|
The Ford Taurus and Mercury Sable (as 1986 models), Nintendo Entertainment System are released to the public. |
| 1986 |
|
Iran-Contra scandal breaks |
|
Space Shuttle Challenger accident, killing all seven aboard (inclduing school teacher Christa McAuliffe) and grounding the nation's space program for 2½ years. |
|
Tax Reform Act of 1986 |
|
Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act |
|
Marshall Islands become independent |
|
Fox Broadcasting Company launched, becomes the first network since DuMont to offer nightly programming |
| 1987 |
|
U.S. boycotts Summer Olympics in Moscow to protest 1979 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, also announces grain embargo against the Soviet Union with the support of the European Commission. |
|
Assorted scandals involve popular televangelists, including Jim Bakker, Oral Roberts and Jimmy Swaggart. |
|
During a visit to Berlin, Germany, President Reagan challenges Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "Tear down this wall!" (referring to the Berlin Wall). |
|
Dow Jones Industrial Average falls 22.6% in single session on Black Monday |
|
Dennis Conner onboard "Stars & Stripes" returns the America's Cup to America. |
|
The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty is signed in Washington, D.C. President Reagan and Soviet Premier Gorbachev. |
| 1988 |
|
Drunk driving awareness raised after a drunk driver's car crashes into a church bus near Carrollton, Kentucky, killing 27. |
|
Severe droughts and massive heat wave grip the Midwest and Rocky Mountain states. The crisis reaches its peak with the Yellowstone fires of 1988. |
|
Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois, becomes the last Major League Baseball park to add lights for night games. |
|
Discovery launched as first post-Challenger space shuttle flight |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1988 (Vice president George H. W. Bush is elected) |
|
Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty goes into effect |
| 1989 |
|
George H. W. Bush inaugurated as President. |
|
Time, Inc. and Warner Communications announce plans for a merger, forming Time Warner. |
|
Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska's Prince William Sound |
|
Awareness of stalking is raised with the murder of actress Rebecca Schaeffer by an obsessed fan |
|
Hurricane Hugo strikes the East Coast, causing $7 billion in damage. |
|
Loma Prieta earthquake kills 63 in greater San Francisco Bay Area |
|
President Bush declares a "War on Drugs." |
|
The animated comedy The Simpsons debuts |
|
President Bush and Soviet Premier Gorbachev release statements indicating that the Cold War between their nations may be coming to an end. Symbolic elsewhere around the world was the fall of the Berlin Wall in Germany |
| 1990 |
|
Hubble Space Telescope launched during Space Shuttle Discovery mission. |
|
Iraq invades Kuwait leading to the Gulf War. |
| 1991 |
|
The Gulf War is waged in the Middle East, by a U.N.-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations, led by the U.S. and United Kingdom, against Iraq. |
|
Supreme Court candidate Clarence Thomas and former aide Anita Hill are interviewed by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee following sexual harassment allegations by Hill. Thomas is eventually confirmed and seated on the Supreme Court. |
|
Cold War ends as the USSR dissolves. |
| 1992 |
|
Los Angeles riots result in over 50 deaths and $1 billion in damage, spurred by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the videotaped beating of black motorist Rodney King |
|
27th Amendment, prohibiting changes to Congress members' salaries from taking effect until after an election of representatives. |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1992 (Bill Clinton defeats President George H. W. Bush) |
|
Hurricane Andrew, a Category 5 hurricane, kills 65 people and causes $26 billion in damage to Florida and other areas of the U.S. Gulf Coast, and will be the costliest natural disaster until Hurricane Katrina in 2005. |
| 1993 |
|
Truck Bomb explodes in the parking garage, under the World Trade Center in New York City, killing 6 people and injuring thousands. |
|
Branch Davidians standoff and fire in Waco, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 76 people including their leader, David Koresh. |
|
The "Storm of the Century" strikes the Eastern Seaboard, with blizzard conditions and severe weather, killing 300 people and causing $6 billion in damage. |
|
Massive flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers kill 50 people and devastate the Midwest with $15 billion in damage |
|
President Clinton signs 'Don't ask, don't tell' into law which prohibits openly gay or bisexual people from serving in the military. |
| 1994 |
|
North American Free Trade Agreement goes into effect. |
|
1994 Northridge earthquake kills 72 and injures 9,000 in the Los Angeles area and causes $20 billion in damage. |
| 1995 |
|
Following the 1994 elections, Republicans gain control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1955. |
|
Oklahoma City bombing kills 168 and wounds 800. The bombing is the worst domestic terrorist incident in U.S. history, and the investigation resulted in the arrests of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols |
|
Retired professional football player O. J. Simpson is acquitted of two charges of first-degree murder in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman. The trial, which lasts nine months, receives worldwide publicity. |
|
A heat wave kills 750 in Chicago, bringing to attention the plight of the urban poor and the elderly in extreme weather conditions. |
|
A budget crisis forces the federal government to shutdown for several weeks. (to 1996) |
| 1996 |
|
A snowstorm along the East Coast kills 150 people and causes $3 billion in damage |
|
TWA Flight 800 explodes off Long Island killing all 230 aboard. |
|
Khobar Towers bombing leaves 19 U.S. servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia |
|
Centennial Olympic Park bombing at Summer Olympics in Atlanta kills 1 and injures 111 |
|
U.S. presidential election, 1996 (Bill Clinton is re-elected) |
| 1997 |
|
President Clinton bars federal funding for any research on human cloning. |
|
Sparked by a global economic crisis scare, the Dow Jones Industrial Average follows world markets and plummets 554.26, or 7.18%, to 7,161.15 |
|
Des Moines, Iowa resident Bobbi McCaughey gives birth to septuplets in the second known case where all seven babies are born alive, and the first in which all survive infancy |
| 1998 |
|
Former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones accuses President Clinton of sexual harassment |
|
Lewinsky scandal: President Clinton is accused of having a sexual relationship with 22-year-old White House intern Monica Lewinsky. This leads to the impeachment of Clinton later in the year by the U.S. House of Representatives. Clinton is acquitted of all impeachment charges of perjury and obstruction of justice in a 21-day Senate trial (to 1999) |
|
224 killed in 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya |
|
Gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered near the University of Wyoming. He becomes a symbol of gay-bashing victims and sparking public reflection on homophobia in the U.S. |
| 1999 |
|
Dennis Hastert of Illinois becomes Speaker of the House, a position he will hold until 2007, making him the longest-serving Republican Speaker of the House |
|
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closes above the 10,000 mark for the first time, at 10,006.78 |
|
Two teenage students murder 13 other students and teachers at Columbine High School. It is the deadliest mass murder at a high school in U.S. history, and sparks debates on gun control and bullying. |
|
A violent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma kills 50 people and becomes the first to produce a tornado that causes $1 billion in damage. |
|
The first officer deliberately crashes EgyptAir Flight 990 south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 217. |
|
Along with the rest of the world, the U.S. prepares for the possible effects of the Y2K bug in computers, which was feared to cause computers to become inoperable and wreak havoc. |
| 2000 |
|
The Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, the USS Cole (DDG-76) is bombed in Yemeni waters, killing seventeen U.S. Navy sailors. |
|
U.S. presidential election, 2000; incumbent Texas governor George Walker Bush wins by 537 votes in Florida in a highly contested election against the incumbent Vice President Al Gore. He is thus elected 43rd President of the United States. |
| Year |
Date |
Event |
| 2001 |
|
George W. Bush is inaugurated as the 43rd President of the United States. |
|
Democrats gains narrow control of Senate after James Jeffords defects from the Republican Party. |
|
No Child Left Behind Act education reform bill passed. |
|
Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 institutes the smallest tax cut in U.S. history. |
|
September 11th terrorist attacks; 19 terrorists hijack four planes and crash them into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing nearly 3,000 people and injuring over 6,000. All civilian air traffic is suspended for 3 days, the first time an unplanned suspension had occurred in U.S. history. |
|
Congress passes an emergency bailout package for the airline industry as a result of the attacks |
|
Anthrax attacks kill 5 and infect a further 17 through the U.S. Mail system. |
|
The United States launches the invasion of Afghanistan marking the start of Operation Enduring Freedom. |
|
Patriot Act, increasing law enforcement agencies' ability to conduct searches in cases of suspected terrorism. Agencies were enforced. |
|
American Airlines Flight 587 crashes in Queens, New York, killing 265. |
| 2002 |
|
The Department of Homeland Security is created in the wake of the September 11 attacks. |
|
The United States withdraws from Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. |
|
10 people are killed and 3 are injured in the Beltway sniper attacks around the Washington D.C. area. |
| 2003 |
|
Republicans retake narrow control of the Senate following 2002 elections. |
|
Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrates upon re-entry to the Earth's atmosphere, killing all 7 astronauts and resulting in a 29-month suspension of the space shuttle program. |
|
A series of incidents occur that institute a crackdown on building, fire, and safety code violations across the United States, including the E2 nightclub stampede which killed 21, The Station nightclub fire which killed 100, and a porch collapse which killed 13. |
|
The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invades Iraq marking the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. |
|
U.S. forces continue fighting an insurgency in Iraq while helping the Iraqis build a new army of their own and develop a democratic form of government |
|
In Iraq, deposed Iraqi president Saddam Hussein is captured by U.S. special forces. |
| 2004 |
|
The social networking website Facebook is launched. |
|
The 2004 Atlantic hurricane season produces four deadly and damaging hurricanes which impact Florida, Charley, Frances, Ivan, and Jeanne, which kill a combined 100 people in the U.S. and produce over $50 billion in damage |
|
Massachusetts becomes the first state to legalize same-sex marriage, this in compliance with a ruling from the state's Supreme Court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health |
|
Former U.S. President Ronald Wilson Reagan dies from complications resulting from Alzheimer's Disease. He lies in state at the U.S. Capitol building before being interred. |
|
U.S. presidential election, 2004; George W. Bush re-elected to second-term; Republicans solidify control in both houses of Congress. |
| 2005 |
|
George W. Bush is inaugurated to his second-term |
|
Hurricane Katrina devastates the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Ohio coastlines killing at least 1,836 people and causing $81 billion in damage, making it the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history. Weeks later, Hurricane Rita causes $10 billion damage along the Louisiana and Texas coastlines. In October, Hurricane Wilma kills 35 and causes $20 billion in damage in Florida. |
| 2006 |
|
The Democratic Party retakes control of both houses of Congress, and gains a majority of state governorships (28-22). |
| 2007 |
|
Democrat Nancy Pelosi becomes the first female Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives |
|
George W. Bush orders a troop surge which substantially increases the number of U.S. troops in Iraq and ultimately leads to reductions in casualties and major victories for coalition and Iraqi forces, against the insurgency. |
|
A South Korean student shoots and kills 32 other students and professors in the Virginia Tech massacre before killing himself. It is the worst mass-shooting in U.S. history and spurs a series of debates on gun control and journalism ethics. |
|
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapses, killing 13 people. The bridge collapse brings to national attention the need to rehabilitate the aging U.S. infrastructure system. |
|
The late-2000s recession officially begins in December. |
| 2008 |
|
The Super Tuesday tornado outbreak kills over 60 people and produces $1 billion in damage across Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama. |
|
A student kills 5, injures 21, and then kills himself in the Northern Illinois University shooting. After this incident, calls are made for more focus on mental health services and interest grows substantially in the group Students for Concealed Carry on Campus. |
|
Hurricane Ike kills 100 people along the Texas coast, produces $31 billion in damage, and contributes to rising oil prices. |
|
U.S. oil prices hit a record $147 per barrel in the wake of—among other factors—international tensions and the falling U.S. dollar vs. the Euro. |
|
Global financial crisis in September 2008 begins as the stock market crashes. In response, U.S. President George W. Bush signs the revised Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law to create a 700 billion dollar Treasury fund to purchase failing bank assets. |
|
U.S. presidential election, 2008; Barack Obama elected 44th President of the United States. |
| 2009 |
|
Barack Hussein Obama II is inaugurated as the 44th President of the United States. He is also the first African-American to hold the office. |
|
The first of a series of Tea Party protests are conducted across the United States, focusing on smaller government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedoms and conservative views of the Constitution. |
|
U.S. President Barack Obama obtains Congressional approval for the $787 billion stimulus package, the largest since President Dwight D. Eisenhower. |
|
Pop icon Michael Jackson dies, creating the largest public mourning for an entertainer since the death of Elvis Presley. |
|
Nidal Malik Hasan kills 12 servicemen and injures 31 in the Fort Hood shooting |
| 2010 |
|
The controversial Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act is passed by razor-thin margins in Congress. |
|
The Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico explodes, sending millions of gallons of oil into the sea. The spill becomes the worst oil spill in American history. |
|
Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act |
|
reduce the Democratic majority in the Senate]]. |
|
A series of measures pass through an historic lame-duck session of Congress including an extension of Bush-era tax cuts for all Americans, the ratification of the New START II treaty with Russia, signing of an agreement to repeal the don't ask don't tell policy concerning gays and lesbians openly serving in the US military, and passage of a 9/11 first responders health-care bill. |
| 2011 |
|
U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords is targeted in an assassination attempt, when a gunman went on a shooting spree, critically injuring Giffords, killing federal judge John Roll and five other people, and wounding at least 13 others, at a "Congress on Your Corner" event Giffords was hosting in suburban Tucson, Arizona. |
|
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives caught dealing several thousand guns to mexico. |
|
The U.S. launches Operation Odyssey Dawn as part of a United Nations military intervention in the Libyan civil war. |
|
A series of tornadoes cause heavy damage in the South, Alabama being the hardest hit. 344 people are killed in the deadliest natural disaster in the US since Hurricane Katrina. |
|
Osama bin Laden, leader of al-Qaeda and mastermind of the September 11 attacks, is killed in Abbottabad, Pakistan by sailors from the United States Naval Special Warfare Development Group. |
|
Flooding devastates the Mississippi River valley causing $2 to $4 billion in damage. |
|
A tornado devastates Joplin, Missouri, killing 154 and injuring 1,000, making it the deadliest single U.S. tornado since the advent of modern weather forecasting |
|
STS-135: The Space Shuttle Atlantis touches down at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center, ending the 30 year shuttle program, which began with the launch of shuttle Columbia on April 12, 1981. |
|
Hurricane Irene strikes the Atlantic coast causing heavy flooding from North Carolina to eastern Canada, killing 49 and causing over $13 billion in damage. |
|
In response to continuing economic stagnation, the populist Occupy Wall Street protest movement begins when activists camp themselves in Zuccotti Park in New York City. |
|
After a manhunt that lasted more than two years, during a U.S. military operation in northern Yemen's al-Jawf province, American drones carried out a targeted killing of al-Qaida's leader in the Arabian Peninsula Anwar al-Awlaki while he traveled in a convoy together with his senior aides. |
|
Jerry Sandusky, a former assistant coach for the Penn State University football team, is arrested on nearly 40 counts of molesting over nine thousand and one boys over a 15-year period. The charges come following a grand jury investigation, which also alleges attempts to cover up the incidents and failure to report the incidents to law enforcement. In the wake of the report, longtime coach Joe Paterno and university president Graham Spanier (already heavily criticized for alleged inaction) are fired. |