Download American history timeline with Civil War battles

Magna Carta
(“Great Charter”)
of England
1215
Columbus lands on
Hispaniola (today –
Dominican Republic)
October
1492
Jamestown
established
May
1607
First
representative
government in
the colonies!
1619
House of Burgesses
Pilgrims found Plymouth
colony;
1620
1620
November 11,
–
Mayflower Compact
signed
Puritans 1630
establish the
Massachusetts
Bay
Colony
1639
Fundamental
Orders of
Connecticut
1650
thru
1660
Parliament
passes
“Navigation Acts” to
limit colonial trade
with England alone.
1688 William and Mary of
the Netherlands become
monarchs of
England; sign
English Bill of
Rights 1689.
1607 to
1733;
Original
13
colonies
founded
1730’s The First Great
Awakening
A Christian religious revival marked by an
influx of Protestant denominations and a
change from salvation through works to
“grace
through
faith.”
1754 Albany Congress
proposes unification plan for
the
colonies;
the plan
is
rejected.
1754 The
French and
Indian War;
Great Britain piles up debt
fighting the French on
American soil.
1763 First Treaty of
Paris ends the French
and Indian War.
1763 Proclamation of 1763
prohibits colonial expansion beyond
the Appalachian mountains.
1764 Sugar Act;
Parliament attempts
to recoup funds used
to fight the French
and Indian War.
“Taxation without
Representation” is
the colonial protest.
1764 James Hargreaves
invents the Spinning Jenny
a machine that
spins several
threads at
once.
1765 Stamp
Act;
Parliament
taxes all legal
documents in
the colonies.
1765 Stamp Act Congress;
Colonies petition King George III
and Parliament for relief.
1767 Townshend Acts; Parliament
passes a tax on glass, paper, paint,
lead, and tea. Act contains writs of
assistance allowing tax collectors to
search and/or seize almost any cargo.
1770
March 5,
The Boston
Massacre; Armed British soldiers
fire into a crowd of rowdy colonists,
killing five.
1773 Tea Act; Parliament
repeals the Townshend Acts
but passes a tax on tea.
December 16,
1773 Boston Tea
Party; Dressed as Native Americans,
angry colonists board English ships and
dump 342 chests of tea into Boston Harbor.
1774 Intolerable Acts; In
response to the colonial uprising,
Parliament acts to punish the
colonies.
1774 First Continental Congress;
Delegates from every colony except
Georgia meet to unify behind
Massachusetts.
1775
April 18,
Paul Revere
makes his famous ride, warning
colonists that “the Redcoats are
coming!”
April 19, 1775 at Lexington
and Concord, the first shots or
the Revolutionary War are fired.
1775
May 10,
Second
Continental Congress; delegates
send the Olive Branch Petition
to King George III.
June 16, 1775 The Battle of
Bunker Hill; The first major
battle of the Revolutionary
War.
1776
July 4,
Declaration of
Independence;
The United
States declares
independence
from Great
Britain.
“We hold these truths to be selfevident, that all men are created
equal; that they are endowed by their
Creator with certain unalienable
rights; that among these are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
From the Declaration of
Independence, July 4,
1776.
Battle of Trenton December 26,
1776. Washington crosses the
Delaware river and surprises Hessian
troops at Trenton.
October 17, 1777 Battle of Saratoga.
British General Burgoyne surrenders to
American forces. Victory at Saratoga
convinces the French to join the American
cause, becoming the turning point in the
war.
1777 Articles of
Confederation;
Congress approves
the first
Constitution of
the United States.
Winter 1777-1778 Valley
Forge; Washington’s troops
suffer hardship over the cold
winter.
January 1781 Battle of Cowpens;
Americans under Nathaniel Greene
defeat The British under Cornwallis in
the battle made famous in “The
Patriot.”
1781
October 19,
Battle of Yorktown.
Cornwallis
surrenders his
British forces. The
American victory
convinces the British
to sue for peace.
April 15, 1783 Congress ratifies
the Second Treaty of Paris, ending
the Revolutionary war
Under the Treaty of
Paris, the new
United States
stretches from the
Atlantic ocean to
the Mississippi river
and from the Great
Lakes to Florida,
which is returned
to Spain.
1785 Edmund
Cartwright invents the
power loom,
a machine that
weaves thread
into cloth.
1786 Shay’s
Rebellion;
Daniel Shays
leads a rebellion
over taxation
(that cause farm
seizures).
1787 Northwest Ordinance;
Congress agrees to organization of
the Northwest territory, one of the
few “successes” under the Articles.
May 25, 1787 Constitutional
Convention; Every state (except Rhode
Island) sends delegates to Philadelphia to
write a new Constitution.
Proposed three branches of government; Legislative,
Executive, and Judicial
Proposed New Jersey plan: One house in the
legislature, one vote for each state
Proposed Virginia plan: Two-house legislature, both
determined by population
“Great Compromise”: Two-house legislature; one
determined by population the other with identical
representation for each state.
Proposed three-fifths compromise: slaves counted as
3/5 of a person for purposes of state representation.
“Federalists” and “Anti-federalists” argue for or
against the new Constitution.
1789
Samuel
Slater brings
British factory
design to
America.
1790
May 29,
– The last state
(Rhode island) ratifies the
Constitution and it becomes the
law of the land!
1791
December
, Written by James
Madison, the first 10 amendments to
the Constitution (The Bill of Rights) are
ratified by the necessary number of
states.
April 30, 1789
George
Washington
inaugurated as
first President
of the United
States.
The first Secretary of the
Treasury, Alexander
Hamilton proposes that
the Federal government
pay off all national and
state debt and that a
National Bank (The Bank
of the United States) be
chartered. Congress
created this bank in
1791.
1791 Political parties
emerge for the first
time as “Federalists”
align themselves with
Alexander Hamilton and
“Democratic-Republicans”
line up behind Thomas
Jefferson.
In response to calls
for support of France,
Washington issues the
Neutrality
Proclamation of
1793 forbidding
the United States
from aiding either
France or Great
Britain in the conflict.
French Revolution, 1789
Farmers in Pennsylvania revolt
against Hamilton’s tax on whiskey.
George Washington himself puts
down the revolt, called the
“Whiskey Rebellion,”
1794.
1794 Eli
Whitney patents
the cotton gin;
1798
interchangeable
parts for musket
manufacture.
Washington’s
Farewell address,
1796, he warns
against political
parties, debt, and
foreign alliances.
1796
Federalist
John Adams
is elected
President.
1797 “XYZ Affair” angers
many Americans
1798 Alien and
Sedition Acts; Federalists
push several laws through
Congress; The Alien Act
allows the President to
expel “dangerous”
foreigners; the Sedition
Act makes it illegal to
criticize the government
or its officials.
1800
DemocratRepublican
Thomas
Jefferson
elected
President.
Early 1800s The Second Great
Awakening; Christian thought
transforms from predestination to
free will.
1803 Louisiana Purchase
1803 Marbury
v. Madison
establishes the
precedent of
judicial review.
1804-1806 Lewis and Clark
Expedition; Meriwether Lewis and
William Clark lead an exploratory
expedition into the Louisiana Purchase.
1807 Robert Fulton’s first
steamboat The Clermont
first sets sail!
1807 Embargo
Act; Discontinued
foreign trade
hurting both
Britain and France
but harming
America even
more.
1808
James
Madison
elected
President
(served from
1809 – 1817)
Congress declares war on Great Britain
in response to the British blockade of
American ports, the impressment of
American sailors and the incitement
of Native Americans against the U.S.
June,
1812
• Battle of Lake Erie; September
1813
• Battle of Horseshoe Bend; 1814
• Battle of New Orleans; 1815
1814 Treaty of Ghent ends
the War of 1812; “Nothing
was adjusted, nothing was
settled.”
1814 - 1824
The American
“victory” in the war
of 1812, a good
economy, and
political unity lead
to “The Era of
Good Feelings.”
1816 James
Monroe elected
President of the
United States,
serving from
1817 through
1825
1819 McCulloch v.
Maryland; Supreme Court
rules that states have no right
to interfere with Federal
institutions within their
borders.
1819 Adams-Onis Treaty;
Spain cedes Florida to the U.S.
and boundary disputes are
settled.
1820 Missouri Compromise; Sets a
line at 36o30’ North Latitude below which
slavery would be allowed and disallowed
above; maintained the balance between
slave and free states in Congress.
1821 Mexico gains independence
from Spain; moves Anglo settlers into
Texas under empresario Stephen F.
Austin.
1823 Monroe
Doctrine; James
Monroe lets Europe
know that the U.S. will
not interfere in
European affairs and
he expects noninterference from
Europe in the
Americas.
1824 Gibbons v. Ogden;
Supreme Court upholds the
power of the Federal
government to regulate
commerce.
Via “Corrupt
Bargain,” John
Quincy Adams
th
becomes the 6
President of the
U.S. in the election
of 1824.
1825 Erie Canal opens;
“Clinton’s Ditch” opens the
Atlantic Ocean to the
American
midwest.
1828 Andrew
Jackson elected
th
7 President of
the U.S.
Jackson serves
through 1836.
Jackson known for his
“kitchen cabinet”
(advisers other than
department Secretaries
who met in the White
House kitchen) and the
“Spoils System;” a
system in which
Jackson appointed
friends and political
cronies to government
positions.
1828 Tariff of Abominations;
Congress passes the highest tariff in the
history of the nation. Northern business
interests applaud the tariff, the South
deplores it!
1830 Congress passes the Indian
Removal Act, forcing Native Americans
to move west of the Mississippi; the
Trail of Tears.
1831 Abolitionist
William Lloyd Garrison
begins publishing the
anit-slavery newspaper
The Liberator.
1832 the “Bank War;” Jackson
vetoes the reauthorization bill for the Bank
of the United States citing two reasons: He
said the Bank was unconstitutional and it
benefitted
only the
wealthy.
1832 Worcester V. Georgia
The Supreme Court rules that the federal
government has no constitutional
authority to regulate
independent Indian
nations, voiding the
Indian Removal Act.
President Jackson
reportedly says “Justice Marshall has
made his ruling; now let him enforce it!”
1832
Nullification
Crisis; South
Carolina passes the
Nullification Act
declaring the Tariff
of Abominations
illegal and threatens
to secede from the
Union.
John C. Calhoun
1836 Republic
of Texas; Mostly
Anglo settlers of
Texas revolt and win
independence from
Mexico. Almost
immediately, Texas
petitions the United
States for annexation.
1837 Horace
Mann pushes for
education reform
in Massachsetts.
1840s – A New York newspaper first
coins the term “Manifest Destiny” to
describe the urge to move westward.
1841 Dorothea
Dix begins a
crusade to
improve the
treatment of the
mentally ill.
Promising
westward
expansion,
James K. Polk
becomes the
th
11 President of
the U.S. in
1845.
1845 Texas Annexation; Texas
becomes the
th
28
state of the U.S.
Avoiding war with England, the
U.S. and Great Britain agree to
split the Oregon Territory at
o
Latitude 49 North in
1846.
1846 Mexican-American
war begins.
1847 Former slave and
abolitionist Frederick Douglas
begins publication of the antislavery
newspaper the North Star.
1848 – The Treaty of GuadalupeHidalgo ends the Mexican-American
War; the huge territory Mexico
gives up as a result of the treaty is
called “The
Mexican
Cession.”
1848 The Seneca Falls
Lucretia Mott
Convention for Women’s
Rights meets at Seneca Falls,
N.Y. and issues A Declaration
of Sentiments.
Elizabeth Cady
Stanton
1849 Gold Rush; Gold is
discovered in California
prompting a mass migration
westward.
Compromise of 1850; California is
admitted to the Union as a free state;
Utah and New Mexico are organized
into territories; the slave trade is
discontinued in the District of
Columbia; Introduces a strict Fugitive
Slave Law; settles a
border dispute
between Texas
and New Mexico.
1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin is
published.
1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act;
Congress allows the issue of slavery in
these territories to be determined by
popular sovereignty
1857 Dred Scott v. Sandford; Supreme
Court rules that slaves are not citizens and
can therefore not legally
bring a lawsuit. Furthermore, the Court states that
slaves are property and that
Congress does not have the
Constitutional authority to
regulate slavery, making the
Missouri Compromise unconstitutional.
Attempting to start a
slave uprising, John
Brown leads a raid on
the Federal Arsenal at
Harper’s Ferry, Virginia;
1859
“I, John Brown am now quite certain that the
crimes of this guilty land will never be purged
away but with blood.”
1860
Republican
Abraham
Lincoln elected
th
as 16 President
of the United
States.
1860
December 20,
South Carolina is
the first state to secede from the Union,
followed quickly by Alabama, Florida,
Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas
(February, 1861)
1861
April 12,
The first shots of
the Civil War; Confederate troops
fire on Fort Sumter in South
Carolina (Charleston Harbor)
July 21, 1861 The
st
1
Battle of Bull Run (Manassas); The
first major battle of the Civil War
April 6/7, 1862 The
Battle of Shiloh
(first significant Union victory of the war)
September 16-18, 1862
The Battle of Antietam
(the deadliest single day of fighting in the entire
Civil War ~23,000 casualties 9-17-1862)
1863
January 1,
Lincoln issues the
Emancipation
Proclamation,
freeing all enslaved
African Americans in
the Confederate
States.
May 18 – July 4, 1863
The Battle of Vicksburg
Union victory gains Union control of the entire
Mississippi River, effectively cutting the Confederacy
in half (“Anaconda” in action!)
July 1-3, 1863; the Battle of
Gettysburg. Bloodiest battle in
American history (50,000 dead or
wounded).
November 19, 1863
Speaking at the
dedication of the
National Cemetery
at Gettysburg,
Abraham Lincoln
delivers his
Gettysburg Address.
The Gettysburg Address
Four score and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new
nation, conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are
created equal. Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation,
or any nation, so conceived and so dedicated, can long endure. We are met on a
great battle-field of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field, as a
final resting place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is
altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.
But, in a larger sense, we can not dedicate, we can not consecrate, we can not
hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have
consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little
note, nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did
here. It is for us the living, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work
which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to
be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us—that from these honored
dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full
measure of devotion—that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have
died in vain—that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom—and
that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from
the earth.
Abraham Lincoln, November 19, 1863
September 2, 1864
The fall of Atlanta
(Important victory for Lincoln’s re-election!)
1864
Republican
Abraham
Lincoln reelected as
President of the
United States.
1865
April 9,
Robert E. Lee
surrenders his Army
of Northern Virginia
to Ulysses S. Grant
at Appomattox
Court House, Virginia,
effectively ending the
Civil War.
April 14, 1865 Five days after Lee’s
surrender, actor John Wilkes Booth
assassinates Abraham Lincoln at Ford’s
Theatre in Washington.
December 6,
1865
The Thirteenth
Amendment (which
prohibits slavery in the
United States) to the
Constitution is
ratified.
Overturning the Dred
Scott decision, Congress
th
passes the 14
Amendment to the
Constitution granting
citizenship to all persons
born or naturalized in
the United States;
ratified on July 9,
1868.
Four Plans for Reconstruction
1.1863; “Ten Percent Plan” Abraham Lincoln
proposes reinstatement of Confederate States
when 10% of voters swear allegiance to the Union
and all Confederate States abolish slavery.
2.1864; Wade-Davis Bill – Majority of white men
must swear loyalty; Former Confederate
volunteers cannot vote or hold office.
3.1865; Johnson Plan – Majority of white men
must swear loyalty; All Confederate States must
ratify the thirteenth Amendment; Former
Confederate officials MAY vote and hold office.
4.1867; Reconstruction Act – Must disband state
governments; Must write new Constitutions; Must
ratify the 14th Amendment; African-American men
must be allowed to vote.
1867 Reconstruction Act;
Radical Republicans control
Congress and pass a punitive plan
for reconstruction.
1870 Fifteenth
Amendment; The
rights of citizens to
vote shall not be
infringed based on
race, color, or
previous condition of
servitude.
1870 – All former Confederate
states are readmitted to the
Union.
1876 Rutherford
B. Hayes elected
President; recalls
Federal troops from
the military districts
of the South,
effectively ending
Reconstruction.