Timeline of United States history

This is a timeline of United States history, comprising important legal and territorial changes and political events in the United States and its predecessor states. To read about the background to these events, see History of the United States. See also the list of Presidents of the United States and years in the United States.

This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by expanding it with reliably sourced entries.

15th century

Year	Date	Event	1492		Voyages of Christopher Columbus landed on the island of Hispaniola.
1497		English navigator John Cabot landed in Newfoundland.

16th century

Year	Date	Event
1513		Spanish explorer Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama.
		Spanish conquest of Yucatán: The Spaniard Juan Ponce de León defeated the state of Tlaxcala.
1520		Spanish conquest of Yucatán: Spanish conquest of the Maya civilization began.
1521		Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire: Spanish conquistador Hernán Cortés destroyed the Aztec Empire.
1524		Giovanni da Verrazzano explored the Atlantic coast of North America under French employ.
1542		Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto discovered the Mississippi River, strengthening Spanish claims to the interior of North America.
1565		Spanish Admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés founded St. Augustine.
1570		The Iroquois Confederacy was founded.
1587		English explorer Sir Walter Raleigh founded Roanoke Colony.
1590		The Roanoke Colony was found deserted.

17th century

Year	Date	Event
1607		John Smith founded the Jamestown Settlement....
1614		The Dutch laid claim to the territories of New Netherland.
1619		Slavery was introduced to the Colony of Virginia.
1620		The Mayflower Compact was signed.
1625		New Amsterdam was founded.
1628		The Massachusetts Bay Colony founded.
1630		The Winthrop Fleet arrived in the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
		The Manor of Rensselaerswyck was founded.
1634		The Province of Maryland was founded.
		Theologian Roger Williams was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1635		The Connecticut Colony was founded by Thomas Hooker.
1636		Williams founded the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.
		Harvard College was founded.
1637		The New Haven Colony was founded.
		Pequot War: The war, in New England, ended.
1638		The Delaware Colony was founded.
		New Sweden was established.
1639		The Fundamental Agreement of the New Haven Colony was signed.
		The Fundamental Orders of Connecticut were adopted.
1640		French and Iroquois Wars: The wars escalated to full warfare.
1643		The New England Confederation was created.
		Kieft's War: The war, in New Netherland, began.
1644		Third Anglo–Powhatan War: The war began.
1645		Kieft's War: The war ended.
1646		Third Anglo-Powhatan War: The war ended.
1649		The Maryland Toleration Act was passed.
		The execution of the English King Charles I of England marked the establishment of the Commonwealth of England.
1655		Peach Tree War: The war took place.
1659		Esopus Wars: The wars took place.
1660		The Commonwealth of England came to an end with the restoration of King Charles II of England.
1662		The Halfway Covenant was adopted
1663		Charles granted a charter for a new colony, the Province of Carolina.
1664		Second Anglo-Dutch War: The war began with the English conquest of New Amsterdam.
1667		New Netherland was ceded to England under the Treaty of Breda (1667).
1669		John Lederer of Virginia began to explore the Appalachian Mountains.
1670		Charles Town was founded.
		Lederer's expedition ended.
1671		The Batts-Fallam expedition sponsored by Abraham Wood reached the New River.
1672		The Blue Laws were enacted in Connecticut.
		Louis Jolliet and Jacques Marquette began to explore the Illinois Country.
1673		Jolliet and Marquette's expedition ended.
1674		New Netherland was permanently relinquished to England under the Treaty of Westminster.
1675		King Philip's War: The war, in New England, began.
1676		Bacon's Rebellion: The rebellion, in Virginia, took place.
		King Philip's War: The war took place.
1677		The Province of Maine was absorbed by the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
1679		War between Carolina and the Westo resulted in the destruction of the Westo.
1680		Pueblo Revolt: A revolt took place in Spanish New Mexico.
1682		The Province of Pennsylvania was founded by William Penn.
		René-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle travelled down the Mississippi River to its mouth.
1685		Charles died. He was succeeded as King of Kingdom of England by James II of England.
1686		The Dominion of New England was established.
1687		Yamasee Indians from Spanish Florida moved to Carolina.
1688		Glorious Revolution: James was deposed in favor of William and Mary.
1689		The Governor of the Dominion of New England was deposed, ending the rule of the Dominion.
		King William's War: The war began.
1690		Schenectady Massacre: A massacre took place.
1692		Salem witch trials: Witch trials took place in the Province of Massachusetts Bay.
1697		War of the Grand Alliance: The war was ended by the Treaty of Ryswick.
1698		Pensacola, Florida was established by the Spanish.
1699		Biloxi was founded by Pierre Le Moyne d'Iberville.

18th century

Year	Date	Event
1702		William died and was succeeded by Queen Anne of Great Britain.
		Queen Anne's War: The war began.
		East Jersey and West Jersey became Crown colonies.
1715		Yamasee War: The war, in Carolina, took place.
1727		George I of Great Britain died and was succeeded by George II of Great Britain.
1729		The proprietors of the Province of Carolina sold out to the British crown.
1732		First Great Awakening: The First Great Awakening took place.
1749		The Province of Georgia overturned its ban on slavery.
1752		Benjamin Franklin's kite experiment took place.
1754		French and Indian War: The war began.
		Albany Congress: A "Union of Colonies" was proposed.
1758		The Treaty of Easton was signed.
1760	September 8	French and Indian War: Pierre de Rigaud, Governor of New France, signed the Articles of Capitulation of Montreal, ceding the Ohio Country and Illinois Country, and the territory of modern-day Canada, to British Field Marshal Jeffrey Amherst, 1st Baron Amherst, ending major hostilities.
	October 25	George died and was succeeded by his grandson George III of the United Kingdom.
1763		Pontiac's Rebellion: The rebellion began.
	February 10	French and Indian War: The Treaty of Paris (1763), under which France ceded much of its North American territory to Great Britain but surrendered Louisiana to Spain, formally ended the war.
	October 7	George issued the Royal Proclamation of 1763, establishing royal administration over the British colonies won under the Treaty of Paris and demarcating their western boundary.
1764	April 5	The Sugar Act, intended to raise revenues, was passed by the British Parliament.
	September 1	The British Parliament passed the Currency Act, which prohibited the colonies from issuing paper money.
1765	March 22	To help defray the cost of keeping troops in America, the British Parliament enacted the Stamp Act 1765, imposing a tax on many types of printed materials used in the colonies.
	March 24	The British Parliament enacted the Quartering Act, requiring the Thirteen Colonies to provide housing, food, and other provisions to British troops.
	May 29	Virginia's House of Burgesses adopted the Virginia Resolves, which claimed that under British law Virginians could be taxed only by an assembly to which they had elected representatives.
	October 19	Stamp Act Congress: A congress of delegated from nine colonies adopted the Declaration of Rights and Grievances, which petitioned Parliament and the King to repeal the Stamp Act.
1766		Pontiac's Rebellion: The rebellion ended.
	March 18	The British Parliament repealed the Stamp Act and issued the Declaratory Act, which asserted its "full power and authority to make laws and statutes... to bind the colonies and people of America... in all cases whatsoever."
	May 21	The Liberty Pole was erected in New York City in celebration of the repeal of the Stamp Act.
1767		The British Parliament suspended the Governor and assembly of the Province of New York for failure to enforce the Quartering Act.
	June 29	The Townshend Acts, named for Chancellor of the Exchequer Charles Townshend, were passed by the British Parliament, placing duties on many items imported into America.
1769		The British Parliament suspended the Governor and assembly of the Province of New York for failure to enforce the Quartering Act.
	December	The broadside To the Betrayed Inhabitants of the City and Colony of New York was published by the local Sons of Liberty.
1770	January 19	Battle of Golden Hill: British troops wounded several civilians and killed one.
	January 28	Frederick North, Lord North becomes Prime Minister of Great Britain.
	March 5	Boston Massacre: The massacre took place.
1771	May 16	Battle of Alamance: A battle took place in North Carolina.
1772		Samuel Adams organized the Committees of Correspondence.
		The Watauga Association, in modern-day Tennessee, declared itself independent.
	June 9	Gaspée Affair: The affair took place.
1773	May 10	The British Parliament passed the Tea Act.
	December 15	The local Sons of Liberty published Association of the Sons of Liberty in New York.
	December 16	Boston Tea Party: The Boston Tea Party took place.
1774		Franklin, then Massachusetts's agent in London, was questioned before the British Parliament.
		Dunmore's War: The war took place.
		Britain passed the Quebec Act, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts.
		First Continental Congress: The Congress, to which twelve colonies sent delegates, met.
	March 31	Britain passed the Boston Port Act, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts.
	May 20	Britain passed the Administration of Justice Act 1774, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts.
		Britain passed the Massachusetts Government Act, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts.
	June 2	Britain passed a second Quartering Act, one of the so-called Intolerable Acts.
	September 1	Powder Alarm: British General Thomas Gage secretly raided a powder magazine in Cambridge.
	October 19	The HMS Peggy Stewart was burned.
	December 22	Greenwich Tea Party: The Greenwich Tea Party took place.
1775		Second Continental Congress: The Congress met.
	April 19	Battles of Lexington and Concord: The battles took place.
	May 9	Skenesboro, New York was captured by Lieutenant Samuel Herrick.
	May 10	Fort Ticonderoga was captured by Ethan Allen, Benedict Arnold and the Green Mountain Boys.
	June 17	Battle of Bunker Hill: The battle took place.
	July	The Olive Branch Petition was sent to King George III.
	December 5	Henry Knox began the transport of fifty-nine captured cannon from upstate New York to Boston.
1776		New Hampshire ratified the first state constitution.
		Prisoners began to be taken in Wallabout Bay. see Prisoners in the American Revolutionary War.
	January 10	Thomas Paine published Common Sense.
	January 24	Knox reached Boston.
	March 3	Battle of Nassau: The battle began.
	March 4	Battle of Nassau: The battle ended.
	July 2	Second Continental Congress: The Congress enacted the Lee Resolution declaring independence from the British Empire.
	July 4	Second Continental Congress: The Congress approved the written United States Declaration of Independence.
	August 27	Battle of Long Island: The battle took place.
	September 11	Staten Island Peace Conference: The peace conference took place.
	September 15	Landing at Kip's Bay: The landing took place.
	September 16	Battle of Harlem Heights: The battle took place.
	September 21	Great Fire of New York (1776): The fire began.
	September 22	Nathan Hale was captured and executed for espionage.
		Great Fire of New York (1776): The fire ended.
	October 11	Battle of Valcour Island: The battle took place.
	October 29	Battle of White Plains: The battle took place.
	November 16	Battle of Fort Washington: The battle took place.
	November 19	Battle of Fort Lee: The battle took place.
	December 23	Battle of Iron Works Hill: The battle began.
	December 26	Battle of Trenton: The battle took place.
		Battle of Iron Works Hill: The battle ended.
1777		Forage War: The war took place.
	January 2	Second Battle of Trenton: The battle took place.
	January 3	Battle of Princeton: The battle took place.
	April 13	Battle of Bound Brook: The battle took place.
	May 28	The Continental Army made camp at the Middlebrook encampment.
	July 2	The Continental Army left the Middlebrook encampment.
	July 5	Fort Ticonderoga was abandoned by the Continental Army due to advancing British troops placing cannon on Mount Defiance.
	July 6	The British retook Fort Ticonderoga.
	July 7	Battle of Hubbardton: The battle took place.
	July 8	Delegates in Vermont established the Vermont Republic and adopted the Constitution of Vermont (Vermont Republic), which abolished slavery.
	July 26	Battle of Short Hills: The battle took place.
	August 6	Battle of Oriskany: The battle took place.
	August 16	Battle of Bennington: The battle took place.
	September 11	Battle of Brandywine: The battle took place.
	September 19	Battles of Saratoga: The first Battle of Saratoga took place.
	September 20	Battle of Paoli: The battle took place.
	September 26	The British occupied Philadelphia.
	October 4	Battle of Germantown: The battle took place.
	October 7	Battles of Saratoga: The second battle concluded with the surrender of the British army under General John Burgoyne.
	October 22	Battle of Red Bank: The battle took place.
	November 15	Second Continental Congress: The Congress adopted the Articles of Confederation.
	December 5	Battle of White Marsh: The battle began.
	December 8	Battle of White Marsh: The battle ended.
	December 11	Battle of Matson's Ford: The battle took place.
	December 19	The Continental Army entered its winter quarters at Valley Forge
1778	February 6	The Treaty of Alliance was signed with France.
	May 20	Battle of Barren Hill: The battle took place.
	June	British occupation of Philadelphia ended.
	June 19	The Continental Army left its winter quarters at Valley Forge.
	June 28	Battle of Monmouth: The battle took place.
	November 30	The Continental Army entered winter quarters at the Middlebrook encampment.
1779	June 3	The Continental Army left the Middlebrook encampment.
	July 16	Battle of Stony Point: The battle took place.
	August 19	Battle of Paulus Hook: The battle took place.
	December	The Continental Army entered winter quarters at Morristown.
1780	January 28	A stockade known as Fort Nashborough was founded on the banks of the Cumberland River.
	February 1	Some eight thousand British forces under General Henry Clinton arrived in Charleston, South Carolina, from New York.
		Second Continental Congress: New York ceded its western claims, including territory west of Lake Ontario, to the Congress.
	March 14	Bombardment of Fort Charlotte: After a two-week siege, Spanish General Bernardo de Gálvez y Madrid, Count of Gálvez captured Fort Charlotte, in Mobile, from the British.
	April 8	Siege of Charleston: British troops under General Clinton and naval forces under Admiral Mariot Arbuthnot besiege Charleston, South Carolina.
	May	The Continental Army left Morristown.
	May 6	Siege of Charleston: Fort Moultrie fell to the British.
	May 12	Siege of Charleston: American General Benjamin Lincoln surrendered Charleston to the British. The British lost two hundred and fifty-five men while capturing a large American garrison.
	May 29	Battle of Waxhaws: A clash between Continental Army forces under Abraham Buford and a mainly Loyalist force led by Banastre Tarleton near Lancaster, South Carolina resulted in the destruction of the American forces.
	June 6	Battle of Connecticut Farms: The battle took place.
	June 23	Battle of Springfield (1780): An attempted British invasion of New Jersey was stopped at Connecticut Farms and Springfield, ending major fighting in the North.
	September 23	John André was captured, exposing the treason of Arnold.
	October 7	Battle of Kings Mountain: The battle took place.
1781	January 17	Battle of Cowpens: The battle took place.
	March 1	The Articles of Confederation were ratified.
	March 15	Battle of Guilford Court House: The battle took place.
	October 19	Siege of Yorktown: The British surrendered at Yorktown.
	December 31	The Bank of North America was chartered.
1782		The British government officially, yet informally, recognized American independence.
1783		The British withdraw from ports in New York and the Carolinas.
	September 3	American Revolutionary War: The Treaty of Paris (1783) ended the war.
1784		The State of Frankland, later Franklin, seceded from North Carolina.
1785		Congress refused Franklin admission to the Union.
	November 28	The Treaty of Hopewell was signed.
1786		Shays' Rebellion: The rebellion took place.
		Annapolis Convention (1786): The convention failed.
1787		The Northwest Ordinance of 1787 was passed.
		Philadelphia Convention: A Constitutional convention took place in Philadelphia.
		Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey ratified the Constitution.
1788		North Carolina reconquered and dissolved the State of Franklin.
1789		United States presidential election, 1789: The election took place.
		The United States Constitution came into effect.
		First inauguration of George Washington: George Washington was inaugurated as President in New York City.
		1st United States Congress: The Congress passed the Judiciary Act of 1789 and the Hamilton tariff.
		The Jay-Gardoqui Treaty was signed.
	November 21	North Carolina, by a margin of 43%, became the twelfth state to ratify the Constitution.
1790		Rhode Island ratified the Constitution and became the thirteenth state.
	May 29	Rhode Island, by a margin of 3%, became the thirteenth state to ratify the Constitution.
1791		The United States Bill of Rights was ratified.
		The First Bank of the United States was chartered.
		The independent Vermont Republic was admitted to the Union as Vermont, becoming the fourteenth state.
1792		Kentucky County, Virginia became the fifteenth state of Kentucky.
		U.S. presidential election, 1792: Washington was reelected President. John Adams was chosen as Vice President.
1793		Eli Whitney invented the cotton gin.
		A yellow fever outbreak occurred in Philadelphia.
		The Fugitive Slave Law of 1793 was passed.
		Chisholm v. Georgia was decided.
1794		Whiskey Rebellion: The rebellion took place.
		Battle of Fallen Timbers: The battle took place.
1795		The Treaty of Greenville was signed.
		The Jay Treaty was signed.
		The Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified
1796		Tennessee, formerly part of North Carolina, was admitted as the sixteenth state.
		Pinckney's Treaty was signed.
		The Treaty of Tripoli was signed.
		U.S. presidential election, 1796: Adams was elected President. Thomas Jefferson was elected Vice President.
1797		Adams was inaugurated.
		XYZ Affair: The affair took place.
1798		The Alien and Sedition Acts were passed.
		The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions were issued.
1799		The Charles Brockden Brown novel Edgar Huntly was published.
		Fries's Rebellion: The rebellion took place.
		The Logan Act was passed.
		Washington died.
1800		The Library of Congress was founded.
		U.S. presidential election, 1800: Jefferson and Aaron Burr tied in votes in the Electoral College.

19th century

Year	Date	Event
1801		Jefferson was elected President by the House of Representatives. Burr became Vice President.
		Adams appointed John Marshall Chief Justice.
1803		The Supreme Court issued a decision in Marbury v. Madison which overturned the Judiciary Act of 1789.
		Louisiana Purchase: The purchase was made.
		Ohio, formerly part of Connecticut, became the seventeenth state.
1804		The Twelfth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified.
		New Jersey abolished slavery.
		Burr–Hamilton duel: Alexander Hamilton died.
		Lewis and Clark set out.
		U.S. presidential election, 1804: Jefferson was reelected President; George Clinton was elected Vice President.
1807		The Embargo Act of 1807 was passed.
		Robert Fulton invented the steamboat.
1808		The slave trade was ended.
		U.S. presidential election, 1808: James Madison was elected president. Clinton was reelected as Vice President.
1809		Madison was inaugurated.
	March 1	The Non-Intercourse Act was passed.
1810		The Supreme Court issued a decision in Fletcher v. Peck which overturned a state law.
1811		The charter of the First Bank of the United States expired.
1812		War of 1812: The war began.
		Daniel Webster was elected to the United States Congress.
		Louisiana became the eighteenth state.
		U.S. presidential election, 1812: Madison was reelected President; Elbridge Gerry was elected United States Vice President.
1814		Burning of Washington: British troops burned Washington, D.C. but were forced back at Baltimore.
		War of 1812: The Treaty of Ghent ended the war.
1815		Battle of New Orleans: The battle took place.
1816		Indiana became the nineteenth state.
		The Second Bank of the United States was chartered.
		U.S. presidential election, 1816: James Monroe was elected President. Daniel D. Tompkins was elected Vice President.
1817		Monroe was inaugurated.
		The Rush–Bagot Treaty was signed.
		Harvard Law School was founded.
		Mississippi became the twentieth state.
1818		Cumberland Road opened.
		Illinois became the twenty-first state.
		The Jackson Purchase in Kentucky was obtained.
1819		Panic of 1819: The panic took place.
		The Adams-Onís Treaty, which provided for the acquisition of Florida, was signed.
		The decision in McCulloch v. Maryland prohibited state laws from infringing upon federal Constitutional authority.
		The decision in Dartmouth College v. Woodward protected the principle of honoring contracts and charters.
		Alabama became the twenty-second state.
1820		The Missouri Compromise was passed.
		Maine became a state.
		U.S. presidential election, 1820: Monroe was reelected President, Tompkins Vice President.
1821		Missouri became a state.
1823		The Monroe Doctrine was proclaimed.
1824		The decision in Gibbons v. Ogden affirmed federal over state authority in interstate commerce.
		U.S. presidential election, 1824: An election was held with inconclusive results.
1825		John Quincy Adams was elected President by the House of Representatives; John C. Calhoun was elected Vice President.
		The Erie Canal was completed
1826		Former Presidents Jefferson and John Adams died within hours of each other on Independence Day
1828		Nullification Crisis: The South Carolina Exposition and Protest was published.
		Construction began on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.
		U.S. presidential election, 1828: Andrew Jackson was elected President. Calhoun continued as Vice President.
1829		Jackson was inaugurated.
1830		Second Great Awakening: A religious revival movement took place.
		The Oregon Trail came into use by settlers migrating to the Pacific Northwest.
		The Indian Removal Act was passed.
1831		A revolt led by Nat Turner occurred.
		Publication of The Liberator began.
		Cyrus McCormick invented the reaper.
		Petticoat affair: The affair took place.
1832		The Supreme Court ruled in favor of the Cherokee Nation in Worcester v. State of Georgia.
		Black Hawk War: The war took place.
		The Tariff of 1832 was passed.
		The Ordinance of Nullification was passed by South Carolina.
		The Department of Indian Affairs was established.
		United States presidential election, 1832: Jackson was reelected President; Martin Van Buren was elected Vice President of the United States.
		Bank War: Jackson vetoed the charter renewal of the Second Bank of the United States.
		Calhoun resigned the Vice Presidency.
1833		The Force Bill, expanding Presidential powers, was passed.
		Jackson's second inauguration was held.
1834		Slavery debates took place at Lane Theological Seminary.
1835		Texas Revolution: The revolution began.
		Alexis De Tocqueville's Democracy in America was published.
		Second Seminole War: A war began in Florida with Seminole resistance to relocation.
1836		Battle of the Alamo: The battle took place.
		Battle of San Jacinto: The battle took place.
		Creek War of 1836: The war took place.
		Samuel Colt invented the revolver.
		The original "Gag Rule," a bar on discussion of antislavery petitions passed by the House, was imposed.
		The Specie Circular was issued.
		Arkansas becomes a state.
		U.S. presidential election, 1836: Van Buren was elected President, Richard Mentor Johnson Vice President.
1837		Van Buren was inaugurated.
		The United States recognized the Republic of Texas.
		Caroline Affair: The affair took place.
		Michigan became a state.
		Oberlin College began enrolling female students.
		Panic of 1837: The panic took place.
		A decision in Charles River Bridge v. Warren Bridge reversed a decision in Dartmouth College v. Woodward and affirmed that property rights can be overridden by public need.
1838		The forced removal of the Cherokee Nation from the Southeastern United States along the Trail of Tears led to over four thousand deaths.
		Aroostook War: The war took place.
1839		United States v. The Amistad was decided.
1840		United States presidential election, 1840: An election was held.
1841		William Henry Harrison became President.
		John Quincy Adams argued the case United States v. The Amistad before the Supreme Court.
		Harrison died after only a month in office.
		John Tyler became President.
1842		The Webster-Ashburton Treaty was signed.
		Dorr Rebellion: A civil war took place in Rhode Island.
1843		An attempt to impeach Tyler failed.
1844		U.S. presidential election, 1844: An election was held.
		The antisuffragist Helen Kendrick Johnson was born.
1845		Texas Annexation: The annexation took place.
		James K. Polk became President of the United States.
		Florida and Texas became states.
1846		Mexican–American War: The war began.
		Iowa became a state.
		The Wilmot Proviso was introduced.
1848		U.S. presidential election, 1848: An election was held.
		Wisconsin became a state.
		Mexican–American War: The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ended the war.
1849		Zachary Taylor became President.
		California Gold Rush: The gold rush began.
1850		Taylor threatened to veto the Compromise of 1850 even at the risk of civil war.
		Taylor died. Millard Fillmore became President.
		The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty was signed.
		The Compromise of 1850 was passed.
		California became a state.
1852		U.S. presidential election, 1852: An election was held.
1853		Franklin Pierce became President.
		Commodore Matthew Perry opened Japan.
		The Gadsden Purchase was obtained.
1854		The Kansas-Nebraska Act was passed, nullifying the Missouri Compromise.
		The Ostend Manifesto was issued.
		The Convention of Kanagawa was signed.
		William Walker led an expedition.
1855		The Farmers' High School, later Penn State University, was founded.
1856		Sacking of Lawrence: The sacking of Lawrence took place.
		Pottawatomie Massacre: The massacre took place.
		Preston Brooks beat Charles Sumner with his walking stick in the Senate chamber.
		U.S. presidential election, 1856: An election was held.
1857		James Buchanan became President.
		A decision in Dred Scott v. Sandford declared that blacks were not citizens of the United States and could not sue.
		Utah War: The war took place.
		The LeCompton Constitution was rejected in the Kansas Territory.
		Panic of 1857: The panic took place.
1858		The first transatlantic cable was laid.
		Minnesota became a state.
		Lincoln-Douglas Debates: The debates were held.
		The United States became party to the Treaty of Tientsin.
1859		John Brown led a raid on Harper's Ferry.
		The Comstock Lode was discovered.
1860		The Pony Express was founded.
		The Crittenden Compromise was reached.
		United States presidential election, 1860: Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States.
		South Carolina seceded from the Union.
1861		Ten more states seceded from the Union and established the Confederate States of America.
		Jefferson Davis was elected President of the Confederacy.
		American Civil War: The war began at Fort Sumter.
		First Battle of Bull Run: The battle took place.
1862		Battle of Hampton Roads: A naval battle between the Monitor and Merrimack took place.
		The Homestead Act was passed.
		The Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act was passed.
		General Robert E. Lee was placed in command of the Army of Northern Virginia.
		Second Battle of Bull Run: The battle took place.
		Battle of Antietam: The battle took place.
		Dakota War of 1862: The war began.
		Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation.
1863		Battle of Gettysburg: The battle took place.
		Siege of Vicksburg: The siege ended.
		New York Draft Riots: Draft riots took place.
		Pro-Union Virginia counties became the separate state of West Virginia.
1864		General Ulysses S. Grant was put in command of all Union forces.
		The Wade–Davis Bill was passed.
		Sand Creek Massacre: The massacre took place.
		Nevada became a state.
		U.S. presidential election, 1864: An election was held.
		Sherman's March to the Sea: The march took place.
1865		Lee was made commander-in-chief of all Confederate forces.
		Richmond, Virginia, the Confederate capital, was captured by a corps of black Union troops.
		Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Court House.
		Abraham Lincoln assassination: Lincoln was assassinated; Andrew Johnson became President.
		American Civil War: The war ended with the surrender of the last elements of the Confederacy.
		The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed, permanently outlawing slavery.
		The Freedman's Bureau was established.
1866		The Civil Rights Act of 1866 was passed.
		The Ku Klux Klan was founded.
1867		The Tenure of Office Act (1867) was enacted.
		The Alaska Purchase (Also known as "Seward's Folly") The Alaskan territory was purchased from Russia.
1868		Impeachment of Andrew Johnson: The attempted impeachment ended in an acquittal by the Senate.
		The Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, second of the Reconstruction Amendments, was ratified.
		Grant was elected President.
1869		The First Transcontinental Railroad was completed at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory.
1870		The Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution was passed.
		The first graduate programs, at Yale University and Harvard, began.
		The Force Acts were passed.
1871		Great Chicago Fire: The fire occurred.
		The Treaty of Washington, 1871 was signed with the British Empire regarding the Dominion of Canada.
1872		Yellowstone National Park was created.
		Crédit Mobilier scandal: The scandal took place.
		The Amnesty Act was passed.
		The Alabama Claims were settled.
		U.S. presidential election, 1872: An election was held.
1873		Panic of 1873: The panic took place.
		Virginius Affair: The affair took place.
1874		Red River Indian War
1875		Kentucky Derby: Aristides (horse) won the first Kentucky Derby.
		The Resumption Act was passed.
		The Civil Rights Act of 1875 was passed.
		The Art Students League of New York was founded.
1876		The National League of baseball was founded.
		Centennial Exposition: The Exposition, in Philadelphia, was held.
		A decision in Munn v. Illinois established the public regulation of utilities.
		Colorado became a state.
		Battle of Little Bighorn: The battle took place.
		Wild Bill Hickok was killed by a shot to the back of the head by Jack McCall while playing poker in Deadwood, South Dakota.
		Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone.
		U.S. presidential election, 1876: The election produced an unclear, result with twenty Electoral College votes disputed.
1877		The Electoral Commission awarded Rutherford B. Hayes the Presidency.
		Reconstruction era of the United States: The era ended.
		Nez Perce War: The war took place.
1878		The Bland-Allison Act was passed.
		The first Morgan silver dollars were minted.
1879		Thomas Edison invented the light bulb.
		The Knights of Labor went public.
1880		The University of Southern California was founded.
		The Population of the United States passed fifty million.
1881		Gunfight at the O.K. Corral: A gunfight took place in Tombstone, Arizona Territory.
		James Garfield was inaugurated President of the United States.
		Garfield was assassinated.
		Chester A. Arthur was inaugurated President of the United States.
		Clara Barton created the Red Cross.
		The Tuskegee Institute was founded
		Billy the Kid was shot and killed by Sheriff Pat Garrett.
		A Century of Dishonor was written by Helen Hunt Jackson.
1882		The Chinese Exclusion Act was passed.
		Jesse James was shot and killed by Robert Ford and Charlie Ford.
1883		Buffalo Bill Cody debuted his Wild West Show.
		A decision in the Civil Rights Cases legalized the doctrine of racial segregation.
		The Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act was passed.
		The Brooklyn Bridge opened.
1885		Grover Cleveland was inaugurated as President.
		The Washington monument was completed.
1886		Haymarket Riot: The riot took place.
		The American Federation of Labor was founded in Columbus, Ohio.
1887		The United States Congress created the Interstate Commerce Commission.
		The Dawes Act was passed.
		The Hatch Act was passed.
1888		Looking Backward, by Edward Bellamy, was published.
		The National Geographic Society was founded.
1889		Benjamin Harrison becomes President
		North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana and Washington became states.
		Johnstown flood: A flood occurred in Pennsylvania.
		Jane Addams founded Hull House.
	April 22	Land Run of 1889: The land run began.
1890		The Sherman Antitrust Act was passed.
		Jacob Riis published How the Other Half Lives.
		The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was passed.
		The McKinley tariff was passed.
		Yosemite National Park was created.
		Idaho and Wyoming became states.
		Wounded Knee Massacre: The massacre took place.
		The National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded.
1891		Baltimore Crisis: The crisis took place.
		James Naismith invented basketball.
1892		Homestead Strike: The strike took place.
		General Electric was founded.
		The Sierra Club was founded
1893		Cleveland was inaugurated President for a second term.
		Panic of 1893: The panic took place.
		The Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed.
1894		Coxey's Army marched on Washington, D.C.
		Pullman strike: The strike took place.
		The Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act, including an income tax, was passed.
1895		Stagger Lee Shelton shot Billy Lyons.
		Pollock v. Farmers' Loan and Trust Company was decided, striking down part of the Wilson-Gorman Tariff Act.
1896		A decision in Plessy v. Ferguson affirmed the legality of "separate but equal" facilities.
		William Jennings Bryan delivered his Cross of Gold speech.
		Gold was discovered in the Yukon's Klondike region.
		Utah became a state.
1897		William McKinley became President.
		The Boston subway was completed.
		The Dingley Act was passed.
1898		The USS Maine exploded in Havana harbor.
		The De Lôme Letter was published.
		Spanish-American War: The Treaty of Paris (1898) ended the war.
		Hawaii was annexed.
		The Newlands Resolution was passed.
		The American Anti-Imperialist League was organized.
1899		The Teller Amendment was passed.
		American Samoa waas occupied.
		The Open Door Policy was announced.
1900		The United States population exceeded seventy-five million. see Demographics of the United States.
		The Foraker Act was passed.
		The Gold Standard Act was passed.
		Boxer Rebellion: The United States helped put down the rebellion.
		1900 Galveston hurricane: The hurricane took place.

20th century

Year	Date	Event
	Theodore Roosevelt became President.
	U.S. Steel was founded by John Pierpont Morgan.
	The Hay-Pauncefote Treaty was signed.
1902		The Drago Doctrine was announced.
		Rose Bowl (game): The first Rose Bowl was played.
		The Newlands Reclamation Act was passed.
1903		The movie The Great Train Robbery opened.
		The Ford Motor Company was formed.
		World Series: The first World Series was played.
		The Elkins Act was passed.
		The practice of Big Stick Diplomacy began.
		The Hay-Bunau Varilla Treaty was passed.
		The Hay-Herran Treaty was passed.
		The Department of Commerce and Labor was created.
		The Wright brothers made their first powered flight in the Wright Flyer.
1904		The Roosevelt Corollary to the Monroe Doctrine was issued.
		The Panama Canal Zone was acquired.
1905		Niagara Falls conference: The conference took place.
		The Industrial Workers of the World was founded.
1906		Susan B. Anthony died.
		Algeciras Conference: The Conference was held.
		The Pure Food and Drug Act and Meat Inspection Act were passed.
		The Hepburn Act was passed.
		Roosevelt negotiated the Treaty of Portsmouth.
		1906 San Francisco earthquake: An earthquake occurred.
1907		Oklahoma became a state.
		The Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907 was signed.
		Monongah Mining Disaster: A coal mine exploded in Monongah, West Virginia, killing at least 361.
1908		The Ford Model T appeared on the market.
		The Root-Takahira agreement was reached.
		The Federal Bureau of Investigation was established.
		The Aldrich Vreeland Act was passed.
1909		The penny was changed to the Abraham Lincoln design.
		William Howard Taft became President.
		Robert Peary claimed to have reached the North Pole.
		The NAACP was founded by W. E. B. Du Bois.
		The Payne-Aldrich tariff was passed.
		Taft implemented Dollar Diplomacy.
		Pinchot-Ballinger controversy: The controversy took place.
1910		The Boy Scouts of America was chartered.
		The Mann-Elkins Act was passed.
		The Mann Act was passed.
1911		The Supreme Court broke up Standard Oil.
		Indianapolis 500: The first Indianapolis 500 was staged and won by Ray Harroun.
1912		The RMS Titanic sank.
		New Mexico and Arizona became states.
		Girl Scouts of the USA was started by Juliette Gordon Low.
		Roosevelt was shot, but not killed, while campaigning for the Bull Moose Party.
1913		Woodrow Wilson became President.
		The Federal Reserve Act was passed.
		The Sixteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing an income tax, was passed.
		Philippine-American War: The war ended.
		Armory Show: The show opened in New York City, introducing American and European modern art to the American public.
		The Seventeenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing direct election of Senators, was passed.
		The Underwood tariff was passed.
		Henry Ford developed the modern assembly line.
1914		World War I: The war began in Europe.
		Mother's Day was established as a national holiday.
		The Federal Trade Commission was created.
		The Clayton Antitrust Act was passed.
		An alliance of the ABC Powers began.
1915		The movie The Birth of a Nation opened.
		The RMS Lusitania was sunk.
1916		The United States acquired the Virgin Islands.
		Jeannette Rankin was elected to the Congress.
		Louis Brandeis was appointed to the Supreme Court.
		The Adamson Railway Labor Act was passed.
		The Federal Farm Loan Act was passed.
		The Jones Act (Philippines) was passed.
1917		The Zimmermann telegram was published.
		World War I: The United States entered the war.
		The Espionage and Sedition Acts were passed.
		The Lansing-Ishii Agreement was signed.
		The U.S. Virgin Islands were purchased from Denmark.
		First Red Scare: The scare, marked by a widespread fear of Bolshevism and anarchism, began.
1918		World War I: Wilson's Fourteen Points, which assured citizens that the war was being fought for a moral cause and for postwar peace in Europe, was issued.
1919		World War I: The Treaty of Versailles ended the war.
		The United States Senate rejected the Treaty of Versailles and the League of Nations.
		The Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing prohibition of alcohol, was passed.
		Black Sox Scandal: The scandal occurred.
1920		The Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, granting women the right to vote, was passed.
		Sacco and Vanzetti were arrested.
		The first radio broadcasts were made, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and Detroit, Michigan.
		The Volstead Act was passed.
		The Esch-Cummins Act was passed.
		First Red Scare: The scare ended.
1921		Warren G. Harding became President.
		Washington Disarmament Conference of 1921: The conference was held.
		The Emergency Quota Act was passed.
1922		The Fordney-McCumber tariff was passed.
1923		Harding died; Calvin Coolidge succeeded him.
		Teapot Dome Scandal: The scandal took place.
1924		The Immigration Act Basic Law was passed.
		J. Edgar Hoover was appointed director of the Bureau of Investigation.
1925		Scopes trial: A trial 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 was elected Governor of Wyoming.
		WSM first broadcast the Grand Ole Opry.
1926		The broadcast network NBC was founded.
1927		Sacco and Vanzetti were executed.
		Charles Lindbergh made the first trans-Atlantic flight.
		The Jazz Singer, the first motion picture with sound, was released.
		United States citizenship was granted to the inhabitants of the U.S. Virgin Islands.
		The radio network Columbia Broadcasting System (later CBS) was founded.
1928		Disney's animated feature Steamboat Willie, featuring Mickey Mouse, opened.
		The Kellogg-Briand Pact was signed.
		Amelia Earhart flew solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
1929		Herbert Hoover became President.
		St. Valentine's Day massacre: The massacre took place.
		The Immigration Act was passed.
		Wall Street Crash of 1929: The Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted a record 68 points.
		The Museum of Modern Art opened to the public in New York City.
		American Samoa officially became a United States territory.
1930		The Motion Picture Production Code, a set of industry censorship guidelines, was written; systematic enforcement did not start until mid-1934.
		Frozen vegetables packaged by Clarence Birdseye went on sale.
1931		The Empire State Building opened in New York City.
		Japanese invasion of Manchuria: The invasion took place.
		The Whitney Museum of American Art opened to the public in New York City.
1932		The Stimson Doctrine was published.
		The Norris-La Guardia Act was passed.
		Influential artist and teacher Hans Hofmann emigrated to the United States from Germany.
		The Bonus Army marched on Washington, D.C.
		The Reconstruction Finance Corporation was established.
		Ford Motor Company introduced the Model B with a V-8 engine.
1933		The Twentieth Amendment to the United States Constitution, moving the beginning and end of the terms of elected federal officials to January 20, was passed.
		Franklin Delano Roosevelt was sworn in as President.
		Great Depression: Roosevelt introduced the New Deal, focusing the "3 Rs" of relief, recovery and reform.
		The Agricultural Adjustment Act, Civil Works Administration, Civilian Conservation Corps, Farm Credit Administration, Home Owners Loan Corporation, Tennessee Valley Authority, Public Works Administration, National Industrial Recovery Act were all established or brought into force.
		Giuseppe Zangara assassinated Chicago Mayor Anton Cermak in an attempt on Roosevelt's life.
		Frances Perkins was appointed United States Secretary of Labor.
		The Twenty-first Amendment to the United States Constitution, ending prohibition, was passed.
1934		The Glass–Steagall Act was passed.
		The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was established.
		Dust Bowl: The Dust Bowl, characterized by severe drought and heat waves in the Great Plains, began.
		The Federal Housing Administration was established.
		The Johnson Act was passed.
		The Philippine Commonwealth was established.
		The Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act was passed.
		The Tydings-McDuffie Act was passed.
		John Dillinger was killed.
		The Indian Reorganization Act was passed.
		The Share the Wealth society was founded by Huey Long.
1935		The Works Progress Administration was established.
		The FBI was established, with J. Edgar Hoover as its first director.
		The Neutrality Acts of 1930s were passed.
		The Motor Carrier Act was passed.
		The Social Security Act was passed.
		A decision was reached in Schechter Poultry Corp. v. United States.
		The National Labor Relations Act was passed.
		Long was assassinated.
		The Congress of Industrial Organizations was formed.
		Alcoholics Anonymous was founded.
		The Revenue Act of 1935 was passed.
1936		The Robinson-Patman Act was passed.
		Life magazine published its first issue.
		A decision was reached in United States v. Butler, which ruled that the processing taxes instituted under the 1933 Agricultural Adjustment Act were unconstitutional.
		The Second London Naval Treaty was signed.
1937		The Neutrality Acts of 1930s were passed. Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs became the first full length animated film.
		Hindenburg disaster: The disaster killed thirty-five people.
		Panay incident: A Japanese attack was made on the United States Navy gunboat USS Panay while it was anchored in the Yangtze River outside of Nanjing.
		The Golden Gate Bridge was completed in San Francisco.
1938		The Wheeler-Lea Act was passed.
		The Fair Labor Standards Act was passed.
		Orson Welles performed a broadcast of The War of the Worlds.
1939		The Hatch Act, aimed at corrupt political practices, was passed, preventing federal civil servants from campaigning.
		Invasion of Poland (1939): Nazi Germany invaded Poland.
		A cash and carry policy was proposed to replace the Neutrality Acts.
		1939 New York World's Fair: Roosevelt gave a speech that was broadcast on television.
1940		The Selective Training and Service Act of 1940, establishing the draft, was passed.
		The Smith Act was passed.
		Oldsmobile introduced the automatic transmission.
		The cartoon characters Bugs Bunny and Tom and Jerry debuted.
		Billboard magazine published its first music popularity chart.
		U.S. presidential election, 1940: Roosevelt won reelection to a third term.
1941		NBC began television broadcasts.
		World War II: Lend-Lease, which supplied the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, China, France and other Allied nations with vast amounts of war material, began.
		Attack on Pearl Harbor: The attack took place.
		World War II: The Atlantic Charter was drafted by Britain and the United States to serve as a blueprint for the postwar world.
1942		Japanese American internment: Internment and seizure of property began, per an executive order issued by Roosevelt.
		Automobile production in the United States for private consumers was halted.
		The film Casablanca was released.
		The Office of Price Administration was established.
		Cocoanut Grove fire: A fire killed 492 people.
		The Congress of Racial Equality was established.
		The Revenue Act of 1942 was passed.
		The Commonwealth of the Philippines was conquered by Japanese forces.
1943		The Office of Price Administration was established.
		Race riots took place in Detroit, Michigan.
		Cairo Conference: A conference was held.
		Casablanca Conference: A conference was held.
		Tehran Conference: A conference was held.
1944		Dumbarton Oaks Conference: A conference was held.
		The G.I. Bill was passed.
		Normandy landings: The landings took place.
		United Nations Monetary and Financial Conference: A conference took place.
		Battle of the Bulge: The battle took place.
		U.S. presidential election, 1944: Roosevelt won reelection to a fourth term.
1945		Yalta Conference: A conference was held.
		Battle of Okinawa: The battle took place.
		United Nations Conference on International Organization: The United Nations was established.
		Nationwide labor strikes were held due to inflation.
		Roosevelt died; Harry S. Truman became President of the United States.
		End of World War II in Europe: Germany surrendered.
		Potsdam Conference: The conference was held.
		Atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
		The United Nations was founded, replacing the League of Nations.
		Nuremberg Trials: The trials began.
		Automobile production in the United States for private consumers resumed.
		Benjamin Spock's The Common Sense Book of Baby and Child Care was published.
		The Employment Act was passed.
		The United States Atomic Energy Act of 1946 was passed.
		The President's Committee on Civil Rights was established.
		The Philippines regained independence from the United States.
1947		The Presidential Succession Act was passed.
		The Taft Hartley Act was passed.
		Roswell UFO incident: The incident took place.
		The National Security Act of 1947 was passed.
		The General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade was signed.
		The Marshall Plan came into force.
		The Polaroid camera was invented.
		The Truman Doctrine was declared, establishing "the policy of the United States to support free peoples who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures."
		The Federal Employee Loyalty Program was instituted.
		Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in baseball.
		Studebaker introduce a post-war automobile model.
		Jackson Pollock begins painting his most famous series of paintings in Easthampton, New York.
1948		Texaco Star Theater, starring Milton Berle, debuted on telebision.
		Berlin Blockade: The blockade took place.
		U.S. presidential election, 1948: Truman was reelected.
		Truman desegregated the armed forces.
		The Selective Service Act of 1948 was passed.
		The Organization of American States was established.
		Alger Hiss was tried.
1949		The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed.
		In China, Communists under Mao Zedong forced the Kuomintang government of Chiang Kai-shek to retreat to Taiwan.
		The Soviet Union tested its first atomic bomb.
		The Department of War became the Department of Defense.
		Germany was divided into East Germany and West Germany.
		Truman introduced the unsuccessful Fair Deal.
		Nuremberg Trials: The trials ended.
1950		Senator Joseph McCarthy came to power.
		The McCarran Internal Security Act was passed.
		Korean War: The war began.
		The comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz, was first published.
		NBC first aired Broadway Open House a late-night comedy, variety, talk show.
		Truman assassination attempt: Two Puerto Rican nationals attempted to assassinate Truman while he stayed at Blair House.
1951		The Twenty-second Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing term limits for President, was passed.
		The Mutual Security Act was passed.
		Truman fired General Douglas MacArthur for his comments about using nuclear weapons on China.
		Japanese Peace Treaty Conference: The conference was broadcast live on television in San Francisco, California.
		The newsmagazine and documentary series See It Now, hosted by Edward R. Murrow, began to be broadcast.
1952		The Today Show, hosted by Dave Garroway, debuted on NBC.
		The ANZUS Treaty entered into force.
		The McCarran-Walter Act was passed.
		United States presidential election, 1952: Dwight D. Eisenhower was elected.
1953		Eisenhower was inaugurated as President.
		Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed.
		An armistice was reached in Korea.
		Operation Ajax: Mohammad Reza Pahlavi returned to power in CIA-orchestrated coup.
1954		Tournament of Roses Parade: The tournament was televised nationally in color.
		McCarthy was discredited in the Army-McCarthy hearings.
		Operation PBSUCCESS: The CIA organized the overthrow of Guatemala's democratically elected President Jacobo Arbenz Guzmán.
		The Saint Lawrence Seaway Act, authorizing the construction of the system of locks, canals and channels that permit ocean-going vessels to travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, was approved.
		In its decision in Brown v. Board of Education, the Supreme Court declared that state laws establishing separate public schools for black and white students, and denying black children equal educational opportunities, were unconstitutional.
		The United States became a member of the Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO).
		Geneva Conference (1954): A conference was held where the United States attempted to find a way to unify Korea and restore peace in Indochina.
		Eisenhower sent the Navy to respond to a siege laid by China against Quemoy and the Matsu Islands.
		The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at an all-time high of 382.74.
		NBC debuted The Tonight Show, hosted by Steve Allen.
1955		Ray Kroc opened a McDonald's fast food restaurant.
		Montgomery Bus Boycott: Rosa Parks incited the boycott.
		The AFL and the CIO merged into America's largest labor union.
		The Warsaw Pact was signed, establishing a mutual defense arrangement subscribed to by eight Communist states in Eastern Europe, including the Soviet Union.
		Disneyland opened at Anaheim, California.
		Jonas Salk developed a polio vaccine.
		The rock and roll hit "Rock Around the Clock" by Bill Haley and His Comets topped the Billboard magazine pop charts.
		Actor James Dean was killed in a highway collision on his way to a racetrack in Salinas, California.
1956		The Federal Aid Highway Act of 1956, which would provide for the construction of 41,000 miles of the Interstate Highway System over a 20-year period, was passed.
		Hungarian Revolution of 1956: The United States refused to support the revolution.
		Elvis Presley appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show.
		Marilyn Monroe married playwright Arthur Miller.
		Jackson Pollock died in a car crash in Springs, New York.
		United States presidential election, 1956: Eisenhower was reelected.
1957		The Eisenhower Doctrine, wherein a country could request American economic assistance or military aid if threatened by outside armed aggression, was proclaimed.
		The Civil Rights Act of 1957, primarily a voting rights bill, was passed.
		Space race: The Soviet Union launched Sputnik.
		The Shippingport Atomic Power Station went into service.
		Schools were desegregated in Little Rock, Arkansas.
1958		The National Defense Education Act was passed.
		NASA was formed.
		Jack Kilby invented the integrated circuit.
1959		The NBC western Bonanza was first broadcast in color.
		Cuban Revolution: The revolution took place.
		The Landrum-Griffin Act, which regulated labor unions' internal affairs and their officials' relationships with employers, became law.
		Alaska and Hawaii became the forty-ninth and fiftieth states.
1960		U-2 incident: A CIA U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over Soviet airspace.
		Greensboro sit-ins: Sit-ins, sparked by the refusal of four African American college students to move from a segregated lunch counter, took place..
		The Civil Rights Act of 1960, establishing federal inspection of local voter registration polls and penalties for those attempting to obstruct the right to vote, was passed.
		The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam was formed.
		United States presidential election, 1960: John F. Kennedy was elected President of the United States.
1961		The United States broke diplomatic relations with Cuba.
		Eisenhower gave a farewell address which warned of the "military–industrial complex".
		Kennedy became President.
		The Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution, which granted electors to the District of Columbia, was passed.
		The Peace Corps was established.
		The Alliance for Progress was founded.
		Bay of Pigs Invasion: The invasion took place.
		Alan Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 capsule to become the first American in space.
		A United States embargo against Cuba came into force.
		Berlin Crisis of 1961: The crisis took place.
		Vietnam War: The war began with the landing of nine hundred military advisors in Saigon.
		OPEC was formed.
1962		The Trade Expansion Act was passed.
		John Glenn orbited the Earth.
		Cuban Missile Crisis A nuclear confrontation took place between the United States and the Soviet Union.
		A decision was reached in Baker v. Carr which enabled federal courts to intervene in and to decide reapportionment cases.
		A decision in Engel v. Vitale determined that it was unconstitutional for state officials to compose an official school prayer and require its recitation in public schools.
		Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was founded.
		Marilyn Monroe died of an apparent overdose from acute barbiturate poisoning at age thirty-six.
1963		Bob Dylan and Columbia Records released his second studio album, The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan.
		The Atomic Test Ban Treaty was signed.
		March on Washington: Martin Luther King, Jr. gave the "I have a dream" speech.
		Betty Friedan's The Feminine Mystique was published.
		Kennedy was assassinated in Dallas, Texas; Lyndon Johnson became President.
1964		British Invasion: The Beatles arrived in the United States.
		Tonkin Gulf incident: The incident occurred.
		The Twenty-fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution, 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, was passed.
		Johnson proposed the Great Society, a set of social reforms aimed at the elimination of poverty and racial injustice.
		The Economic Opportunity Act was passed.
		The Civil Rights Act of 1964, outlawing both segregation and major forms of discrimination against blacks and women, was passed.
		Riots occurred in the Panama Canal Zone.
		United States presidential election, 1964
1965		Vietnam War: Johnson escalated United States military involvement in the war.
		March Against the Vietnam War: SDS and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) led the first of several anti-war marches in Washington, D.C., with about twenty-five thousand protesters.
		The Immigration Act of 1965 was passed.
		The Voting Rights Act was passed.
		Medicaid and Medicare were established.
		The Higher Education Act of 1965 was passed.
		Malcolm X, an African-American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist, was assassinated in Harlem, New York.
		Watts Riot: Riots began in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles which would last six days.
1966		The Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) was established.
		The Department of Transportation was created
		The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act was passed.
		A decision in Miranda v. Arizona established "Miranda rights" for suspects.
		The feminist group the National Organization for Women (NOW) was formed.
		NBC, CBS and the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) introduce full color lineups to their prime-time schedules.
		Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali declared himself a conscientious objector and refused to go to war.
1967		Super Bowl I: In the first Super Bowl, the Green Bay Packers defeated the Kansas City Chiefs 35–10.
		1967 Detroit riot: A race riot occurred.
		Summer of Love: The Summer of Love took place..
		The Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution, establishing succession to the Presidency and procedures for filling a vacancy in the office of the Vice President, was passed.
		American Samoa became self-governing under a new Constitution.
	January 3	Jack Ruby died of a pulmonary embolism, secondary to bronchogenic carcinoma, at Parkland Hospital, where Oswald had died and where President Kennedy had been pronounced dead after his assassination.
1968		King was assassinated.
		Tet Offensive: The National Front for the Liberation of Vietnam launched an offensive.
		The Civil Rights Act of 1968 was passed.
		Shirley Chisholm was elected to Congress.
		1968 Chicago riots: Police clashed with anti-war protesters in Chicago.
		The United States signed the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
		United States presidential election, 1968: Richard Nixon was elected President.
1969		Nixon was inaugurated as President.
		Vietnamization: Vietnamization began.
		Stonewall riots: Riots took place in New York City which would mark the start of the modern gay rights movement in the United States.
		Chappaquiddick incident: Senator Edward M. Kennedy drove off a bridge on his way home from a party on Chappaquiddick Island, killing his passenger, Mary Jo Kopechne.
		Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.
		Woodstock Festival: A music and culture festival took place in White Lake, New York.
		Warren E. Burger was appointed Chief Justice of the United States, replacing Earl Warren.
		The United States bombed North Vietnamese positions in Cambodia and Laos.
		Sesame Street premiered on National Educational Television.
1970		Kent State shootings: Shootings occurred during student protests which grew violent.
		The first Earth Day was observed.
		The Environmental Protection Agency was created.
		American Top 40, hosted by radio personality Casey Kasem, which featured a weekly countdown, premiered.
		The Public Broadcasting System (PBS) began operations, succeeding National Educational Television (NET).
		The Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA) was signed into law.
1971		Nixon Shock: Nixon ended the United States gold standard.
		A ban on radio and television cigarette advertisements went into effect.
		The landmark situation comedy All in the Family premiered on CBS.
		The Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution was ratified, allowing eighteen-year-olds to vote.
		In New York Times Co. v. United States, the Supreme Court ruled that the Pentagon Papers may be published, rejecting government injunctions as unconstitutional prior restraint.
1972		1972 Nixon visit to China: Nixon visited China, marking the beginning of normalized relations between the two nations.
		The Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty was signed with the Soviet Union.
		Watergate scandal: Five men were arrested for the burglary of the Democratic National Committee headquarters at the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C.
		U.S. presidential election, 1972: Nixon was reelected.
		Apollo 17: A manned mission was taken to the Moon.
1973		Vietnam War: The Paris Peace Accords ended direct United States involvement in the war.
		In a ruling in Roe v. Wade, the Supreme Court overturned state laws against abortion.
		The United States Senate Watergate Committee began to hold hearings.
		The space station Skylab was launched.
		Vice President Spiro T. Agnew resigned in disgrace as part of a plea bargain and was replaced by Congressman Gerald Ford of Michigan under the Twenty-fifth Amendment to the United States Constitution.
		Watergate scandal: Nixon fired three Attorneys General over the disposition of secret tapes and the actions of the Special Prosecutor.
		1973 oil crisis: A crisis, wherein gasoline prices skyrocketed in response to reduced supply of gasoline and heating oil, began.
1974		Super Outbreak: An outbreak of tornadoes hit thirteen states and killed 315 people.
		Hank Aaron of the Atlanta Braves broke Babe Ruth's home run record by hitting his 715th career home run.
		Watergate scandal: The House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach Nixon.
		Nixon resigned. Ford succeeded him as President.
		Watergate scandal: Ford pardoned 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 were removed on holding private gold within the United States.
		1973 oil crisis: The crisis ended.
1975		The construction of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline System began.
		Fall of Saigon: Saigon fell.
		Bill Gates founded Microsoft.
		Apollo–Soyuz Test Project: A United States Apollo and Soviet Soyuz spacecraft docked in orbit.
		Ford survived an assassination attempt.
		The television series Wheel of Fortune and Saturday Night Live premiered on NBC.
		Sony's Betamax, a home video recording unit, became commercially available.
1976		The Copyright Act of 1976 was passed, leading to sweeping changes in United States copyright law.
		United States Bicentennial: Americans celebrated the United States bicentennial.
		U.S. presidential election, 1976: Jimmy Carter of Georgia defeated Ford.
1977		Carter was inaugurated as President.
		A home personal computer, the Commodore PET, was released for retail sale.
		The television miniseries Roots aired on ABC.
		New York City blackout of 1977: A twenty-five hour blackout, resulting in looting and other disorder, took place.
		Elvis Presley died at his home in Graceland.
		The video game console Atari 2600 went into production.
1978		Volkswagen opened a plant in the United States.
		The Camp David Accords (1978) were signed by Menachem Begin of Israel and Anwar Sadat of Egypt at Camp David.
		The Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment Act was 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 voted to turn the Panama Canal over to Panamanian control on December 31, 1999
	November 27	Harvey Milk was assassinated by Dan White in San Francisco.
1979		A nuclear accident took place at Three Mile Island.
		Iran hostage crisis: The crisis began.
		American Airlines Flight 191: A flight crashed after takeoff from O'Hare International Airport, killing all 271 aboard and two on the ground.
		Facing bankruptcy, Chrysler received government loan guarantees on the request of CEO Lee Iacocca to help revive the company.
1980		The Refugee Act, which reformed United States immigration law and admitted refugees on a systematic basis for humanitarian reasons, was passed.
		1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens: The eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington killed fifty-seven.
		U.S. presidential election, 1980: An election was held.
		John Lennon was assassinated.
1981		Ronald Reagan becames President.
		John Hinckley attempted to assassinate Reagan.
		The Kemp-Roth Tax Cut was passed.
		MTV, a 24-hour cable network dedicated to airing music videos, was launched.
		Hyatt Regency walkway collapse: A hotel walkway collapsed in Kansas City, Missouri, killing 114 and injuring over two hundred.
		The Space Shuttle Columbia was launched.
		Sandra Day O'Connor was appointed to the Supreme Court.
		Murder of Adam Walsh: 7-year-old Adam Walsh was murdered.
1983		241 Marines were killed by suicide bomb in Lebanon.
		The United States invaded Grenada.
		Chrysler unveiled two minivans, the Dodge Caravan and Plymouth Voyager, to the public
1984		Summer Olympics: Most of the Eastern Bloc boycotted the Olympics, held in Los Angeles.
		U.S. presidential election, 1984 Reagan was reelected.
		Crack was first introduced into the Los Angeles area.
		60 Minutes and 20/20 began to raise awareness of child sexual abuse by pedophiles.
1985		Bernhard Goetz was indicted in New York on charges of attempted murder after shooting four young men he claimed were intent on mugging him.
		WrestleMania (1985): WrestleMania debuted.
		Live Aid: A concert raised world awareness of famine in Third World countries.
		Farm Aid: Country music singer Willie Nelson organized a concert to raise money for family farmers facing financial crisis.
		The Ford Taurus, Mercury Sable and Nintendo Entertainment System were released to the public.
1986		Iran–Contra affair: A scandal broke.
		The explosion of the Space Shuttle Challenger killed all seven aboard, including school teacher Christa McAuliffe.
		The Tax Reform Act of 1986 was passed.
		The Gramm Rudman Hollings Balanced Budget Act was passed.
		The Marshall Islands became independent.
		The Fox Broadcasting Company, which offered nightly programming, was launched.
1987		Summer Olympics: The United States boycotted the Olympics, which were held in Moscow.
		Jim Bakker was embroiled in scandal.
		During a visit to Berlin, Reagan challenged Soviet Premier Mikhail Gorbachev to "tear down this wall," referring to the Berlin Wall.
		Black Monday (1987): The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 23% in a single session.
		America's Cup: Dennis Conner, onboard "Stars & Stripes," returned the Cup to the United States.
		The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty was signed in Washington, D.C. by Reagan and Gorbachev.
1988		Carrollton bus collision: A drunk driver crashed into a church bus near Carrollton, Kentucky, killing twenty-seven.
		Yellowstone fires of 1988: Fires took place.
		Wrigley Field in Chicago, Illinois added lights for night games.
		The Space Shuttle Discovery was launched.
		U.S. presidential election, 1988: Vice President George H. W. Bush was elected.
		The Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty went into effect.
1989		Bush was inaugurated as President.
		TIME and Warner Communications announced plans for a merger.
		Exxon Valdez oil spill: An oil spill occurred in Prince William Sound.
		Actress Rebecca Schaeffer was murdered by an obsessed fan.
		Hurricane Hugo: A hurricane struck the East Coast, causing $7 billion in damage.
		Loma Prieta earthquake: An earthquake killed sixty-three in the greater San Francisco Bay Area.
		Bush declared a "War on Drugs."
		The animated comedy The Simpsons debuted.
		Cold War: Bush and Gorbachev released statements indicating that the war may be coming to an end.
1990		The Hubble Space Telescope was launched during a mission of the Space Shuttle Discovery.
		Gulf War: Iraq invaded Kuwait.
1991		Gulf War: A war was waged in the Middle East, by a United Nations-authorized coalition force from thirty-four nations led by Britain and the United States, against Iraq.
		Supreme Court candidate Clarence Thomas and former aide Anita Hill were interviewed by the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding sexual harassment allegations by Hill.
		Cold War: The Soviet Union dissolved, ending the war.
1992		1992 Los Angeles riots: Riots in Los Angeles, spurred by the acquittal of four Los Angeles Police Department officers accused in the beating of Rodney King, took place which resulted in over fifty deaths and $1 billion in damage.
		The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution, prohibiting changes to Congressmen's salaries from taking effect until after an election of Representatives, was passed.
		United States presidential election, 1992 Bill Clinton defeated Bush.
		Hurricane Andrew: A Category 5 hurricane killed sixty-five people and caused $26 billion in damage to Florida and other areas of the Gulf Coast.
1993		A truck Bomb exploded in the parking garage under the World Trade Center in New York City, killing six people and injuring thousands.
		A standoff and fire in Waco, Texas involving the Branch Davidians resulted in the deaths of seventy-six people including their leader, David Koresh.
		1993 Storm of the Century: A storm struck the Eastern Seaboard, bringing blizzard conditions and severe weather which killed three hundred people and caused $6 billion in damage.
		Great Flood of 1993: Massive flooding along the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers killed fifty people and devastated the Midwest with $15 billion in damage.
		President Clinton signed the Don't ask, don't tell policy into law, prohibiting openly gay or bisexual people from serving in the military.
1994		The North American Free Trade Agreement went into effect.
		1994 Northridge earthquake: An earthquake killed seventy-two and injured nine thousand in the Los Angeles area and caused $20 billion in damage.
1995		United States elections, 1994: Republicans gained control of both the House and Senate.
		Oklahoma City bombing: A bombing killed 168 and wounded eight hundred.
		Retired professional football player O. J. Simpson was acquitted of two charges of first-degree murder in the 1994 slayings of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and Ronald Goldman.
		1995 Chicago heat wave: A heat wave killed 750 in Chicago.
		United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996: A budget crisis caused the federal government to shut down.
1996		North American blizzard of 1996: A snowstorm along the East Coast killed 150 people and caused $3 billion in damage.
		TWA Flight 800: A flight exploded off Long Island killing all 230 aboard.
		Khobar Towers bombing: A bombing left nineteen American servicemen dead in Saudi Arabia.
		Centennial Olympic Park bombing: A bombing in Atlanta killed one and injured 111.
		U.S. presidential election, 1996: Clinton was reelected.
		United States federal government shutdown of 1995 and 1996: The shutdown ended.
1997		Clinton barred federal funding for any research on human cloning.
		Sparked by a global economic crisis scare, the Dow Jones Industrial Average followed world markets and plummeted 554.26, or 7.18%, to 7,161.15.
		Des Moines, Iowa resident Bobbi McCaughey gave birth to live septuplets.
1998		Former Arkansas state employee Paula Jones accuses Clinton of sexual harassment.
		Lewinsky scandal: Clinton was accused of having a sexual relationship with 22-year-old White House intern, Monica Lewinsky.
		1998 U.S. embassy bombings: 224 were killed in bombinbs in Tanzania and Kenya.
		Gay college student Matthew Shepard was brutally murdered near the University of Wyoming.
1999		Dennis Hastert of Illinois becomes Speaker of the House of Representatives.
		The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 10,006.78.
		Two teenage students murdered 13 other students and teachers at Columbine High School.
		1999 Oklahoma tornado outbreak: A violent tornado outbreak in Oklahoma killed fifty people and produced a tornado which caused $1 billion in damage.
		EgyptAir Flight 990: The first officer deliberately crashed a plane south of Nantucket, Massachusetts, killing 217.
		Along with the rest of the world, the United States prepared for the possible effects of the Y2K bug in computers, which was feared destined to cause computers to become inoperable and wreak havoc.
2000		USS Cole bombing: The USS Cole (DDG-76) was bombed in Yemeni waters, killing seventeen United States Navy sailors.
		U.S. presidential election, 2000: Incumbent Texas Governor George W. Bush won by 537 votes in Florida in a highly contested election against the incumbent Vice President Al Gore.

21st century

Year	Date	Event
2001		First inauguration of George W. Bush: George W. Bush was inaugurated the forty-third President of the United States.
		Democrats gained narrow control of Senate with the defection of James Jeffords from the Republican Party.
		The No Child Left Behind Act education reform bill was passed.
		The Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001 was passed.
		September 11 terrorist attacks: Nineteen terrorists hijacked four planes and crashed them into the World Trade Center, The Pentagon, and a field in Shanksville, Pennsylvania killing nearly three thousand people and injuring over six thousand.
		Congress passed an emergency bailout package for the airline industry.
		2001 Anthrax attacks: Anthrax attacks killed five and infected seventeen more through the mail system.
		War in Afghanistan (2001–present): The United States launched an invasion of Afghanistan.
		The USA PATRIOT Act, increasing law enforcement agencies' ability to conduct searches in cases of suspected terrorism, was passed.
		American Airlines Flight 587: A flight crashed in Queens, New York, killing 265.
		Exodus from Michigan: People from the state of Michigan began to emigrate in droves due to economic issues that would lead up to the global economic slowdown.
2002		The Department of Homeland Security was created.
		The United States withdrew from the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
		Beltway sniper attacks: Ten people were killed and three were injured in attacks around the Washington, D.C. area.
2003		Republicans retook narrow control of the Senate.
		Space Shuttle Columbia disaster: The Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated on reentry into the Earth's atmosphere, killing all seven astronauts aboard.
		2003 E2 nightclub stampede: A nightclub stampede killed twenty-one.
		invades Iraq: The United States, United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq.
		United States forces fought an insurgency in Iraq.
		Capture of Saddam Hussein: In Iraq, deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was captured by United States special forces.
2004		The social networking website Facebook was launched.
		2004 Atlantic hurricane season: Four deadly and damaging hurricanes impacted Florida, killing a combined one hundred people in the United States and producing over $50 billion in damage.
		Massachusetts legalized same-sex marriage in compliance with a Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruling in Goodridge v. Department of Public Health.
		Death of Ronald Reagan: Former President Reagan died from complications resulting from Alzheimer's disease.
		U.S. presidential election, 2004; George W. Bush was reelected.
2005		Second inauguration of George W. Bush: George W. Bush was inaugurated to his second term.
		Hurricane Katrina: A hurricane devastated the Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama coastlines killing at least 1,836 people and causing $81 billion in damage.
2006		The Democratic Party retook control of both houses of Congress and gained control of a majority of state governorships.
	28 December	John Edwards presidential campaign, 2008: Democratic former Senator John Edwards announced his candidacy for the office of President.
2007		Democrat Nancy Pelosi became Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives.
		Iraq War troop surge of 2007: George W. Bush ordered the substantial increase of the number of United States troops in Iraq.
		Virginia Tech massacre: A South Korean student shot and killed thirty-two other students and professors before killing himself.
		The I-35W Mississippi River bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota collapsed, killing thirteen people.
	December	Late-2000s recession: A recession began.
	2008		2008 Super Tuesday tornado outbreak: An outbreak of tornadoes killed over sixty people and produced $1 billion in damage across Arkansas, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Alabama.
			Northern Illinois University shooting: A student killed five and injured twenty-one before killing himself.
			Hurricane Ike: A hurricane killed 100 people along the Texas coast, producing $31 billion in damage and contributing to rising oil prices.
			Oil prices in the United States hit a record $147 per barrel.
			Global financial crisis in September 2008: The stock market crashed.
			U.S. presidential election, 2008: Barack Obama was elected the forty-fourth President of the United States.	2009		Inauguration of Barack Obama: Obama was inaugurated the forty-fourth President of the United States.
			Tea Party protests: The first of a series of protests, focusing on smaller government, fiscal responsibility, individual freedoms and conservative views of the Constitution, were conducted across the country.
			Obama obtained Congressional approval for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a $787 billion stimulus package.
			Death of Michael Jackson: Pop icon Michael Jackson died.
		Fort Hood shooting: Nidal Malik Hasan killed twelve servicemen and injured thirty-one.
25 January		2010 United States Census: The first data for the census was ceremonially collected.
27 January		2010 State of the Union Address: Obama addressed fiscal policy and financial regulation in a speech before Congress.
12 February		The Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act was signed into law, reinstating pay-as-you-go budgeting rules (PAYGO) to the federal budget process.
18 February		Obama established the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, a Presidential Commission charged with producing a plan to reduce the federal budget deficit, by executive order.
23 February		The Navy lifted its ban on women in submarines.
28 February		Democrat Neil Abercrombie, Representative of Hawaii's 1st congressional district, resigned, leaving his seat vacant.
4 March		The Travel Promotion Act of 2009, which would charge foreign tourists ten dollars per stay and spend the proceeds on tourism promotion, was signed into law.
18 March		The Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment Act, which provided tax breaks to businesses hiring unemployed workers, was signed into law.
23 March		The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was signed into law.
30 March		The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 was signed into law, amending the PPACA to reconcile the House and Senate versions of the act.
21 July		The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act was signed into law, reforming and expanding federal regulations of the financial sector.
7 August		Elena Kagan was sworn in as an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court.
2 November		United States Senate elections, 2010: The Republican Party gained five seats, to forty-seven, reducing the Democratic presence in the Senate to fifty-one. Two seats remained in the hands of independents.
		United States House of Representatives elections, 2010: The Republican Party gained sixty-two seats, giving them an absolute majority of 242 in the House and reducing the Democratic presence to 193.
28 November		United States diplomatic cables leak: WikiLeaks began to release classified diplomatic documents to the international press.
22 December		The Senate ratified the New START treaty.
		The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 was signed into law, ending the Don't ask, don't tell policy regarding homosexuals in the United States Armed Forces.
8 January		2011 Tucson shooting: A gunman targeting Democratic Representative Gabrielle Giffords critically injured Giffords and killed six others, including federal judge John Roll, in Tucson, Arizona.
12 January		Barack Obama Tucson memorial speech: Obama addressed gun control and the civility of political discourse in a speech in Tucson, Arizona.
14 January		Republican National Committee chairmanship election, 2011: Reince Priebus was elected chairman of the Republican National Committee (RNC).
25 January		2011 State of the Union Address: Obama addressed the need to find government efficiencies and improve the national infrastructure in a speech before Congress.
27 January		ATF gunwalking scandal: Senator Chuck Grassley opened an investigation into a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives operation that sold guns to Mexican gun traffickers.
5 February		The New START treaty came into force.
15 February		Libyan civil war: A civil war began with violent protests in the Libyan city of Benghazi.
27 February		Libyan civil war: The Libyan opposition announced the formation of a rival government, the National Transitional Council (NTC).
17 March		The United Nations Security Council passed United Nations Security Council Resolution 1973, authorizing member states to take any action short of occupation to prevent human rights abuses in Libya.
19 March		Operation Odyssey Dawn: The United States began air and cruise missile attacks against Libya.
20 March		Dove World Quran-burning controversy: The pastor of the fifty-member Dove World Outreach Center in Gainesville, Florida burned a Quran.
31 March		Operation Unified Protector: The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) began military operations in Libya, superseding the ongoing operations of several member states.
1 April		2011 Mazar-i-Sharif attack: Protesters attacked the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) compound in Mazar-i-Sharif, Afghanistan, resulting in fourteen deaths.
2 May		Death of Osama bin Laden: Al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden was killed by United States forces in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
11 May		Newt Gingrich presidential campaign, 2012: Republican former Speaker of the United States House of Representatives Newt Gingrich announced his candidacy for the office of President.
31 May		United States debt-ceiling crisis: The House voted down a bill to raise the legal limit on federal government debt.
2 August		United States debt-ceiling crisis: The Budget Control Act of 2011 was passed, increasing the legal limit on federal government debt in order to prevent default and establishing the United States Congress Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction.
5 August		United States federal government credit-rating downgrade, 2011: The credit-rating arm of Standard & Poor's reduced the rating of United States federal government debt from AAA to AA+.
6 August	2011 Chinook shootdown in Afghanistan: A rocket-propelled grenade attack in Maidan Wardak Province, Afghanistan killed thirty United States military personnel and eight Afghans.
8 August	August 2011 stock markets fall: Major United States stock market indices dropped in value by some two and a half trillion dollars.
21 August	Battle of Tripoli (2011): NTC forces captured most of the Libyan capital of Tripoli.
17 September	The populist Occupy Wall Street protest movement made camp in Zuccotti Park in New York City.
20 September	The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 came into force.
30 September	Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula leader Anwar al-Awlaki was killed in Ma'rib Governorate, Yemen by a United States drone strike.
20 October	Death of Muammar Gaddafi: Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was captured and shot to death by NTC forces.
31 October	Operation Unified Protector: The operation was declared a success.
26 November	2011 NATO attack in Pakistan: NATO forces killed twenty-four Pakistani soldiers in Salala, Pakistan.
	18 December	Withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq: The last United States troops withdrew from Iraq under the terms of the U.S.–Iraq Status of Forces Agreement.

Further reading

• Kutler, Stanley L., ed. Encyclopedia of the United States in the Twentieth Century (4 vol, 1996)
• Morris, Richard, ed. Encyclopedia of American History (7th ed. 1996)
• Schlesinger Jr., Arther M. The Almanac Of American History (1983)
• Timeline of the American Revolution
• Library of Congress. Time Line of African American History, 1852–1880
• Phillips, James Duncan. When Salem sailed the seven seas—in the 1790s. New York, Newcomen Society of England, American Branch, 1946.
• Flexner, James Thomas. "The scope of painting in the 1790s." Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, January 1950.
• Arena, C. Richard. "Philadelphia-Spanish New Orleans trade in the 1790s." Louisiana History, v.2, no.4, 1961.
• Allis, Frederick S. Government through opposition; party politics in the 1790s. New York, Macmillan, 1963.
• Kuehl, John William. A Federalist journal looks at France : a case study of emerging nationalism in the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 1964.
• Howe, John R., Jr. "Republican Thought and the Political Violence of the 1790s." American Quarterly, Vol. 19, No. 2, Part 1 (Summer, 1967), pp. 147–165.
• Shapiro, Eugene Paul. Robert Hunter and the land system of colonial New York : education in Massachusetts in the 1790s : the Middlekauff-Birdsall interpretation reconsidered (thesis/dissertation). 1972.
• Sneddon, Leonard James. State politics in the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 1972.
• Fussell, G.E. "An Englishman in America in the 1790s." Agricultural History, Vol. 47, No. 2 (Apr., 1973), pp. 114–118.
• Wrenn, James W. The politics of Monticello : psychosocial studies of Thomas Jefferson and the political conflict of the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 1973.
• Arbuckle, Robert D. "John Nicholson and the attempt to promote Pennsylvania industry in the 1790s." Pennsylvania History, Vol. 42, No. 2 (April 1975), pp. 98–114
• Herndon, G. Melvin. "Agriculture in America in the 1790s: An Englishman's View." Agricultural History, Vol. 49, No. 3 (Jul., 1975), pp. 505–516
• Soltow, Lee. "Socioeconomic Classes in South Carolina and Massachusetts in the 1790s and the Observations of John Drayton." South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 81, No. 4 (Oct., 1980), pp. 283–305.
• Hebert. The Pennsylvania French in the 1790s : the story of their survival (thesis/dissertation). 1981.
• Formisano, Ronald P. The transformation of political culture : Massachusetts parties, 1790s–1840s. New York : Oxford University Press, 1983.
• Appleby, Joyce Oldham. Capitalism and a new social order : the Republican vision of the 1790s. New York : New York University Press, 1984.
• Hebert, Catherine A. A survey of the French book trade in Philadelphia in the 1790s. New Kensington, Penn. : Pennsylvania State University, 1985?
• Welsh, Frank S. 30 Washington Street, ca. 1790s, Easton, Maryland : comparative microscopic paint & color analysis of the interior and exterior to determine the nature and color of the original architectural surface coatings. Bryn Mawr, Pa. : Talbot County Historical Society, 1985
• Hall, John A. "That Onerous Task: Jury Service in South Carolina during the Early 1790s." South Carolina Historical Magazine, Vol. 87, No. 1 (Jan., 1986), pp. 1–13.
• Trupiano, Terri. Charlton Park cook book : historic recipes 1790s–1930s. Hasting, Mich. : Charlton Park Village & Museum, 1986?
• Ottenberg, June C. "Popularity of Two Operas in Philadelphia in the 1790s ." International Review of the Aesthetics and Sociology of Music, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Dec. 1987), pp. 205–216.
• Watts, Steven. The Republic Reborn: War and the Making of Liberal America, 1790–1820 (Baltimore, 1987)
• Anderson, Wilby F. The Andersons family history : first to Ross County, Ohio in late 1790s. Clearwater, Fla. : W.F. Anderson, 1989.
• Worman, Edward A. "The 1790s French Azilum in Pennsylvania." Pennsylvania Magazine, vol. 9, no. 2, April 1989.
• Newman, Simon Peter. "Principles and not men" : the political culture of leadership in the 1790s. Philadelphia Center for Early American Studies, 1990.
• Branson, Susan. Politics and gender : the political consciousness of Philadelphia women in the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 1992.
• Branson, Susan. The influence of black refugees from St. Domingue on the Philadelphia Community in the 1790s. Paper presented at the 24th Annual Conference of the Association of Caribbean Historians, Nassau, Bahamas, March 29 – April 3, 1992.
• Spaeth, Catherine Therese Christians. Purgatory or promised land? : French emigres in Philadelphia and their perceptions of America during the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 1992.
• Taylor, Alan. "The Art of Hook & Snivey": Political Culture in Upstate New York during the 1790s." The Journal of American History, Vol. 79, No. 4 (Mar., 1993), pp. 1371–1396.
• Thorn, Jennifer J. Every family a state : achieving human nature in 1790s Anglo-American culture (thesis/dissertation). 1994.
• Amberg, Julie Sutherland. Political and sentimental discourse in 1790s America : Judith Sargent Murray's The Gleaner, Hannah Webster Foster's The Coquette, and Susanna Haswell Rowson's Reuben and Rachel; or, Tales of Old Times (thesis/dissertation). 1995.
• Kornfeld, Eve. "Encountering "the Other": American Intellectuals and Indians in the 1790s." William and Mary Quarterly, Third Series, Vol. 52, No. 2 (Apr., 1995), pp. 287–314
• Rossignol, Marie-Jeanne. "Early Isolationism Revisited: Neutrality and Beyond in the 1790s." Journal of American Studies, 29 (1995), 2, 215–227.
• Haley, Jacquetta M. Rockland County in the 1790s. New City, NY : Historical Society of Rockland County, 1997.
• Schoenbachler, Matthew. "Republicanism in the Age of Democratic Revolution: The Democratic-Republican Societies of the 1790s." Journal of the Early Republic, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Summer, 1998), pp. 237–261.
• Bowling, Kenneth R. and Donald R. Kennon, eds. Neither separate nor equal : Congress in the 1790s. Athens : Ohio University Press, 2000.
• Labelle, Jean. Melancholy convictions : the unsure state of union in the state of Massachusetts from the late 1790s to 1816 (thesis/dissertation). 2000.
• Branson, Susan. "Elizabeth Drinker: Quaker Values and Federalist Support in the 1790s." Pennsylvania History, Vol. 68, No. 4, The World of Elizabeth Drinker: Celebrating the Tenth Anniversary of the Publication of Her Diary (Autumn 2001), pp. 465–482
• Lazaro, David E. Construction in context : a 1790s gown from Medford, Massachusetts (thesis). 2001.
• Finkelman, Paul. "Suppressing American Slave Traders in the 1790s." OAH Magazine of History, Vol. 18, No. 3, The Atlantic World (Apr., 2004), pp. 51–55.
• Scott, Bonnie Dever. The emergence of a partisan press : American newspapers in the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 2004.
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• Von Morze, Leonard Roy. Out of the one, many : republicanism and social unity in American writing of the 1790s (thesis/dissertation). 2006.
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