1776 May 2: The American Revolution gains support from King Louis XVI of France. July 4: Thomas Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of Independence. 1777 November 15: Articles of Confederation - Congress is made sole authority of the new national government. 1778 February 6: France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution soon becomes a world war. September 14: Benjamin Franklin appointed American representative in France. 1779 September 27: John Adams is appointed to negotiate peace with England. 1780 September 23: Plans discovered indicating Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Benedict Arnold joins the British 1781 October 17: American victory at Yorktown terms discussed for the British surrender. October 19: The British army surrenders at Yorktown - a devastating effect on the British 1782 February 27: English Parliament votes against further war in America. November 10: The final battle of the Revolutionary War when Americans retaliate by attacking a Shawnee village in Ohio November 30: Preliminary peace treaty signed in Paris recognising American independence and the British withdrawal from America. 1783 February 4: England officially declares an end to hostilities in America September 3: The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain 1784 January 14: The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress and the American Revolutionary War officially ends 1789 First President of the US is George Washington 1789-1797 The first thirteen states were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island Judiciary Act of 1789 1791 Bill of Rights ratified 1793 Fugitive Slave Act passed 1795 Vermont and Kentucky were admitted to the US 1794 Whiskey Rebellion 1797 Second President of the US is John Adams 1797-1801 1799 Logan Act 1800 Library of Congress founded 1801 Third President of the US is Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809 1803 Louisiana Purchase Treaty 1804 Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory 1805 Barbary Wars 1807 Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves 1808 U.S. slave trade with Africa ends 1809 Fourth President of the US is James Madison 1809-1817 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe 1812 War of 1812 begins 1814 Treaty of Fort Jackson ends Creek War 1817 Fifth President of the US is James Monroe 1817-1825 Harvard Law School founded 1818 Jackson Purchase in Kentucky
1818 Five more states were admitted to the US - Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi 1819 Adams-Onis Treaty, including acquisition of Florida Illinois admission to the US 1820 Alabama and Maine admission to the US 1822 Missouri admission to the US 1825 Sixth President of the US is John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 1829 Seventh President of the US is Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 1830 Indian Removal Act Oregon Trail opens 1831 Nat Turner's revolt 1832 Black Hawk War Seminole War begins Department of Indian Affairs established 1835 Texas War for Independence begins 1836 Texas War for Independence begins Arkansas admission to the US 1837 Battle of the Alamo Panic of 1837 Michigan admission to the US 1838 1838-1839: The Trail of Tears 1841 Ninth President of the US is William Henry Harrison 1841 1841 Tenth President of the US is John Tyler 1841-1845 1845 Eleventh President of the US is James Knox Polk 1845-1849
Texas admission to the US Florida admission to the US 1846 Mexican-American War begins Texas admission to the US Oregon Treaty signed 1847 Treaty of Cahuenga ends Mexican-American War Iowa admission to the US 1848 Gold discovered in California Wisconsin admission to the US Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War 1849 Twelfth President of the US is Zachary Taylor 1849-1850 1850 Thirteenth President of the US is Millard Fillmore 1850-1853 1851 California admission to the US 1853 Fourteenth President of the US is Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 Gadsden Purchase 1856 Sack of Lawrence, Kansas Pottawatomie Massacre 1857 Fifteenth President of the US is James Buchanan 1857-1861 1858 Minnesota admission to the US 1859 Oregon admission to the US Harper's Ferry Raid 1860 Pony Express begins
1861 Sixteenth President of the US is Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 Kansas admission to the US Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) established under President Jefferson Davis American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter ( See American Civil War Timeline ) First Battle of Bull Run 1863 Battle of Gettysburg West Virginia admission to the US 1864 Sand Creek Massacre 1865 Abraham Lincoln assassinated Seventeenth President of the US is Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 Nevada admission to the US United States Civil War ends 1866 Civil Rights Act of 1866 Ku Klux Klan founded 1867 Nebraska admission to the US Alaska Purchase from Russia 1869 Eighteenth President of the US is Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877 1871 Great Chicago Fire Treaty of Washington with Great Britain regarding the Dominion of Canada 1872 Yellowstone National Park established 1874 Red River Wars
1875 Civil Rights Act of 1875 1876 Battle of Little Bighorn American History Timeline 1877 Nineteenth Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881 Colorado admission to the US Nez Perce War 1881 Twentieth President of the US is James Abram Garfield 1881 1881 Twenty - First President of the US is Chester Alan Arthur 1881-1885 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act and European Restriction Act 1885 Twenty-Second President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1885-1889 Washington monument completed 1889 Twenty - Third President of the US is Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893 1890 North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho admission to the US Yosemite National Park created Wounded Knee Massacre 1891 Wyoming admission to the US 1893 Twenty - Fourth President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1893-1897 1896 Utah admission to the US Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike 1897 Twenty - Fifth President of the US is William McKinley 1897-1901 1898 Spanish-American War 1900 Boxer Rebellion in China 1901 Twenty - Sixth President of the US is Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909
1903 Ford Motor Company formed 1903 - First World Series 1904 Panama Canal Zone acquired 1908 Oklahoma admission to the US Ford Model T marketed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established 1909 Twenty - Seventh President of the US is William Howard Taft 1909-1913 1912 Arizona, Alaska and New Mexico admission to the US Titanic sinks 1913 Twenty - Eighth President of the US is Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921 1915 The Birth of a Nation movie directed by D.W. Griffith opens 1917 US enters World War I U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark 1919 Treaty of Versailles 1920 First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 1921 Twenty- Ninth President of the US is Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921-1923 1923 Thirtieth President of the US is Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929 1924 Indian Reorganization Act 1927 Indian Reorganization Act Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-atlantic flight The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson is the first "talkie" to be released 1929 Thirty- First President of the US is Herbert Clark Hoover 1929-1933 St. Valentine's Day massacre
Immigration Act American History Timeline Great Depression begins 1931 Empire State Building opens 1932 Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean 1933 Thirty - Second President of the US is Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945 Japan and Germany withdraw from League of Nations 1934 Thirty - Third President of the US is Harry S. Truman 1945-1953 Dust Bowl begins Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act John Dillinger killed Indian Reorganization Act 1935 Social Security Act 1936 London Conference on disarmament 1937 Hindenburg disaster 1939 Germany invades Poland; World War II begins 1941 Attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. enters World War II 1944 D-Day Battle of the Bulge 1945 Thirty - Third President of the US is Harry S. Truman 1945-1953 U.S. takes Okinawa
U.S. joins the United Nations Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki Germany and Japan surrender, ending World War II