Timeline
Asian and European peoples migrated to the Americas.
Mayan civilization flourished in Central America. The Mayans developed a scientific culture with advanced mathematics and astronomy.
Ancestral Pueblo people built pueblo "apartment" complexes in the American Southwest.
Around year 1000 CE, Vikings established the “Vineland” settlement in today's Newfoundland. The settlement, however, did not last for long.
Mississippian culture dominated the Midwestern and Southeastern United States. The Mississippians had a complex agricultural system and grew crops such as corn, beans, and squash.
The Aztec civilization in today's Mexico was organized in city states with surrounding farmland. The Aztecs built a sophisticated system of interconnected and rival cities.
Christopher Columbus came ashore in the Bahama Islands.
European explorers visited and mapped parts of the Americas throughout this period. They began fishing in the Great Banks off the east coast of North America in 1497.
The Aztec empire fell as Cortéz and his soldiers managed to capitalize on existing conflicts among the Aztecs.
Smallpox and other European diseases decimated Native Americans. The epidemic made it easier for European powers to gain control over the continent.
The first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The settlers of Jamestown sought investment opportunities in the New World and started growing tobacco to be sold in Europe.
The first permanent English settlement in the Americas. The settlers of Jamestown sought investment opportunities in the New World and started growing tobacco to be sold in Europe.
English Pilgrims and later Puritans founded colonies in today's New England. They sought to build a society dominated by strict religious beliefs, although they had different ideas on how to relate to the Church of England. The Pilgrims were separatists, i.e. wanted to establish a church separate from the English church, while the Puritans wanted to purify the church from within. The Pilgrims arrived, via the Netherlands, in 1620 on the ship Mayflower and settled in Plymouth, Massachusetts. A decade later, the Puritans established the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
Powhatan Indians killed 300 colonists. The attack eventually led to armed conflict between the English settlers and the Powhatans.
Native Americans and Puritans waged war, the first lengthy armed conflict between the indigenous people and the new groups settling the country.
New Amsterdam (New York), Maryland, New Sweden, Carolina, New Jersey and Pennsylvania were founded.
Harvard College and then public schools started in Massachusetts. The region was shaped by Puritan emphasis on Christian learning and the importance of Bible reading.
Georgia, the last of the 13 English colonies, was founded.
Preachers such as Jonathan Edwards and George Whitfield gathered thousands to emotionally charged religious meetings.
Mobs in Boston were the first to react against “taxation without representation”.
British troops fired on Boston protestors
The American Revolution began. On July 4, 1776 the Second Continental Congress cut ties to the British crown with the Declaration of Independence
The Treaty of Paris recognized the independence of the United States and granted it the territory south of Canada to the Mississippi River.
The Constitution was signed in 1787, ratified in 1788 and came into effect in 1789.. A strong federal government under the US Constitution replaced the loose league of states under the Articles of Confederation .George Washington took office as President. Federalists and Anti-Federalists competed in Congress.
The New York Stock Exchange opened. It would eventually become the center of international commerce.
The Louisiana Purchase from France added a huge slice of the continent’s mid-section to the US.
Congress outlawed the import of African slaves, but slavery remained legal until 1863.
New York passed Philadelphia in population at third US census.
Shawnee leaders, Tecumseh and the Prophet, organized the eastern tribes to resist US expansion beyond the Appalachians.
The USA became involved in the Napoleonic Wars in Europe. Siding with the French, the US waged war against the British.
Industrialization started in the New England and Mid-Atlantic states.
A religious, emotional revival swept across the frontier. Converts joined social and utopian reform movements. Many were involved in the abolitionist movement.
About 16 million Europeans and smaller numbers of Asians and Latinos immigrated in the Second Wave.
The opening the Erie Canal secured the economic power of the East.
Cherokees removed from their Georgia homeland to Indian Territory in Oklahoma along what they remember as the Trail of Tears.
The Democratic Party emerged and competed with the Whigs.
The US went to War with Mexico and eventually gained control over today's California and the Southwest. The state of Texas had declared independence from the US in 1836, but became part of the union again in 1845.
The first women’s rights convention at Seneca Falls, New York.
Anti-foreign “nativist,” abolitionist, and pro-slavery movements dominated US politics. The Republican Party emerged as part of a vital anti-slavery movement.
Civil War raged over slavery and states’ rights.
The Homestead Act granted land to people who live on and farm it for five years, spurring massive settlement of the in-land West.
Slavery was abolished in 1863 with the Emancipation Proclamation. After the Civil War, constitutional amendments and a civil rights act were passed to secure the citizenship and rights of former slaves as part of the Reconstruction.
Reconstruction of the South ended and Southern race laws progressively denied Blacks rights in the 1880s and 1890s.
The railroad connected the Eastern and Western parts of the USA.
The US census bureau announced the “closing of the frontier” after a century of westward expansion.
Wounded Knee ended centuries of open warfare against Native Americans.
About 23 million immigrants arrived, mostly from southern and eastern Europe but also from Asia, Canada, and Latin America.
About 23 million immigrants arrived, mostly from southern and eastern Europe but also from Asia, Canada, and Latin America.
Anti-imperialist debate in Congress. The Spanish-American ended Spain's overseas empire as the USA gained control over Spain's colonies the Philippines, Puerto Rico and Guam.
Progressive Era reformed social institutions, politics and government.
The size of the House of Representatives set at 435 in 1911, up from 394, based on the 1910 census. The number of representatives had gradually increased as the US population grew, but has stayed 435 since the 1910 census.
America fought with the Allies in the First World War. 4.7 million American soldiers served in the war.
The first tabloid newspaper, the New York Daily News, appeared.
Prohibition of alcoholic beverages became the law under the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which would eventually be repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.
Women won the right to vote through the Nineteenth Amendment.
The Red Scare and general restriction of immigration started. World War I and the Russian Revolution had made many Americans worried about European influence on the US.
The Wall Street Stock-market crash signalled the start of the Great Depression.
Hollywood’s classic period of film production.
Progressively more of the Bill of Rights applied to state law and cases.
Franklin Roosevelt was elected president and implemented the New Deal to bring the US out of the Great Depression. In 1937, the Supreme Court accepted New Deal powers of federal government. A larger and more powerful federal government was met with hostility from those supporting states rights and limited government.
Commercial television introduced at the World’s Fair in New York.
On December 7 Japan bombed the Pearl Harbor naval base in Hawaii, and the US entered the Second World War.
The post-war baby boom began in the midst of increased suburbanization and a thriving consumer culture. Many former soldiers had gained a college degree and landed better paying jobs. Generous federal funding helped more Americans, primarily white Americans, buy homes in the rapidly growing suburbs.
The National Security Act (1947) transformed American government for the Cold War. The Truman Doctrine set path of US foreign policy. In the 1950s, the McCarthy era “Red scare” caused an oppressive political climate at home. American soldiers fought in the Korean War (1950-1953) to stop communism spreading. The tension between the US and the Communist world fluctuated, with the Cuba Missile Crisis in Oct. 1962 as a critical moment. The 1970s saw a time of detente before there was increased tension again before the eventual collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War around 1990.
Racial desegregation began with the Brown v the Board of Education US Supreme Court decision.
The American Federation of Labour (AFL) and the Congress of Industrial Organizations (CIO) combined in a union of US unions.
The National Defense Education Act funded scientific education as a result of competition with the USSR, which had launched Sputnik in 1957.
US involvement and war in Vietnam, massive protests at home and abroad against the war in the 1960s; African-Americans, Native-Americans, Chicanos, Women, and gay Americans fought for civil Rights.
US involvement and war in Vietnam, massive protests at home and abroad against the war in the 1960s; African-Americans, Native-Americans, Chicanos, Women, and gay Americans fought for civil Rights.
President John F. Kennedy assassinated; Lyndon B. Johnson assumed the presidency
The high point of the Youth “counter culture” and of religious ecumenism in the US.
President Johnson launches Great Society and War on Poverty social reforms, leading to an even larger federal government. Conservatives again worried about states rights and too much power in the hands of the federal government.
The Civil Rights Act outlawed discrimination in housing and jobs.
The Voting Rights Act protected voter registration, especially in the South: the Elementary and Secondary Education Act provided massive funding for education reform.
Civil Rights leader Martin Luther king, Jr, and the Democratic politician Robert Kennedy were assassinated. 168 cities erupted in race riots.
The Stonewall Riots when gay men for the first time fought back after repeated police raids.
In the continuing fourth wave of immigration, over 38.5 million people arrived, most from Latin America and Asia, but also from the former USSR, Africa, and the Middle East.
More Americans lived in suburbs than in cities or rural areas.
The conservative President Nixon’s “New Federalism” began the return of power to the states.
Roe v. Wade decision legalized limited abortion rights for women.
President Nixon resigned as a result of the Watergate scandal.
AIDS was first identified in the US in 1981. First labeled "the gay plague" because most of the first affected by AIDS, the disease led to a severe backlash against the gay rights movement which had experienced some gains in the 1970s. For instance, in 1986 the Supreme Court ruled in favor of so-called "sodomy laws," which outlawed homosexual relations in the case Bowers v. Hardwick.
The rise of Christian fundamentalism and conservative religious political activity.
Mikhail Gorbachev and Ronald Reagan co-operated to bring the end of the Cold War. The Iran-Contras scandal cast a shadow over the second Reagan administration.
The newly elected President George H. W. Bush led the US in the Persian Gulf War to drive Iraq out of Kuwait.
President Clinton presided over the longest economic boom in US History.
The devolution of policymaking power to the states occurred through the welfare reform act.
Congress impeached but did not convict President Clinton.
George W. Bush won the presidential election after a 5-4 divided decision of the US Supreme Court stopped Florida vote recounts and called for uniform vote counting procedures.
The No Child Left Behind Act set in action the most far-reaching national educational reform since the 1960s.
Terrorists destroyed the World Trade Center and attacked the Pentagon. In response, the US initiated a global war on terrorism in Afghanistan.
The Help America Vote Act was passed to standardize voting procedures within states; the USA Patriot Act and the authorization of the Department of Homeland Security transformed American government for the War on Terror.
The US-led “coalition of the willing” invaded and occupied Iraq. Evidence that suggested Saddam Hussein had access to weapons of mass destruction convinced the Bush administration to enter Iraq. However, no such weapons were found in Iraq.
The Supreme Court decision, Lawrence v. Texas, ended the criminalization of homosexual relations between consenting adults.
George W. Bush won a second term and the Republican secured larger majorities in Congress.
Legal immigration to the US capped at 675,000 immigrant visas a year.
In the longest and most expensive presidential election in US history, 10 or more men and women announced their candidacy for each major party’s nomination. John McCain emerged as the presumptive Republican candidate. The Democrats nominated the first seriously competitive woman, former First Lady and current New York Senator Hillary Clinton, who fought a close contest with Illinois Senator Barack Obama, the first mixed race African American to run for president. Obama won the nomination, and in November he won the presidency with unprecedented use of social media.
In District of Columbia v. Heller the Supreme Court decided that the ban on the private possession of handguns in Washington DC was an infringement of the Second Amendment.
The worsening economic crisis due to subprime mortgages became the worst financial breakdown since the 1930s.
The Obama administration’s financial policies rescued Wall Street firms and the Detroit automobile industry, extended unemployment insurance and initiated a jobs and economic stimulus package.
In Citizens United v. the FEC the Supreme Court ruled that corporations have the same right to freedom of expression as individuals, also regarding contributions to campaign contributions.
The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act (PPACA or ACA) passed with no support from Republican members of congress. The Act was upheld by the Supreme Court in 2012.
In the mid-term congressional elections the Democrats lost the majority in the House of Representatives and legislative support for Obama’s agenda, in part due to Tea party support for conservative Republicans in the 2012 election. In the next presidential election cycle a dozen Republicans, competed for the party’s nomination. Mitt Romney won and faced incumbent Obama in the general election. The sitting president won a electoral college and popular vote victory. In the congressional elections the Democrats improved their majority in the Senate, but the Republicans kept a majority in the House.
Another school mass killing occurred at Newtown, Connecticut, when 20 young children and 6 teachers were killed by Adam Lanza.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, two Chechen immigrant brothers, exploded bombs at the Boston Marathon killing three people and injuring hundreds.
The Black Lives Matter movement against racism in the US justice system began on social media, after the acquittal of a neighborhood watchman for the murder of black teenager Trayvon Martin in Florida. A policeman in Ferguson, Missouri, shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed black teenager, leading to riots in the St. Louis suburb. Riots started again and spread across the nation when a court decided not to indict the policeman. Support for Black Lives Matters grew.
Fracking to extract shale oil said to cause 1000’s of earthquakes in Oklahoma and across the US.
In a mid-term election landslide, Republicans gained control of the Senate and increased their majority in the House of Representatives.
In Obergefell v. Hodges, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex marriage is constitutional.
Bipartisan majorities in Congress and President Obama enacted a new federal education law, the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Seventeen Republicans and 6 Democrats competed for the major party nominations for president, and the Libertarian and Green Parties also chose candidates
Anger and protest against police brutality against black Americans erupted in Baltimore, Maryland after the death of Freddie Gray in police custody. Riots also flared in Ferguson, Missouri after the death of Michael Brown, unarmed 18-year-old black teenager shot by a white policeman. Dylann Roof, a white nationalist, massacred nine black worshippers in Charleston, South Carolina.
After the most contentious campaign in memory, intelligence reports accusing Russia of interfering in the election in Donald Trump’s favor, and allegations by the FBI and candidate Trump regarding Hillary Clinton’s use of a private email server, Republican Trump surprised pollsters and commentators, winning an Electoral College victory, even though Clinton won the popular vote by 3 million.
The Standing Rock Sioux reservation with a coalition of Native American activists successfully protested the building of the Dakota Access pipeline near its water supply and sacred sites.
The US ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, which took effect on November 4. The further participation of the US was doubtful following the formation of the Trump administration in 2017.
Under President OBama, the US signed the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with 11 other Pacific-rim countries, but the trade treaty was not yet in force. The TPP meant a shift of US trade policies from Europe to the Pacific rim. President Trump withdrew the US from the TPP.
President Trump reversed the decision to reroute the Dakota Access Pipeline to protect the Standing Rock Sioux’s sites and water supply.
By executive order President Trump reallocated funds to begin building a wall to prevent undocumented immigrants from crossing the Mexican border.
The new administration and Republican-controlled Congress reevaluated The Patient Protection and Affordable Health Act (PPACA), 2012, meant to extend health insurance to 50 million Americans by 2014. In May 2017, the House of Representatives approved a second version of President Trump's American Health Care Act (AHCA) before it moved on to the Senate.
As the global COVID pandemic took hold in the U.S. Congress took steps to help American workers and businesses, including passage of the CARES Act and other legislation. By June 2021, about 620,000 Americans had lost their lives to COVID.
In the spring of 2020, Minneapolis, Minnesota resident, George Floyd, an African American, died as Officer Derek Chauvin knelt on his neck during an arrest. Bystanders videoed this while Floyd called out that he couldn’t breath. These videos circulated widely and provoked extensive rioting in Minneapolis and across the country. A year later Chauvin was convicted of four counts of murder and sentenced to twenty-two and a half years in prison.
In November 2020, Joe Biden was elected president and Kamala Harris was elected vice-president. The defeated incumbent, Dona;d Trump, disputed the results and the count and recounts dragged on for several weeks. The Biden-Harris team one both the popular vote and the Electoral College ote.
On January 6, 2021, as a joint session of Congress convened to confirm Biden’s Electoral College win, a mob of angry Trump supporters breached the Capitol security and entered the building in search of various lawmakers. Although the lawmakers quickly went into lockdown, the mob cause massive damage and their ramage resulted in five deaths and several injuries.
A week after the Capitol uprising, the House of Representatives adopted an article of impeachment against Trump for a second time, this time on charges of “incitement of insurrection”. The House Democrats were unanimous in their support for impeachment. They were joined by ten Republicans. A month later, the Senate acquitted Trump of the charges.
Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States. Kamala Harris becomes the first African-American and the first women to become vice-president. In his first hundred days in office, Biden reversed many of Trumps policies and initiatives and recommitted to the Paris Climate Agreement.