Historical,
Social, and Cultural Events | Date | Literary Events |
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Extreme dates of Asian migration to the North America | 50,000–12,000
B.C. | |
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Leif Ericsson establishes a settlement in Newfoundland | 1001 A.D. | |
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Marco Polo travels to China from Italy | 1275–1295 | |
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Rise of the Aztec empire | c. 1300 | |
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First outbreak of the Black Death in Europe | 1347 | |
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Columbus discovers America | 1492 | |
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John Cabot(Giovanni Caboto)
explores North America | 1497 | |
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The Protestant Reformation begins in Germany when Martin
Luther postshis 95 theses | 1517 | |
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Smallpox decimates Indian populations | 1518–1530 | |
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Magellan circumnavigates the globe | 1519–1522 | |
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Tenochtitlán surrenders
to Cortés | 1521 | |
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Verrazzano explores the eastern
coast of the present-day United States | 1524 | |
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Cabeza deVaca arrives shipwrecked in Tampa Bay | 1528 | |
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Pizarro brothers conquer the Incas in Peru, and sail along
the Pacific coast of South America claiming territories for Spain | 1550s | |
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Elizabeth I becomes Queen of England | 1558 | |
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St. Augustine, Florida founded | 1565 | |
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Martin Frobisher’s unsuccessful search for a Northwest Passage to Asia | 1576–1578 | |
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The English attempt to establish a colony on the island of
Roanoke | | |
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The English defeat the Spanish Armada | 1588 | |
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Powhatan forms an Indian confederacy numbering
approximately 9,000 | late 1500s | |
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James I becomes King of England | 1603 | |
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Samuel de Champlain explores the New England coast, the
St. Lawrence River, and upstate New York, and founds Quebec | 1603–1613 | |
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The English settle Jamestown, the first permanent English
settlement in the New World | 1607 | |
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Henry Hudson discovers the Hudson River and Hudson Bay | 1609–1610 | |
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The first step toward slavery in the future United States
occurs when twenty Africans arrive in Jamestown; the English colonies elect a
representative assembly; the House of Burgesses had the authority to make
laws for the colony | 1619 | |
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The Pilgrims (Puritan Separatists) establish a settlement
in Plymouth on the coast of present-day southeastern Massachusetts | 1620. | |
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William Bradford succeeds John Carver as governor of
Plymouth Colony | 1621. | |
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Dutch settle Manhattan. | 1624 | John Smith publishes General History of Virginia. |
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Charles I becomes King of England. | 1625 | |
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King Charles I dissolves Parliament and begins ruling as an absolute monarch; persecution of the
Puritans increases precipitating a second wave of Puritan migration. | 1629 | |
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Massachusetts Bay Colony founded by non-Separatist
Puritans. | 1630 | William Bradford begins writing Of Plymouth Plantation. |
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The Calverts found Maryland. | 1632 | |
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Roger Williams founds Rhode Island. | 1635 | |
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Harvard founded as a training center for ministers. | 1636 | |
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Pequot War breaks out. | 1637 | Thomas Morton publishes New English Canaan |
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The first colonial printing press is established at
Cambridge, Massachusetts. | 1639 | |
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Sugar boom in Caribbean leads to increased importation of
slaves. | 1640s | |
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The English Civil War begins. | 1642 | |
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Anne Bradstreet’s first collection of poetry, The
Tenth Muse, is published in London. | 1650 | |
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First Quakers arrive in Massachusetts. | 1656 | |
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England passes the first of the Navigation Acts; others
followed in 1663and 1673. | 1660 | |
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New England Puritans adopt the Halfway Covenant. | 1662 | Michael Wigglesworth publishes Day
of Doom. |
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King Philip’s War erupts between New Englanders and
an alliance of Indian tribes led by Metacomet (King
Philip). | 1675 | |
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Bacon’s Rebellion occurs in Virginia. | 1676 | |
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William Penn works with Quaker founder George Fox to
create a Quaker colony in America. | 1681 | |
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| 1682 | Mary Rowlandson’s A
Narrative of the Captivity becomes a best seller. |
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French Calvinists or Huguenots escape persecution in
France and settle in the English colonies in America. | 1685 | |
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The Glorious Revolution in England. | 1688 | |
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Coode’s rebellion in
Maryland. | 1689 | |
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Salem witch trials begin. | 1692 | |
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William and Mary College founded for the training of
Anglican ministers in Williamsburg, Virginia. | 1693 | |
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Slave importations increase as the Royal African Company
of England loses its monopoly on the slave trade. | 1697 | |
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Yale College founded. | 1701 | |
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| 1702 | Cotton Mather’s Magnalia Christi Americana is published. |
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England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales unite as Great
Britain. | 1707 | |
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George I assumes the throne of
England after the death of Queen Anne. | 1714 | |
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Cotton Mather starts smallpox
inoculations. | 1720 | |
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George II begins his reign, which extends until 1760. | 1727 | |
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The Great Awakening seizes America. | 1730s–1740s | |
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General James Oglethorpe founds Georgia. | 1732 | |
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Benjamin Franklin publishes Poor Richard’s Almanack. | 1732–1757 | |
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Stono Rebellion, the largest
slave rebellion of the colonial period, occurs. | 1739 | |
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The French and Indian War. | 1754–1763 | |
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King George III ascends to the throne of England. | 1760 | |
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Mason-Dixon line surveyed. | 1763–1767 | |
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England passes the Sugar Act and Currency Act, which
antagonizes colonists. | 1764 | |
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The Stamp Act and Quartering Act further antagonize
colonists. The Sons of Liberty, a resistance group, is formed. | 1765 | |
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The Townshend Acts increases the
number of taxable items in the colonies. | 1767 | Thomas Godfrey’s The Prince of Parthia, the first play written by an American and
produced in the colonies, is staged in Philadelphia. |
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British troops arrive in Boston. | 1768 | |
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Fr. Junípero Serra establishes nine Spanish missions in California. | 1769–1784 | |
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Boston Massacre. | 1770 | |
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Gaspee Affair. | 1772 | |
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The Boston Tea Party. | 1773 | |
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The Coercive or Intolerable Acts: the Boston Port Bill,
the Massachusetts Government Act, the Administration of Justice Act, and a
new Quartering Act; Meeting of the First Continental Congress. | 1774 | |
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War for American Independence; battles of Lexington and
Concord and Bunker Hill fought; meeting of the Second Continental Congress. | 1775–1781 | |
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| 1776 | Declaration of Independence; Thomas Paine’s Common
Sense published. |
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British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American
troops at Saratoga. | 1777 | |
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French increase assistance and recognize America as a
sovereign nation. | 1778 | |
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Spain declares war on Great Britain. | 1779 | |
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The British seize Charleston. | 1780 | |
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General Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown and the
war ends. | 1781 | |
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Holland recognizes United States independence. | 1782 | |
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The Treaty of Paris formally ends the American Revolution. | 1783 | Noah Webster publishes The American Spelling Book. |
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The Land Ordinance divided the western territory into ten
self-governing districts. | 1784 | |
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Shays’s Rebellion in
Massachusetts. | 1786–1787 | |
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Representatives from five states meet in Annapolis. | 1786 | |
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The Constitutional Convention meets in Philadelphia and in
May passes the Constitution; Congress adopts the Northwest Ordinance. | 1787 | James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay write a
series of essays called The Federalist Papers; Royall Tyler’s The Contrast is produced in New York. |
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George Washington elected first president; French
Revolution begins. | 1789 | William Hill Brown publishes The Power of Sympathy,
the first American novel. |
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First Bank of the United States chartered. | 1791 | |
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Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin. | 1793 | |
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The Whiskey Rebellion occurs in western Pennsylvania;
Charles Willson Peale opens Peale’s Museum,
the first museum in America. | 1794 | |
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Pinckney’s Treaty signed with Spain. | 1795 | |
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John Adams elected president. | 1796 | |
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XYZ Affair; Alien and Sedition Acts passed. | 1798 | |
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The Second Great Awakening. | late 1790s | |
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Thomas Jefferson elected president; Library of Congress
founded. | 1800 | |
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President Adams’s “midnight
appointments.” | 1801 | |
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Marbury v. Madison;
the Louisiana Purchase doubles the size of the United States. | 1803 | |
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Jefferson reelected president. | 1804 | |
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Lewis and Clark expedition explores the West. | 1804–1806 | |
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The Prophet, a Shawnee, leads an Indian spiritual revival. | 1805 | |
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British attack of the Chesapeake riles Americans;
Embargo Act passed. | 1806 | |
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James Madison elected president; importation of slaves
banned. | 1808 | |
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The Non-Intercourse Act reopens trade with all nations but
Great Britain and France; Tecumseh forms an Indian confederacy. | 1809 | Washington Irving publishes Knickerbocker’s History of New York. |
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Macon’s Bill No. 2 reopens trade with Great Britain
and France. | 1810 | |
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William Henry Harrison is the hero of the Battle of
Tippecanoe. | 1811 | |
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The United States declares war on Great Britain. | 1812 | |
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Tecumseh killed at the Battle of the Thames in Canada;
Captain Oliver Hazard Perry’s victory on Lake Erie gives the U.S.
control of the Great Lakes. | 1813 | |
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Creek War fought in the South. | 1813–1814 | |
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The British burn Washington, D.C.; Francis Scott Key
writes “The Star-Spangled Banner” as the British attack
Baltimore; The Hartford Convention is organized by New England Federalists;
the Treaty of Ghent ends the war. | 1814 | |
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Andrew Jackson is the hero of the Battle of New Orleans,
which occurs before word of the treaty reaches the troops. | 1815 | |
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Second Bank of the United States; James Monroe elected
president. | 1816 | |
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Erie Canal constructed. | 1817–1825 | |
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Rush-Bagot agreement further
improves Anglo-American relations. | 1817 | |
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Panicand depression; McCulloch
v. Maryland decided by the Supreme Court | 1819 | |
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| 1819–1820 | Washington Irving publishes The Sketch Book. |
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Missouri Compromise; Monroe elected without opposition;
Congress passes a law defining participation in the slave trade as piracy. | 1820 | |
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Mexico wins independence from Spain. | 1821 | |
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Denmark Vesey’s conspiracy
fails in Charleston. | 1822 | |
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Monroe Doctrine. | 1823 | James Fenimore Cooper publishes The
Pioneers, introducing The Leather-Stocking Tales. |
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John Quincy Adams elected president. | 1824 | |
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American Society for Promotion of Temperance founded. | 1826 | |
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Congress passes the “tariff of abominations”;
Andrew Jackson elected president. | 1828 | Noah Webster publishes An American Dictionary of the
English Language. |
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Mexico abolishes slavery, but rarely enforces the law in
Texas. | 1829 | |
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Webster and Hayne debate; Joseph
Smith publishes the Book of Mormon. | 1830 | |
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The systematic removal of Indians from the South. | 1830–1838 | |
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Nat Turner leads a slave rebellion; American Anti-Slavery
Society founded to coordinate the activities of a loose affiliation of
anti-slavery societies. | 1831 | William Lloyd Garrison publishes the first issue of The
Liberator, an abolitionist journal. |
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Jackson vetoes recharter of Bank
of the United States. | 1832 | |
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Nullification crisis. | 1832–1833 | |
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Santa Anna establishes himself as dictator of Mexico. | 1834 | |
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Roger B. Taney named Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. | 1835 | |
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The Seminole War. | 1835–1842 | |
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Texas declares independence from Mexico; Martin Van Buren
elected president. | 1836 | Emerson publishes Nature. |
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Depression. | 1837–1843 | |
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Horace Mann becomes the first secretary of the
Massachusetts Board of Education. | 1837 | Emerson delivers “The American Scholar” before
the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Harvard College. |
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William Henry Harrison elected president; the Independent
Treasury Act passed by Congress. | 1840 | |
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Transcendentalists operate Brook Farm. | 1841–1847 | |
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Large-scale migration to Oregon. | 1843 | |
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Tyler conducts secret negotiations with Texas. | 1843–1844 | |
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Samuel F.B. Morse sends the first telegraph message; James
Polk elected president; Joseph Smith murdered; the Methodist Church divides into
northern and southern organizations. | 1844 | Edgar Allen Poe publishes “The Raven.” |
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| 1845 | Frederick Douglas publishes his autobiography. |
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Congress declares war on Mexico. | 1846 | |
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Zachary Taylor elected president; Elizabeth Cady Stanton
and Lucretia Mott organize a women’s rights
convention in Seneca Falls, NY; the California Gold Rush begins when traces
of gold are found on James Sutter’s ranch. | 1848 | |
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Compromise of1850. | 1850 | Nathaniel Hawthorne publishes The Scarlet Letter. |
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The New York Times established. | 1851 | Herman Melville publishes Moby Dick |
American Party (Know-Nothings) formed; Franklin Pierce
elected president. | 1852 | Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom’s Cabin. |
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Gadsden Purchase. | 1853 | |
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Kansas-Nebraska Act; Republican Party formed. | 1854 | |
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| 1855 | Walt Whitman publishes Leaves of Grass. |
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“Bleeding Kansas.” | 1855–1856 | |
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In the Senate chamber, Representative Preston Brooks of
South Carolina beats Senator Charles Sumner of Massachusetts unconscious;
John Brown and followers are responsible for the Pottawatomie massacre; James
Buchanan elected president. | 1856 | |
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Dred Scott v. Sanford decided
by the Supreme Court; the Panic of1857. | 1857 | |
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Lecompton Constitution defeated; Lincoln-Douglas debates. | 1858 | |
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John Brown’s raid on Harpers Ferry. | 1859 | |
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Abraham Lincoln, a Republican, elected president. | 1860 | |
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South Carolina secedes from the Union. | 1860 | |
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The Confederate States of America formed; Fort Sumter
seized by Confederates; Confederates victorious at First Battle of Bull Run. | 1861 | |
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Grant victorious at the Battle of Shiloh; Confederacy
passes the Conscription Act; Confederates win Second Battle of Bull Run; McClellan
defeats Lee at the Battle of Antietam; the
Homestead Act lead to rapid development of the West; the Morrill Act transfers
public land to state governments. | 1862 | |
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Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation; Battle of
Gettysburg fought; Grant captures Vicksburg after a six-week siege; New York
draft riots break out; Lincoln outlines plan for reconstruction. | 1863 | |
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The Wilderness Campaign; Lincoln reelected in a landslide;
General Sherman begins his march from Atlanta to the sea; Lincoln vetoes Wade-Davis
Reconstruction Bill. | 1864 | |
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The House passes the Thirteenth Amendment; Lee surrenders
to Grant at Appomattox; Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth;
Freedman’s Bureau established; Congress establishes the Joint Committee
on Reconstruction. | 1865 | |
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Congress passes the Civil Rights Bill over Johnson’s
veto; Republicans gain in congressional elections; the Western cattle industry
booms; National Labor Union founded; Ku Klux Klan organized. | 1866 | John Greenleaf Whittier publishes Snow-Bound. |
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Congressional Reconstruction begins; Seward negotiates
purchase of Alaska. | 1867 | |
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Johnson tried for impeachment; Fourteenth Amendment
ratified; Grant elected president. | 1868. | Louisa May Alcott publishes Little Women |
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Congress passes Fifteenth Amendment; Transcontinental
railroad completed; Noble and Holy Order of the Knights of Labor founded;
Cincinnati Red Stockings become the first professional baseball team; Rutgers
beats Princeton in the first intercollegiate football game. | 1869 | Mark Twain publishes The Innocents Abroad |
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John D. Rockefeller incorporates Standard Oil Company of
Ohio; elevated railroads begin operating in New York City. | 1870 | Bret Harte publishes Luck of
Roaring Camp. |
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Amnesty Act returns political rights to Confederate
leaders; Grant reelected. | 1872 | |
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The Great Buffalo Slaughter. | 1872–1874 | |
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Carnegie Steel founded; the Women’s Christian
Temperance Union founded; Comstock Law signed by Grant. | 1873 | |
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Financial panic and depression. | 1873–1877 | |
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Democrats win control of the House. | 1874 | |
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Civil Rights Act; Mississippi Plan carries Democrats to
state-wide victory. | 1875 | |
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Rutherford Hayes elected president in a disputed victory
resolved with the Compromise of 1877; Battle of Little Big Horn; Nez Percé evade United States army; Alexander Graham
Bell invents the telephone; Central Park is completed in New York City;
Baseball’s National League founded. | 1876 | Mark Twain publishes Tom Sawyer. |
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The Great Railroad Strike leaves one hundred dead; Thomas
Edison inventsthe phonograph. | 1877 | |
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Samoan Treaty. | 1878 | Henry James publishes Daisy Miller. |
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Edison develops the incandescent light bulb; Exodusters migrate to Kansas. | 1879 | Henry George publishes Progress and Poverty. |
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James A. Garfield elected president; James Bonsack invents a cigarette-rolling machine; the
Metropolitan Museum of New York City opens. | 1880 | |
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President Garfield assassinated; Booker T. Washington
founds Tuskegee Normal and Industrial Institute in Alabama; Boston Symphony founded. | 1881 | Henry James publishes Portrait of a Lady. |
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| 1881-1882 | Whitman publishes what many would come to consider the
definitive edition of Leaves of Grass. |
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Edison lights the Wall Street district; Chinese Exclusion
Act. | 1882 | |
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The Civil Service or Pendleton Act passed; Railroads
establish standard time zones; Brooklyn Bridge opens. | 1883 | |
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Grover Cleveland elected president. | 1884 | Mark Twain publishes Huckleberry Finn. |
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The world’s first skyscraper built in Chicago; First
all-black professional baseball team | 1885 | William Dean Howells publishes The Rise of Silas Lapham. |
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American Federation of Labor organized; Haymarket bombing
in Chicago; Dawes Severalty Act passes; Statue of Liberty dedicated. | 1886 | |
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Interstate Commerce Act passed. | 1887 | |
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Benjamin Harrison elected president; nation’s first
electric trolley begins operation in Richmond, Virginia. | 1888 | |
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James G. Blaine organizes the first Pan-American Congress;
Oklahoma opened to settlement; Jane Addams opens Hull House in Chicago. | 1889 | |
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Ghost dances and Wounded Knee. | 1890 | |