A Chronology of Selected Events in U.S. History to 1877 for History 2010

1492                            Columbus' rediscovery of the Americas

1565                            St. Augustine founded by the Spanish

1588                            failure of the Spanish Armada to take control of the English Channel,
                                         as a prelude to a Spanish invasion of England

1607                            establishment of Jamestown

1619                            first meeting of the Virginia House of Burgesses
                                     arrival of first enslaved Africans to English North America
                                          at Virginia

1620                            arrival of Pilgrims at Plymouth Bay
                                            -Mayflower Compact

1630                            arrival of Puritans at Massachusetts Bay
                                            -beginning of the Great Migration

1634                            founding of St. Mary's - first settlement in Maryland

1636                            Roger Williams founded Rhode Island

1649                            Toleration Act(Maryland)
                                            -religious freedom guaranteed to anyone
                                             who believed in Jesus Christ

1661                            The Virginia colonial legislature legally recognized
                                     slavery.

1664                            English annexation of New Netherland
                                            -capture of New Amsterdam

1692                            Salem witch trials

1754                             *Albany Congress
                                            -Ben Franklin's proposal of a plan of union among
                                             the colonies

1763                             Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War

Revolution

4 July 1776                   Declaration of Independence

Revolutionary War

7 October 1777            First Battle of Saratoga

19 October 1777          Second Battle of Saratoga

December 1777           French recognition of U.S.

1781                              *Battle of Yorktown

1783                              Treaty of Paris

1786                              Shays Rebellion

25 May-17
  September 1787        Constitutional Convention

EARLY NATIONAL PERIOD(1789-1825)

Federalist Ascendancy(1789-1801)

1793                              invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney

1794                              Whiskey Rebellion

1795                              Jay Treaty

1798                              "XYZ" Affair

                                        Alien and Sedition Acts

Democratic-Republican Ascendancy(1801-25)

1803                             Marbury v. Madison

                                      Louisiana Purchase

1804-6                         Lewis and Clark Expedition

1807                            construction of the steamboat Clermont

War of 1812

1814                            Washington burned(August)

                                     Baltimore defended by Fort McHenry
                                            -occasion for Francis Scott Key's
                                             composition of "The Star Spangled Banner"

1815                            Battle of New Orleans

1819                            Transcontinental Treaty signed between U.S. and Spain

1820-21                       *Missouri Compromise

1823                            Monroe Doctrine

1825                            completion of the Erie Canal

1832                            Jackson's veto of the Bank Recharter Bill

1832-33                       *Nullification Crisis

1840                            election of William Henry Harrison as president

1846                            U.S. acquisition of the *Oregon Country to the 49th parallel

Mexican War

Events leading to Disunion

1852                            *Uncle Tom's Cabin

1854                            *Kansas-Nebraska Act

1857                            *Dred Scott decision issued by the U.S. Supreme Court

1859                            *John Brown's raid on the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry

Civil War

21 July 1861              First Battle of Bull Run

6-7 April 1862            Battle of Shiloh(Pittsburg Landing)

17 September 1862 Battle of Antietam

1-3 July 1863            Battle of Gettysburg

September 1863      Battle of Chickamauga

November 1863       Battle of Chattanooga

April 1865                 Lee's Surrender to Grant at Appomattox Court House

Reconstruction