IMPORTANT DATES IN THE AMERICAN HISTORY

The United States has had a lot of positive and negative events in its history. Even
when the outcome was not good, these events are very important for everyone in
the country. History shapes the way elected officials run our country, as some of
these historic events were the reason new laws and regulations were made. Over
the years, the United States has been part of several wars, overcome natural
disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes, and traveled to space. Each of these
events shapes the future and makes it possible to make new discoveries.
1607: British colonists founded the Jamestown Settlement on May 14, 1607. This
colony was named for King James I of England.
1692: The Salem Witch Trials took place in 1692. Hundreds of people were
accused of practicing witchcraft. Nineteen of them were hanged after being
convicted of witchcraft.
1754: The French and Indian War took place between 1754 and 1763. This was a
war between France and Great Britain. It started after a dispute about the land
around the Monongahela and Allegheny Rivers.
1773: In 1773, the British colonists got mad about all the new taxes imposed on
them by Great Britain. A group of people threw three shiploads of tea into Boston
Harbor. This was one of the major events that led to the Revolutionary War.
1775: The American Revolution started in 1775 as a response to the Stamp Act of
1765. The colonists felt that the Stamp Act was unconstitutional, but the British
government said it had the right to tax the colonists. Although the British military
succeeded in the early stages of the war, the colonists were victorious.
1776: In 1776, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Roger Sherman
and Robert Livingston drafted the Declaration of Independence. This document
asserted the colonists’ independence from the British monarchy.
1787: In 1787, the Constitution was written to establish the United States
government. This document established the executive, judicial, and legislative
branches of the government. The Constitution also contains the Bill of Rights,
which grants certain rights to U.S. citizens.
1803: In 1803, the United States acquired 828,000 square miles of land in the
Louisiana territory. This land was originally owned by France, but Thomas
Jefferson negotiated a deal to purchase it for just $11,250,000. The United States
also agreed to forgive $3,750,000 worth of France’s debts.
1804: The northern states started making slavery illegal in 1776. In 1804, the last
northern state finally abolished slavery.
1812: In 1812, the Americans declared war against the British Empire. They were
upset about trade restrictions and the British support of American Indians. This war
led to the fire that damaged the White House and United States Capitol.
1836: The Battle of the Alamo was a famous part of the Texas Revolution. In 1836,
General Santa Anna and his troops attacked the Alamo Mission, which is near
present-day San Antonio. All but two of the Texan troops were killed in this battle.
1846: The Mexican-American War lasted from 1846 to 1845. American troops
occupied California, New Mexico, and parts of Mexico. The Mexican government
would not agree to meet the demands of the Americans, so American troops
invaded Mexico City.
1848: Someone found gold at Sutter’s Mill – a California sawmill – in 1848. This
made a lot of people move to California with the hope of finding a fortune.
1861 to 1865: The Civil War broke out in 1861. The war occurred for several
reasons, but one of the most important issues was slavery. There were also many
economic differences between the North and South.
1863: In 1863, Abraham Lincoln freed more than three million slaves with the
Emancipation Proclamation. He actually wrote the proclamation in 1862, but it did
not take effect until January 1, 1863.
1865: On April 14, 1865, Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theatre. His
assassination was part of a plot to help the Confederacy. Lincoln’s shooter was
John Wilkes Booth, a famous actor.
1898: The Spanish-American War was a war between the United States and Spain.
This war started because the Americans interfered in the Cuban War of
Independence.
1917: World War I started in 1914, but the United States did not join the war until
1917. This war involved the Allies (Russia, France, and the United Kingdom) and
the Central Powers (Germany and Austria-Hungary). This war broke out due to the
policies of several European empires.
1920: In 1920, women were granted the right to vote with the addition of the
Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. The amendment was introduced in
1878, but it was not ratified until 1920.
1929: On October 24, 1929, a stock market crash occurred in the United States.
This event was the beginning of the Great Depression, which lasted for ten years.
1941: On December 7, 1941, Japanese forces attacked Pearl Harbor, a Hawaiian
naval base. This attack was an attempt to keep the U.S. Navy from interfering with
Japanese military actions.
1944: D-Day occurred on June 6, 1944. This was a major victory for Allied troops
in World War II, but more than 9,000 soldiers were wounded or killed.
1945: In 1945, scientists built the first atomic bomb as a part of the Manhattan
Project. The total cost of this project was more than $2 billion.
1950: The Korean War started in 1950 and lasted until 1953. It was a war between
the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Republic of Korea. U.S. troops
supported the Republic of Korea in this war.
1954: Up until 1954, white Americans and Americans of other races went to
separate schools. This practice ended in 1954, after the Supreme Court made its
decision in the Brown v. Board of Education case.
1955: The Vietnam War started in 1955 and lasted until 1975. The conflict was
between North Vietnam and South Vietnam. The United States supported South
Vietnam in this war.
1962: In 1962, a spy plane discovered that the Soviet Union was building nuclear
missiles in Cuba. President Kennedy placed a naval blockage around the island to
prevent the Soviet Union from bringing in more supplies. After thirteen days, the
Soviet Union agreed to take down the weapon sites if the United States would not
invade Cuba.
1963: On November 22, 1963, Lee Harvey Oswald assassinated John F. Kennedy.
Oswald was arrested a short time later, but he was killed by Jack Ruby when being
transferred to the county jail.
1968: Martin Luther King was a civil rights leader and activist. On April 14, 1968,
King was shot and killed by James Earl Ray.
1969: Apollo 11 was the first manned spacecraft to land on the moon. Buzz Aldrin
and Neil Armstrong took the first steps on the moon on July 20, 1969.
1973: The Watergate political scandal occurred when members of the Nixon
administration participated in a break-in at the headquarters of the Democratic
National Committee. Nixon resigned in 1974 due to the scandal.
1986: Space shuttle Challenger launched on January 28, 1986. Christa McAuliffe,
a teacher, was aboard the spacecraft. Challenger exploded just 73 seconds after
takeoff, an accident that occurred due to several factors.
1990: The Persian Gulf War began in 1990 and lasted until early 1991. This war
occurred as a response to Iraq invading Kuwait.
1995: The Oklahoma City bombing occurred on April 19, 1995. This was a
domestic terrorist attack that killed 168 people. Timothy McVeigh and Terry
Nichols were responsible for the attack.
2000: In the 2000 election, George Bush won the presidency even though Al Gore
won more popular votes. The election results were challenged, but Bush eventually
took office. He was elected to a second term in 2004.
2001: On September 11, 2001, terrorists took control of four airplanes. They
crashed two planes into the World Trade Center in New York and one plane into
the Pentagon. The fourth plane crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania. This was the
deadliest attack ever to occur on American soil.
2005: Hurricane Katrina was a destructive hurricane that occurred in 2005. It was
one of the five deadliest hurricanes in United States history, killing more than
1,800 people. It also caused more than $80 billion in property damage.
2008: Barack Obama was voted the president of the United States. He was the first
African American person elected to this position.
2011: Osama bin Laden was the head of al-Qaeda, the terrorist group responsible
for the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2011. On May 2, 2011, U.S. forces
invaded his compound in Pakistan. Bin Laden was killed in the raid.