May 11, Pennsylvania Hospital is founded—the first hospital in what would become the United States of America.
1752
On May 10, Benjamin Franklin conducts his famous kite-flying, lightning experiment.
1765
On March 22, the British Parliament enacts the Stamp Act, which imposes a host of taxes on American colonists.
On August 4, colonists in Massachusetts plant the first liberty tree in protest of what they perceive as autocratic British rules.
On October 7, the Stamp Act Congress begins meeting in New York.
1769
On June 7, Daniel Boone begins exploring in what is now known as Kentucky.
1770
On March 5, British soldiers fire into a crowd of angry American colonists in what became known as the “Boston Massacre.”
1774
On June 13, Rhode Island becomes the first colony to ban the importation of slaves.
1775
On March 23, Virginia politician Patrick Henry delivers his famous “Give me Liberty or Give me Death” speech.
On April 14, the first abolitionist group forms in Philadelphia.
On April 18, Paul Revere rode during nighttime hours to warn colonist in Concord of a pending attack by the British.
On April 19, the Battle of Lexington takes place—the first battle of the Revolutionary War.
On May 24, John Hancock is elected president of the Continental Congress.
On June 15, George Washington becomes the commander of the Continental Army.
On June 17, the Battle of Bunker Hill takes place.
1776
In January, Thomas Paine’s work Common Sense is published. It provides support for the cause of American independence.
On June 10, the Continental Congress forms a committee to work on creating what became known as the Declaration of Independence. The committee consists of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Roger Livingstone.
On July 4, the Continental Congress approves of the Declaration of Independence drafted principally by Thomas Jefferson. The document includes a series of grievances against English King George III and famously declares that “all men are created equal.”
1777
On November 15, the Articles of Confederation is released. This document establishes the structure of the American government.
1778
France signs a treaty with the American forces, becoming its ally in the Revolutionary War against Great Britain.
1781
The British army, under the direction of Lord Charles Cornwallis, surrenders at York-town.
1783
The United States and Great Britain sign the Treaty of Paris, ending the Revolutionary War.
1787
On June 19, Oliver Ellsworth of Connecticut introduces a proposal at the Constitutional Convention to call the country the United States.
On Dec. 7, Delaware is admitted as the first state.
On Dec. 12, Pennsylvania is admitted as the second state.
On Dec. 18, New Jersey is admitted as the third state.
1788
On Jan. 2, Georgia is admitted as the fourth state.
On January 9, Connecticut is admitted as the fifth state.
On Feb. 6, Massachusetts is admitted as the sixth state.
On April 28, Maryland is admitted as the seventh state.
On May 23, South Carolina is admitted as the eighth state.
On June 21, New Hampshire is admitted as the ninth state.
On June 25, Virginia is admitted as the tenth state.
1789
On April 1, the U.S. House of Representatives holds its first meeting.
On April 30, George Washington is inaugurated as the first president of the United States.
On June 8, U.S. Representative James Madison (VA) introduces his proposed bill of rights in what is called “The Great Rights of Mankind” speech.
On July 26, New York is admitted as the eleventh state.
On December 21, North Carolina is admitted as the twelfth state.
1790
On May 29, Rhode Island is admitted as the thirteenth tate.
1791
On March 4, Vermont is admitted as the fourteenth state.
1792
On June 1, Kentucky is admitted as the fifteenth state.
1796
On June 1, Tennessee is admitted as the sixteenth state.
1802
On May 3, Washington, DC, is incorporated as a city.
On June 9, the U.S. Academy at West Point is founded.
1803
On February 24, the U.S. Supreme Court decides Marbury v. Madison, establishing that the Supreme Court has the power of judicial review and can invalidate acts of Congress that are unconstitutional.
On March 1, Ohio is admitted as the seventeenth state.
On April 30, American ambassador Robert Livingstone and future President James Monroe sign the Louisiana Purchase Treaty, acquiring a huge tract of land of more than 828,000 square miles that covers parts of fifteen present-day states. President Thomas Jefferson announces the treaty to the American public on July 4.
1804
On May 14, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark commence the so-called “Lewis and Clark expedition,” heading west from St. Louis.
On July 11, Aaron Burr shoots and kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel in Weehawken, New Jersey.
1806
Future President Andrew Jackson kills Charles Dickinson in a duel after Dickinson insulted Jackson’s wife, Rachel.
1807
On March 2, Congress abolishes the African slave trade.
1812
On April 30, Louisiana is admitted as the eighteenth state.
On December 12, the U.S. declares war on Great Britain, beginning the War of 1812.
1816
On December 11, Indiana is admitted as the nineteenth state.
1817
On December 10, Mississippi is admitted as the twentieth state.
1818
On December 3, Illinois is admitted as the twenty-first state.
1819
On December 14, Alabama is admitted as the twenty-second state.
1820
On March 6, President James Monroe signs the Missouri Compromise. It establishes the dividing lines where slavery is legal and illegal.
On March 15, Maine is admitted as the twenty-third state.
1821
On August 10, Missouri is admitted as the twenty-fourth state.
1823
On December 2, President James Monroe delivers his annual message to Congress. In the address, he announces his foreign policy positions in statements that are known as “The Monroe Doctrine.”
1836
On June 15, Arkansas is admitted as the twenty-fifth state.
1837
On January 6, Michigan is admitted as the twenty-sixth state.
On May 10, the Panic of 1837 ensues with the failure of many banks.
1840
On May 7, a tornado kills more than 300 people in Natchez, Mississippi.
On June 20, Samuel Morse patents the telegraph.
1845
On March 3, Florida is admitted as the twenty-seventh state.
On December 29, Texas is admitted as the twenty-eighth state.
1846
On December 28, Iowa becomes the twenty-ninth state.
1848
On May 29, Wisconsin is admitted as the thirtieth state.
1851
On June 2, Maine passes the first prohibition law on alcohol.
1852
On March 6, the U.S. Supreme Court rules that slaves are property and denies Dred Scott his freedom.
1853
On June 24, President Franklin Pierce signs a measure approving the Gadsden Purchase (much of modern-day New Mexico and part of Arizona) from Mexico.
1858
On May 11, Minnesota is admitted as the thirty-second state.
1859
On February 14, Oregon is admitted as the thirty-third state.
1860
On December 20, South Carolina secedes from the Union.
1861
On Jan. 29, Kansas is admitted as the thirty-fourth state.
On February 9, the Confederate States are formed with Jefferson Davis installed as President.
On April 12, Confederate forces fire on the federal garrison Fort Sumter. This is often cited as the beginning of the American Civil War.
On April 27, President Lincoln suspends the writ of habeas corpus.
On May 8, Richmond, Virginia, is designated as the capital of the Confederacy.
1862
On April 16, slavery is abolished in the District of Columbia.
On May 19, the Homestead Act is passed.
1863
On January 1, President Abraham Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation. It proclaims that all persons held as slaves in the rebellious states are freed.
On June 20, West Virginia is admitted as the thirty-fifth state.
From July 1–3, the Union army defeats the Confederates at the bloody Battle of Gettysburg.
On November 19, President Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.
