War of Austrian Succession; Prussia annexes Silesia.

1741
American magazine journalism begins with Benjamin Franklin's General Magazine and Andrew Bradford's American Magazine.

1744
Treaty at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between Iroquois nations (Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca) and British colonies of Virginia, Maryland, and Pennsylvania.

1747
The New York Bar Association is founded in New York City.

1748
Ohio Company of Virginia is organized to begin settling the Ohio River Valley.

1750
The English Parliament passes the Iron Act to protect English industry by limiting the growth of the iron industry in the American colonies.

1752
The first general hospital is founded in Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor.

1754
French and Indian War begins (between France and England and their Native American allies) over land disputes in the Ohio River Valley.

1759
French Fort Niagara is captured by the English.

War erupts between Cherokee Indians and southern colonists.

1760
The population of colonists in America reaches 1.5 million.

Much of Boston is destroyed by fire.

1761
First regular U.S. stagecoach run begins - from Boston to Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

1763
The French and Indian War, which spilled over into Europe and was known there as the Seven Years War, ends with the Treaty of Paris. Ceded to England is all French territory east of the Mississippi River, except New Orleans. Spain relinquishes east and west Florida to the English in return for Cuba.

Native Americans under Chief Pontiac war against the British west of Niagara, taking several British forts and laying siege to Detroit. Pontiac's forces are defeated near Pittsburgh.

1765
Colonists rally in protest ("no taxation without representation") when England passes the Stamp Act.

1768
Captain James Cook begins exploration of the Pacific.

1770
Boston Massacre.

1773
Boston Tea Party.

1774
Rhode Island abolishes slavery.

First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia.

1775
American Revolution begins when British forces meet resistance as they attempt to seize munitions stockpiled at Concord and Lexington in Massachusetts.

Second Continental Congress meets and votes unanimously to appoint George Washington as commander in chief of the Continental army.

1776
Congress adopts the Declaration of Independence.

General Washington carries out a surprise assault (the Battle of Trenton) and captures nearly a thousand Hessian mercenaries and huge stocks of supplies.

Spanish missionaries establish a settlement on the coast of California they name the Mission San Francisco de Asis. It is popularly known as Yerba Buena and later as San Francisco.

The Wealth of Nations, by Adam Smith (1723-1790), and Common Sense, by Thomas Paine (1737-1809), are published.

1777
The Continental Congress passes a bill creating a flag of the United States containing 13 white stars in a blue field, with 13 alternating red and white stripes

The Continental army endures a terrible winter at Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.

1778
France and the United States sign treaties of alliance, amity and commerce.

Washington establishes headquarters at West Point, New York.

1779
The morale and strength of the Continental army reach an all-time low; desertions soar and signs of mutiny appear.

1780
Fort Nashborough (renamed Nashville in 1782) is established on the Cumberland River to help secure the region from Indian attacks.

1781
French Admiral Count Francois de Grasse arrives off the Virginia coast with 28 ships and an army to assist the American cause.

Spanish Franciscan Fathers establish the mission village of El Pueble Nuestra Senora la Reina de los Angeles de Porciuncula (Los Angeles).

British General Charles Cornwallis surrenders at Yorktown, Virginia.

Articles of Confederation approved.

1782
Savannah, Georgia is abandoned by the British.

1783
Peace is declared.

1784
The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress.

The Empress of China, first American ship to sail to China, departs from New York in search of new markets in the Far East.

The Pennsylvania Packet and Daily Advertiser begins publication and becomes the first successful daily newspaper in America.

1785
Congress convenes in the newly designated capital, New York City.

The University of Georgia becomes the first state-chartered institution of learning in the United States.

1786
Pirates of Algiers, Tripoli, Tunis, and Morocco demand money from American ships.

James Madison successfully sponsors Thomas Jefferson's Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom in the Virginia legislature. It affirms that the state shall not establish, favor, or support any religion, and that all persons shall be free to profess their religious opinions in matters of religion without endangering any of their civil rights.

A major economic depression.

At the urging of Virginia, a convention is held at Annapolis, Maryland, with 12 delegates from New York, New Jersey, Delaware, Pennsylvania, and Virginia to consider commercial reforms. They call for a larger convention to meet in Philadelphia in May 1787.

Civil unrest over economic hardships worsens, as an insurgent band gathers under the leadership of Daniel Shays, a former army captain.

1787
Shays' Rebellion is quelled at Springfield, Massachusetts.

Thirty-nine delegates of the 12 attending states at the convention in Philadelphia vote to approve the U.S. Constitution. State legislatures must approve the Constitution to enter the union, but it becomes binding after nine states ratify it.

Delaware becomes the first state to ratify the proposed Constitution, followed by Pennsylvania, and then New Jersey.

Shakers, also called Shaking Quakers, initiate a revival movement.

The Gazette of the United States begins publication as a Federalist newspaper.

The Contrast, the first comedy by a Native American playwright, Royall Tyler, is staged in New York City.

The Federal Judiciary Act creates a six-member Supreme Court, 13 district courts, and three circuit courts.

1788
Georgia ratifies the Constitution, followed by Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina. The Constitution becomes law when New Hampshire is the ninth state to ratify it.

The town of Losantiville is founded near the confluence of the Ohio and Great Miami Rivers (the town is renamed Cincinnati in 1790).

New York City is declared to be temporary capital of United States.

British colony of Australia founded.

1789
Electors appointed by each state vote unanimously for Revolutionary War hero George Washington as the nation's first president.

The French Revolution begins.

1790
The United States Coast Guard is created.

The first patent is issued to Samuel Hopkins of Vermont for a "process for making pot and pearl ashes."

The Columbia sails into Boston harbor, the first American ship to circumnavigate the world.

Philadelphia is designated the temporary capital of the United States.

1791
Vermont enters the union as fourteenth state.

The Bank of the United States is chartered.

Ceremonies are held near Alexandria, Virginia, marking a ten-square-mile site for the future Federal District.

The first 10 of 12 amendments (Bill of Rights) proposed in 1789 are declared to be in force.

1792
Washington is re-elected.

Kentucky enters the union as the fifteenth state.

1793
Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin.

An epidemic of yellow fever strikes Philadelphia, killing more than 4,000 people.

1794
A confederacy of Native American tribes is defeated at the Battle of Fallen Timbers in present-day Ohio.

Farmers in western Pennsylvania, provoked by a Federal excise tax on liquor and stills, begin the Whiskey Rebellion and are overcome by federal forces.

A ban on stage drama in Boston is lifted and the Boston Theater opens for the performance of plays.

John Jay, as a special envoy of the United States, negotiates an agreement with Britain, settling some of the remaining differences between the recent enemies. Jay's Treaty, as it is known in the U.S., proves divisive between Federalists, who support it, and Anti-Federalists, who unite and become known as Republicans (more commonly called Democratic-Republicans by historians to distinguish them from the modern-day Republican Party).

1795
Congress agrees to pay to the Dey of Algiers about $1 million as overdue tribute to ransom 115 American seamen captured in previous years by the Barbary pirates.

1796
Vice-President John Adams is elected president.

Tennessee enters the union as the sixteenth state.

The U.S. Supreme Court rules that all treaties made under the Constitution are Federal law and take precedence over any conflicting state law.

1798
Hostilties between the United States and France.

Congress passes and President Adams supports four controversial measures-the Naturalization Act, the Alien Act, the Alien Enemies Act, and the Sedition Act - expanding the power of the federal government.

Congress passes the first of four acts called the Alien and Sedition laws-all of which quickly become highly unpopular.

Mississippi Territory is organized with its capital at Natchez.

1799
The American Review and Literary Journal becomes the first quarterly review in the United States.

1800
The Executive Mansion (officially called the White House in 1900) in Washington, D.C., becomes the seat of government.

The Library of Congress is established by a fund of $5,000 and a donation by Thomas Jefferson of his entire private library.

Presidential candidates Jefferson and Aaron Burr tie in electoral votes. Jefferson prevails after 36 rounds of voting in the House of Representatives.

1803
The Supreme Court exercises its authority to decide constitutional issues with the Marbury v Madison decision.

The Louisiana Purchase more than doubles the size of the United States.

Ohio enters the union as seventeenth state.

1804
Jefferson re-elected.

Former Vice-President Aaron Burr kills former Secretary of Treasurer Alexander Hamilton in a duel.

The Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves St. Louis, Missouri to explore the Louisiana Purchase region.

1806
The Lewis and Clark expedition ends when the explorers return to St. Louis, Missouri.

Noah Webster publishes his Compendious Dictionary of the English Language.

1807
An embargo is ordered by President Jefferson on shipping to England and France in an attempt to pressure those nations to respect American rights at sea. The embargo brings economic hardship and proves unpopular.

Former Vice-President Burr is tried and acquitted on charges of treason, having been accused of recruiting an army to attack Spanish possessions in North America.

1808
James Madison, the "Father of the Constitution" and President Jefferson's Secretary of State, is elected president.

1809
Tecumseh, chief of the Shawnee tribe, begins a campaign to organize a confederacy of tribes to oppose the further incursion on Native American lands.

1811
For the third time in four years the United States prohibits trade with Great Britain.

Niles Weekly Register is founded in Baltimore by Hezekiah Niles.

An earthquake at New Madrid (Missouri) causes the Mississippi River to flow backwards and results in terrible flooding.

1812
War with England begins.

Madison is re-elected president.

French emperor Napoleon invades Russia.

Cylinder printing press is invented and quickly adopted by The Times (London).

Louisiana enters the union as the eighteenth state.

1813
U.S. naval forces win control of the Great Lakes after suffering military defeats in Canada.

1814
British military forces enter Washington, D.C., and burn the Executive Mansion, the Capitol, and the Library of Congress.

Negotiations to end the war begin at Ghent, and an armistice is declared.

1815
In the Battle of New Orleans, American forces led by Andrew Jackson withstand and then rout a superior British force. News of the armistice had not yet reached Louisiana. The War of 1812 officially ends a month later.

Napoleon is defeated at Waterloo and exiled to St. Helena.

Thomas Jefferson's personal library of 7,000 volumes is sold to the government to become the nucleus of a new Library of Congress.

The first charter for a railroad is issued by the state of New Jersey.

1816
Secretary of State and Secretary of War James Monroe is elected president.

Indiana enters the union as the nineteenth state.

Baltimore becomes the first city in the United States to use gas for street lighting.

1817
A Boston newspaper, the Columbian Centinel, proclaims the "Era of Good Feelings" during President Monroe's tour of New England.

Mississippi enters the union as the twentieth state.

1818
Illinois enters the union as the twenty-first state.

Shaka forms Zulu kingdom in southeastern Africa.

1819
United States purchases Florida from Spain.

Alabama enters the union as the twenty-second state.

Bank Panic slows economic growth.

1820
Monroe is re-elected.

Greek war of independence.

Congress agrees on the Missouri Compromise, which maintains a balance of free and slave states. Slavery is not permitted north of a boundary (the southern border of present-day Missouri) for any prospective territory attempting to enter the union.

Maine, formerly part of Massachusetts, enters the union as the twenty-third state.

1821
Missouri enters the union as the twenty-fourth state.

1822
Liberia founded as colony for freed slaves.

First photographic image produced (by J.N. Niepce, France).

1823
In his Annual Message to Congress, President Monroe warns European nations against expansionist activities in the Americas. The speech introduces what will become known as the Monroe Doctrine.

1824
Andrew Jackson beats John Quincy Adams by more than 45,000 popular votes, but electoral votes are split among four presidential candidates. Inspired by powerful Congressman Henry Clay, who finished fourth, the election is decided in Adams' favor by the House of Representatives.

1825
Federal public improvement programs of the Adams administration are vigorously opposed by states' rights advocates.

1827
Mechanics Union of Trade Association is formed in Philadelphia.

1828
Andrew Jackson defeats Adams in a bitterly contested presidential election.

1830
France begins conquest of Algeria.

1832
Jackson is reelected president.

The Black Hawk War begins in the midwest. Native American holdings recede further west, beyond the Mississippi River.

President Jackson vetoes the charter for the Second National Bank (the federal banking system), creating great controversy. Proponents for a strong federal government gradually unite to form the Whig Party in 1834.

1834
First mechanical reaper patented (United States).

Congress censures Jackson for taking funds from the federal bank and depositing them in various state banks.

"Indian Territory" is established in present day Oklahoma.

Cyrus McCormic invents the reaper.

1836
Vice-President Martin Van Buren defeats three Whig candidates for the presidency.

Arkansas enters the union as twenty-fifth state.

Texans fighting for independence from Mexico fall at the Alamo but prove victorious at San Jacinto, and the Republic of Texas is established.

Seminole War begins in Florida as Native Americans protest forced removal.

1837
Economic hard times begin when many banks fail. The Panic of 1837 lasts throughout the Van Buren administration.

John Deere invents the steel plow.

Michigan enters the union as the twenty-sixth state.

1838
First Mardi Gras parade held in New Orleans.

First electric telegraph (Britain).

Last of forced migration of Cherokees on the "Trail of Tears" to Oklahoma.

1840
William Henry Harrision (known as "Old Tippecanoe") defeats Van Buren for the presidency. Political slogans ("Tippecanoe and Tyler Too!"), songs, and parades become standard features of presidential campaigns.

1841
President Harrision dies within a month after being inaugurated president. A constitutional issue arises over succession because of vague wording in the document, but Vice-President John Tyler has himself sworn in as president.

1842
Opium War in Asia; Britain annexes Hong Kong.

The Webster-Ashburton Treaty settles a border dispute between Maine and Quebec, Canada.

1843
The first national observatory is built at Mount Adams (named after former president John Quincy Adams) near Cincinnati, Ohio.

1844
Congress approves a resolution to annex Texas.

James K. Polk is elected president.

1845
Florida enters the union as the twenty-seventh state and Texas as the twenty-eighth.

U.S. Naval Academy opens.

Famine in Ireland and hostilities there toward the British. Mass emigration to the United States begins.

1846
Mexican War begins.

Iowa and Wisconsin enter the union as the twenty-ninth and thirtieth states, respectively.

1848
Mexican War ends. United States takes possession of area from Texas to California.

Mexican War hero General Zachary Taylor wins the presidency in a close election.

Communist Manifesto issued by Marx (1818-1883) and Engels (1820-1895).

1849
California Gold Rush.

1850
President Taylor dies in office. Vice-President Millard Fillmore becomes president.

President Fillmore supports and signs into law a series of bills called the Compromise of 1850 that Taylor had opposed. The Fugitive Slave Act forces northern states to return runaway slaves.

California enters the union as the thirty-first state.

The Pony Express provides mail service to the far west.

1852
Franklin Pierce is elected president.

1854
Republican Party, formed by those against the expansion of slavery and by abolitionists, attracts members of the fading Whig Party and many northern Democrats.

Diplomatic and trade relations begin between the U.S. and Japan.

1856
Civil War in Kansas territory erupts between pro- and anti-slavery proponents.

Bessemer process permits mass-production of steel.

James Buchanan, a states' rights advocate, is elected president.

1857
In the historic Dred Scott decision, the Supreme Court limits the power of Congress to decide on slavery issues in American territories petitioning to become states.

1858
The Lincoln-Douglas debates in Illinois, between U.S. Senate candidates Abraham Lincoln and incumbent Stephen Douglas, receive national press coverage.

Minnesota enters the union as the thirty-second state.

1859
Oregon enters the union as the thirty-third state.

Abolitionist John Brown leads a raid on the federal arsenal at Harper's Ferry, Virginia (now West Virginia), hoping to spark and arm a slave rebellion.

Charles Darwin publishes The Origin of Species.

First oil well drilled (Titusville, Pennsylvania).

1860
Abraham Lincoln is elected president.

South Carolina secedes from the union.

1861
Confederate States of America formed; Civil War begins.

Kansas enters the union as the thirty-fourth state.

Louis Pasteur evolves germ theory of disease (France).

Women gain the right to vote in Australia.

1863
President Lincoln signs the Emancipation Proclamation, freeing slaves in the states in rebellion.

West Virginia enters the union as the thirty-fifth state.

The Battle of Gettysburg, which halts the Confederacy's drive north, is one of several crucial battles that turn momentum to the Union in the Civil War.

1864
Pro-Union Republicans and Democrats unite as the National Union Party under Lincoln (Republican) and Andrew Johnson (Democrat), a U.S. Senator from Tennessee.

Nevada enters the union as the thirty-sixth state.

First underground railway (London).

1865
Civil War ends.

Lincoln assassinated, and Johnson succeeds him as president.

The 13th Amendment to the Constitution, outlawing slavery, is ratified.

1867
Congress passes harsh Reconstruction policies.

Nebraska enters the union as the thirty-seventh state.

The U.S. purchases Russian America (Alaska) from Russia.

Dominion of Canada established.

1868
Johnson is impeached by the House of Representatives, but is acquitted by one vote in a U.S. Senate trial.

Civil War hero Ulysses S. Grant is elected president.

1869
Transcontinental railroad completed.

Suez Canal opens.

1871
Great Chicago fire.

1872
Grant reelected. Horace Greeley, his opponent, dies shortly after the election.

Yellowstone becomes the first national park.

1873
Grant administration officials and some Congressmen are implicated in the Credit Mobilier scandal.

1874
Telephone patented by Alexander Graham Bell.

1875
First Kentucky Derby (Louisville).

1876
Samuel J. Tilden outpolls Rutherford B. Hayes by over 200,000 votes, but falls one electoral vote short of a majority, as 20 electoral votes (from the states of Florida, South Carolina, Louisiana, and Oregon) are contested with claims of fraud.

Colorado enters the union as the thirty-eighth state.

Battle of Little Bighorn, Montana, also known as Custer's Last Stand.

1877
A special Electoral Commission established to resolve the 1876 presidential election controversy awards 20 disputed electoral votes to Hayes, who edges Tilden 185-184 in the electoral college.

Chief Joseph defeated in the Nez Perce War.

End of Reconstruction.

Thomas Edison invents the phonograph.

1879
Thomas Edison invents the incandescent light bulb.

1880
James Garfield is elected president.

Goldrush in Alaska.

1881
President Garfield is assassinated. Chester Allan Arthur is the fourth vice-president to assume the presidency upon the death of the chief executive.

1883
Time zones established.

1884
Grover Cleveland is the first Democrat to be elected president since 1856.

1885
The Statue of Liberty is dedicated.

World's first steel frame skyscraper (Chicago).

Daimler and Benz pioneer the automobile (Germany).

1886
Germany and Britain partition East Africa.

1888
Benjamin Harrison is elected president despite receiving 90,000 fewer popular votes than Grover Cleveland.

Great Blizzard causes 400 deaths in the eastern United States.

1889
Floods in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, kill over 2,000 people.

North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, and Washington become the thirty-ninth through forty-second states, respectively.

1890
Idaho and Wyoming expand the Union to forty-four states.

The last major battle against Native Americans is fought at Wonded Knee, South Dakota.

1892
Cleveland becomes the first president to win non-consecutive terms. James B. Weaver of the People's Party (also known as the Populists) wins 22 electoral votes.

1893
Lame duck President Harrison presents a treaty to annex Hawaii, but Cleveland rescinds the treaty following his inauguration and calls for an investigation of the American-led rebellion against the native monarchy.

1894
Economic hard times and labor strikes.

1895
President Cleveland arranges a gold purchase through financier J. P. Morgan to bolster American reserves.

X-rays discovered (Germany); Marconi invents wireless telegraphy (Italy); and the first public showing of a motion picture (France).

1896
William McKinley is elected president.

Utah enters the union as the forty-fifth state.

1898
U.S. wins quickly triumphs in the Spanish-American War and takes possession of Spanish colonies, including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines.

Hawaii is annexed.

1899
U.S. trade with China and other nations expands through McKinley's Open Door Policy.

1900
McKinley is reelected.

Planck evolves quantum theory (Germany).

American military forces join European nations to halt an uprising called the Boxer Rebellion in China by nationalists against growing foreign influences in their country.