The Bill of Rights tak es effect.

1792
Post Office is established by Congress as a separate entity.

New York Stock Exchange is organized.

1794
Whiskey Rebellion breaks out over excise tax.

1795

The Jay Treaty ratified, establishing commerce with Great Britain.

Pinckney's Treaty with Spain opened navigation on Mississippi River.

Federalists support the highly unpopular Alien and Sedition Acts. They would later be repealed.

1800
Washington D.C. is established as nation's capital.

Library of Congress is established.

Supreme Court rules that any law passed by Congress can be declared unconstitutional by the courts, in Marbury v. Madison..

The Louisiana Territory is purchased from France for $15 million dollars.

1804

After the electoral crisis in Jefferson's election, the 12th Amendment is ratified, changing Presidential election rules.

Meriwether Lewis and William Clark begin exploration of the Northwest.

1807

Congress outlaws importing slaves from Africa, yet, another 1/4 million brought in by 1860

Embargo Act forbids American ships to leave American waters.

War declared on England  after England continues to attack U.S. ships

1814

City of Washington captured and burned by British

Francis Scott Key writes "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Treaty of Ghent officially ends War of 1812, but fighting continues

1815

Andrew Jackson defeats British at New Orleans

Florida ceded by Spain to the United States

1820

The Missouri Compromise, forbids slavery above 36 degrees 30 minutes latitude.

1823

Monroe Doctrine is delivered to Congress, declaring that the Western Hemisphere is closed to further colonializaiton.

Erie Canal completed.

1828

First passenger and freight railroad.

Estate of James Smithson funds the establishment of the Smithsonian.

1835

U.S. briefly becomes debt free.

1836

Alamo is defeated by Mexican Army.

1838
Thousands of Indians forced from their homes in what would be called the "Trail of Tears."

After delivering the longest inaugural address, in the cold without a topcoat, Harrison contracts pneumonia - dying one month later (the first president to die in office).

Webster-Ashburton Treaty ratified with Great Britain, settling border disputes.

1844

U.S. signs trade treaty with China.

1845

Texas annexed.

Great Britain and the U.S. settle dispute over the Oregon Territory, dividing the territory between them.

1848

U.S. gains Arizona, Nevada, California, New Mexico, Utah and parts of Colorado and Wyoming, through Treay of 1848 with Mexico.

Gold discovered in California, starting Gold Rush of '49.

The Compromise of 1850 passes, regarding slavery questions.

Fugitive Slave Law makes it illegal to harbor slaves in free states.

Gadsden Purchase, resolves land claims with Mexico in exchange for $10 million.

1854

Kansas-Nebraska Act passes, allowing people in the territories of Kansas and Nebraska to decide on slavery question within their borders.

Commodore Matthew Perry opens relations with Japans, after 250 years of Japan's isolation.

The pro-slavery Kansas Lecompton Constitution is drafted, but defeated by Kansas voters.

1859

Abolitionist John Brown raids arsenal at Harpers Ferry.

Fort Sumter is fired upon by Confederate forces, precipitating the American Civil War.

1863

Lincoln delivers the Gettysburg Address.

Emancipation Proclamation declared - edict issued by Abraham Lincoln that declared slaves of the Confederate states in rebellion against the Union to be free.

1865

Civil War ends

Lincoln is assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington.

Johnson issues Proclamation of Amnesty and Pardon for the Confederate States.

1866

Johnson vetoes Civil Rights Act of 1866.

1867

Tenure of Office Act is passed by Congress, over Johnson's Veto, making it illegal for a president to fire an appointee with approval of the Senate.

Johnson Fires Secretary of War Edwin Stanton, leading to his impeachment trial.

Secretary of State William H. Seward successfully negotiates purchase of Alaska from Russia.

1868

Johnson is impeached by the House, but the Senate fails to convict him of charges by one vote.

Fourteenth Amendment is ratified, over Johnson's objections, conferring citizenship on all persons born or naturalized in the United States and guaranteeing them equal protection under the law.

Grant signs bill allowing for the redemption of gold for U.S. paper dollars.

Treaty of Washington is negotiated, providing for the settlement by international tribunal of American claims against Great Britain.

1871

Treaty of London is negotiated to resolve controversies with Great Britain.

1875

“Whiskey Ring,” scandal is exposed, accusing high-placed officials of defrauding the government of tax revenues.

Federal troops withdraw from the South, ending Reconstruction..

Striking railroad workers and federal troops clash.

1878

Bland-Allison Silver Purchase Act passed despite Hayes's veto.

Garfield is shot by Charles J. Guiteau, a disappointed office seeker.

Chinese Exclusion Act signed, which reduced the suspension of Chinese immigration to 10 years (from the proposed 20 years).

1883

Dedication of the Statue of Liberty

Presidential Succession Act

Geronimo surrenderes, ending Apache wars of New Mexico and Arizona.

1887

Interstate Commerce Act

Tenure of Office Act repealed

1888

New Chinese Exclusion Act

Secretary of State James G. Blaine, presides over the First International Conference of American States.

1890

McKinley Tariff Act, substantially raises duties on most imports.

Sherman Antitrust Act, outlaws “every contract, combination ¼ or conspiracy in restraint of trade or commerce.”

Sherman Silver Purchase Act passed. requiring the government to buy 4.5 million ounces of silver every month.

1893

American-led coup topples Queen Liliuokalani in the Hawaiian Islands.

Financial Panic of 1893

Sherman Silver Purchase Act of 1890 repealed

1894

Federal troops are sent to break Pullman Strike.

First National Labor Day

Dingley Tariff signed, the highest protective tariff  in American history to that time.

1898

American battleship USS Maine suddenly explodes and sinks as it sits anchored in Havana harbor.  Spain is blamed, eventually leading to the Spanish-American War.  It was latter found that the explosion was caused by an accident on board the ship.

Hawaii is annexed by joint resolution of Congress.

1899

Treaty of Paris is ratified, ceding Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the United States; Cuba becomes independent.

1901

McKinley is sssassinated by Leon F. Czolgosz.

Sherman Antitrust Act is strengthened by bringing a successful suit to break up a huge railroad conglomerate, the Northern Securities Company.

1904

Construction of Panama Canal begins.

1905

The Forest Service is created.

1906

Roosevelt is awarded Nobel Prize for Peace for mediating an end to the Russo-Japanese War.

1907

Financial Panic of 1907

Payne-Aldrich Tariff of 1909 signed.

Underwood-Simmons Tariff, passes reducing duties on imports for the first time in 40 years.

Federal Reserve Act is passed, setting up the Federal Reserve banking system.

1914

World War I starts.

1917

U.S. enters World War I.

1918

Treaty of Versailles is signed, ending World War I.

Peace between Germany and Austria declared.

1922

Beginning of the Teapot Dome Scandal.

Fordney-McCumber Tariff Act

The Stock market crashes, helping to bring about the Great Depression.

1930

Construction of Boulder Dam begins (later to be named Hoover Dam).

Hawley-Smoot Tariff bill signed, significantly raising tariffs.

1932

Agricultural Adjustment Administration established, which was charged with increasing prices of agricultural commodities and expanding the farmers' portion of national income.

Public Works Administration is established, designed to reduce unemployment and increase purchasing power through the construction of highways and public buildings.

1935

Social Security Act is signed.

Neutrality Act of 1935 passes, as part of a series of  laws designed to minimize American involvement with belligerent nations.

1939

World War II breaks out in Europe.

1941

Japanese attack U.S. ships docked at Peal Harbor, Hawaii - leading to U.S. entry into World War II.

1944

Normandy Invasion is launched, turning the tide of World War II in favor of the Allies.

1945

Yalta Conference held, in which the three Great Allied leaders meet - President Franklin D. Roosevelt of the United States, Prime Minister Winston Churchill of Great Britain, and Premier Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union to plan the final defeat and occupation of Nazi Germany.

Atom bomb is successfully tested at Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Germany surrenders.

Atomic bombs dropped on the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Japan surrenders.

1947

Marshall Plan goes into action to help rebuild war-torn Europe.

1949

Soviet Union successfully tests a nuclear bomb.

1950

Outbreak of Korean War

Korean Peace truce is successfully negotiated.

1954

Southeast Asia Treaty Organization (SEATO) is created to prevent further communist expansion.

Civil Rights Act passes, originally promoted by John Kennedy.

Gulf of Tonkin Resolution passes, which authorizes the president to take “all necessary measures to repel any armed attack against the forces of the United States and to prevent further aggression.”

1965

Voting Rights Act passes.

Medicare program is created.

“Operation Rolling Thunder” starts, a series of massive bombing raids on North Vietnam.

1967

Detroit Race Riot

1968

Martin Luther King Jr. is assassinated.

Robert Kennedy is assassinated.

USS Pueblo, is seized by North Korea.

Tet Offensive is launched by North Vietnamese and Viet Cong forces against 36 major South Vietnamese cities and towns.

The Occupational Safety and Health Act is signed.

Environmental Protection Agency is created.

1972

Nixon's trip to China.

Watergate Break-in.

1973

U.S. troops are withdrawn from Vietnam.

Senate starts Watergate Investigation.

1974

Nixon resigns after Senate Judiciary Committee refers three  articles of impeachment to full membership.

Ford grants full unconditional pardon to Richard Nixon.

Bert Lance, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, a is accused of financial improprieties as a Georgia banker.

Billy Carter ia accused of acting as an influence peddler for the Libyan government of Muammar al-Qaddafi. Senate investigators concluded that, while Billy had acted improperly, but he had no real influence on the president.

Treaty is ratified, giving Panama control over the Panama Canal at the end of 1999 and guaranteed the neutrality of that waterway thereafter.

1978

Camp David Accords - Carter brings together Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian President Anwar el-Sadat and at the presidential retreat in Camp David, Maryland,  securing a peace agreement.

1979

Carter establishes full diplomatic relations between the United States and China and simultaneously breaking official ties with Taiwan.

Carter signs Bilateral Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty (SALT II) with Soviet Union.

Iranian students sieze U.S. Embassy in Tehran, holding U.S. staff hostage.

1980

Soviet Union invades Afghanistan.

Carter removes SALT II from consideration.

1981

Carter negotiates with Iran to release the American Embassy Hostages

American Embassy Hostages are released the day after Reagan assumes presidency.

John W. Hinckley, Jr., fires six shots at Reagan, from a .22.  Reagan recovers from incident.

Air Traffic Controllers Strike.  Reagan fires striking employees, replacing them with new hires.

1982

1982 Recession

Bush orders military invasion of Panama in order to topple the entrenched government of  General Manuel Antonio Noriega.

1990

Bush meets with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Paris and signs a mutual nonaggression pact, a symbolic conclusion to the Cold War.

North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is ratified.

Bush Signs Tax Cut Bill

Bush Unveils Medicare Initiative