Timelines and Key Events

It's been hundreds of years since the United States was founded. Exploring these timelines can help you better understand the chronology of American history, draw parallels between concurrent events, and make hypotheses about cause and effect.

  • Impeachment trial of Andrew Johnson, 1868
    Andrew Johnson Impeachment
  • photo of Begin, Carter, and Sadat at Camp David
    The Camp David Accords, Jimmy Carter's 1978 Middle East Peace Plan
  • US Soldiers with Prisoners in Grenada
    Grenada Invasion: History and Significance
  • Spanish-American war lithograph
    The Platt Amendment and US-Cuba Relations
  • President Ronald Reagan holding a copy of the Tower Commission report on the Iran-Contra scandal
    The Iran-Contra Affair: Ronald Reagan’s Arms Sales Scandal
  • Smoke Rising from Destroyed Homes in Philadelphia
    MOVE Philadelphia Bombing History and Fallout
  • Illegal Mexican immigrant farm workers boarding buses during Operation Wetback
    Operation Wetback: The Largest Mass Deportation in U.S. History
  • Roanoke, North Carolina
    What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke?
  • Commanding General of U.S. Army Europe, Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890 - 1969) firing a German-made combination rifle-shotgun with telescopic sight
    What Was the Eisenhower Doctrine? Definition and Analysis
  • Jefferson Memorial in gray brick circular room
    Decade by Decade Timeline of the 1800s
  • Dye House Roof
    Significant Eras of the American Industrial Revolution
  • Illustration of miners during California gold rush of 1848-1849.
    Timeline of Events From 1840 to 1850
  • Richard Nixon campaigning in 1968
    The Presidential Election of 1968
  • Photograph showing construction of the Brooklyn Bridge roadway.
    Timeline from 1880 to 1890
  • A mob breaking into a post office to burn abolitionist pamphlets in Charleston, South Carolina
    World History Timeline From 1830 to 1840
  • Photograph of Park Row with Pulitzer Building 1890s
    Timeline from 1890 to 1900
  • Engraved illustration of the Christiana Riot
    Timeline from 1850 to 1860
  • stock illustration of Ulysses Grant
    Timeline of American History from 1871 to 1875
  • Anti-Isolationism poster ‘sorry we're closed’ sign wrapped in barbwire on top of the American flag.
    The Evolution of American Isolationism
  • The Boston Tea Party, 1773
    Major Events That Led to the American Revolution
  • Painting of Pocahontas saving John Smith from 1607
    American History Timeline 1601 - 1625
  • Franklin Pierce, Fourteenth President of the United States
    American History Timeline 1851–1860
  • Men On Line To Get Food; Workers
    The Bracero Program: When the U.S. Looked to Mexico for Labor
  • Independence Hall in Philadelphia, which began construction in 1732 and opened in 1753
    American History Timeline: 1726 to 1750
  • Painting - Peter Minuit purchases Manhattan Island from Man-a-hat-a Indigenous people
    American History Timeline: 1626-1650
  • Witch Trial
    American History Timeline 1675–1700
  • The cargo of a rumrunner boat is confiscated by the Coast Guard
    Prohibition Era Timeline
  • 1890s crop haul
    Timeline of the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade
  • The original, handwritten copy of the Sedition Act of 1798
    The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798
  • William Penn receives a charter from King Charles II.
    American History Timeline: 1651–1675
  • The inauguration of George Washington.
    American History Timeline: 1783-1800
  • 19th century lithograph depicting Custer's Last Stand
    Timeline from 1870 to 1880
  • Illustration of Christopher Columbus landing in North America
    A Timeline of North American Exploration: 1492–1585
  • Black and white photo of the March on Washington in 1963.
    Civil Rights Legislation and Supreme Court Cases
  • John Adams - Second President of the United States
    The Federalist Party: America's First Political Party
  • South of Lamar, Colorado, a large dust cloud appears behind a truck traveling on highway 59, May 1936
    The Dust Bowl: The Worst Environmental Disaster in the United States
  • Reenactors in Colonial Williamsburg
    American History Timeline - 1701 - 1725
  • Artist's depiction of Lincoln's Gettysburg Address
    American History Timeline (1860 to 1870)
  • American History Timeline: 1820-1829
  • A 1900s immigrant family viewing the Statue of Liberty
    US Immigration Act of 1917
  • Currier and Ives lithograph of the Chicago Fire
    Great Disasters of the 19th Century
  • A Hard Road to Hoe! Political Cartoon
    Presidential Campaigns of the 1800s
  • A painting depicts Meriwether Lewis And William Clark's expedition on their keelboat navigating the Missouri River
    Timeline from 1800 to 1810
  • USS Constitution defeating the HMS Guerriere during the war of 1812 by Thomas Birch
    Timeline from 1810 to 1820
  • Christopher Columbus by unknown artist
    Major Events and Eras in American History
  • Andrew Johnson taking the oath of office in the small parlor of the Kirkwood House
    Timeline of the Reconstruction Era
  • Eagle Versus Snakes
    Force Bill: An Early Battle of Federal vs. States’ Rights
  • Portrait of John Jay by Gilbert Stuart
    What Was Jay’s Treaty?
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