United States History Timeline for Project
1492
Event: Christopher Columbus discovers America (Islands in the Caribbean
Sea)
People: Christopher Columbus, King Fernand/Queen Isabella of Spain
1497
Event: John Cabot claims North America for England
People: John Cabot
1607
Event: Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown
People: John Smith, John Rolfe, Pocahontas
1609
Event: Henry Hudson explores North eastern North America including the
Hudson River
People: Henry Hudson
1620
Event: Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact and settle at Plymouth Bay.
People: A pilgrim settler, Squanto
1630
Event: Puritans leaves England and sets up the Massachusetts Bay colony
People: John Winthrop, Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, Thomas Hooker,
John Wheelright
1682
Event: William Penn establishes the colony of Pennsylvania
People: William Penn, King James I
1754 - 1763 Event #1: The British fights the French and Indians over territory past the
Appalachian Mountains.
Event #2: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada
east of the Mississippi River added to the British empire.
People for events 1-2: George Washington (younger version), General Edward
Braddock.
Event #3: Pontiac's Rebellion against the British
People for event #3: Chief Pontiac
Event #4: The Proclamation of 1763 issued by King George III after the end of
the French and Indian War / Seven Years'
People for event #4: King George III
1764
Event: Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods
People: John Hancock, James Otis, John Adams, Samuel Adams
1765
1770
Event: The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. March 24: The
Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops and supply
them with food.
People: John Hancock, James Otis, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Patrick
Henry, Benjamin Franklin.
Event: "The Boston Massacre"
People: John Hancock, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Governor Thomas
Hutchinson, Paul Revere
1773
Event: The Boston Tea Party
People: Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, Governor Thomas Hutchinson, King
George III
1775-1781
Event: Shots fired at Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed.
"Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston.
Event: The Start of the American Revolutionary War (May pick specific battles
and events)
People: George Washington, Paul Revere, Samuel Adams, John Hancock, John
Adams, King George III
1776
Event: The United States Declaration of Independence
People: Thomas Jefferson, Richard Henry Lee, Robert Morris, Benjamin Rush,
Benjamin Franklin, John Witherspoon, Samuel Adams, John Adams, Roger
Sherman, Charles Carroll, John Hancock
1783
Event: England officially declares an end to hostilities in America and both
countries sign The Treaty of Paris to officially end the war.
People: George Washington, John Adams, Samuel Adams, Benjamin Franklin,
Thomas Jefferson
1789
Event: Creation of the U.S. Constitution/George Washington elected as the
First President of the United States.
People: George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander
Hamilton, Roger Sherman, James Wilson, Gouverneur Morris
1791
Event: Bill of Rights ratified
1794
People: Alexander Hamilton, John Jay, George Mason
Event: Whiskey Rebellion
People: George Washington
Event #2: Eli Whitney patents the cotton gin
People: Eli Whitney
1803
Event: Louisiana Purchase Treaty
People: Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte
1804
Event: Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory
People: Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacagawea, Thomas Jefferson
1812-1815
Event: War of 1812 (May pick specific battles and events)
People: James Madison, Andrew Jackson, Francis Scott Key, Dolly Madison
1835 - 1839 Event: Texas War for Independence against Mexico including the Battle of the
Alamo
People: Stephen F. Austin, General Santa Anna, Sam Houston, Davy Crockett
1838-1839
Event: The Trail of Tears
People: Andrew Jackson, U.S. army soldier that was involved in the movement
of Native Americans, A Native American that was forced to move
1844
Event: Samuel Morse tests the telegraph
People: Samuel Morse
1846-1848
Event: Mexican-American War
People: President James K. Polk, General Santa Anna, General Zachary Taylor,
General Winfield Scott
1835-1860
1848
Event: Westward Expansion of America: Oregon Trail, Mormon Trail, other
trails traveled by Americans heading west.
People: A traveler heading west, Brigham Young
Event: Gold discovered in California
People: a forty-niner, John Sutter
1830s-1860s Event: Runaway slaves are helped North through the Underground Railroad
1854-1856
People: Harriet Tubman, Fredrick Douglas, a runaway slave
Event: Kansas-Nebraska Act leading to “Bleeding Kansas”/Debates over
slavery in the new territories
People: Stephen Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, John Brown
1857
Event: The Dred Scott Decision
People: Dred Scott, Fredrick Douglas, Abraham Lincoln, Chief Justice Roger
Taney.
1859
Event: John Brown’s raid of a U.S. Armory in Virginia
People: John Brown, General Robert E. Lee
1860
Event: The Election of Abraham Lincoln
People: Abraham Lincoln, Stephen Douglas, John Breckinridge, John Bell
1861
Event #1: Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) established under
President Jefferson Davis
People: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis
Event #2: American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter.
People: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, General Anderson