United States Timeline

1778 Feb 6 Franco-American Alliance Signed
On February 6, 1778, France and the fledgling United States of America signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce and the Treaty of Alliance in Paris, France. The Treaty of Amity and Commerc...
1784 Jan 14 Continental Congress Ratifies The Treaty of Paris
The Continental Congress ratified the Treaty of Paris on January 14, 1784, officially establishing the United States as an independent and sovereign nation. The Continental Congress appr...
1789 Apr 30 Washington delivers first inaugural address
George Washington delivered his first inaugural address to a joint session of Congress, assembled in Federal Hall in the nation's new capital, New York City. The newly-elected president d...
1791 Dec 15 United States Bill Of Rights Is Ratified
Congress of the United States begun and held at the City of New-York, on Wednesday the fourth of March, one thousand seven hundred and eighty nine THE Conventions of a number o...
1793 Mar 4 George Washington's second inaugural address
President Washington's second oath of office was taken in the Senate Chamber of Congress Hall in Philadelphia on March 4, the date fixed by the Continental Congress for inaugurations. B...
1795 Feb 7 The Eleventh Amendment is ratified
The Eleventh Amendment (Amendment XI) to the United States Constitution, which was passed by the Congress on March 4, 1794 and was ratified on February 7, 1795, deals with each state's so...
1797 Mar 4 John Adams delivers his inaugural address
The first Vice President became the second President of the United States. His opponent in the election, Thomas Jefferson, had won the second greatest number of electoral votes and ther...
1801 Mar 4 Thomas Jefferson is inaugurated as the third president of the United States
Chief Justice John Marshall administered the first executive oath of office ever taken in the new federal city in the new Senate Chamber (now the Old Supreme Court Chamber) of the parti...
1804 Jun 15 The Twelfth Amendment is ratified
The Twelfth Amendment (Amendment XII) to the United States Constitution provides the procedure by which the President and Vice President are elected. It replaced the procedure of the Elec...
1804 Oct 1 A Formal Ceremony Transfers The Louisiana Territory From France To The United States
Effective on October 1, 1804, the purchased territory was organized into the Territory of Orleans (most of which became the state of Louisiana) and the District of Louisiana, which was te...
1805 Mar 4 Thomas Jefferson's second inauguration
The second inauguration of Mr. Jefferson followed an election under which the offices of President and Vice President were to be separately sought, pursuant to the newly adopted 12th Am...
1809 Mar 4 James Madison is inaugurated as the fourth president of the United States
Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office in the Hall of the House of Representatives (now National Statuary Hall). Subsequently the oath by Presidents-elect, with few e...
1813 Mar 4 James Madison delivers his second inaugural address
Chief Justice John Marshall administered the oath of office in the Hall of the House of Representatives. The United States was at war with Great Britain at the time of James Madison's se...
1817 Mar 4 James Monroe is inaugurated as the fifth president of the United States
Because the Capitol was under reconstruction after the fire, President-elect Monroe offered to take his oath of office in the House Chamber of the temporary "Brick Capitol," located o...
1821 Mar 5 James Monroe's second inauguration
In 1821, March 4 fell on a Sunday for the first time that presidential inaugurations had been observed. Although his previous term had expired on Saturday, the President waited until th...
1825 Mar 4 John Quincy Adams is inaugurated as the sixth president of the United States
The only son of a former President to be elected to the Nation's highest office, John Quincy Adams was chosen by the House of Representatives when the electoral college could not determi...
1829 Mar 4 Andrew Jackson is inaugurated as the seventh president of the United States
The election of Andrew Jackson was heralded as a new page in the history of the Republic. The first military leader elected President since George Washington, he was much admired by the ...
1833 Mar 4 Andrew Jackson delivers his second inaugural address
Cold weather and the President's poor health caused the second inauguration to be much quieter than the first. The President's speech was delivered to a large assembly inside the Hall o...
1836 Jun 15 Arkansas is the 25th State Admitted to the Union
On June 15, 1836, Arkansas became the twenty-fifth state. Native Americans first inhabited the state and created a thriving culture along the Mississippi River around 500 A.D. In the sixt...
1837 Mar 4 Martin Van Buren is inaugurated as the eighth president of the United States
The ailing President Jackson and his Vice President Van Buren rode together to the Capitol from the White House in a carriage made of timbers from the U.S.S. Constitution. Chief Justice ...
1841 Mar 4 William Henry Harrison is inaugurated as the ninth president of the United States
President Harrison has the dual distinction among all the Presidents of giving the longest inaugural speech and of serving the shortest term of office. Known to the public as "Old Tippec...
1845 Mar 4 James K. Polk is inaugurated as the 11th president of the United States
The inaugural ceremonies of former Tennessee Governor and Speaker of the House James Knox Polk were conducted before a large crowd that stood in the pouring rain. The popular politician ...
1848 May 29 Wisconsin is the 30th State Admitted to the Union
On May 29, 1848, Wisconsin became the thirtieth state admitted to the Union. The "Badger State" was the last state formed in its entirety from the Northwest Territory. Textured with beaut...
1849 Mar 5 Zachary Taylor is inaugurated as the 12th president of the United States
For the second time in the history of the Republic, March 4 fell on a Sunday. The inaugural ceremony was postponed until the following Monday, raising the question as to whether the N...
1853 Mar 4 Franklin Pierce is inaugurated as the 14th president of the United States
On religious grounds, former Senator and Congressman Franklin Pierce chose "to affirm" rather than "to swear" the executive oath of office. He was the only President to use the choice off...
1856 Nov 17 The United States Army Establishes Fort Buchanan On Sonoita Creek
The purchased lands were initially appended to the existing New Mexico Territory. To help control the new land, the United States Army established Fort Buchanan on Sonoita Creek in presen...
1857 Mar 4 James Buchanan is inaugurated as the 15th president of the United States
The Democratic Party chose another candidate instead of their incumbent President when they nominated James Buchanan at the national convention. Since the Jackson Administration, he had...
1858 Jul 29 The United States And Japan Sign The Treaty Of Amity And Commerce
On July 29, 1858, the United States and Japan signed the Treaty of Amity and Commerce (the Harris Treaty). Townsend Harris, the first U.S. diplomatic representative to Japan, negotiated t...
1862 Oct 8 Union And Confederate Forces Fight At Perryville, Kentucky
On October 8, 1862, Union and Confederate forces fought at Perryville, Kentucky, in a one-day battle that repulsed the South's attempt to bring that border state into the Confederacy. Alt...
1864 May 26 President Lincoln Signed the Enabling Act Creating Montana
On May 26, 1864, President Lincoln signed an enabling act creating the Territory of Montana. Twenty-five years later, on November 8, 1889, Montana became the forty-first state. Numer...
1865 Mar 4 Lincoln Delivers Second Inaugural Address
Abraham Lincoln delivered his second inaugural address on March 4, 1865, during his inauguration at the start of his second term as President of the United States. At a time when victory ...
1865 Dec 6 The Thirteenth Amendment is ratified
The Thirteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution officially abolished and continues to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, except as punishment for a crime. It was adopt...
1866 Jul 28 The Fourteenth Amendment is ratified
The Fourteenth Amendment (Amendment XIV) to the United States Constitution, along with the Thirteenth and Fifteenth Amendments, was adopted after the Civil War as one of the Reconstructio...
1867 Mar 30 Seward's Folly US agrees to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million
Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed to purchase Alaska from Russia for 7.2 million dollars. Critics attacked Seward for the secrecy surrounding the deal, which came to be known as...
1867 Apr 9 The United States Senate Ratifies The Alaska Purchase Treaty
The United States Senate ratified the treaty on April 9, 1867, by a vote of 37 to 2. However, the appropriation of money needed to purchase Alaska was delayed by more than a year due to o...
1869 Mar 4 Ulysses S. Grant is inaugurated as the 18th president of the United States
General Grant was the first of many Civil War officers to become President of the United States. He refused to ride in the carriage to the Capitol with President Johnson, who then decided...
1870 Feb 3 The Fifteenth Amendment is ratified
The Fifteenth Amendment (Amendment XV) to the United States Constitution prohibits each government in the United States from denying a citizen the right to vote based on that citizen's "r...
1873 Mar 4 Ulysses S. Grant's second inauguration
Frigid temperatures caused many of the events planned for the second inauguration to be abandoned. The thermometer did not rise much above zero all day, persuading many to avoid the cere...
1877 Mar 5 Rutherford B. Hayes is inaugurated as the 19th president of the United States
The outcome of the election of 1876 was not known until the week before the inauguration itself. Democrat Samuel Tilden had won the greater number of popular votes and lacked only one ele...
1881 Mar 4 James Garfield is inaugurated as the 20th president of the United States
Snow on the ground discouraged many spectators from attending the ceremony at the Capitol. Congressman Garfield had been nominated on his party's 36th ballot at the convention; and he had...
1885 Mar 4 Grover Cleveland is inaugurated as the 22nd president of the United States
On the East Portico of the Capitol, the former Governor of New York was administered the oath of office by Chief Justice Morrison Waite. A Democrat whose popularity, in part, was the re...
1889 Mar 4 Benjamin Harrison is inaugurated as the 23rd president of the United States
Nominated on the 8th ballot of the Republican convention, the Civil War veteran, jurist, and Senator from Indiana was the only grandson of a President to be elected to the office, as wel...
1893 Jan 17 Overthrow of the Kingdom of Hawaii
Until the 1890s the Kingdom of Hawaiʻi was an independent sovereign state, recognized by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Japan, and Germany. Though there were threats to Ha...
1893 Mar 4 Grover Cleveland is inaugurated, for the second time, as the 24th president of the United States
A light snowfall the night before the inauguration discouraged many spectators from attending President Cleveland's second inauguration. The Democrat had decisively defeated President Har...
1897 Mar 4 William McKinley is inaugurated as the 25th president of the United States
A Civil War officer, and a Governor and Congressman from Ohio, Mr. McKinley took the oath on a platform erected on the north East Front steps at the Capitol. It was administered by Chie...
1898 Feb 15 USS Maine Explodes off the Coast of Havana
The Maine spent her active career operating along the East Coast of the United States and the Caribbean. In January 1898, the Maine was sent from Key West, Florida, to Havana, Cuba, to pr...
1898 May 1 Battle of Manila Bay
The Battle of Manila Bay took place on 1 May 1898, during the Spanish-American War. The American Asiatic Squadron under Commodore George Dewey engaged the Spanish Pacific Squadron under A...
1898 May 10 Battle of San Juan
The Battle of San Juan, not to be confused with the Battle of San Juan Hill, refers to an American naval attack on the fortifications of San Juan, Puerto Rico during the Spanish-American ...
1898 Jun 6 United States Launches First Attack in the Invasion of Guantanamo Bay
The 1898 Battle of Guantánamo Bay happened June 6–June 10, 1898, during the Spanish-American War, when American and Cuban forces invaded the strategically and commercially important area ...
1898 Jun 20
to 1898 Jun 21
 United States Captures Guam from Kingdom of Spain During the Spanish-American War
The Capture of Guam was a bloodless event between the United States and the Kingdom of Spain during the Spanish-American War. The United States Navy sent a single cruiser, the USS Charles...
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