Dr. Quintard Taylor, Jr.

On February 11, a tie in the Electoral College throws the Presidential election into the U.S. House of Representatives where Thomas Jefferson (Virginia) defeats Aaron Burr (New York) on February 17 on the 36th ballot.

On March 1, Ohio becomes the seventeenth state.

On May 14, the Lewis and Clark Expedition begins in St. Louis. The explorers return to St. Louis on September 23, 1806.

Noah Webster publishes A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language in New Haven, Connecticut.

On August 7, Robert Fulton of New York develops the first steamboat.

On January 1, the United States terminates its participation in the international slave trade.

The third U.S census reveals that the nation's population on August 6 is 7,239,881.

The Battle of Tippecanoe in Indiana on November 7 makes General William Henry Harrison a national hero.

On April 30, Louisiana becomes the eighteenth state.

American invasions of Canada fail.

On December 4, James Monroe of Virginia is elected the fifth President of the United States.

On December 10, Mississippi becomes the twentieth state.

On December 3, Illinois becomes the twenty-first state.

Spain cedes Florida to the United States in the Adams-Onis Treaty signed in Washington, D.C. on February 22.

The fourth U.S census reveals that on August 7 the nation's population is 9,638,453.

On August 10, Missouri becomes the twenty-fourth state.

Denmark Vesey organizes a slave rebellion conspiracy in Charleston, South Carolina which is to commence on Bastille Day, July 14.

On December 2, Andrew Jackson of Tennessee is elected the seventh President of the United States.

The Indian Removal Act, passed by Congress on May 26, sets up the Trail of Tears, the forced removal of over 70,000 Native Americans from Georgia, North Carolina, Alabama, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Florida between 1830 and 1839 to Indian Territory (present-day Oklahoma).

French author Alexis de Tocqueville tours the United States and eventually writes Democracy in America.

On August 1, Great Britain abolishes slavery throughout its empire.

On December 7, Martin Van Buren of New York is elected the eighth President of the United States.

On December 2, William Henry Harrison of Indiana defeats incumbent President Martin Van Buren of New York for the Presidency. Harrison, the ninth President, becomes the first member of the Whig Party to be elected to the nation's highest office and the first president to die in office.

A series of anti-Catholic riots take place in Philadelphia between May 6 and July 7.

On May 24, Samuel Morse opens the first commercial telegraph line in Washington, D.C.

The potato famine in Ireland leads thousands of Irish emigrants to settle in the United States.

The Mexican War begins on April 25.

The Mexican War ends on February 2, with the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo. That agreement gives the United States jurisdiction over nearly half of what was Mexico including the current states of California, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, Utah and part of Colorado.

Democratic revolutions collapse in various German states leading to a mass exodus of German emigrants to the United States.

In response to growing immigration, the Native American or Know-Nothing Party, which begins as the Order of the Star Spangled Banner, is founded in New York City.

Nathaniel Hawthorne (Massachusetts) publishes The Scarlet Letter.

On July 9, Millard Fillmore (New York) becomes the thirteenth President of the United States upon the death of President Zachary Taylor.

Herman Melville (New York) publishes Moby Dick.

On November 2, Franklin Pierce (New Hampshire) is elected the fourteenth President of the United States.

The Kansas-Nebraska Act, which repeals the Missouri Compromise of 1820, becomes law on May 30.

On July 14, Commodore Matthew C. Perry establishes diplomatic relations between the United States and Japan.

Poet Walt Whitman (New York) publishes Leaves of Grass.

"Bleeding Kansas," the violent conflict between pro- and anti-slavery forces begins on November 21 with the death of a free-soiler by a pro-slavery advocate. The violence will continue until 1859 and result in the death of 56 people.

On March 6, the U.S. Supreme Court hands down the Dred Scott decision.

On May 11, Minnesota becomes the thirty-second state.

The Lincoln-Douglas Debates between former Illinois Congressman Abraham Lincoln and Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas take place in seven towns between August 21, and October 15.

On November 6, Abraham Lincoln of Illinois wins the Presidency over three other candidates to become the first Republican to hold that office.

Between April 17 and June 8, four other states: Virginia, Arkansas, North Carolina, and Tennessee, secede from the Union.

On October 24, the first transcontinental telegraph is completed as east and west extending lines meet at Salt Lake City, Utah Territory.

The Battle of Shiloh (Tennessee) takes place on April 6-7.

President Lincoln issues the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22.

On March 3, the U.S. Congress enacts a general military conscription law.

The Battle of Gettysburg (Pennsylvania) takes place on July 1-3.

The New York City Draft Riots erupt on July 13 and continue until July 16. An estimated 2,000 people are killed before U.S. troops restored order. This is the worst urban insurrection in the nation's history.

Union General Ulysses S. Grant confronts Confederate General Robert E. Lee for the first time in the Battle of the Wilderness in Virginia on May 5-7.

On October 31, Nevada becomes the thirty-sixth state.

On April 9, General Robert E. Lee Surrenders to General Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox, Virginia.

On November 25, Mississippi enacts the first post-Civil War Black Codes.

The U.S. Civil Rights Act becomes law on April 9 over the veto of President Andrew Johnson.

The Ku Klux Klan is founded in Pulaski, Tennessee on December 24.

On November 3, Ulysses S. Grant of Illinois is elected the eighteenth President of the United States.

The Union Pacific Railroad, which began construction at Omaha, Nebraska and the Central Pacific, which first broke ground at Sacramento (both in 1863), meet at Promontory Summit, Utah Territory on May 10.

On December 10, Wyoming Territory becomes the first state or territory to extend voting rights to all women.

On February 3, the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution, which extends voting rights to black males, becomes law with its ratification by Iowa.

The ninth U.S census reveals that the nation's population on June 1 is 39,818,449.

The Credit Mobilier Scandal is first exposed by the Hartford Daily Courrant on September 26.

The Civil Rights Act of 1875 becomes law on March 1 with President Ulysses Grant's signature.

The results of the November 7 election between Rutherford B. Hayes (Republican) and Samuel Tilden (Democrat) are contested. The uncertainty leads to a political compromise which gives Hayes the Presidency with his promise to end Reconstruction in the South.

On March 4, Rutherford B. Hayes becomes the nineteenth President of the United States.

A nationwide railroad strike begins in Martinsburg, West Virginia on July 14 against the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and ends 45 days later when federal troops are used against the striking workers.

The tenth U.S census reveals that on June 1 the nation's population is 50,189,209.

The Chinese Exclusion Act was signed into law by President Chester A. Arthur on May 8.

On October 16, the U.S. Supreme Court in the Civil Rights Cases pronounces the 1875 Civil Rights Act unconstitutional.

The Brooklyn Bridge is opened to the public on May 24.

Mark Twain (Missouri) publishes The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.

Grover Cleveland (New York) is elected the twenty-second President of the United States on November 4.

On September 18, Jane Addams and Ellen Starr Gates found Hull House in Chicago. Hull House is the first settlement house in the U.S.

On November 2, South Dakota becomes the fortieth state.

The eleventh U.S. census reveals that the nation's population on June 1 is 62,947,714.

Basketball is invented by James Naismith in Springfield, Massachusetts in December.

On May 28, conservationist John Muir launches the Sierra Club in San Francisco.  It will eventually have over 1.4 million members, making it the largest of the environmental advocacy organizations in the U.S.

On November 8, People's (Populist) Party candidate James B. Weaver (Iowa) wins twenty-two electoral votes but former President Grover Cleveland (Democrat) defeats both Weaver and Republican President Benjamin Harrison to win the presidency. Cleveland thus serves as both the twenty-second and twenty-fourth President.

The Depression of 1893 begins a five-year economic downturn.

On November 7, Colorado male voters approve woman suffrage by referendum.

On November 3, Idaho adopts a constitutional amendment extending suffrage to women and making it the fourth state to allow women to vote.

The Spanish American War begins on April 25 and ends on August 12. The war is fought mainly in Cuba and the Philippines. Puerto Rico and the Philippines become possessions of the United States as a consequence of the War.

On December 10, the Treaty of Paris officially ends the Spanish American War. Spain cedes Puerto Rico, Guam, and the Philippines to the U.S. Cuba becomes a U.S. Protectorate.