APUSH Timeline of Important Events

Early Colonization Period (1492-1650)

• 1492: Columbus arrives; begins Columbian Exchange
• 1587: Roanoke Island (Lost Colony by 1590)
• 1588: England defeats Spanish Armada; England begins colonization
• 1607: Jamestown founded; joint-stock company backed by Virginia Company
  • Captain John Smith leads
  • Survived by martial law and tobacco cultivation
  • Indentured servitude and headright system established
• 1619: House of Burgesses founded; slavery begins
• 1620: Separatists (Pilgrims) establish Plymouth; Mayflower Compact signed
• 1629: Massachusetts Bay Colony established; Puritan "City on a Hill"
• 1635-1649: Great Puritan Migration
• 1685: New York becomes a colony; Pennsylvania, Carolina developed

Period of Salutary Neglect (1650-1750)

• 1670s: Bacon's Rebellion highlights settler issues
• 1692: Salem Witch Trials reflect social unrest
• 1730s-1740s: Great Awakening; Enlightenment ideas (e.g., John Locke)

Independence Era (1750-1781)

• 1754-1763: 7 Years War (French-Indian War)
  • Proclamation of 1763; end of Salutary Neglect
• 1764-1767: Various Acts (Sugar, Currency, Stamp, Townshend) cause discontent
• 1770-1774: Boston Massacre, Tea Party, Intolerable Acts
• 1775: Battles of Lexington and Concord begin Revolutionary War
• 1776: Declaration of Independence drafted by Thomas Jefferson
• 1783: Treaty of Paris; US gains independence

Formation of Government (1781-1800)

• 1787: Constitutional Convention; Great Compromise and 3/5ths Compromise
• 1789: Constitution becomes effective; George Washington elected
• 1791: Bill of Rights added

Early Republic (1800-1848)

• 1803: Louisiana Purchase
• 1812-1815: War of 1812; Battle of New Orleans
• 1820: Missouri Compromise
• 1830: Indian Removal Act; Trail of Tears
• 1837: Panic of 1837

Civil War and Reconstruction (1845-1877)

• 1846-1848: Mexican-American War; Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
• 1861-1865: American Civil War; Emancipation Proclamation
• 1865-1877: Reconstruction; Amendments 13-15 passed

Gilded Age (1877-1898)

• Economic and industrial growth; rise of figures like Carnegie and Rockefeller
• 1890: Sherman Anti-Trust Act
• 1898: Spanish-American War; US gains territories

Progressive Era and WWI (1898-1945)

• 1914-1918: US involvement in WWI; Wilson's 14 Points
• 1920s: Roaring Twenties, Prohibition, Scopes Trial
• 1929: Stock Market Crash, beginning of Great Depression
• 1933: New Deal programs introduced by FDR
• 1941-1945: US involvement in WWII; ends with atomic bombs on Japan

Cold War Era and Civil Rights (1945-1980)

• 1947: Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan
• 1950s-1960s: Civil Rights Movement
• 1962: Cuban Missile Crisis
• 1974: Watergate scandal

Modern Era (1980-Present)

• 1980s: Reaganomics, end of Cold War
• 1990s: Technological advancements, Gulf War
• 2001: September 11 terrorist attacks
• 2001: Passage of the Patriot Act

This timeline covers major events in American history from early colonization to the modern era, highlighting key political, social, and economic developments.