APUSH Timeline Notes
APUSH focuses on understanding key events in U.S. history and their placement in a historical timeline. Remembering specific dates isn't as crucial as knowing the sequence and significance of events.
Resources for Further Study
Period One
- 1492: Columbus's arrival initiates trade and Spanish colonial power.
- 1587: Roanoke Island (Lost Colony) established by Sir Walter Raleigh.
- 1588: English defeat of the Spanish Armada.
Period Two
- 1607: Jamestown founded as the first permanent English settlement.
- 1620: Mayflower lands at Plymouth.
- 1649: Toleration Act promotes religious freedom in Maryland.
- 1688: Glorious Revolution in England.
- 1692: Salem Witch Trials.
Period Three
- 1754-1763: Seven Years War ends with British dominance and territorial gains.
- 1763: Proclamation limits colonial expansion.
- 1765: Stamp Act incites "no taxation without representation".
- 1770: Boston Massacre.
- 1773: Boston Tea Party leads to Intolerable Acts.
- 1775: Start of the American Revolutionary War.
- 1776: Declaration of Independence.
- 1777: Articles of Confederation.
- 1781: Victory at Yorktown ends the American Revolutionary War.
- 1783: Treaty of Paris grants U.S. independence.
- 1787: Constitutional Convention leads to Great and 3/5 Compromises.
Period Four
- 1800: Jefferson's election.
- 1803: Louisiana Purchase.
- 1812-1815: War of 1812.
- 1820: Missouri Compromise.
- 1823: Monroe Doctrine established.
Period Five
- 1845: Texas annexed.
- 1846-1848: Mexican-American War.
- 1848: Seneca Falls Convention.
- 1850: Fugitive Slave Law.
- 1860: Lincoln elected.
- 1861-1865: Civil War.
- 1863: Emancipation Proclamation.
- 1865: Lincoln assassinated.
Period Six
- 1876: Battle of Little Bighorn.
- 1886: Haymarket Square Riot.
- 1890: Wounded Knee.
Period Seven
- 1898: Spanish-American War.
- 1917: U.S. enters WWI.
- 1920: Women's suffrage.
- 1929: Stock Market Crash causes Great Depression.
- 1939: WWII begins.
Period Eight
- 1945: End of WWII; Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombed.
- 1950-1953: Korean War.
- 1954: Brown v. Board of Education.
- 1963: March on Washington.
- 1965: Civil Rights Act.
- 1969: Moon landing.
- 1972: Watergate scandal.
Period Nine
- 1980: Reagan elected.
- 1989: End of Cold War.
- 1991: Persian Gulf War.
- 2001: 9/11 attacks.
- 2008: Obama elected and start of the Great Recession.
- 2011: Affordable Care Act enacted.
Note: For each period, understanding the key events and their impact on subsequent historical developments is crucial for mastering APUSH.