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Colonies declare independence
The Declaration of Independence was a statement adopted by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, which announced that the thirteen American colonies then at war with Great Britain regarded themselves as independent states, and no longer a part of the British Empire. The Declaration was ultimately a formal explanation of why Congress had voted on July 2 to declare independence from Great Britain, more than a year after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War. -
George Washington the first President of the United States.
On April 30, 1789, George Washington, standing on the balcony of Federal Hall on Wall Street in New York, took his oath of office as the first President of the United States. "As the first of every thing, in our situation will serve to establish a Precedent," he wrote James Madison, "it is devoutly wished on my part, that these precedents may be fixed on true principles." -
The U.S. capital is moved from Philadelphia to Washigton D.C.
The Founding Fathers were concerned that if the Nation's Capital was located in one of the original states, that state would wield undue influence over the federal government,
and have more power than other states. They envisioned a state harassing the federal government and interfering if they did not get their way in national matters. Therefore, they created the District of Columbia,and made that the seat of the national government. government. It would not be a part of any individual st -
Alessandro Volta invents electric battery
Alessandro Volta invented the Voltaic Pile and discovered the first practical method of generating electricity. Constructed of alternating discs of zinc and copper with pieces of cardboard soaked in brine between the metals, the Voltic Pile produced electrical current. The metallic conducting arc was used to carry the electricity over a greater distance. Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile was the first "wet cell battery" that produced a reliable, steady current of electricity. -
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War 1812
The War of 1812 was fought between the United States and Great Britain from June 1812 to the spring of 1815, although the peace treaty ending the war was signed in Europe in December 1814. The main land fighting of the war occurred along the Canadian border, in the Chesapeake Bay region, and along the Gulf of Mexico; extensive action also took place at sea -
The war with Mexico begins
War between Mexico and the United States mainly caused by American expansionism. A belief in the 'Manifest Destiny' of the United States to expand across the entire continent led to resentment of Mexican control of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico and Arizona but the main flash point was Texas, which in 1845 joined the United States. The main issue of dispute was the border between Mexico and the United States, with both states claiming the area between the Rio Grande and the Nueces River. -
Civil War
It was a conflict between the Northern states (the Union) and the Southern states that seceded from the Union and formed the Confederacy. It is generally known in the South as the War between the States and is also called the War of the Rebellion (the official Union designation), the War of Secession, and the War for Southern Independence. The name Civil War, although much criticized as inexact, is most widely accepted. -
Lincoln is assassinated
On Good Friday, April 14, 1865, Lincoln was assassinated at Ford's Theatre in Washington by John Wilkes Booth, an actor, who somehow thought he was helping the South. The opposite was the result, for with Lincoln's death, the possibility of peace with magnanimity died. -
Statue of Liberty
The statue was designed by Fredéric Auguste Bartholdi of Alsace as a gift to the United States from the people of France to memorialize the alliance of the two countries in the American Revolution and their abiding friendship. The French people contributed the $250,000 cost.
The Statue of Liberty was designated a National Monument in 1924 and a World Heritage Site in 1984. -
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Spanish- Amercian War
The Spanish–American War was a conflict in 1898 between Spain and the United States.Preceded by a naval tragedy, the destruction of USS Maine at Havana, Cuba, the Spanish-American War featured two major naval battles, one in the Philippines and the other off Cuba, plus several smaller naval clashes. The Navy also provided essential support for U.S. Army and Marine Corps forces ashore.
