US History simple timeline

Timeline of major events and periods

Major wars & events general timeline

Dates	Major War	Dates	Major Events / Minor Wars
1754-1763	French-Indian War	1763-1783	American Revolution
1775-1781	Revolutionary War	1789	US Constitution adopted
1846-48	Mexican-American War	1812-15	War of 1812
1861-65	U.S. Civil War	1850	"Compromise of 1850"
		1865-1877	Reconstruction period
1917-18	WWI	1898	Spanish-American War
1941-45	WWII	1930s	Great Depression
		1950s-60s	Civil Rights Movement
1946-1989	Cold War	1950-1953	Korean War
1965-1972	Vietnam: U.S. ground & aeriel war	1959-65	Vietnam War: US intervention
2002-2021	Afghanistan War	2003-11	Iraq War/ "War on Terror"

Revolution Period: major wars & events timeline w/ details

1754-1763	French-Indian War	BIG IDEAS: caused by westward expansion of colonists into French territory west of the Appalachian Mts Britain (England) defeated France and seized all of Canada and lands east of the Mississippi
1763-83	American Revolution	BIG IDEAS: after French-Indian War, England imposed new taxes on the colonists imposed rules and restrictions on trade prohibited the colonists from settling in the new lands west of the Appalachian Mts ("Indian Territory) the colonists begin to protest key events of the American Revolution 1765: Stamp Act, tax and regulations imposed by Britain a series of other taxes were imposed, such as the "Tea Act" as well as a law to force Americans to house ("Quartering Act") British soldiers and appointments of colonial governors by the King and not from colonial vote 1770: Boston Massacre, British soldiers shoot into crowd of protesters 1773: Boston Tea Party, protest against trade restrictions and British response with the "Intolerable Acts" and blockade of Boston harbor 1775: "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, argues against monarchy (king) 1776: Declaration of Independence, colonies declare independence from England
1774-1789	Continental Congress & the Articles of Confederation	BIG IDEAS: a "congress" is a meeting of representatives from different places the "Continental Congress" is the organization of the 13 Colonies that joined together for common cause to oppose British rule the Continental Congress started after the British passed the "Intolerable Acts" and blockaded Boston harbor in response to the Boston Tea Party there were three periods: First Continental Congress (1774), Second Continental Congress (1774-1781) and the First and Second Congresses of (1774–1781) and the Congress of the Confederation (1781–1789) the Articles of Confederation (1781-1789) were a set of agreements between the 13 states to organize and guide their cooperation the Articles were approved in 1777, but only approved by all states in 1781 the Articles did not create a strong national government they proved incapable of resolving many difficulties and disagreements
1775-83	American Revolutionary War	BIG IDEAS: in 1775 fighting started between colonial "militia" (private soldiers) and British soldiers in Massachusetts the f on July 4, 1776, representatives of the 13 colonies signed the "Declaration of Independence" which "declared" (stated as fact) that the colonies were now independent from Britain
1787-1789	Constitutional Convention and adoption of the US Constitution	BIG IDEAS at the end of the Revolutionary War in 1781, the Continental Congress reorganized in order to form a new, independent nation they called it the "United States of America" it was a loose "confederation" of the states in order to make common decisions, such as the signing of the peace treaty with Great Britain in 1783 that officially ended the Revolutionary War it was called the "Congress of the Confederation
1791	Adoption of the US Constition	BIG IDEAS as the new country developed from 1783-1789, many problems arose, such as lack of common (or uniform), national currency (money) lack of common laws lack of ability for the national government to pay its debts due to inability to tax lack of general organization and standardization (rules) for relations between the states George Washington recognized these deficiencies and called for a convention (gathering) of states at Annapolis, Maryland in 1786 the assembly at Annapolis didn't achieve much, but decided upon calling for another convention the next year at Philadelphia the 1787 Constitutional Convention met at Philadelphia and proposed a new form of government among the states called the US Constitution it was proposed to the states, which debated it and voted for or against by 1788, enough states had agreed upon adopting the new Constitution, so the government was set to open in 1791