28
March
  Advertisement
Home  /  Timelines  /  United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Timeline of Events
1787
6.20.1787
Oliver Ellsworth moves at the Federal Convention to call the government the United States.
1788
1.2.1788
Georgia becomes the fourth state to ratify the United States Constitution
1.9.1788
Connecticut becomes the fifth state to be admitted to the United States.
4.7.1788
American Pioneers to the Northwest Territory arrive at the confluence of the Ohio and Muskingum rivers, establishing Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement of the new United States in the Northwest Territory, and opening the westward expansion of the new country.
6.21.1788
New Hampshire ratifies the Constitution of the United States and is admitted as the 9th state in the United States.
7.26.1788
New York ratifies the United States Constitution and becomes the 11th state of the United States.
1789
1.23.1789
Georgetown College, the first Roman Catholic college in the United States, is founded in Georgetown, Maryland (now a part of Washington, D.C.)
11.6.1789
Pope Pius VI appoints Father John Carroll as the first Catholic bishop in the United States.
11.26.1789
A national Thanksgiving Day is observed in the United States as recommended by President George Washington and approved by Congress.
1790
5.29.1790
Rhode Island becomes the last of the original United States' colonies to ratify the Constitution and is admitted as the 13th U.S. state.
5.31.1790
The United States enacts its first copyright statute, the Copyright Act of 1790.
1791
11.4.1791
The Western Confederacy of American Indians wins a major victory over the United States in the Battle of the Wabash.
1792
4.5.1792
U.S. President George Washington exercises his authority to veto a bill, the first time this power is used in the United States.
6.1.1792
Kentucky is admitted as the 15th state of the United States.
10.12.1792
First celebration of Columbus Day in the USA held in New York
10.13.1792
In Washington, D.C., the cornerstone of the United States Executive Mansion (known as the White House since 1818) is laid.
1793
10.12.1793
The cornerstone of Old East, the oldest state university building in the United States, is laid on the campus of the University of North Carolina
1794
11.19.1794
The United States and the Kingdom of Great Britain sign Jay's Treaty, which attempts to resolve some of the lingering problems left over from the American Revolutionary War.
1795
10.27.1795
The United States and Spain sign the Treaty of Madrid, which establishes the boundaries between Spanish colonies and the U.S.
1796
4.13.1796
The first elephant ever seen in the United States arrives from India.
6.1.1796
Tennessee is admitted as the 16th state of the United States.
7.11.1796
The United States takes possession of Detroit from Great Britain under terms of the Jay Treaty.
1798
4.7.1798
The Mississippi Territory is organized from disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Spain. It is expanded in 1804 and again in 1812.
7.14.1798
The Sedition Act becomes law in the United States making it a federal crime to write, publish, or utter false or malicious statements about the United States government.
1800
4.24.1800
The United States Library of Congress is established when President John Adams signs legislation to appropriate $5,000 USD to purchase "such books as may be necessary for the use of Congress".
1801
8.1.1801
First Barbary War: The American schooner USS Enterprise captures the Tripolitan polacca ''Tripoli'' in a single-ship action off the coast of modern-day Libya.
1803
4.30.1803
Louisiana Purchase: The United States purchases the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million, more than doubling the size of the young nation.
11.30.1803
In New Orleans, Louisiana, Spanish representatives officially transfer the Louisiana Territory to a French representative. Just 20 days later, France transfers the same land to the United States as the Louisiana Purchase.
1804
3.10.1804
Louisiana Purchase: In St. Louis, Missouri, a formal ceremony is conducted to transfer ownership of the Louisiana Territory from France to the United States.
5.13.1804
Forces sent by Yusuf Karamanli of Tripoli to retake Derne from the Americans attack the city.
1805
6.10.1805
First Barbary War: Yusuf Karamanli signs a treaty ending the hostilities between Tripolitania and the United States.
1806
3.29.1806
Construction is authorized of the Great National Pike, better known as the Cumberland Road, becoming the first United States federal highway.
9.23.1806
Lewis and Clark return to St. Louis after exploring the Pacific Northwest of the United States.
1807
8.17.1807
Robert Fulton's first American steamboat leaves New York City for Albany, New York on the Hudson River, inaugurating the first commercial steamboat service in the world.
1808
1.1.1808
The importation of slaves into the United States is banned.
1809
5.5.1809
Mary Kies becomes the first woman awarded a U.S. patent, for a technique of weaving straw with silk and thread.
1810
10.27.1810
United States annexes the former Spanish colony of West Florida.
1811
11.7.1811
Tecumseh's War: The Battle of Tippecanoe is fought near present-day Battle Ground, Indiana, United States.
1812
6.23.1812
War of 1812: Great Britain revokes the restrictions on American commerce, thus eliminating one of the chief reasons for going to war.
7.12.1812
War of 1812: the United States invade Canada at Windsor, Ontario.