10 Towns that Changed America | Timeline
Congress ratifies the Bill of Rights.
1791
Tenements are constructed in New York City.
Circa 1830s
Gold is discovered in California.
1848
Dred Scott sues for his freedom and loses.
1857
The American Civil War begins. The Virginia State Capitol (shown here in 1865) houses the Confederate government alongside the Virginia State Assembly.
1861
The Civil War ends; Abraham Lincoln is assassinated.
1865
The Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet in Promontory, Utah, completing the Transcontinental Railroad.
1869
Much of Chicago is destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire.
1871
Thomas Edison invents the light bulb.
1879
The Statue of Liberty is dedicated.
1886
The Wright Brothers achieve the first powered air flight.
1903
Henry Ford introduces the Model T automobile.
1908
The Titanic sinks in the North Atlantic Ocean.
1912
The Panama Canal is completed.
1914
Women gain the right to vote.
1920
Charles Lindbergh flies across the Atlantic Ocean.
1927
The stock market crashes.
1929
Japan attacks Pearl Harbor.
1941
“D-Day”: Allies invade Normandy, France.
1944
The U.S. drops the atomic bomb on Hiroshima.
1945
A ruling in Brown vs. Board of Education desegregates schools.
1954
Russia launches the Sputnik satellite.
1957
John Glenn orbits Earth in the “Friendship 7” Mercury spacecraft.
1962
President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
1963
The U.S. lands on the moon.
1969
Richard M. Nixon resigns.
1974
The Vietnam War ends.
1975
The Iran Hostage crisis begins.
1979
The Eastern Bloc dissolves.
1989
The World Trade Center is attacked.
2001
The U.S. invades Iraq.
2003
