Virginia assembly, called House of Burgesses, meets for the first time

Pilgrims sign the Mayflower Compact

John Winthrop transfers Massachusetts Bay charter to New England

Bacon's Rebellion threatens Governor Berkeley's government in Virginia

Rebellions break out in Massachusetts, New York, and Maryland

Albany Congress meets

Samuel Adams forms committee of correspondence

Parliament punishes Boston with Coercive Acts (March-June), First Continental Congress convenes (September)

Second Continental Congress gathers (May)

Congress votes for independence; Declaration of Independence is signed

Newburgh Conspiracy thwarted (March)

George Washington inaugurated (April)

Spread of “Democratic” Clubs alarms Federalists, Jefferson resigns as secretary of state (December)

Whiskey Rebellion put down by U.S. Army (July-November)

Hamilton resigns as secretary of the treasury (January)

Washington publishes “Farewell Address” (September), John Adams elected president (December)

Congress passes the Alien and Sedition Acts (June and July), Virginia and Kentucky Resolutions protest the Alien and Sedition Acts (November and December)

House of Representatives elects Thomas Jefferson president (February), Adams makes “midnight” appointments of federal judges

Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton in a duel (July), Jefferson elected to second term

Justice Samuel Chase acquitted by Senate (March)

Burr is tried for conspiracy (August-September)

Madison elected president

Madison elected to second term, defeating De Witt Clinton of New York

James Monroe elected president

Monroe reelected president unanimously

House of Representatives elects John Quincy Adams president

Jackson elected president over J. Q. Adams

Jackson reorganizes his cabinet, First national nominating conventions meet

Jackson reelected, defeating Henry Clay (National Republican candidate)

Whig party comes into existence

Martin Van Buren elected president

Harrison (Whig) defeats Van Buren (Democrat) for the presidency

President John Tyler inaugurated

James K. Polk elected president on a platform of expansionism

Free-Soil party is founded, Zachary Taylor (Whig) elected president, defeating Lewis Cass (Democrat) and Martin Van Buren (Free-Soil)

Franklin Pierce (Democrat) elected president by a large majority over Winfield Scott (Whig)

Republican party founded in several northern states

Know-Nothing party achieves stunning successes in state politics

Preston Brooks assaults Charles Sumner on Senate floor; James Buchanan wins presidency despite strong challenge in the North from John C. Fremont

Lincoln and Douglas debate slavery issue in Illinois

Fierce struggle takes place over election of a Republican as Speaker of the House (December-February)

Republicans nominate Abraham Lincoln for presidency (May), Democratic party splits into northern and southern factions with separate, candidates and platforms (June), Lincoln wins the presidency over Douglas, Breckinridge, and Bell

Lincoln is reelected president, defeating McClellan (November)

Lincoln sets forth 10 percent Reconstruction plan

Wade-Davis Bill passes Congress but is pocket vetoed by Lincoln

Lincoln assassinated by John Wilkes Booth (April)

Johnson moves to reconstruct the South on his own initiative, Congress refuses to seat representatives and senators elected from states reestablished under presidential plan (December)

Johnson vetoes Freedmen's Bureau Bill (February), Republicans increase their congressional majority in the fall elections

First Reconstruction Act is passed over Johnson's veto (March)

Johnson is impeached, he avoids conviction by one vote (February-May), Grant wins presidential election, defeating Horatio Seymour

Grant reelected president, defeating Horace Greeley, candidate of Liberal Republicans and Democrats

"Whiskey Ring" scandal exposed

Disputed presidential election resolved in favor of Republican Hayes over Democrat Tilden

Republican James A. Garfield elected president

Garfield assassinated; Vice President Chester A. Arthur becomes president

Democrat Grover Cleveland elected president, defeating Republican James G. Blaine

Republican Benjamin Harrison wins presidential election

Republican-dominated “Billion-Dollar” Congress enacts McKinley Tariff Act, Sherman Antitrust Act, and Sherman Silver Purchase Act, Farmers' Alliance adopts the Ocala Demands

Democrat Cleveland defeats Republican Harrison for presidency, People's Party formed

Republican McKinley defeats William Jennings Bryan, Democratic and Populist candidate, in "Battle of the Standards"

McKinley reelected, again defeating Bryan; Galveston, Texas, is first city to try commission form of government

McKinley assassinated, Vice President Theodore Roosevelt assumes presidency, Robert M. La Follette elected reform governor of Wisconsin, Socialist party of America organized

Oregon adopts the initiative and referendum

Roosevelt elected president

Taft elected president,

Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act divides Republican party

Taft fires Gifford Pinchot, head of U.S. Forest Service, 1910 Democrats sweep midterm elections

Progressive party formed, nominates Roosevelt for president; Woodrow Wilson elected president

Wilson wins reelection

Warren G. Harding elected president

Senate probes Teapot Dome scandal, Veterans' World War I bonus bill passed

Franklin D. Roosevelt elected president

FDR wins second term as president

FDR loses court-packing battle (July)

FDR dies, Harry Truman becomes president (April)

Republicans win control of both houses of Congress in November elections

Truman scores upset victory in presidential election

Dwight D. Eisenhower elected president

JFK assassinated; Lyndon B. Johnson sworn in as president (November)

Johnson wins presidency in landslide (November)

Johnson announces he will not seek reelection (March)

Robert Kennedy assassinated in Los Angeles (June)

White House “plumbers” unit breaks into Democratic headquarters in Watergate complex (June), Richard Nixon wins reelection in landslide victory over McGovern (November)

Supreme Court orders Nixon to surrender White House tapes (June); Richard M. Nixon resigns presidency (August)

Jimmy Carter defeats Gerald Ford in presidential election (November)

Ronald Reagan wins presidency in landslide

Ronald Reagan reelected president (November)

George Bush defeats Michael Dukakis decisively in presidential election

Bush breaks "no new taxes” campaign pledge, supports $500 billion budget deal (November)