Table of Contents
Introduction 1
Columbus Arrives in the "New World" (1492) 3
Jamestown Is Founded (1607) 8
The First African Slaves Are Sold in America (1619) 12
The Mayflower Arrives (1620) 16
Tisquantum-Squanto-Saves the Pilgrims (1621) 19
A Massachusetts Settler Kills an Indian, Touching Off King Philip's War (1675) 23
Salem Tries Its People for Witchcraft (1692) 29
Young George Washington Ignites the French and Indian War (1754) 33
The Boston Massacre Is Followed by a Trial (1770) 37
A Minuteman Fires the Shot Heard 'Round the World (1775) 42
The Continental Congress Adopts the Declaration of Independence (1776) 46
Victory at the Battle of Yorktown Assures Independence (1781) 51
Delaware Becomes the First State to Ratify the Constitution (1787) 57
The Bill of Rights Is Drafted (1789) 61
The Supreme Court Decides Its Supremacy (1803) 64
Thomas Jefferson Purchases Louisiana from Napoleon (1803) 67
The British Burn Washington (1814) 71
Ground Is Broken on the Erie Canal (1817) 75
South Carolina's John C. Calhoun Launches the Nullification Crisis (1828) 77
Congress Passes the Indian Removal Act (1830) 80
Andrew Jackson Wages War on the Second Bank of the United States (1832) 84
Samuel F. B. Morse Demonstrates His Telegraph (1844) 87
James Marshall Finds Gold in California (1848) 90
Female Suffragists Meet in Seneca Falls (1848) 95
The Supreme Court Hands Down Its Verdict in Dred Scott v. Sandfird (1857) 98
William Smith Strikes Oil in Titusville, Pennsylvania (1859) 101
Abolitionist John Brown Leads a Raid on the Federal Arsenal at Harpers Ferry (1859) 105
The Confederacy Goes to War against the United States (1861) 109
The Homestead Act Becomes Law (1862) 113
Abraham Lincoln Issues the Emancipation Proclamation (1862) 117
The Union Army Prevails in the Battle of Gettysburg (1863) 121
John Wilkes Booth Assassinates President Lincoln (1865) 126
The Cowboy Becomes an American Icon (1866) 130
The Transcontinental Railroad Is Completed (1869) 134
Sitting Bull and Crazy Horse Triumph in the Battle of the Little Bighorn (1876) 138
Thomas Edison Demonstrates His Incandescent Electric Lamp (1879) 143
The "Battle" of Wounded Knee Ends the Indian Wars (1890) 146
William Jennings Bryan Refuses Crucifixion on a "Cross of Gold" (1896) 150
To Hell with Spain (1898) 153
Edwin S. Porter Directs The Great Train Robbery (1903) 158
The Jungle Aims for America's Heart but Hits It in the Stomach (1906) 161
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire Kills 146 Immigrant Workers (1911) 164
Ford's Moving Assembly Line Begins Operation in Highland Park, Michigan (1913) 169
The Zimmermann Telegram Is Revealed (1917) 171
A Worldwide Influenza Pandemic Begins in the United States (1918) 175
Prohibition Becomes a Federal Case (1919) 177
Congress Rejects the League of Nations (1919) 181
Americans Ratify the Nineteenth Amendment, Giving Women the Vote (1920) 185
Congress Cracks Down on Immigration (1924) 188
Sacco and Vanzetti Are Executed (1927) 191
The Stock Market Crashes (1929) 193
Franklin D. Roosevelt Announces a "New Deal" (1933) 198
The Great Strike Wave Sweeps the Nation (1934-1937) 201
The Japanese Bomb Pearl Harbor (1941) 206
Executive Order 9066 Authorizes the "Internment" of Japanese Americans (1942) 211
The US Navy Prevails in the Battle of Midway (1942) 214
The American Crusade in Europe Begins on the Shores of Normandy (1944) 217
Congress Enacts the "GI Bill" (1944) 222
The Enola Gay Drops an "Atomic Bomb" on Hiroshima (1945) 224
Jackie Robinson Signs a Contract with the Brooklyn Dodgers (1947) 229
The Marshall Plan Goes into Effect, Putting the United States at the Center of Postwar European Recovery (1948) 234
President Truman Authorizes the Berlin Airlift (1948) 238
The North Atlantic Treaty Is Signed, Creating NATO (1949) 242
Senator Joseph McCarthy Claims Communist Infiltration of US Department of State (1950) 245
The Supreme Court's Decision in Brown v. Board of Education Outlaws Racial Segregation (1954) 249
Dr. Jonas Salk Successfully Tests a Polio Vaccine (1955) 252
The Birth Control Pill Is Approved (1960) 255
US Spy Planes Find Nuclear Missiles in Cuba (1962) 258
Betty Friedan Publishes The Feminine Mystique (1963) 262
John F. Kennedy Is Assassinated in Dallas (1963) 265
Lyndon B. Johnson Sets His Goals for a "Great Society" (1964) 269
Congress Passes the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (1964) 272
Congress Passes the Tonkin Gulf Resolution (1964) 275
Ronald Reagan Speaks of "A Time for Choosing" (1964) 278
Bloody Sunday Happens in Selma (1965) 281
North Vietnam Launches the Tet Offensive (1968) 284
Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. Is Assassinated (1968) 288
Robert F. Kennedy Is Assassinated (1968) 291
Democratic National Convention Erupts in Riots (1968) 294
The Stonewall Uprising in New York City Begins the Gay Liberation Movement (1969) 297
Neil Armstrong Sets Foot on the Moon (1969) 299
The Woodstock Festival Becomes an Icon of 1960s American Youth Culture (1969) 302
ARPANET, Precursor to the Internet, Is Launched (1969) 306
Sesame Street Debuts on Public Television, Becoming an Instant Media Landmark in Culture and Education (1969) 309
Richard Nixon Creates the Environmental Protection Agency (1970) 312
President Richard M. Nixon Takes the United States off the Gold Standard (1971) 315
Nixon's Plumbers Are Nabbed at the Watergate (1972) 318
Richard M. Nixon Resigns the Presidency (1974) 320
AIDS First Clinically Observed in the United States (1981) 324
Motorola Releases the DynaTAC 8000X, First Commercial Cellular Telephone (1983) 327
The Berlin Wall Falls (1989) 330
Federal Officers Lay Siege to the "Branch Davidian Compound" in Waco, Texas (1993) 333
Terrorists Attack the United States (2001) 337
Human Genome Project Is Completed (2003) 340
Facebook Is Launched (2004) 343
Lehman Brothers Collapses, Triggering a Global Financial Crisis (2008) 347
Barack Obama Is Elected the Nations First African American President (2008) 350
Donald Trump Defeats Hillary Clinton to Become the Forty-Fifth President of the United States (2016) 354
Russia Is Accused of "Meddling" in the US Presidential Election (2016) 359
Amid a New Nationalism, the United States Withdraws from the Paris Climate Accords (2017) 363
Index 367