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1607 Jamestown Colony founded 1619 First meeting of the Virginia House of Burgesses, first Africans arrive in Jamestown 1620 Mayflower Compact 1624 Virginia becomes a Royal Colony 1630 John Winthrop, A Model of Christian Charity; Massachusetts Bay colony founded 1634 Cecilius Calvert (Lord Baltimore) founds Maryland proprietary colony |
Roger Williams banished from Mass. 1635 Williams founds Rhode Island 1636 Anne Hutchinson tried in Mass. Bay; banished to RI 1637 Half-Way Covenant 1662 King Philip's War (New England) 1675-1676 Bacon's Rebellion 1676 William Penn founds Pennsylvania (Charter) 1681 |
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1689 John Locke publishes Two Treatises of Government 1692-1693 Salem Witch Trials 1729 Crown ends proprietary rule 1732 Colony of Georgia chartered; Ben Franklin begins publishing Poor Richard's Almanac 1735 John Peter Zenger trial (August 4) |
Molasses Act 1733 First Great Awakening Begins in Mass. 1739 French and Indian War (Seven Years War '56-'63) 1754-1760 George III becomes King of Great Britain 1760 Albany Plan of Union Signed 1754 Pontiac's Rebellion (August) 1763 |
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1764 Sugar
Act, end the policy of "Salutary Neglect" 1765 The Stamp Act, Quartering Act; colonists begin boycott of English goods, Resolutions of the Stamp Act of Congress issued
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Boycott – Sons of Liberty – Stamp Tax Repealed, Declaratory Act 1766 The Townshend Duties (Revenue Act), John Dickinson’s "Letter from a Farmer in Pennsylvania" 1767 Circular Letters – Samuel Adams – Boston, Boston merchants adopt non-importation, John Hancock's Liberty seized, British troops arrive in Boston, the Second Boycott 1768 |
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1770 Townshend Duties (except tea) Repealed, the Boston Massacre, Quakers ban slaveowning 1772 Gaspee burned 1773 Tea Act, Boston Tea Party 1774 The Intolerable (Coercive) Acts, Declaration and Resolves of the First Contintental Congress (October 14), The Articles of Association (October 20)
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Lexington and Concord (April 19), 2nd Continental Congress, Washington Appointed Commander-in-Chief, Patrick Henry, Give Me Liberty... (March 23), Charlotte Town Resolves (May 31), Olive Branch Petition, Declaration of the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms (July 6), Bunker Hill (June 17) fought on Breed’s Hill 1775 Preamble and Resolution of the Virginia Convention (May 15), Common Sense by Thomas Paine, Virginia Declaration of Rights (June 12), Declaration of Independence (July 4), British defeat Washington around NYC, American victory at Trenton (December 26)1776 |
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1777 American victory at Princeton,
British general Burgoyne surrenders at Saratoga, British occupy Philly, Howe defeats
Washington at Germantown, Articles of Confederation approved, Winter at Valley Forge 1778 France Becomes Colonies' Ally (June 17), England Offers Peace (June 17), Battle of Monmouth Court House - NJ (June 28) 1780 Benedict Arnold’s Treason (September 21) 1781 The Articles of the Confederation become law (March 1), Yorktown (October 19) 1782 Parliament Acts to Bring War to a Close (March 5), Peace Terms Arranged (November 30) |
Peace Treaty Signed in Paris (September 3) 1783 Shay's Rebellion (MA) 1786-1787 Hamilton, Madison, Jay Federalist Papers 1788 Constitution becomes law 1788 GW sworn in as 1st President 1789 Hamilton's Report on the Public Credit, Report on Manufactures, Slater's cotton yarn mill opens in RI 1790 |
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1791-1811 First Bank of the United States 1791 Bill of Rights Ratified 1792 Mary Wollstonecraft, Vindication of the Rights of Women, GW Re-elected 1793 Chisolm v. Georgia, Cotton Gin invented, GW's Neutrality Proclamation 1794 Whiskey Rebellion |
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Jay Treaty with England 1795 1796 Washington’s Farewell Address, John Adams narrow victory over Thomas Jefferson 1796 1797 XYZ Affair 1797 1798 The Naturalization Act (June 18), The Alien Act (June 25), The Sedition Act (July 14), Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions (December)1798 |
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Midnight Judges' Appointments 1800-1801 Jefferson elected, Gabriel Prosser’s rebellion in Virginia, Marshall becomes Chief Justice 1800 American right of deposit at New Orleans revoked 1802 Marbury v. Madison, Louisiana Purchase 1803 Aaron Burr kills Alexander Hamilton, Jefferson reelected 1804 Lewis and Clark expedition 1804-1806 Congress bans importation of slaves, James Madison elected 1808 |
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1809 Non-Intercourse Act
passed, Embargo Act repealed 1810 Macon's Bill No. 2, Fletcher v. Peck 1811 Battle of Tippecanoe 1812 War of 1812, Madison reelected, LA admitted to Union 1814 British burn Washington, DC, Hartford Convention 1815 Battle of New Orleans 1816 Second Bank of the United States, James Monroe elected |
Mississippi enters union, Rush-Bagot Treaty, Erie Canal begun, American Colonization Society founded 1817 US/British joint occupation of Oregon for 10 years 1818 Adams- Onis Treaty (FL annexed), TX boundary defined. AL enters Union Dartmouth College v. Woodward, McCulloch v. Maryland 1819 Missouri Compromise, Monroe reelected 1820 Monroe Doctrine 1823 Gibbons v. Ogden, John Q. Adams elected President by the House of Representatives (Corrupt Bargain) 1824 |
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1825 Erie Canal completed 1825 John Quincy Adams elected by House 1826 American Temperance Society organized 1827 OR joint occupation extended indefinitely 1828 Tariff of Abominations, Andrew Jackson elected 1830 Indian Removal Act passed, Maysville Road Veto, Mexico closes TX to further American colonization 1830-1831 Charles G. Finney's Rochester revival 1831 William Lloyd Garrison begins publishing The Liberator |
| 1831 Cherokee
v. Georgia, de Tocqueville visits to study penitentiaries 1832 Worcester v. Georgia, Jackson vetoes Bank recharter 1832 New England Anti-Slavery Society formed, Jackson reelected, South Carolina Nullification Proclamation, cholera epidemic 1833 Force Bill (SC nullifies), Compromise Tariff, American Anti-Slavery Society founded 1834 Whig Party formed, 1st strike at Lowell Mills, mechanical reaper patented, ban on immigration to TX repealed 1835 Santa Anna invades TX 1836 TX declares independence, Alamo falls, Goliad massacre, Battle of San Jacinto, Martin Van Buren elected, Specie Circular, Congress imposes the gag rule 1837 Panic of 1837 begins depression lasting until 1843 |
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| 1838 Trail of Tears, Grimke sisters publish letters 1839 Economic depression, Bank of US fails 1840 William Henry Harrison elected 1841 Tyler succeeds Harrison, Brook Farm founded, Dorothea Dix begins prison expose, PT Barnum opens American Museum 1844 James K Polk elected, Morse patents the telegraph |
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| 1844 Senate rejects annexing TX 1845 Texas & Florida admitted to the Union 1846 US declares war on Mexico, Wilmot Proviso introduced 1848 Seneca Falls Convention, Declaration of Sentiments 1848 Free Soil Party Formed, Zachary Taylor elected, Oneida Community started, Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo 1849 CA Gold Rush, CA seeks admission as free state, second Cholera epidemic |
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| 1850 Compromise of 1850, Millard Fillmore succeeds
Taylor 1851 American Party formed, YMCA opens 1852 Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Franklin Pierce elected, PA railroad from Philly to Pittsburgh completed 1853 Gadsden Purchase, NY Children's Aid Society founded 1854 Kansas-Nebraska Act 1854-1855 emergence of Know-Nothing and Republican parties |
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| 1856 James Buchanan elected,
John Brown's Pottawatomie massacre 1857 Dred Scott v. Sanford, financial panic begins depression 1858 Lincoln-Douglas debates 1859 John Brown raids Harpers Ferry |
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1860 Lincoln
elected, SC secedes1861 Lower South secedes, Georgia secedes, Confederate States of America formed,
fire on Fort Sumter, Upper South secedes
1861 Lincoln calls for volunteers, naval blockade of South, First Battle of Bull Run, First Confiscation Act 1862 Shiloh, Confederate draft, Homestead Act, Pacific Railroad Act, Morrill Land Grant Act, 2nd Confiscation Act, 2nd Battle of Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericksburg, Sioux War |
| 1863 Emancipation Proclamation, suspension of habeas corpus National Bank Act, Chancellorsville, Gettysburg,
surrender at Vicksburg, NYC draft riots,Gettysburg Address 1864 Grant given command, Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor (battles), surrender at Atlanta, Wade-Davis bill passed by Congress (pocket vetoed by Lincoln), Lincoln reelected, Sherman's march to the sea 1865 Sherman in SC, Grant takes Richmond, April 9th: Robert E. Lee surrenders at Appomattox, Lincoln Assassinated, Johnson becomes President, Long drive of Texas longhorns begins, 13th Amendment ratified, Freedman’s Bureau established 1866 Civil Rights Act over Johnson's veto, KKK founded in TN, TN readmitted, race riots in southern cities, 1867 Tenure of Office Act, Reconstruction Acts, Alaska purchased, Grange founded |
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1868 Johnson impeached (tried and acquitted), 14th Amendment, Grant elected 1869 Knights of Labor founded, first transcontinental railroad completed, Boss Tweed gains control of Tammany Hall 1870 Enforcement Acts passed, Fifteenth Amendment ratified, last 4 southern states readmitted, Standard Oil Company established 1871 Ku Klux Klan Act, Chicago fire 1872 Amnesty Act, Grant re-elected, Yellowstone established, Anthony Comstock begins purity campaign in NY (Comstock Laws) |
| 1873 Panic of 1873, Depression
begins, biggest Comstock Lode strike (NV) 1874 Democrats regain House, invention of barbed wire 1875 Civil Rights Act, Specie Resumption Act 1876 Hayes/Tilden disputed election, Battle of Little Big Horn (Custer), telephone patented 1877 End of Reconstruction: election goes to Hayes, last state Republican gov'ts ousted, nationwide railroad strike, Munn v. Illinois, phonograph invented |
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1878 Bland Allison Act (silver purchase by US
treasury) 1879 Henry George, Progress and Poverty, NY "dumbbell" tenement law passed 1880 James A Garfield elected 1881 Garfield Assassinated, Chester A Arthur becomes president, Helen Hunt Jackson A Century of Dishonor, Standard Oil Trust established 1883 Pendelton Civil Service Act, Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West Show, RR divide country into time zones, Brooklyn Bridge opens 1884 Grover Cleveland elected president 1886 Disputed Presidential Election between Hayes and Tilden, Haymarket bombing, AFL formed, Wabash v. Illinois 1887 March: election resolved by Congress in favor of Hayes, Interstate Commerce Commission established |
| 1888 Benjamin Harrison
elected 1889 Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr found Hull House, OK territory open for settlement, Andrew Carnegie The Gospel of Wealth 1890 Sherman Anti-Trust Act, Ghost Dance movement spreads to Black Hills, SD, Yosemite National Park established, Jacob Riis How the Other Half Lives Sherman Silver Purchase Act Massacre at Wounded Knee 1892 Populist Party founded, Homestead steel strike, Grover Cleveland elected, John Muir organizes the Sierra Club, General Electric formed, Homestead Steel strike. Ellis Island immigrant admitting station opens |
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1893 Panic of 1893, depression begins,
Turner's Frontier Thesis, overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani 1894 Coxey’s Army, Pullman strike 1895 Anti-Saloon Leage founded, U.S. v. E.C. Knight 1896 William McKinley elected 1897 First subway built in Boston, Depression ends, Dingley Tariff 1898 Spanish-American War, Plessy vs. Ferguson 1898-1902 US supresses guerilla uprising in Philippines 1899 National Consumer’s league founded, Treaty of Paris, Open Door notes on China, Boxer Rebellion |
| 1900-The new Hawaii Territory is organized,
gold standard adopted, 2nd Open Door notes on China, Booker T. Washington founds the
National Negro Business League, International Ladies' Garment Workers' Union founded,
Socialist Party of America organized, Carrie Chapman Catt becomes president of NAWSA 1901-The first Nobel prizes are awarded, Platt Amendment maintains US role in Cuba, McKinley assassinated, Teddy Roosevelt president, Booker T. Washington's autobiography Up From Slavery is published, American Socialists form the Socialist Party of America 1902-The U.S. gains control of the Panama Canal when they bought the rights from a France construction company. |
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| 1903-First successful flight by the Wright
Brothers, revolution in Panama, first silent movie, The Great Train Robbery 1904-Roosevelt issues a message to Congress that becomes the Roosevelt Corollary, construction of the Panama Canal begins, Ida Tarbell History of Standard Oil 1905-Albert Einstein develops his famous theory of relativity, International Workers of the World organized 1906-Upton Sinclair The Jungle, Pure Food and Drug Act, Meat Inspection Act, Lochner v. New York, San Francisco ends school segregation of Asian children 1907-California's political leaders win restrictions on Japanese immigration, Great White Fleet sails |
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| 1908-Ford produces its first Model-T
automobile, Muller v. Oregon, Taft elected President 1909-Robert E. Peary becomes the first man to reach the north pole, NAACP founded 1909-The National Association for Advancement of Colored People is formed. (NAACP) 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, Supreme Court dissolves Standard Oil 1912-Massachusetts 1st state to adopt a minimum wage, Bull Moose Party is formed to reelect Theodore Roosevelt as President, Titanic sinks, Children's Bureau established within the Department of Labor, marines occupy Nicaragua |
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1913-The Federal Reserve System is created
(FRS), Alice Paul and Lucy Burns take over the NAWSA 1914-The United States declares neutrality in World War I, Wilson creates the Federal Trade Commission, Clayton Anti-Trust Act, Panama Canal is completed 1915-Jane Addams and Carrie Chapman Catt organize the Woman's Peace Party, German submarines sink the Lusitania, marines occupy Haiti and Dominican Republic, modern KKK founded 1916-Wilson reelected on his 14 Points of Peace platform, Margaret Sanger opens 1st birth control clinic in Brooklyn, National Park Service created. 1917-Germany begins unrestricted submarine warfare, US enters World War I, Congress passes the Selective Service Act, US grants Puerto Ricans US citizenship; War Industries Board, Committee on Public Information and Food Administration created, Espionage Act passed, US gov't federalizes railroads |
| 1918-Germany surrenders to the Allies, world-wide influenza epidemic kills 22 million people. 1919-18th Amendment (prohibition) ratified, Versailles Treaty, Chicago race riots 1920- Sacco and Vanzetti convicted of the murder creating a national public outcry, League of Nations is established, Nazi party organized in Germany, 19th Amendment ratified |
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| 1921-A joint resolution to officially end World
War I in the U.S. finally passes 1922 Supreme Court declares child-labor law unconstitutional 1923-Warren G. Harding dies, succeeded by Calvin Coolidge. 1924-Teapot Dome investigated 1925- Scopes trial 1926-Germany is successfully admitted into the League of Nations |
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| 1927- Babe Ruth hits 60 home runs, Lindbergh's
solo transatlantic flight, The Jazz Singer (first sound movie) 1928-The automobile, steel, rubber, glass, and housing industries are in recession foreshadowing the future events of the depression, Kellogg-Briand Pact, Hoover elected 1929-After reaching an all time high in September, the stock market crashes creating a worldwide economic crisis, Hallelujah (first all-black movie) 1930 Hoover's Emergency Committee for Employment 1931-Scottsboro Boys arrested, Empire State Building opens 1932-Amelia Earhart is the first woman to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean, Lindbergh baby kidnapped and murdered, Reconstruction Finance Corporation, FDR elected 1933-The First U.S. aircraft carrier launched, Former President Calvin Coolidge, a symbol of the age of prosperity, dies, Roosevelt inaugurated, Frances Perkins first woman to hold a cabinet post, Prohibition repealed, New Deal Agencies: FDIC , CCC, FERA, TVA, AAA, NRA, PWA, CWA |
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| 1934 Securities Exchange Commission
created, Democrats gain in midterm elections 1935-Social Security Act passed, WPA established, TVA declared unconstitutional, Wagner Act (Nat'l Labor Relations), Neutraily Acts ('35-'37) 1936 AAA declared unconstitutional, FDR landslide reelection 1937 FSA created, FDR Recession ('37-'38) 1938-A Severe recession hits the United States economy because of the depression, CIO formed 1939 WWII, Germany and USSR invade Poland 1940 Selective Service Act, FDR elected to 3rd term |
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| 1941- Lend Lease, Pearl Harbor, US enters WWII 1942-The Revenue Act of 1942 increases the number of Americans who pay income taxes, Japanese Americans interned, CORE founded 1943 Coal miners strike, Detroit race riot 1944-D-Day, GI Bill of Rights, FDR wins an fourth term 1945-FDR dies after Yalta Conference, US drops atomic bombs on Japan, United Nations established, Japanese Americans are finally released from internment camps |
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1946 More than 1 million GIs enrolled
in college, inflation soars more than 18%, Dr. Spock Baby and Child Care, 1st
computer begins operation 1947-Jackie Robinson becomes the first African American to play baseball for the Major Leagues, Truman Doctrine 1948-Truman bans racial segregation in the armed forces, Israel founded, Berlin blockade and airlift, Marshall Plan approved, Truman elected 1949-The North Atlantic Treaty (NATO) is established, East and West Germany founded as separate nations, Communist victory in China, USSR detonates atomic bomb 1950-Truman authorizes the production of the H-bomb, Senator Joseph McCarthy begins anti-communist crusade, Korean War begins, Rosenbergs arrested for atomic spying 1951-Presidents limited to 2 terms, end to US occupation of Japan, MacArthur dismissed from Korean command, Rosenbergs convicted of espionage |
| 1952 1st hydrogen bomb exploded, Ike elected president 1953-The Rosenbergs are executed for traitorous espionage, Earl Warren appointed Chief Justice 1954-The Nationally televised Army-McCarthy hearings lead to Senator Joseph McCarthy's downfall, Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, KS, Congress adds the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance and requires "In God We Trust" to appear on all American currency the next year, fall of Dienbienphu |
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1955-Rosa Parks arrested (Montgomery bus boycott), polio vaccine developed, Rebel without a Cause 1956-The Montgomery bus boycott, Interstate Highway Act, Suez crisis, Ike relected 1957-Integration of Central High School (Little Rock, Arkansas), Eisenhower Doctrine, Sputnik, Baby Boom peak (4.3 million birth) 1958-The first U.S. satellite (Explore 1) goes into orbit, US troops to Lebanon, NASA founded 1959-The U.S. severs its diplomatic with Cuba after Fidel Castro rises to power and Cuba becomes communist. 1960-U-2 spy plane incident, NLF of South Vietnam established, Birth-control pill marketed |
| 1960-Kennedy/Nixon debates, JFK elected 1961-Peace Corps created, Bay of Pigs invasion, Freedom rides, Berlin Wall erected 1962-John Glenn orbits the earth, Cuban missle crisis, James Meredith becomes the first African American student to attend the University of Mississippi, a highly segregated southern school, President Kennedy issues the order that protects federal employees' right to organize and bargain collectively, but not to strike, Rachel Carson Silent Spring, Engel v. Vitale 1963- Kennedy assassinated, Abington v. Schempp, Gideon v. Wainwright, Jacobellis v. Ohio, Birmingham demonstrations, March on Washinton, US-USSR test ban treaty, Betty Friedan The Feminine Mystique |
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1964-Congress ratifies the Civil Rights Act, New York Times v. Sullivan, Freedom Summer, Gulf of
Tonkin incident and Resolution, Economic Opportunity Act (war on poverty), LBJ elected 1965- Malcom X assassinated, Johnson quickly increases the number of troops in Vietnam, bombing of North Vietnam, Selma to Montgomery march, Voting rights act, Watts riots (LA) 1966-NOW founded, Black Panther party founded, Miranda v. Arizona 1967-Antiwar demonstrations, urban race riots, Loving v. Virginia |
| 1968-Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
assassinated (race riots), Katzenbach
v. Morgan, Tet offensive, LBJ not seek reelection, student take-over Columbia U.,
violence at Democratic convention, Vietnam Peac talks (Paris), Nixon elected 1969-Apollo 11 moon landing, Vietnamization, Woodstock, Calley charged with murder for My Lai massacre 1970-Environmental Protection Agency established, US invades Cambodia, students killed at Kent State and Jackson State, OSHA created, 1st earth day 1971-The 26th Amendment lowering the voting age to 18 in all elections was ratified, US invades Laos, Swann v. Charlotte-Mecklenbrg Board of Education, NYT publishes Pentagon Papers, Nixon freezes on prices and wages. 1972-A break-in at the Democratic headquarters sets off the Watergate Scandal, ERA passed by Congress (never ratified), SALT I, Nixon reelected in landslide |
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| 1973-Vice President Spiro Agnew resigns and
pleads no contest to charges of tax evasion, the Vietnam War peace pacts were signed in
Paris, last of the American forces finally leave Vietnam, Gerald Ford becomes the first
Vice President appointed under the 25th Amendment, Roe v. Wade, OPEC embargo 1974- Supreme Court orders Nixon to release Watergate tapes, House Judiciary Committee votes to impeach Nixon, Nixon resigned with Vice President Gerald Ford sworn in on the same day. 1976-South Vietnam falls, North and South Vietnam are united, bring an end to the Vietnam War, Jimmy Carter elected president 1977-President Jimmy Carter establishes the Department of Energy, introduction of the Apple II computer |
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| 1978-The U.S. Senate votes to turn over the
Panama Canal to Panama on the future date of December 31, 1999, double-digit inflation
('78-'80), University
of California v. Bakke 1979-Iranians seize the American Embassy in Tehran, taking 63 Americans hostage, Three Mile Island accident, SALT II, Carter restores full diplomatic relations with China 1980-John Lennon killed, US w/d from SALT II after USSR invasion of Afghanistan, Reagan elected 1981-American hostages released, Reagan assassination attempt, severe recession ('81-'83), first space shuttle (Columbia) sent into space |
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| 1981-Congress passes President Reagan's tax cut
legislation which was the largest tax cut in the nation's history. It was expected to save
the taxpayers $750 billion over the next five years. 1982-ERA dies, CIA organizes contra war against Nicaragua's Sandinista government, stock-market boom begins 1983-Sally Ride becomes the first American woman to travel in space, 239 US marines die in Beirut terrorist attack, US invastion of Grenada, Reagan proposes SDI 1984-Geraldine Ferraro becomes the first woman to run for the vice presidency on a major party ticket, Reagan defeats Mondale in landslide, Congress bars military aid to contras |
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| 1985 rash of airline jijackings and other terrorist acts by
Palestinians 1986-The U.S. officially observes Martin Luther King Jr. Day for the first time, space shuttle Challenger explodes, Press reports break the first news of the Iran-contra scandal involving the secret U.S. sale of arms to Iran, William Rehnquist becomes Chief Justice, Antonin Scalia appointed to Supreme Court 1987-stock market crash, President Reagan and Soviet leader Gorbachev meet in Washington and sign an unprecedented agreement calling for the dismantling of all 1,752 U.S. and 859 Soviet missiles within a 300 to 3,400 mile range, Congressional Iran-Contra hearings 1989-increase in homelessness, U.S. military troops invade Panama and install a new government, the Berlin Wall falls uniting communist East Germany and capitalistic West Germany |
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