United States profile – Timeline

Declaration of Independence endorsed by Congress; colonies declare independence.

Plymouth Colony, near Cape Cod, is founded by the Pilgrim Fathers, whose example is followed by other English Puritans in New England.

Colonists form First Continental Congress as Britain closes down Boston harbour and deploys troops in Massachusetts.

Confederates defeated; slavery abolished under Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln is assassinated.1865&nbsp;- Confederates defeated; slavery abolished under Thirteenth Amendment. Lincoln is assassinated.

Opponents of slavery, or abolitionists, set up Republican Party.

Eleven pro-slavery southern states secede from Union and form Confederate States of America, triggering civil war with abolitionist northern states.

George Washington elected first president of USA.

Britain accepts loss of colonies by virtue of Treaty of Paris.

 Republican candidate Abraham Lincoln elected president.

                                                 A chronology of key events

France sells Louisiana territories to USA.

Lincoln issues Emancipation Proclamation, declaring slaves in Confederate states to be free.

Jamestown, Virginia, founded by English settlers, who begin growing tobacco.

Residual resistance by indigenous people crushed as immigration from Europe assumes mass proportions, with settlers moving westwards and claiming 'manifest destiny' to control North America; number of states in the union rises from 17 to 45.

Congress gives indigenous people right to citizenship.

War of 1812 between the US and Britain, partly over the effects of British restrictions on US trade during the Napoleonic Wars.

US intervenes in World War I, but rejects membership of League of Nations in its aftermath.

Hundreds of thousands of Africans brought over and sold into slavery to work on cotton and tobacco plantations.

US gains Puerto Rico, Guam, the Philippines and Cuba following the Spanish-American war. US annexes Hawaii.

Britain gains control of territory up to the Mississippi river following victory over France in Seven Years' War.

Rebel states form loose confederation after defeating the British at the Battle of Yorktown.

Sale and manufacture of alcoholic liquor outlawed. The Prohibition era sees a mushrooming of illegal drinking joints, home- produced alcohol and gangsterism. The Wall Street crash of 1929 sparked the Great Depression

American Revolution: George Washington leads Continental Army to fight against British rule.

US acquires vast tracts of Mexican territory in wake of Mexican War including California and New Mexico.

Bill of Rights guarantees individual freedom.

First permanent European settlement in North America - St Augustine, present-day Florida - founded by the Spanish. North America is already inhabited by several distinct groups of people, who go into decline following the arrival of settlers.

More than 13 million people are unemployed after the Wall Street stock market crash of 1929 triggers the Great Depression. President Herbert Hoover rejects direct federal relief.

Founding Fathers draw up new constitution for United States of America. Constitution comes into effect in 1788.

War of Independence

Women given the right to vote under the Nineteenth Amendment.

President Franklin D Roosevelt launches &amp;quot;New Deal&amp;quot; recovery programmer which includes major public works. Sale of alcohol resumes.