The USConstitution.net Timeline

Often in the course of researching events for the USConstitution.net site, I've wondered where in history those events fall in relation to other national and international milestones. On this page, I've listed many events from U.S. and World history, with specific attention to constitutional events.

PalmPilot users: A DOC format file for this timeline is available, and it is free. Get it! The Convention Timeline may also be of interest.

The following is a key for the various abbreviations used below:

• AR: Date an Amendment was ratified
• AP: Date of the passage of a Constitutional Amendment
• NA: Notable American event
• NW: Notable World event
• PR: Presidential term begins
• SH: Statehood (for original 13 colonies, date Constitution was ratified)
• WR: An event in a U.S. war

Dates are of format YYYY/MM/DD (year, month, day).

1620/11/09 NA - Mayflower lands 1689/05/12 WR - King William's War begins 1697/09/30 WR - King William's War ends (Peace of Ryswick) 1702/05/04 WR - Queen Anne's War begins 1713/04/11 WR - Queen Anne's War ends (Peace of Utrecht) 1744/03/15 WR - King George's War begins 1748/10/18 WR - King George's War ends (Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle) 1754/07/10 NA - The Albany Congress meets 1754/07/03 WR - French and Indian War begins 1763/02/10 WR - French and Indian War ends (Treaty of Paris) 1770/03/05 NA - Boston Massacre 1774/09/05 NA - First Continental Congress convenes 1775/04/18 WR - American Revolution begins 1775/05/10 NA - Second Continental Congress convenes 1776/07/04 NA - Declaration of Independence signed 1776/12/20 NA - Third Continental Congress convenes 1777/11/15 NA - Articles of Confederation proposed 1781/03/01 NA - Articles of Confederation ratified 1783/02/04 WR - English declare hostilities at an end 1783/04/11 WR - America declares hostilities at an end 1784/01/14 WR - Revolutionary War Ends (Treaty of Paris) 1787/05/25 NA - Constitutional Convention opens 1787/09/17 NA - Final draft of the Constitution sent to Congress 1787/12/07 SH - Delaware 1787/12/12 SH - Pennsylvania 1787/12/18 SH - New Jersey 1788/01/02 SH - Georgia 1788/01/09 SH - Connecticut 1788/02/06 SH - Massachusetts 1788/04/28 SH - Maryland 1788/05/23 SH - South Carolina 1788/06/21 SH - New Hampshire 1788/06/21 NA - Constitution Ratified 1788/06/25 SH - Virginia 1788/07/26 SH - New York 1789/04/30 PR - George Washington 1789/07/14 NW - French Revolution 1789/09/25 AP - Amendments 1-10, 27, one unratified amendment 1789/11/21 SH - North Carolina 1790/05/29 SH - Rhode Island 1791/03/04 SH - Vermont 1791/12/15 AR - Amendments 1-10 1792/06/01 SH - Kentucky 1794/03/04 AP - Amendment 11 1795/02/07 AR - Amendment 11 1796/06/01 SH - Tennessee 1797/03/04 PR - John Adams 1801/03/04 PR - Thomas Jefferson 1803/03/01 SH - Ohio 1803/12/09 AP - Amendment 12 1804/06/15 AR - Amendment 12 1809/03/04 PR - James Madison 1810/05/01 AP - Unratified anti-title amendment 1810/09/16 NW - Mexican independence 1812/04/30 SH - Louisiana 1812/06/18 WR - War of 1812 begins 1814/12/24 WR - War of 1812 ends (Treaty of Ghent) 1815/06/18 NW - Battle of Waterloo (end of Napoleonic Wars) 1816/12/11 SH - Indiana 1817/03/04 PR - James Monroe 1817/12/10 SH - Mississippi 1818/12/03 SH - Illinois 1819/12/14 SH - Alabama 1820/03/15 SH - Maine 1821/08/10 SH - Missouri 1825/03/04 PR - John Quincy Adams 1827 NW - Greek Independence 1829/03/04 PR - Andrew Jackson 1836/06/15 SH - Arkansas 1837/01/26 SH - Michigan 1837/03/04 PR - Martin Van Buren 1839 NW - First Opium War begins 1841/03/04 PR - William Harrison 1841/04/04 PR - John Tyler (following death of Harrison) 1842/08/29 NW - First Opium War ends (Treaty of Nanking) 1842/08/29 NW - Hong Kong ceded to Britain 1845/03/03 SH - Florida 1845/03/04 PR - James Polk 1845/12/29 SH - Texas 1846/04/25 WR - Mexican War begins 1846/12/28 SH - Iowa 1848 NW - Communist Manifesto published 1848 NW - Revolutions in Germany, Austria, France, Italy, Belgium 1848/02/02 WR - Mexican War ends (Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo) 1848/05/29 SH - Wisconsin 1849/03/04 PR - Zachary Taylor 1850/07/09 PR - Millard Fillmore (following death of Taylor) 1850/09/09 SH - California 1853/03/04 PR - Franklin Pierce 1857/03/04 PR - James Buchanan 1858/05/11 SH - Minnesota 1859/02/14 SH - Oregon 1861/01/29 SH - Kansas 1861/03/02 AP - Unratified slavery amendment 1861/03/04 PR - Abraham Lincoln 1861/04/12 WR - Civil War begins 1863/06/20 SH - West Virginia 1864/10/31 SH - Nevada 1865/01/31 AP - Amendment 13 1865/04/08 WR - Civil War ends (Lee surrenders to Grant) 1865/04/15 PR - Andrew Johnson (following death of Lincoln) 1865/12/06 AR - Amendment 13 1866/06/13 AP - Amendment 14 1867/03/01 SH - Nebraska 1868/02/24 NA - House impeaches President Johnson 1868/05/16 NA - Senate acquits President Johnson 1868/07/09 AR - Amendment 14 1869/02/26 AP - Amendment 15 1869/03/04 PR - Ulysses Grant 1870/02/03 AR - Amendment 15 1871/10/08 NA - Great Chicago Fire 1876/08/01 SH - Colorado 1877/01 NW - Russo-Turkish War begins 1877/03/04 PR - Rutherford Hayes 1878/06 NW - Russo-Turkish War end (Treaty of San Stefano) 1881/03/04 PR - James Garfield 1881/09/19 PR - Chester Arthur (following death of Garfield) 1885/03/04 PR - Grover Cleveland 1889/03/04 PR - Benjamin Harrison 1889/11/02 SH - North Dakota 1889/11/02 SH - South Dakota 1889/11/08 SH - Montana 1889/11/11 SH - Washington 1890/07/03 SH - Idaho 1890/07/10 SH - Wyoming 1893/03/04 PR - Grover Cleveland 1893/06/27 NA - Stock market crash 1896/01/04 SH - Utah 1897/03/04 PR - William McKinley 1898/04/21 WR - Spanish-American War begins 1898/12/10 WR - Spanish-American War ends (Treaty of Paris) 1898/12/10 NA - Guam, Puerto Rico ceded by Spain 1899/10/12 NW - Boer War begins 1901/09/14 PR - Theodore Roosevelt (following death of McKinley) 1902/05/31 NW - Boer War ends 1904/02/08 NW - Russo-Japanese War begins 1905/09/05 NW - Russo-Japanese War ends 1906/04/18 NA - Great San Francisco Earthquake 1907/03/13 NA - Stock market crash 1907/11/16 SH - Oklahoma 1909/03/04 PR - William Taft 1909/07/12 AP - Amendment 16 1912/01/06 SH - New Mexico 1912/02/14 SH - Arizona 1912/02/12 NW - End of China's Qing Dynasty 1912/04/15 NW - Titanic sinks 1912/05/13 AP - Amendment 17 1913/02/03 AR - Amendment 16 1913/03/04 PR - Woodrow Wilson 1913/04/08 AR - Amendment 17 1913/10/10 NW - Panama Canal completed 1914/06/28 NW - Archduke Ferdinand assassinated, setting off WWI 1917/03/15 NW - The Tsar of Russia abdicates 1917/03/31 NA - U.S. purchases the Virgin Islands from Denmark 1917/12/18 AP - Amendment 18 1918/04/02 WR - United States joins WWI 1919/01/16 AR - Amendment 18 1919/06/04 AP - Amendment 19 1919/06/28 WR - WWI officially ends (Treaty of Versailles) 1920/08/18 AR - Amendment 19 1921/03/04 PR - Warren Harding 1923/08/02 PR - Calvin Coolidge (following death of Harding) 1926/06/02 AP - Unratified child labor amendment 1929/03/04 PR - Herbert Hoover 1929/10/29 NA - Stock market crash 1932/03/02 AP - Amendment 20 1933/01/23 AR - Amendment 20 1933/02/20 AP - Amendment 21 1933/03/04 PR - Franklin Roosevelt 1933/12/05 AR - Amendment 21 1936/07/18 NW - Spanish Civil War 1939/09/03 NW - WWII begins 1941/12/11 WR - United States joins WWII 1945/04/12 PR - Harry Truman (following death of Roosevelt) 1945/09/02 WR - WWII ends 1946/01/10 NW - First meeting of the UN 1947/03/21 AP - Amendment 22 1947/08/15 NW - Indian and Pakistani Independence 1949/10/01 NW - Communist China established 1950/06/25 WR - Korean War begins 1951/02/27 AR - Amendment 22 1953/01/20 PR - Dwight Eisenhower 1953/07/27 WR - Korean War ends 1957/10/04 NW - USSR launches Sputnik 1959/01/03 SH - Alaska 1959/08/21 SH - Hawaii 1960/06/17 AP - Amendment 23 1961/01/20 PR - John Kennedy 1961/04/17 NW - Bay of Pigs invasion 1961/03/29 AR - Amendment 23 1962/08/27 AP - Amendment 24 1962/10 NA - Cuban Missile Crisis 1963/11/22 PR - Lyndon Johnson (following death of Kennedy) 1964/01/23 AR - Amendment 24 1964/08/07 WR - Vietnam War begins (Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) 1965/07/06 AP - Amendment 25 1967/02/10 AR - Amendment 25 1969/01/20 PR - Richard Nixon 1971/03/23 AP - Amendment 26 1971/07/01 AR - Amendment 26 1972/03/22 AP - Unratified equal rights amendment 1973/03/29 WR - Vietnam War ends (last U.S. troops leave Vietnam) 1974/08/09 PR - Gerald Ford (following resignation of Nixon) 1977/01/20 PR - James Carter 1978/08/22 AP - Unratified D.C. voting rights amendment 1979/11/04 NW - Iranian militants seize U.S. embassy 1981/01/20 PR - Ronald Reagan 1982/06/30 NA - Unratified equal rights amendment expires 1985/08/22 NA - Unratified D.C. voting rights amendment expires 1989/01/20 PR - George H. W. Bush 1990/10/03 NW - Reunification of Germany 1991/01/17 WR - Gulf War begins 1991/02/27 WR - Gulf War ends 1992/01/01 NW - USSR dissolved 1992/05/07 AR - Amendment 27 1993/01/20 PR - William Clinton 1998/12/19 NA - House impeaches President Clinton 1999/02/12 NA - Senate acquits President Clinton 1999/03/24 WR - Kosovo Conflict begins 1999/06/10 WR - Kosovo Conflict ends 2001/01/20 PR - George W. Bush 2001/09/11 NA - Terrorists attack New York and Washington D.C. 2001/09/14 WR - Congress authorizes use of force for war on terrorism   "This page is a reproduction. The original is Copyrighted by Steve Mount and can be viewed at http://www.usconstitution.net/consttime.html"

---

Copyright Issues?