Finding Resources: U.S. History Primary Source Timelines

Colonial Settlement
1600s – 1763

  • Overview
  • The English Establish a Foothold at Jamestown, 1606-10
  • Evolution of Virginia Colony 1611-24
  • Virginia’s Early Relations with Native Americans
  • Establishing the Georgia Colony, 1732-50

The American Revolution 1763 – 83

  • Overview
  • British Reforms and Colonial Resistance
    1763-66
  • British Reforms & Colonial Resistance
    1767-72
  • The Colonies Move Toward Open Rebellion
    1773-74
  • First Shots of War
    1775
  • Creating a Continental Army
  • Revolutionary War: Northern Front 1775-77
  • Revolutionary War: The Turning Point 1776-77
  • Revolutionary War: Southern Phase 1778-81
  • Revolutionary War:
    The Home Front
  • Revolutionary War: Groping Toward Peace
    1781-83

The New Nation
1783-1815

  • Overview
  • Policies and Problems of the Confederation Government
  • Government Policy Toward Native Americans
  • The United States Constitution

National Expansion & Reform
1815-80

  • Overview
  • Pre-Civil War African-American Slavery
  • Reformers and Crusaders
  • Traveling on the Overland Trails, 1843-1860

Civil War & Reconstruction
1861-77

  • Overview
  • Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency
  • The South
  • The North
  • African-American Soldiers
  • Soldiers’ Stories
  • The Freedmen
  • Reconstruction & Rights
  • The Travails of Reconstruction

Rise of Industrial America
1876-1900

  • Overview
  • The American West 1865-1900
  • Immigration to U.S.
  • City Life
  • Rural Life
  • Railroads
  • Work

Progressive Era to New Era
1900-29

  • Overview
  • Automobiles
  • Cities
  • Conservation
  • Immigrants
  • Prohibition: Case Study of Progressive Reform
  • U.S. Participation in the Great War (World War I)
  • Women’s Suffrage

Great Depression & WW II
1929-45

  • Overview
  • Americans React to the Great Depression
  • Art and Entertainment
  • The Dust Bowl
  • President Franklin Delano Roosevelt & the New Deal
  • Labor Unions
  • Race Relations
  • World War II

The Post War United States
1945-68

  • Overview
  • Arts & Entertainment
  • The Civil Rights Movement
  • Martin Luther King, Jr.
  • LGBTQ Activism
  • The Presidential Election of 1960

Congressional Documents
1774-1873

  • The Struggle for Independence
    1774-89
  • Charting the Republic 1789-1812
  • Conflict and Resolution
    1812-24
  • Crucible of Nationhood
    1824-73

U.S. History by Time Period primary source sets