| 1001 | Leif Ericson explores North America |
| 1492 | Christopher Columbus discovers America |
| 1497 | John Cabot claims North America for England |
| 1501 | :Amerigo Vespucci explores the coast of South America |
| 1519 | Ferdinand Magellan is the first to go around the world Alonzo de Pineda explores gulf Coast of America
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| 1524 | Giovanni Verrazano discovers New York Bay
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| 1528 | Panfilo de Narvaez conquers Cuba and explores Florida
Alvar Cabeza de Vaca explores Texas, Arizona and New Mexico
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| 1534 | :Jacques Cartier explores the Great Lakes and the the St. Lawrence River |
| 1539 | Hernando de Soto explores south-eastern North America |
| 1540 | Francisco Vázquez de Coronado explores south-western North America
Discovery of the Grand Canyon by Garcia Lopez de Cardenas
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| 1541 | Francisco Vásquez de Coronado explores Kansas |
| 1542 | Cabrillo explores and discovers the Californian coast
Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo discovers San Diego Bay, California
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| 1559 | Tristan de Luna explores North America |
| 1563 | Francisco de Ibarra explores New Mexico |
| 1576 | Sir Martin Frobisher explores Baffin Bay and the Hudson Strait
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| 1577 | Sir Francis Drake circumnavigates the world - December 13 1577 to September 26 1580 |
| 1584 | Philip Amadas and Arthur Barlowe (both in the service of Sir Walter Raleigh) explore the coast of North Carolina
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| 1585 | March 25: Walter Raleigh receives the patent to explore and settle in North America June: Walter Raleigh's fleet of seven vessels under Richard Grenville and Ralph Lane, with 108 men, reach Roanoke Island June 4: Virginia colony of Roanoke Island established by Walter Raleigh
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| 1598 | Juan de Archuleta explores Colorado |
| 1607 | Captain John Smith explorer and founder of Jamestown |
| 1609 | Henry Hudson explores North eastern North America including the Hudson River
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| 1688 | The Glorious Revolution in England leads to a constitutional monarchy and passing of the Bill of Rights
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| 1763 | February 10: Treaty of Paris ends French and Indian War (1754-1763). Canada east of the Mississippi River added to the British empire. Pontiac's Rebellion against the British October 7: The Proclamation of 1763 issued by King George III after the end of the French and Indian War / Seven Years' War to organize the new North American empire and stabilize relations with Native Americans. No British settlements allowed west of the Appalachian mountains. Settlers already in these areas required to return east
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| 1764 | February: James Otis urges a united response to the recent acts imposed by England. The phrase "Taxation without Representation is Tyranny" is usually attributed to James Otis July: James Otis publishes "The Rights of the British Colonies Asserted and Proved." August: Boston merchants begin a boycott of British luxury goods
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| 1765 | March 22: The Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament. March 24: The Quartering Act required American colonists to house British troops and supply them with food.
July: The Sons of Liberty is formed - a secret organization opposed to the Stamp Act
December: Over 200 Boston merchants refuse to pay the Stamp Tax
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| 1766 | 1766 March 18. Stamp Act repealed January: New York assembly refuses to fully enforce the Quartering Act.
August: Violence breaks out in New York between British soldiers and members of the Sons of Liberty.
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| 1768 | July: Merchants in Boston and New York boycott British goods September: English warships sail into Boston Harbor leaving two regiments of English troops to keep order.
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| 1770 | March: "The Boston Massacre" - Four workers shot by British troops in Boston
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| 1773 | December 16: The Boston Tea Party - Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest against the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.
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| 1774 | March: The Coercive Acts (called Intolerable Acts by Americans)
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| 1775 | February 9: English Parliament declares Massachusetts to be in a state of rebellion April 19 Shots fired at Lexington and Concord where weapons depot destroyed. "Minute Men" force British troops back to Boston. George Washington takes command of the Continental Army.
June 15: George Washington appointed general and commander-in-chief of the new Continental Army.
June 17: Battle of Bunker Hill
July 6: Declaration on the Causes and Necessity of Taking Up Arms stating that Americans are "resolved to die free men rather than live as slaves." The American Revolution, the American War of Independence, led by George Washington was fought between Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.
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| 1776 | May 2: The American revolution gains support from King Louis XVI of France 1776 July 4. Thomas Jefferson presents the United States Declaration of Independence
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| 1777 | November 15: Articles of Confederation - Congress is made sole authority of the new national government.
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| 1778 | February 6: France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution soon becomes a world war. September 14: Benjamin Franklin appointed American representative in France.
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| 1779 | September 27: John Adams is appointed to negotiate peace with England.
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| 1780 | September 23: Plans discovered indicating Benedict Arnold intends to turn traitor and surrender West Point. Benedict Arnold joins the British
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| 1781 | October 17: American victory at Yorktown terms discussed for the British surrender.
October 19: The British army surrenders at Yorktown - a devastating effect on the British
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| 1782 | February 27: English Parliament votes against further war in America.
November 10: The final battle of the Revolutionary War when Americans retaliate by attacking a Shawnee village in Ohio
November 30: Preliminary peace treaty signed in Paris recognising American independence and the British withdrawal from America.
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| 1783 | February 4: England officially declares an end to hostilities in America September 3: The Treaty of Paris is signed by the United States and Great Britain
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| 1784 | January 14: The Treaty of Paris is ratified by Congress and the American Revolutionary War officially ends
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| 1789 | First President of the US is George Washington 1789-1797 The first thirteen states were Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, and Rhode Island Judiciary Act of 1789
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| 1791 | Bill of Rights ratified
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| 1793 | Fugitive Slave Act passed
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| 1795 | Vermont and Kentucky were admitted to the US
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| 1794 | Whiskey Rebellion
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| 1797 | Second President of the US is John Adams 1797-1801 |
| 1799 | Logan Act |
| 1800 | Library of Congress founded |
| 1801 | Third President of the US is Thomas Jefferson 1801-1809 |
| 1803 | Louisiana Purchase Treaty |
| 1804 | Meriwether Lewis and William Clark explore the Louisiana Territory |
| 1805 | Barbary Wars |
| 1807 | Act Prohibiting Importation of Slaves |
| 1808 | U.S. slave trade with Africa ends |
| 1809 | Fourth President of the US is James Madison 1809-1817 |
| 1811 | Battle of Tippecanoe |
| 1812 | War of 1812 begins |
| 1814 | Treaty of Fort Jackson ends Creek War |
| 1817 | Fifth President of the US is James Monroe 1817-1825 Harvard Law School founded
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| 1818 | Jackson Purchase in Kentucky 1818 Five more states were admitted to the US - Tennessee, Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, and Mississippi
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| 1819 | Adams-Onis Treaty, including acquisition of Florida Illinois admission to the US
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| 1820 | Alabama and Maine admission to the US |
| 1822 | Missouri admission to the US |
| 1825 | Sixth President of the US is John Quincy Adams 1825-1829 |
| 1829 | Seventh President of the US is Andrew Jackson 1829-1837 |
| 1830 | Indian Removal Act Oregon Trail opens
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| 1831 | Nat Turner's revolt |
| 1832 | Black Hawk War
Seminole War begins
Department of Indian Affairs established
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| 1835 | Texas War for Independence begins |
| 1836 | Arkansas admission to the US
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| 1837 | Battle of the Alamo Panic of 1837 Michigan admission to the US
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| 1838 | 1838-1839: The Trail of Tears |
| 1841 | Ninth President of the US is William Henry Harrison 1841 |
| 1841 | Tenth President of the US is John Tyler 1841-1845 |
| 1845 | Eleventh President of the US is James Knox Polk 1845-1849 Texas admission to the US Florida admission to the US
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| 1846 | Mexican-American War begins and ends in 1848 Texas admission to the US Oregon Treaty signed
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| 1847 | Treaty of Cahuenga ends Mexican-American War Iowa admission to the US
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| 1848 | Gold discovered in California Wisconsin admission to the US Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo ends the Mexican-American War
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| 1849 | Twelfth President of the US is Zachary Taylor 1849-1850 |
| 1850 | Thirteenth President of the US is Millard Fillmore 1850-1853 |
| 1851 | California admission to the US |
| 1853 | Fourteenth President of the US is Franklin Pierce 1853-1857 Gadsden Purchase
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| 1856 | Sack of Lawrence, Kansas Pottawatomie Massacre
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| 1857 | Fifteenth President of the US is James Buchanan 1857-1861 |
| 1858 | Minnesota admission to the US |
| 1859 | Oregon admission to the US
Harper's Ferry Raid
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| 1860 | Pony Express begins |
| 1861 | Sixteenth President of the US is Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865 Kansas admission to the US Confederate States of America (the Confederacy) established under President Jefferson Davis American Civil War begins at Fort Sumter. The American Civil War, also called the War between the States, was waged from April 1861 until April 1865. The four year war was between the federal government of the United States and 11 Southern states that asserted their right to secede (withdraw) from the Union. Abraham Lincoln was the central figure of the American Civil War. First Battle of Bull Run
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| 1863 | Battle of Gettysburg West Virginia admission to the US
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| 1864 | Sand Creek Massacre |
| 1865 | Abraham Lincoln assassinated Seventeenth President of the US is Andrew Johnson 1865-1869 Nevada admission to the US United States Civil War ends
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| 1866 | Civil Rights Act of 1866 Ku Klux Klan founded
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| 1867 | Nebraska admission to the US Alaska Purchase from Russia
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| 1869 | Eighteenth President of the US is Ulysses Simpson Grant 1869-1877 |
| 1871 | Great Chicago Fire Treaty of Washington with Great Britain regarding the Dominion of Canada
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| 1872 | Yellowstone National Park established |
| 1874 | Red River Wars |
| 1875 | Civil Rights Act of 1875 |
| 1876 | Battle of the Little Bighorn |
| 1877 | Nineteenth Rutherford Birchard Hayes 1877-1881 Colorado admission to the US Nez Perce War
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| 1881 | Twentieth President of the US is James Abram Garfield 1881 |
| 1881 | Twenty - First President of the US is Chester Alan Arthur 1881-1885 |
| 1882 | Chinese Exclusion Act and European Restriction Act |
| 1885 | Twenty-Second President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1885-1889 Washington monument completed
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| 1889 | Twenty - Third President of the US is Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893 |
| 1890 | North Dakota, South Dakota, Montana, Washington, and Idaho admission to the US Yosemite National Park created Wounded Knee Massacre
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| 1891 | Wyoming admission to the US
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| 1893 | Twenty - Fourth President of the US is Grover Cleveland 1893-1897 |
| 1896 | Utah admission to the US Gold discovered in the Yukon's Klondike
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| 1897 | Twenty - Fifth President of the US is William McKinley 1897-1901 |
| 1898 | Spanish-American War |
| 1900 | Boxer Rebellion in China |
| 1901 | Twenty - Sixth President of the US is Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909 |
| 1903 | Ford Motor Company formed 1903 - First World Series
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| 1904 | Panama Canal Zone acquired |
| 1908 | Oklahoma admission to the US Ford Model T marketed Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) established
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| 1909 | Twenty - Seventh President of the US is William Howard Taft 1909-1913 |
| 1912 | Arizona, Alaska and New Mexico admission to the US Titanic sinks
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| 1913 | Twenty - Eighth President of the US is Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921 |
| 1914 | WW1 started 28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918 |
| 1915 | The Birth of a Nation movie directed by D.W. Griffith opens |
| 1917 | US enters World War I U.S. Virgin Islands purchased from Denmark
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| 1919 | Treaty of Versailles |
| 1920 | First radio broadcast in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania |
| 1921 | Twenty- Ninth President of the US is Warren Gamaliel Harding 1921-1923 |
| 1923 | Thirtieth President of the US is Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929 |
| 1924 | Indian Reorganization Act |
| 1927 | Indian Reorganization Act Charles Lindbergh makes first trans-Atlantic flight The Jazz Singer starring Al Jolson is the first "talkie" to be released
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| 1929 | Thirty- First President of the US is Herbert Clark Hoover 1929-1933 St. Valentine's Day massacre Immigration Act Great Depression begins
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| 1931 | Empire State Building opens |
| 1932 | Amelia Earhart flies across Atlantic Ocean |
| 1933 | Thirty - Second President of the US is Franklin Delano Roosevelt 1933-1945 Japan and Germany withdraw from League of Nations
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| 1934 | Dust Bowl begins
Reciprocal Trade Agreements Act
John Dillinger killed
Indian Reorganization Act
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| 1935 | Social Security Act |
| 1936 | London Conference on disarmament |
| 1937 | Hindenburg disaster |
| 1939 | Germany invades Poland; World War II begins |
| 1941 | Attack on Pearl Harbor U.S. enters World War II
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| 1944 | D-Day
Battle of the Bulge
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| 1945 | Thirty - Third President of the US is Harry S. Truman 1945-1953 U.S. takes Okinawa
U.S. joins the United Nations
Atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Germany and Japan surrender, ending World War II
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| 1946 | The Cold War began between the United States and the Soviet Union
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| 1946 | Atomic Energy Act |
| 1948 | Nuremberg trials Berlin Blockade
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| 1949 | NATO formed Germany divided into East and West
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| 1950 | Senator Joseph McCarthy gains power and start Communist witch hunts (1950-1954)
Korean War begins
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| 1953 | Thirty - Fourth President of the US is Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961 Armistice in Korea
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| 1954 | SEATO alliance |
| 1955 | Warsaw Pact |
| 1956 | US installs Diem as leader of South Vietnam |
| 1957 | Civil Rights Act of 1957
Russians launch Sputnik
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| 1958 | NASA formed |
| 1959 | Cuban Revolution |
| 1960 | Greensboro sit-in
Civil Rights Act of 1960
Hawaii, the last state was admitted giving the American flag 50 stars
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| 1961 | Thirty - Fifth President of the US is John Fitzgerald Kennedy 1961-1963
Peace Corps
Vietnam War officially begins with 900 military advisors landing in Saigon
OPEC formed
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| 1962 | Cuban Missile Crisis |
| 1963 | President J Kennedy assassinated Thirty - Sixth President of the US is Lyndon Baines Johnson 1963-1969 March on Washington; Martin Luther King, Jr. "I have a dream" speech
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| 1964 | Civil Rights Act of 1964 |
| 1965 | Detroit race riot |
| 1968 | Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy assassinated
Civil Rights Act of 1968
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| 1969 | Thirty - Seventh President of the US is Richard Milhous Nixon 1969-1974 Vietnam Neil Armstrong walks on the moon
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| 1970 | Kent State shootings |
| 1972 | Watergate burglary
Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty with USSR
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| 1973 | Vietnam War ends with US pulling out in 1973
Watergate Scandal breaks in 1973
Skylab first space station launched
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| 1974 | Richard Nixon resigns Presidency over Watergate Thirty - Eighth President of the US is Gerald Rudolph Ford 1974-1977
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| 1977 | Thirty - Ninth President of the US is Jimmy Carter 1977-1981 |
| 1979 | Three Mile Island nuclear accident 1979 - Iran hostage crisis begins
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| 1981 | Fortieth President of the US is Ronald Wilson Reagan 1981-1989 Attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan by John Hinckley
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| 1986 | Iran-Contra scandal breaks
Space Shuttle Challenger accident
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| 1990 | Forty - First President of the US is George Herbert Walker Bush 1989-1993
Hubble Space Telescope placed in orbit
Iraq invades Kuwait leading to 1991 Gulf War
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| 1991 | Gulf War |
| 1992 | Los Angeles riots
Hurricane Andrew causes devastation in Florida and Louisiana
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| 1993 | Forty - Second President of the US is William Jefferson Clinton 1993-2001
World Trade Center bombing
Waco siege
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| 1995 | Oklahoma City bombing |
| 1999 | President Clinton is acquitted in impeachment trial by U.S. Senate |
| 2001 | Forty - Third President of the US is George Walker Bush September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks on the World Trade Center and
The Pentagon Invasion of Afghanistan Operation "Enduring Freedom"
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| 2004 | Occupation of Iraq, 2003-2004 |
| 2005 | Hurricane Katrina |
| 2009 | Forty - Fourth President of the US is BarackObama |
