1865

-The Confederacy surrendered, bringing an end to the Civil War. Slavery was abolished throughout the United States. President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated.
1867 America purchased Alaska from Russia.
1870-1890 The last Native American tribes were defeated by government forces and pushed onto reservations.
1898 The United States won the Spanish-American War and gained territories in the Caribbean and the Pacific. Hawaii was annexed the same year.
1920 Women gained the right to vote. The manufacture and sale of alcohol was banned, ushering in the era of Prohibition.
1933 Franklin Roosevelt became president and introduced a series of economic and social reforms known as the New Deal. Prohibition was repealed.
1941 Japan attacked US forces at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, pulling America into World War II.
1965-1973 American forces fought in the Vietnam War, which started widespread protests in the United States.
1969 American astronauts became the first people to land on the moon.
1974 In the wake of the Watergate scandal, Richard M. Nixon became the first American president to resign from office.