-
- Decade opens with Peace in Europe
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- Benjamin Franklin begins Poor Richard's Almanack in
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
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- John Kay patents flying shuttle, a major landmark in
textile mass production, leading to textile mills in England
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- Voltaire writes Lettres sur les Anglais championing
democratic government
-
- David Hume creates empiricist philosophy in his Treatise
on Human Nature
-
- War of Jenkins' Ear begins when England declares
war on Spain
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- War of the Austrian Succession breaks out among major
European powers
-
- War of Jenkins' Ear spreads to Florida and Georgia
-
- Johann Sebastian Bach issues second volume of The Well-Tempered
Clavier
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- The Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle ends War of the Austrian
Succession. Major powers again at peace in Europe
-
- David Hartley writes Observations on Man, arguing that
one's moral sense is derived from an association of ideas
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- Interest on Britain's national debt falls from 10% to
3%
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- Denis Diderot and Jean d'Alembert begin publishing Encyclopedia
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- Ben Franklin flies kite with key proving that lightning
is like an electric spark
-
- Samuel Johnson publishes Dictionary of the English Language.
-
- Economist Francois Quesnay founds the Physiocrats, who
advocate laissez-faire economic policies
-
- Claude-Adrien Helvetius publishes De'l'esprit
arguing that self-interest is the primary motive of human conduct
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-
-
- Seven Years' War ends with the Treaty of Paris and the
Treaty of Hubertusberg
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- J. J. Rousseau published The Social Contract arguing
that government must rest on the consent of the governed
-
- Joseph Priestley issues an Essay on First Principles
of Government anticipating Jeremy Bentham's ideal of "greatest happiness
for the greatest number"
-
- Boycott of imports begins in Boston to oppose
tax on lead, paint, paper and tea
-
-
-
- Boston Tea Party protests tea tax in America after its
repeal in England
-
- First Continental Congress meets in Philadelphia and
writes a Declaration of Rights and Grievances
-
- Revolutionary War begins in Concord, Massachusetts
-
- Continental Congress on July 4, 1776 adopts the Declaration
of Independence
-
- Adam Smith writes Inquiry Into the Nature and
Causes of the Wealth of Nations
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-
-
- Revolutionary troops defeat British at Yorktown, Virginia
to gain independence
-
- Immanuel Kant publishes Critique of Pure Reason
-
- Britain, USA, France and Spain sign the Treaty of Versailles
recognizing the independence of the United States of America
-
- First paddle wheel steamboat sails on the Saone River,
France
-
- U.S. Constitution signed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
and ratified within a year
-
- French Revolution begins in 1789 with the storming
of the Bastille Prison
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- Dollar becomes the currency unit of USA
-
- Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin
-
- Thomas Paine writes The Age of Reason
-
- Napoleonic Wars rage throughout Europe following the
end of the French Revolution
-
- British Government introduces income tax
-
- Thomas Malthus completes Essay on the Principle
of Population
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-
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- Napoleonic Code, a system of laws, is introduced in
France
-
- USA buys Louisiana Territory from France
-
- Jean-Baptiste Say writes Treatise on Political Economy
-
- Lewis and Clark expedition explores and maps western
continental USA
-
- Ludwig von Beethoven publishes 5th and 6th Symphonies
-
-
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- Spain's South American colonies struggle to gain independence
-
- Walter Scott publishes Waverley beginning popularity
of historical romance novel
-
- British invade USA and burn Washington DC in War of
1812. Treaty of Ghent ends war
-
- Wellington defeats Napoleon at Waterloo. Napoleonic
Wars end with the Congress of Vienna deciding the future map of Europe
-
- David Ricardo publishes Principles of Political
Economy and Taxation
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-
-
- Thomas Robert Malthus publishes Principles of Political
Economy
-
- Michael Faraday develops primitive electric motor
-
- The Monroe Doctrine expresses USA's opposition to extension
of European influence in the Western hemisphere
-
- Erie Canal is opened for shipping
-
- Webster publishes American Dictionary of the English
Language
-
- Western Australia colonized by British
-
- The Workingman's Party formed in New York
-
-
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- The Baltimore and Ohio becomes first railroad in USA
-
- Louis Jacques Daguerre invents the first practical photographic
process
-
- Cyrus McCormick patents a mechanical reaper
-
- Samuel Colt patents his revolver
-
- Samuel Morse develops telegraph and Morse Code for sending/receiving
messages
-
- Isaac Pitman develops a system of shorthand writing
-
- Victoria becomes Queen of England
-
-
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- John Stuart Mill publishes Principles of Political Economy
-
- Potato crop failure in Europe causes an estimated 2.5
million to starve
-
- Gold is discovered in California
-
- Factory Act in Britain limits the working day of women
and children to 10 hours
-
- Series of republican revolutions in Europe end in failure
and repression
-
- Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish Communist Manifesto
-
- John Deere invents plow with a steel mold-board
-
- Amelia Bloomer introduces trousers for women called
Bloomers
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-
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- Old-Age insurance introduced in France
-
- Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes Uncle Tom's Cabin
-
- Elisha Otis demonstrates safety elevator at New York
Fair of 1854
-
- Florence Nightingale pioneers modern nursing during
the Crimean War
-
- Henry Bessemer revolutionizes steel industry with new
converter process
-
- Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of the Species
by means of Natural Selection
-
- First oil well in USA is drilled in Titusville,
Pennsylvania
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- Civil War begins at Fort Sumter, South Carolina
-
- Issue of Greenbacks to help finance the Civil War marks
the beginning of modern currency in USA
-
- Etienne Lenoir invents internal combustion engine in
France
-
- National Banking Act establishes a system of federally-chartered
banks in the USA
-
- Civil War ends when South surrenders at Appomattox Courthouse,
Virginia
-
- Karl Marx begins writing Das Kapital
-
- Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
-
- Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads meet
in Utah
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-
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- The Standard Oil Company is founded by John D. Rockefeller
-
- City of Chicago destroyed by fire
-
- Germany adopts the mark as its currency
-
- Financial panic in Europe spreads to USA, causing withdrawal
of foreign capital
-
- Alexander Graham Bell invents telephone
-
- Thomas Alva Edison invents the phonograph and
electric light bulb
-
-
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- American Federation of Trades and Labor is founded
-
- William LeBaron Jenney builds first skyscraper in Chicago,
Illinois
-
- France presents the Statue of Liberty to the USA
-
- Louis Pasteur successfully uses vaccination against
rabies
-
- Heinrich Hertz identifies radio waves
-
- Gottlieb Daimler builds first automobile
-
- Eiffel Tower is built in Paris for World Exposition
of 1889
-
-
-
- Labor unrest erupts in USA when workers strike the Carnegie
Steel Company
-
- Alfred Marshall publishes Principles of Economics
-
- The Sierra Club is founded by John Muir
-
- Sigmund Freud establishes psychoanalysis with publishing
of Studien uber Hysterie
-
- Wilhelm Conrad Rontgen discovers X-rays
-
- U.S. Congress enacts Income Tax Act, but Supreme Court
declares it unconstitutional
-
- Henry Ford produces his first automobile
-
-
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- Guglielmo Marconi transmits messages across Atlantic
with wireless telegraph
-
- Orville and Wilbur Wright make first heavier-than-air
machine flight
-
- Albert Einstein publishes Theory of Relativity
-
- Earthquake and fire destroy much of San Francisco
-
- Financial panic in 1907 begins with the fall of the
Stock Market and causes many banks to close
-
- Gold Standard Act enacted in USA
-
- Payne-Aldrich Tariff Act raises tariffs on imports
into USA
-
-
-
- Marie Curie discovers radium
-
- Federal Reserve Act creates central bank for the USA
-
- Assassination of Austria's Archduke Francis Ferdinand
brings about World War I
-
- Gilbert Lewis develops electron theory of valency explaining
structure of atoms
-
- Revolution overthrows monarchy in Russia
-
- Paris Peace Conference redraws map of Europe after
World War I and establishes the League of Nations
-
-
-
- Women in USA receive the right to vote
-
- Prohibition begins in the USA as sale of all alcoholic
beverages becomes illegal
-
- Germany suffers financial collapse as hyperinflation
destroys value of mark
-
- U.S. Steel Company abolishes twelve hour work day and
seven day work week
-
- Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin
-
- Charles Lindbergh makes first solo airplane flight across
the Atlantic
-
- Collapse of Stock Market ushers in decade of economic
hardship
-
-
-
- Worldwide Depression worsens, fostering the rise of
political extremists
-
- Hawley-Smoot Tariff Bill sets highest duties in US history,
hurting world trade
-
- James Chadwick discovers the neutron, Carl Anderson
discovers the positron
-
- U.S. repeals Prohibition Amendment
-
- President Franklin Roosevelt begins New Deal government
spending programs
-
- Adolf Hitler becomes Chancellor of Germany
-
- Wallace Carothers produces Polymer 66, or nylon
-
- Germany invades Poland starting World War II
-
-
-
- Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor and USA enters war against
Japan, Germany and Italy
-
- By 1944 war rages throughout the world
-
- "D Day" offensive by USA, Britain and allies
begins end of war in Europe
-
- Germany surrenders in April 1945
-
- USA drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japanese
surrender
-
- The United Nations is formed
-
- John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley
invent the transistor
-
- Communist forces seize power in China
-
-
-
- Cold War between USA and Russia develops as Russia builds
an atomic bomb
-
- Korean War breaks out as North Korea invades south Korea.
War ends in 1953
-
- Electricity produced by atomic power in USA
-
- James Watson and Francis H. C. Crick describe the "double
helix" structure of DNA
-
- UNIVAC is first mass produced computer
-
- Jonas Salk develops anti-polio vaccine
-
- Russia launches Sputnik I, the Earth's first spacecraft
-
- U.S. Supreme Court orders desegregation of public
schools
-
-
-
- Russia launches first man into space
-
- President Kennedy establishes Peace Corps to assist
underdeveloped countries
-
- Rachel Carson writes Silent Spring marking concern with
environmental pollution
-
- Martin Luther King leads massive Civil Rights demonstration
in Washington, D.C.
-
- President Kennedy is assassinated in Dallas, Texas
-
- Vietnam War intensifies as USA begins massive military
buildup. Anti-war movement begins on college campuses
-
- Israel defeats Arab forces in Six-Day War
-
- USA lands astronauts on the moon
-
-
-
- Equal Rights Amendment to US Constitution passes Congress
but fails to be ratified by the necessary number of states
-
- President Nixon resigns in the wake of the Watergate
scandal
-
- Following Israeli-Arab War in 1973, oil-producing countries
double oil prices causing energy crisis and economic hardship
-
- Vietnam War ends as South Vietnam surrenders and USA
evacuates troops
-
- Egypt and Israel sign historic peace accord
-
-
-
- Personal computers change the way businesses do business
-
- Environmental issues become a major concern for most
Americans
-
- AIDS, a disease destroying the human immune system,
becomes pandemic
-
- U.S. sees rise of the largest federal budget deficit
in history
-
- Free market emphasized; deregulation of airlines
and S&L's; stock market boom