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Government, Laws, and Institutions

The Constitution, Congress, the presidency, the courts, parties, and the right to vote.

85 entries, in chronological order

Before European ColonizationBefore 1492

Six Nations chiefs at Brantford explaining their wampum belts in 1871

c. 1450s (disputed)–presentInstitution

The Haudenosaunee Confederacy

The League of the Iroquois — a union of nations governed by the Great Law of Peace

Colonial America1607–1763

Painting of the Pilgrims signing the Mayflower Compact

Nov 11, 1620Document

The Mayflower Compact

Passengers bound for Virginia agree to govern themselves at Plymouth

Portrait of Benjamin Franklin by Joseph Siffred Duplessis

1706–1790Person

Benjamin Franklin

Printer, scientist, diplomat, and the Revolution’s elder statesman

Revolution and Independence1763–1789

Portrait of George Washington by Gilbert Stuart

1732–1799Person

George Washington

Commander of the Continental Army and first president

Portrait of Thomas Jefferson by Rembrandt Peale

1743–1826Person

Thomas Jefferson

Author of the Declaration of Independence and third president

Portrait of James Madison

1751–1836Person

James Madison

Architect of the Constitution and fourth president

Portrait of Alexander Hamilton by John Trumbull

1757 (disputed)–1804Person

Alexander Hamilton

First secretary of the Treasury and architect of the federal financial system

Engraving of the First Continental Congress in session

Sep 5, 1774 – Mar 1, 1781Institution

The Continental Congress

The colonies’ revolutionary assembly, and the first national government

John Trumbull’s painting of the Committee of Five presenting the draft Declaration of Independence to the Continental Congress

Jul 4, 1776Document

Declaration of Independence

The Continental Congress explains why thirteen colonies are breaking with Britain

First page of the Articles of Confederation

Nov 15, 1777 – Mar 1, 1781Document

Articles of Confederation

The first constitution of the United States, 1781–1789

Howard Chandler Christy’s painting of the signing of the Constitution

May 14 – Sep 17, 1787Event

The Constitutional Convention

Fifty-five delegates meet in secret to redesign the American government

Map of the Northwest Territory

Jul 13, 1787Document

The Northwest Ordinance

The plan for governing the Old Northwest and admitting new states

The first page of the original engrossed Constitution, beginning “We the People”

Sep 17, 1787Document

The Constitution of the United States

The framework of the federal government, written in 1787 and amended twenty-seven times

Title page of the first edition of The Federalist

Oct 1787 – May 1788Document

The Federalist Papers

Eighty-five essays defending the proposed Constitution

Concept

Federalism

How power is divided between the national government and the states

Concept

Republicanism

The founders’ ideal of self-government by virtuous citizens

The Early Republic1789–1828

Portrait of John Adams by Gilbert Stuart

1735–1826Person

John Adams

Revolutionary leader, diplomat, and second president, who kept the young nation out of war with France

Portrait of Chief Justice John Marshall

1755–1835Person

John Marshall

Fourth Chief Justice, who made the Supreme Court a co-equal branch

The west front of the United States Capitol

1789Institution

Congress

The legislative branch: the Senate and the House of Representatives

The north and south sides of the White House

1789Institution

The Presidency

The executive branch and the office of president

The U.S. Supreme Court Building at dusk

Sep 24, 1789–presentInstitution

The Supreme Court

The highest court in the United States and the final interpreter of federal law

Chart of the evolution of American political parties

c. 1790s–presentInstitution

Political Parties

From Federalists and Republicans to the modern two-party system

The engrossed Bill of Rights as sent to the states in 1789

Dec 15, 1791Document

The Bill of Rights

The first ten amendments to the Constitution

Campaign banner celebrating Thomas Jefferson

Oct 1800 – Feb 17, 1801Event

The Election of 1800

The first transfer of power between rival parties

First page of the Supreme Court’s opinion in Marbury v. Madison

1803Court Case

Marbury v. Madison

The case in which the Supreme Court first struck down an act of Congress

Map of free and slave territory under the Missouri Compromise

Feb 1819 – Aug 1821Event

The Missouri Compromise

Congress balances slave and free states, 1820

Page from the Supreme Court’s decision in McCulloch v. Maryland

1819Court Case

McCulloch v. Maryland

The Supreme Court upholds broad federal power and bars states from taxing the national bank

Political cartoon of Uncle Sam enforcing the Monroe Doctrine

Dec 2, 1823Document

The Monroe Doctrine

The United States warns Europe away from the Americas, 1823

Expansion and Sectional Conflict1828–1860

Portrait of Andrew Jackson

1767–1845Person

Andrew Jackson

Seventh president, champion of the “common man,” and architect of Indian removal

Map of the forced removal routes of the Five Tribes

May 28, 1830 – 1850Event

Indian Removal

The forced expulsion of Native nations from the East, 1830–1850

First issue of the Cherokee Phoenix newspaper, printed in English and Cherokee

1832Court Case

Worcester v. Georgia

The Supreme Court recognizes Cherokee sovereignty — and the president refuses to enforce it

Engraving of the U.S. Senate in session in 1850

Jan 1850 – Sep 1850Event

The Compromise of 1850

Congress tries to settle the slavery question after the Mexican War

Historical map showing territories after the Kansas-Nebraska Act

May 30, 1854Document

The Kansas-Nebraska Act

The law that repealed the Missouri Compromise and set Kansas bleeding, 1854

The Supreme Court’s judgment in Dred Scott v. Sandford

1857Court Case

Dred Scott v. Sandford

The Supreme Court denies Black citizenship and opens the territories to slavery

Civil War and Reconstruction1861–1877

Photograph of Abraham Lincoln

1809–1865Person

Abraham Lincoln

Sixteenth president, who preserved the Union and ended slavery

Photograph of Ulysses S. Grant

1822–1885Person

Ulysses S. Grant

Union general who won the Civil War and eighteenth president

Currier and Ives print of the first Black members of Congress, including Senator Hiram Revels

1865–1877Event

Reconstruction

The struggle to rebuild the Union and define freedom after the Civil War

Alfred Waud’s drawing “The Freedmen’s Bureau”

Mar 3, 1865 – 1872Institution

The Freedmen’s Bureau

The federal agency that aided formerly enslaved people, 1865–1872

The Thirteenth Amendment

Dec 6, 1865Document

The Thirteenth Amendment

The abolition of slavery, 1865

First page of the Fourteenth Amendment

Jul 9, 1868Document

The Fourteenth Amendment

Citizenship, due process, and equal protection, 1868

Lithograph celebrating the Fifteenth Amendment

Feb 3, 1870Document

The Fifteenth Amendment

Voting rights regardless of race, 1870

Political cartoon about the disputed election of 1876

Nov 7, 1876 – Mar 4, 1877Event

The Disputed Election of 1876 and the End of Reconstruction

The “Compromise of 1877”

Industrialization and the Gilded Age1877–1900

A segregation sign in Durham, North Carolina

1880s – 1965Concept

Jim Crow

The system of legal segregation and disenfranchisement, 1880s–1960s

Page of the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882

May 6, 1882Document

The Chinese Exclusion Act

The first federal law to bar immigrants by nationality, 1882

First page of the Dawes Act

Feb 8, 1887Document

The Dawes Act

Breaking up tribal lands through allotment, 1887

Judge magazine cartoon of William Jennings Bryan in 1896

1890–1896Movement

Populism and the People’s Party

The farmers’ revolt of the 1890s

The Supreme Court’s judgment in Plessy v. Ferguson

1896Court Case

Plessy v. Ferguson

The Supreme Court upholds “separate but equal,” 1896

The Progressive Era and World War I1900–1920

Illustration of suffrage activism in New York City

Jul 19, 1848 – Aug 18, 1920Movement

The Woman Suffrage Movement

Seventy-two years of struggle for women’s right to vote, 1848–1920

Photograph of Woodrow Wilson

born 1856Person

Woodrow Wilson

Twenty-eighth president: progressive reformer, wartime leader, and segregationist

Photograph of Theodore Roosevelt

1858–1919Person

Theodore Roosevelt

Twenty-sixth president and champion of the “Square Deal”

Jacob Riis’s photograph of Bandits’ Roost, an alley on Mulberry Street in New York

c. 1890s – c. 1920Movement

Progressivism

Reformers confront the problems of industrial America, c. 1890s–1920

Members of Puerto Rico’s first autonomous cabinet under Spain, including Luis Muñoz Rivera, as published in 1898

1898–1952Event

Puerto Rico Under the United States

From Spanish colony to U.S. territory and commonwealth, 1898–1952

The antidraft leaflet distributed by Charles Schenck

1919Court Case

Schenck v. United States

Free speech in wartime and the “clear and present danger” test, 1919

Prohibition agents destroying barrels of alcohol

Jan 17, 1920 – Dec 5, 1933Event

Prohibition

The national ban on alcohol, 1920–1933

The Nineteenth Amendment

Aug 18, 1920Document

The Nineteenth Amendment

Women’s right to vote, 1920

The Twenties and the Great Depression1920–1939

Photograph of Franklin D. Roosevelt

1882–1945Person

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Thirty-second president, architect of the New Deal and wartime leader

Newspaper headline about the Immigration Act of 1924

1924Document

Immigration Act of 1924

The Johnson-Reed Act and the national origins quota system

Collage of New Deal programs and posters

Mar 4, 1933 – 1938Event

The New Deal

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s programs of relief, recovery, and reform, 1933–1939

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the Social Security Act

Aug 14, 1935Document

Social Security Act

The 1935 law that created old-age pensions and unemployment insurance

World War II and the Early Cold War1939–1960

Official portrait photograph of Harry S. Truman

1884–1972Person

Harry S. Truman

Thirty-third president: ended World War II and launched the Cold War containment policy

Official portrait photograph of President Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1959

1890–1969Person

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Commander of the D-Day invasion and thirty-fourth president, who presided over the prosperous, anxious 1950s

Exclusion orders posted on a brick wall at First and Front Streets, San Francisco, April 1942, directing the removal of people of Japanese ancestry

Feb 19, 1942Document

Executive Order 9066

The 1942 order that led to the incarceration of Japanese Americans

Rows of barracks at the Manzanar War Relocation Center

Feb 19, 1942Event

Japanese American Incarceration

The forced removal and imprisonment of Japanese Americans during World War II

President Franklin D. Roosevelt signing the G.I. Bill

Jun 22, 1944Document

G.I. Bill

The Servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944

Fred Korematsu

1944Court Case

Korematsu v. United States

The Supreme Court upholds the wartime exclusion of Japanese Americans

The United Nations General Assembly hall

Oct 24, 1945Institution

United Nations

The international organization founded in 1945 to keep the peace

Joseph Welch and Senator Joseph McCarthy at the Army-McCarthy hearings

Feb 9, 1950 – Dec 2, 1954Event

McCarthyism and the Second Red Scare

Anticommunist investigations and accusations, late 1940s–1954

The Supreme Court’s judgment in Brown v. Board of Education

1954Court Case

Brown v. Board of Education

The Supreme Court strikes down school segregation

Civil Rights and Social Transformation1954–1980

Official portrait photograph of Lyndon B. Johnson

1908–1973Person

Lyndon B. Johnson

Thirty-sixth president: the Great Society, civil rights, and Vietnam

Official presidential portrait photograph of Richard Nixon, 1972

1913–1994Person

Richard Nixon

Thirty-seventh president: opened relations with China, then became the only president to resign

Official White House portrait photograph of President John F. Kennedy, July 1963

1917–1963Person

John F. Kennedy

Thirty-fifth president: the youngest ever elected, assassinated in Dallas in 1963

The whole Earth photographed from space by the Apollo 17 crew

1962 – c. 1973Movement

The Environmental Movement

From Silent Spring to Earth Day and the EPA

President Lyndon Johnson signing the Medicare bill with Harry Truman beside him

May 1964 – 1968Event

The Great Society

Lyndon Johnson’s program to end poverty and racial injustice, 1964–1968

President Lyndon Johnson signing the Civil Rights Act of 1964, surrounded by onlookers

Jul 2, 1964Document

Civil Rights Act of 1964

The law that outlawed segregation in public places and job discrimination

President Lyndon Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act

Aug 6, 1965Document

Voting Rights Act of 1965

The law that enforced the Fifteenth Amendment

Document from Miranda v. Arizona signed by Chief Justice Earl Warren

1966Court Case

Miranda v. Arizona

The ruling that requires police to warn suspects of their rights

Mildred and Richard Loving

1967Court Case

Loving v. Virginia

The Supreme Court strikes down bans on interracial marriage

Richard Nixon waving from the steps of a helicopter as he leaves the White House after resigning

Jun 17, 1972 – Aug 9, 1974Event

The Watergate Scandal

The abuses of power that forced President Nixon to resign, 1972–1974

Official 1976 portrait of Justice Harry A. Blackmun, author of the majority opinion in Roe v. Wade

1973Court Case

Roe v. Wade

The 1973 decision recognizing a constitutional right to abortion — overruled in 2022

The edited transcripts of the White House tapes released by Nixon

1974Court Case

United States v. Nixon

The Supreme Court orders the president to release the Watergate tapes

Conservative Realignment and the End of the Cold War1980–2001

Official portrait of Ronald Reagan

1911–2004Person

Ronald Reagan

Fortieth president and leader of the conservative revival

The United States in the Twenty-First Century2001–present

Official portrait of President Joe Biden, 2021

born 1942Person

Joe Biden

Forty-sixth president, after thirty-six years in the Senate and eight as vice president

Official White House portrait of President Donald Trump, 2017

born 1946Person

Donald Trump

Forty-fifth and forty-seventh president, the second ever elected to non-consecutive terms

Official portrait of Barack Obama

born 1961Person

Barack Obama

Forty-fourth president and the first African American president

Crowds celebrating outside the Supreme Court as the Obergefell decision is announced

2015Court Case

Obergefell v. Hodges

The Supreme Court recognizes same-sex couples’ right to marry