The timeline below may help you fit some of the poems into context. Find out when the poem was written, and compare it to the events in the timeline.
Expansionism and Exploration of the Nation and Territories (1800-1860)
- The Industrial Revolution, 1800-1860
- The Lewis and Clark Expedition, 1804-1806
- The War of 1812, 1812-1814
- Samuel F.B. Morse invents the telegraph, 1837
- The Trail of Tears, 1838-1839
- Seneca Falls Convention for Women's Rights, 1848
The Civil War (1861-1865)
- The South Secedes and Attacks Fort Sumter, 1861
- Emancipation Proclamation, January 1, 1863
- The Battle of Gettsyburg, 1863
- The South Surrenders, 1865
Reconstruction, Urbanization, Industrialization, and Progressivism (1865-1900)
- Thirteenth Amendment ratified, abolishing slavery in the United States, 1865
- Abraham Lincoln Assassinated, 1865
- Ku Klux Klan Formed, 1865
- Fourteenth Amendment Ratified, Entitling all Persons Born or Naturalized in the United States to Citizenship and Equal Protection under the Laws of the United States, 1868
- Entitles all citizens the right to vote, regardless of the citizen's race, color, or previous condition of servitude, 1870
- Federal troops are withdrawn from the former Confederate states, 1877
- Jim Crow Era begins, 1881
- The Progressive Era Begins, 1890