Who Made America?

1776	The Declaration of Independence
1776-1781	The Revolutionary War
1787	The Northwest Ordinance U.S. Constitution signed.
1790	John Fitch, First Steamboat Fitch built the first steamboat, featuring a rack of canoe-like paddles.
1793	Eli Whitney, Industrialization Whitney's gin and its interchangeable parts revolutionized agriculture. Samuel Slater, American Factory System He built first water-powered textile mill in America and created the mill town.
1803	US purchased Louisiana from France.
1804	Oliver Evans, A Better Steam Engine His high-pressure device made steam engines more powerful.
1807	Robert Fulton, Steamboat Services He built a reliable steamboat practical for common travel.
1810	Francis Cabot Lowell, Consolidated Manufacturing His factory structure brought diverse manufacturing tasks under one roof.
1812	US declared war against Britain.
1819	US purchased Florida from Spain.
1821	Henry Miller Shreve, River Rights and Navigation His snag boat cleared rivers of tree limbs and trunks, opening them to navigation.
1825	The Erie Canal was completed.
1831	Cyrus McCormick, American Big Business He invented a mechanical means of harvesting grasses and grains.
1835	Samuel Colt, A Mass Market His revolver fired multiple shots without reloading.
1837	Samuel B. Morse, A Better Telegraph He developed a practical, single-wire telegraph.
1841	Lewis Tappan, Credit Reporting System He established the first credit-information service.
1844	Charles Goodyear, Vulcanized Rubber He discovered how to make rubber useful for manufacturing.
1845	US annexed Texas.
1846-1848	US War with Mexico
1850-1853	Elisha Otis, Safe Elevators His innovation prevented an elevator from falling if its cable broke.
1857	Isaac Merritt Singer, The American Multinational He mass-produced the sewing machine and distributed it worldwide.
1859	Edwin Drake, Oil Drilling His drill led to the discovery and extraction of large quantities of oil.
1861-1865	The Civil War
1863	The Emancipation Proclamation
1865	13th amendment outlawed slavery.
1862-1869	Theodore Judah, Transcontinental Railroad Before his untimely death in 1863, he secured legislation and funding for the first cross-country railway.
1869	George Westinghouse, Jr., Safer Railroads His compressed-air brake system made traveling by rail safer.
1873	Levi Strauss, Blue Jeans Empire His canvas jeans with rivets became an American staple.
1876	Alexander Graham Bell, Telephone He invented the telephone. Albert Spalding, Sporting Goods Stores He innovated the manufacture and sale of sporting goods. John Wanamaker, Department Store He turned shopping into an event for ordinary people.
1880	The Great Migration from Eastern and Southern Europe to the US begins.
1883	Julius Schmid, Condoms He invented the first American condom.
1885	Hiram Maxim, Machine Guns His machine gun used the recoil of one bullet to pull the next through.
1887	George Eastman, Easy-to-Use Cameras He coined a new word, Kodak, for his roll-holder camera. The Interstate Commerce Act
1891	Martha Matilda Harper, Retail Franchise Network She created an international franchise system of hair and beauty salons.
1894	Chicago Pullman-car workers strike.
1902	Willis Carrier, Air Conditioning He invented the first modern and efficient air conditioner.
1903	Wilbur and Orville Wright, Human Air Travel The brothers successfully flew their Kitty Hawk Flyer.
1905	Sarah Breedlove Walker, Grassroots Saleswoman With her hair straightening system, she pioneered door-to-door salesmanship.
1907	Leo Baekeland, Plastic He produced the first thermoset plastic that could be easily molded and manufactured.
1908	Henry Ford, Affordable Cars Using assembly lines, he engineered the Model T and streamlined auto production. Elmer Sperry, Modern Navigation His gyrocompass provided pilots and sailors a reliable navigation device.
1909	Frederick Winslow Taylor, Scientific Management He devised revolutionary systems of workplace efficiency.
1912	Samuel Insull, Cheap Electricity He developed a centralized system of public utility delivery.
1914	Edwin Howard Armstrong, Modern Radio By exploiting the FM band, he made clear radio reception possible. Garrett August Morgan, Affordable Gas Masks He invented a safety hood to protect firefighters from smoke inhalation.
1914-1919	World War I
1915	Thomas Watson, Advanced Business Machines He guided his company and the country into the computer age.
1917	US entered World War I.
1919	Prohibition
1920	Women win the right to vote. The Great Migration ends.
1920-1923	Ida Cohen Rosenthal, Brassiere Tycoon She designed and marketed the first modern brassiere.
1923	Robert Woodruff, Global Distribution Network Through innovative marketing, he made Coca-Cola an internationally known brand.
1924	Clarence Birdseye, Retail Frozen Foods His system of flash-freezing brought the food industry into the modern era.
1927	Juan Trippe, The Jet Age He pioneered the commercial aviation industry.
1929	US stock market crash
1930	A.P. Giannini, Branch Banking He formed the first modern bank network.
1933	The New Deal Prohibition repealed
1935	Charles Richard Drew, Blood Banks He devised a means of saving the blood from donors for later use.
1936	Raymond Ingram Smith, Gambling He revolutionized casinos with innovative games and promotion campaigns.
1937	Estée Lauder, Marketing Cosmetics She popularized her now-famous makeup by offering free samples.
1939-1945	World War II
1940	Walt Disney, Entertainment Empire His innovative characters and animation made his name synonymous with family entertainment.
1941	Pearl Harbor attacked
1945	US dropped nuclear bombs in Japan.
1946	Georges Doriot, Venture Capital He made venture capital investing a viable business strategy.
1952	Virginia Apgar, Newborn Baby Evaluation She created the measure of a newborn baby's health.
1954	Brown v. Board of Education
1955	Ray Kroc, Restaurant Chains He built a fast food empire focused on uniformity, simplicity, and value. AFL-CIO merger
1956	Malcom McLean, Containerized Shipping He lowered the cost and increased the efficiency of shipping cargo.
1957	The Civil Rights Act NASA created
1959	Ruth Handler, Marketing Toys Her Mattel Company created Barbie and ran the first toy ads aimed at kids.
1961	Jean Nidetch, Weight Loss Therapy She created the leading weight loss program in the US. Joseph Wilson, Photocopying He saw the potential of xerography and brought copies to the masses.
1963	President Kennedy assassinated.
1968	Joan Ganz Cooney, Children's Television She developed the first television program to educate and entertain kids.
1970	Nolan Bushnell, Video Gaming He invented the first video game, Pong, and founded Atari.
1971	Frederick W. Smith, Overnight Delivery He developed Fed Ex, express delivery for the information age.
1972	Herbert Boyer, Biotechnology He established biotechnology through the cloning of DNA.
1973	Gary Kildall, PC Software He wrote the first software for floppy disk reading and writing.
1976	Raymond Kurzweil, Optical Character Recognition He developed computer systems that recognize speech and text.
1977	Raymond Damadian, MRI Scanner He developed the first body scanner using nuclear magnetic resonance.
1980	Ted Turner, 24-hour News He founded CNN, televising non-stop news coverage around the globe.
1984	Russell Simmons, Cross-Marketing Culture He created Def Jam, the most successful black-owned music company in the country.
1992	Donna Dubinsky, Personal Digital Assistants She made information portable by bringing the PalmPilot to market.
1995	Pierre Omidyar, Online Auctions He created eBay, the first online, person-to-person auction.