| •1789 | Massachusetts institutes free public elementary education |
| •1790 | Samuel Slater's spinning mill opens |
| •1790–1820 | Cotton production in the South increases from 3,000 to 330,000 bales annually |
| U.S. slave population rises from 700,000 to 1.5 million |
| •1791–1803 | Haitian Revolution |
| •1792–1809 | New capital of Washington City constructed |
| •1793 | Eli Whitney invents cotton gin |
| •1801 | Judiciary Act |
| U.S. forces challenge Barbary pirates |
| •1803 | Louisiana Purchase |
| Marbury v. Madison |
| •1804–1806 | Corps of Discovery explores Louisiana Territory and Pacific Northwest |
| •1807 | Robert Fulton launches first successful steamboat |
| Embargo Act |
| •1810 | Population of New York and Philadelphia each exceeds 100,000 |
| •1817 | American Colonization Society founded |
| •1819 | McCulloch v. Maryland |
| •1820 | Washington Irving publishes Sketchbook |
| •1828 | Noah Webster publishes American Dictionary of the English Language |